BRETT CAMBRIA
ART DIRECTOR • BRAND DESIGNER • WEB DESIGNER
Cats don’t smile.
A Petco Packaging Case Study
Petco wanted to change up with a line look that they could take back to the internal team to roll out. Our job was to give them a clean, simple system design for various categories.
My role was as a production designer who got the opportunity to take on a role to do a bit more designing and some photoshoots for the style guide.
The Art Director had created a system graphic on the one front panel design above and my role was to take that, and make it extendable to various categories by using color, designing icons, and creating new photography. I was to do one full layout, provide a production grid layout direction, hand it over for approval, and then give it to the internal team to roll out to all the other items.
For the photoshoots, we actually had a trainer come with a few cats, a dog, and a puppy, and yes, we did do a photo shoot of that lizard.
Fun fact: The lizard was so stressed out that its tail fell off.
I had someone say to me “Make the cat smile more” when I showed them the photos of the cat options.
Having had cats all my life, I wanted to say “Cats don’t smile.” However, I just laughed awkwardly and sent the best one as a placeholder and let Petco decide what a smiling cat should look like.
Starting out as a production designer gave me the best organizing tools as I grew as a designer and still use these grid skills today.
What went well was how easy it was to work with a great Art Director who let me do my thing. There was no hierarchy just a love for good design.
Ever since then, I have wanted to work on animal projects and now do them via volunteering because I have such a passion for nature and animals.
You can see more in my case study for the Marine Mammal Care Center Los Angeles. I was in the right place at the right time and am still remote volunteering today for much of their graphic brand needs.
