Coolblue
An internship at Coolblue's in-house creative agency, turning briefs into concepts and packaging.
Learning how Coolblue makes people smile.
Coolblue is an online electronics retailer and energy supplier with an obsessive focus on customer satisfaction. Its slogan says it all: "Alles voor een glimlach", or everything for a smile.
Work comes in as briefs from every part of the company. Every concept is presented in a daily check moment with pros and cons, and has to be approved by more experienced colleagues.
Coolblue's core value is "Gewoon verwonderen": Simply amaze. Two words that seem to contradict each other, but yet describe the company exactly.
The packaging project was an attempt to do just that
Packaging for refurbished iPhones.
The refurbished team already sold iPhones under another label and now wanted to sell them under Coolblue's own name. That needs a Coolblue-branded box, and my job was to design it.
01Moodboard
Colour, material and above all a sustainable look: little ink, lots of cardboard.
02Benchmarks
I studied what others do and listed pros and cons.
03Concepts
At least three variations, so I explored many.
04Feedback
The chosen box has a swappable insert, so it fits many iPhone models.
Seeing it become a real, tangible box was the best part. It was set to roll out in Coolblue stores. It is really exciting to see something you designed digitally become something you can feel and actually experience in a store.
What I took away.
Beyond the packaging project, the internship changed how I work. It taught me how to work in a big team, inside a big company, next to a full creative team.
Briefs came in from every part of Coolblue, and I worked on several at once. I brainstormed with colleagues, listened to stakeholders and my supervisor, and presented every concept in the daily check moment, where more experienced colleagues had to approve it. Most of the feedback was about the house style, not about my skills, and I learned to take it as part of the process instead of personally.
It also showed me which direction I want to go: creative concept work in the commercial sector, ideally for different clients and styles.