Reelfruit
ReelFruit is a healthy-snack company. A first-of-its-kind in Nigeria, that offers dried fruit snacks made in Nigeria and sold to the world. They have a range of over 10 SKUs retailed in over 250 stores nationwide and have their snacks served on local and international airlines, schools, hotels, and restaurants.
With expanding product offerings, as well as more stores stocking their products, they needed a new website that showcased their products, as well as what they are about as a company, and where to buy their products both offline and online. They needed a site to bridge all these requirements in a manner that was effective, simple, and beautiful.
Fortunately, it has been replaced by a new site with a better structure and vivid imagery taken by
Inspiration
We went content first, and by content first, we mean actual content of ReelFruit’s product first. At Akanka, we have always been big fans of ReelFruit. Buying ReelFruit’s products on a weekly basis meant we were pretty intimate with their characteristics before this project began. We used this knowledge to inspire our decisions, creating a site that is vivid and exuberant, while also minimalist.
Typography
We worked with two typefaces: Cavorting and Lato. These choices were entirely inspired by the content of the ReelFruit products, particularly the textures of the products.
Primary
We chose the geometric sans serif typeface known as Lato for the primary typeface i.e. as the font type for the body text across the site. It mirrors the crunchy texture of the ReelFruit contents like the coconut shavings and the nuts. Lato captures the physical characteristics as it possesses stems that end with a curved or semi-round edge. This gives it a soft but hard, and serious but friendly feel, which is an adequate representation of the crunchy products. Also, the strokes are uneven in a manner that’s akin to the coconut strips.
Secondary
We chose cavorting as our secondary font, i.e. the font for our headers. It is a script or handwritten font that has incredibly irregular strokes and narrow apertures and an irregular x-height. These features give it a lot of weight as a header.
Most importantly, as a handwritten typeface, it is natural, with a squishy appearance that resonates closely with the softer contents of ReelFruit’s products like the mango strips.
Color
Our color choices also take their cue from the content. The yellow signifies the squishy products, as it captures the color of the juices trapped within them. The blue, chosen to contrast against the yellow, signifies the crunchy products because of their rough harder feel.
Mobile
By making use of the soft card-like UI for the products and prioritising mobile responsiveness, we ensured that visitors can easily take in the information about the products with a simple swipe.
Round Up
As consumers of ReelFruit products, starting this project from a user-centred position resulted in a website that acts as a beautiful showcase for ReelFruit’s products while also providing the necessary information in a clearer and presentable manner.
