Cat's love boxes, a brand for cats like Cat Person should celebrate this and make a better box.
Cat Person is a new DTC brand backed by Harry’s Labs who’s aim is to modernize the stagnant cat lifestyle category. To do so, they not only focused on creating the best food and lifestyle products but as a DTC brand they had the foresight to develop custom shipping boxes that celebrated the cat + person bond.
There were some basic needs for the shipping boxes including: protection, sustainability, and ease of fulfillment Cat Person knew there was an opportunity to create a “second life” for the boxes and decided to bring in an Industrial Designer to help.
The first step was to understand the brand which is about cats and their special relationship with people. The shipping boxes needed to be for cats first and secondly should transform effortlessly by the people they live with (as they might just be lazier than their cat).
It was important to have an “immersion phase” looking at everything cats, following Instagram cat accounts, reading reviews on Amazon on products cats liked while also studying the science behind cat behavior. The next step was to understand the matrix of potential orders, determine which box sizes were needed and decide upon the overall dimensions of each. The dimensions combined with the research lead to some curious paths and to dial in the top concept sketches the focus was: sustainability/cost, simplicity/ease of use and photo-worthiness.
The shippers transform as follows:
Trial shipper (initial orders) – Paw Puzzler, it is a custom mailer box with a perforated corrugate tray that transforms into a box with holes for a cat’s paw and a ball to put inside.
Standard shipper (most common orders) – Cat chalet, a standard RSC (regular slotted container) with elongated dust flaps that nest together to become a peaked roof.
XL shipper (large orders) – Cat Condo, another standard RSC box with elongated dust flaps that bend inward to create a “condo” with 2 rooms.
Industrial Design – Chris Granneberg
Creative Direction - SLATE
Ad agency - Mythology
Illustrator – Paul Davis