Chef Select
For Lidl’s Chef Select range, we developed packaging design for a wide selection of ready meals, sauces, salads, and other convenience products produced in Greece. This extensive project required us to create a consistent and appealing visual system that reflects the needs of the modern consumer: quick, high-quality, and trustworthy food solutions.
The packaging design highlights delicious food photography as the central element, supported by clear layouts and vibrant color coding to differentiate flavors and dishes on the shelf.
The primary objective was to use packaging design as the main selling tool in a competitive and rapidly growing category. The design had to specifically target the new consumer who demands quick, high-quality, and authentic ready meals.
Key design mandates included:
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Maximize Appetite Appeal: Use great food photography as the core element to make the meal look delicious and vibrant, overcoming the poor perception often associated with ready meals.
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Ensure Instant Differentiation: Employ a clear, vibrant colour-coding system to quickly differentiate each specific dish, flavour, and cuisine on the shelf.
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Maintain Operational Rigor: Execute all adaptations, data changes, and technical details (e.g., nutritionals, ingredients) with the trademark accuracy, precision, and speed required for a global retailer’s rapid product cycle.
The complexity of the project comes from the scale and speed of execution.
Each product required precise handling of nutritional information, labeling regulations, translations, and design consistency, often under tight deadlines.
- Multilingual Complexity: Adapting detailed technical and regulatory text into numerous languages for a high-value product line where mistakes are costly.
- Format Diversity: Seamlessly translating the Deluxe brand identity across hundreds of different packaging materials and formats (jars, boxes, films, labels, etc.) while preserving the same high-quality look and feel.
- Agile Workload: Managing the frequent and last-minute changes inherent in launching seasonal or promotional ranges, where accuracy and speed were equally critical to hitting global market deadlines.
The final packaging system for Chef Select delivers a modern, appetizing, and consumer-friendly identity.
The use of bold, vibrant colors ensures each product is easy to distinguish at a glance, while high-quality food photography makes the dishes look fresh, delicious, and inviting.
The consistent layout provides clarity and trust, reinforcing Lidl’s reputation for offering convenient, high-quality meal solutions.
The project successfully positioned Chef Select as a go-to brand for ready meals, meeting the expectations of today’s fast-paced, quality-conscious consumers.
