Product design and entrepreneurship

It was Autumn 2022 when the idea that has been in my head for some solid months came to fruition. I just finished a contract role as a video editor, school has not resumed yet, and there were so many solvable problems around me that were calling my name, but the mix’s voice was consistent and stable.

This was my first exposure to product design, I dived head first, into product design without even knowing that it was a thing.

Market opportunity / problem identified

There were plenty of students, working mothers that struggle with time management especially in the morning, and one of factors contributing is actually breakfast making. This specific demographic also made a very large percentage of the population.

Pancake mix is something I rarely come across in the Nigerian market, despite its ease and convenience.

Market survey

The market survey I conducted was to understand the pricing of raw materials and the supply chain, prices of the foreign pancake mix in the market and what consumers like or dislike about them. what they are familiar with and their mental models around the product. Other convenient breakfast options and their price range.

The mix itself

Making pancakes was something I have always been good at and all I needed to do was finesse the recipe and get it to a commercial standard while also maintaining the “Home made” appeal of it

Product “UI UX design”

Graphic design was something I knew a few things about due to my pursuit of a degree in Architecture. I knew I wanted the pack to be sustainable which led to me settling for a brown paper bag and a zip lock to contain the mix itself, which can be reused by a customer after purchase while they can recycle the paper bag itself. The first design was not entirely a failure, but it did cause some miscommunication and frustration. It was done on photoshop which I lost a couple of the files due to hardware malfunction, now I know better to backup my files. First picture was the redesign my friend proposed which was in use for the first 12 months and the one to the left is the one currently in use.

The design was iterated due to these reasons:

• People tend do not read labels: Because of the small chops industry here in Nigeria and pancake mix not being popular, the picture was the first thing consumers process and only a few will read, and this led to the picture miscommunicating.
• Barcode addition: I only started supplying to supermarkets a few months in and it only came to my attention when I took a supply to one store and noticed the cashier manually entering the details due to the absence of the barcode.
• Paper bag to single zip lock with clear window: The paper bag, although sustainable gave the impression of it being a snack ready for consumption as that is usually what is used to package small chops in the locality. This came to fruition after one of my dyslexic friends saw me with a pack and assumed it was ready to eat, up until he unwrapped the paper bag and realized that it was a flour mix.
• There were mainly 2 variations that is the Vanilla and chocolate and this specific element was only visible on the side for the first design while the second design the picture communicated more.

Before redesign

After redesign

Before redesign

After redesign

First packaging

Second packaging

Business management

While I was running this business I was (and still is) a full time student of Architecture.