09.21.09

Rebel Green brand & product design

Identity, Consumer

The eco-friendly marketplace is inundated with products extolling reduce, reuse and recycle virtues. When Rebel Green was about to join a long list of reusable totes, lunch bags and veggie washes, it turned to Minneapolis-based design firm Wink.

This new breed of responsibly-made products has a simple premise: While many items billed as green are shipped to the U.S. from overseas manufacturers, thereby negating their ecological intent, Rebel Green products are made here. The first thing Wink did was remove the word “rebel” from the creative brief and change it to a more target-friendly “sass.” Not only did it give them more to work with, it also allowed them to tout the benefits of responsible manufacturing with a uniquely American vernacular. The result is a brand that’s authentic and a product line that’s uniquely American, with just a dash of “you're not the boss of me” thrown in. Since the initial launch in April 2009, Rebel Green products have found homes on the shelves of Fred Segal, Whole Foods and, ironically, La Grande Epicerie de Paris.

Richard Boynton/Scott Thares, creative directors; Richard Boynton, designer/illustrator; Jeff Barbian/Jill Palmquist/Richard Boynton, writers; Kaufman Container/Western Textile & Manufacturing, Inc., packaging manufacturers.

www.wink-mpls.comwww.rebelgreen.com