What do women want in a down comforter? How do you promote these attributes in packaging?
Clients: Macy’s & Downlite
Group Project: Senior Graphic Designer in collaboration with Jyl Davis and Emily Mayer (product)
(Packaging), Photoshop, Illustrator
Downlite partnered with Burke Incorporated to find out what women want in down and down alternative bedding. From the research, some of which is featured below, our design team put together a consumer lifestyle board.
We found that the majority of consumers buying down comforters are women in their 30s who have families. Many women are juggling work/home/parenting and need comforters that are durable and easy to care for.
The Research: Who are the modern women buying comforters?
The research was done with a two-step approach: qualitative research (focus groups) and quantitative research (online surveys). The survey was designed jointly by the Burke and Downlite team using the qualitative research as a guide.
25-minute web survey conducted among 755 respondents
Females, ages 21+, not competitively employed
Past purchasers of white down or synthetic comforters in past 12 months
Future purchasers of white down or synthetic comforters in next 6 months
Four segmentations were identified within the comforter market. Two of the four profiles below were particularly interesting to our design department.
When my old down comforter wears out, I’ll buy a new down comforter and I won’t think about it again for a long time.
–DEB, “Down Equals Best”
Buying a comforter is like buying clothes. It is important that my comforter conveys my image.
–Heidi, “Highly Engaged in Image”
The 5 Items that women want in down bedding based on research.
Percentages from the survey questions are shown below.
1. Warmth (30%)
2. Softness (21%)
3. Appearance (18%)
4. Durability (15%)
5. Ease of Care (10%)
We built the bedding program around each of the five areas by clearly using meaningful language and imagery. We chose to focus on things that we could control in the way we made, packaged, or promoted the product through packaging.
The size of a down comforter is also clearly important; however, this is addressed by using the most widely used sizes and labeling it clearly on the packaging. Since down bedding is a luxury item, price was not a main focus.
Durability
This chart shows women’s expectations for how long a comforter should last. The mean for a down comforter is 5 years. Downlite topped that number and gave a 7-year warranty on the Macy’s Charter Club comforters. This is prominently placed on the insert below.
My Role
Our team built a bedding program for Macy's Charter Club around the five things women want. I created the packaging and store signage to communicate these five things.
There were two other teammates working with me on this project; a product designer and a design manager. All of us attended the photoshoots and gave creative direction. I created the insert packaging concepts that you see below.
Sketches of Packaging Insert
Front Insert with annotations on the five things women want in a down comforter.
Back Insert
Store Plan
Store plan showing comforter levels, warmth levels, touch-and-feel samples, and a bed display. Information cards and touch and feel samples are imperative to inform and allow women to touch and feel the softness and warmth levels.
Packaging Series: Lightweight to Extra-Warmth
Results
The research provided Downlite with a wealth of knowledge that could be used to focus efforts and make comforters easier to purchase
The packaging and floorplan that was created for this presentation was used by Macy’s in-house design team to give their Charter Club bedding packaging an overhaul
Macy’s made improvements to the display bed and added touch-and-feel samples to their packaging walls
This research also influenced their Martha Stewart packaging and bedding line and packaging
Macy’s valued and loved our work so much that Downlite was awarded vendor of the year