THCDesign, Bringing The Great American Cannabis Company to Life.

THCDesign has been an integral part of California’s cannabis industry since 2016, and the now employee-owned company is one of the only longstanding players in a crowded industry. While the cannabis industry has had a relatively short existence, THC Design finds itself in some pretty exclusive territory—they’re one of the only enduring and established cannabis brands around.

Our task was to help reinvigorate the vertically integrated brand as it shifted from the California market to becoming a multi-state operator competing on the national level. They also needed to revamp their labeling system, not only for different state regulations and requirements but also to consistently communicate and educate a broader audience around product attributes and flavor profiles.

There are no real leaders in the cannabis industry—at least not yet. While a few brands have garnered some level of attention and praise, no one has positioned themselves as a true leader in the industry. So, we worked with THCD to re-conceptualize the brand to reflect their opportunity to become the Great American Cannabis Company, an iconic brand in the tradition of great American brands—think Levis or Nike—that provide a superior product at a fair price. In addition to longevity, the brand had another invaluable asset—trust. And we wanted to use that hard-won trust and THCD's unique position in the market to define what “good” looks like for cannabis. No gimmicks or bullshit—just high-quality, consistent cannabis.

We completely overhauled the brand identity using its core equities, turning it into a fully fledged brand system that boldly stands out on shelf. Given your typical dispensary's highly chaotic and cluttered nature, it was critical to design something memorable and approachable. Knowing this, we only slightly modified the brand's molecule logo for the sake of recognition. Building on a refined color palette anchored in the brand's historic use of purple, we introduced an audacious attention-grabbing red logo system to draw the eye and complement our purples. For typography, we used Dia Type Extended Bold, which gives the brand a confident voice when it visually shows up in the world.

Purple had always been a part of the THCD identity, but never in a way that planted a flag and took ownership of the color. For the new identity, we leaned on a spectrum of purples for instant shelf appeal, as it could pull an audience in regardless of age or gender. That was critical for the packaging as well. The subtle shifts in our shades of purples allowed us to create distinction across SKUs while maintaining a unified standout presence on shelf.

We redesigned the entirety of the brand's packaging suite, using purple frosted glass jars and mylar bags to create a cohesive family. More intuitively designed tops were introduced to the jars, creating a seamless unboxing experience. Additionally, given the immensely complicated packaging regulations that exist from state to state, we designed a universal box with an adaptive labeling system to work across multiple SKUs. Now, THCD’s packaging can adhere to these highly varied state regulations with its core identity intact.

One of the biggest challenges we needed to address with the new system was educating consumers, not to mention all of the regulatory labeling requirements. THCD needed to consistently communicate flavor profiles for all strains while showcasing terpenes more distinctively than we usually see on the market. Essentially, they needed a device that could flex across state guidelines and the brand's offerings and idiosyncrasies.

The bento box system we developed for THCD allows flexibility for these types of challenges we were looking to solve through design. The grid can meet the brand's specific needs in terms of storytelling and swapping out visual assets for multiple environments and channels while remaining consistent and organized. Motion design and animation also add lively, fun moments to the bento system and can further these moments of education. Ultimately, the bento box helps deepen the brand story beyond strains and speaks to consumers' experiences, leading to richer storytelling within the brand. Headlines and copy also add an editorial dimension but make the brand feel approachable while highlighting informative moments.