Product Design — Confectionery Packaging

Clouds of
Happiness

Vanilla
Scroll to unbox
Reframed Brief
"To design a sculptural, reusable tinplate gifting container for premium marshmallow confectionery — positioned within airport travel retail — that celebrates the contrast between durable metal and soft confectionery, while extending product life through intentional after-use."
Mello — Product Design, Nottingham Trent University
Market Research

Europe's confectionery market is growing through premiumisation — travel retail is where gifting behaviour concentrates.

$73.55B
Market size, 2025
$75.60B
Market size, 2026
$92.12B
Projected, 2031
4.03%
CAGR (Mordor Intelligence, 2024)

Target Market

  • 01 International travellers, aged 25–50
  • 02 Mid–high income professionals & couples
  • 03 Seeking premium, impulse-driven gifts
  • 04 £28–£35 typical confectionery gift spend
  • 05 Shopping airport duty-free & travel retail

Market Gap

  • — Travel retail gifts default to cardboard or generic tins with no real interaction or reuse value
  • — Mello closes that gap with a compact, embossed tin — playful character design, durable reusable packaging, and long-term gifting appeal beyond the first unboxing
Design Signature

Form, texture and emotion — engineered into a single embossed surface.

Form

Rounded, marshmallow-inspired geometry with a 0.15mm interference fit between lid and body — a controlled, satisfying "pop" on opening.

Texture

Embossed and debossed detailing across every face — tactile from the moment it's picked up, and part of what makes it worth keeping.

Emotion

A smiling character embossed into the tin itself — designed to create a genuine emotional connection before it's even opened.

Product Range

A flavour-coded system, built to scale.

Mello product range in four flavour colours
Vanilla
Classic & creamy
Strawberry
Sweet & fruity
Lime
Fresh & tangy
Mango
Tropical & bold
Engineering

Manufactured for scale

100% recyclable food-grade tinplate, deep-drawn for structural strength with minimal material waste.

96mm
Height
100mm
Width
R12mm
Corner radius
0.3mm
Wall thickness
Bill of Materials
ComponentMaterial£ / unit
Tin baseFood-grade tinplate£1.10–1.40
Tin lidEmbossed tinplate£0.90–1.20
CoatingFood-safe lacquer£0.10–0.20
FillingPremium marshmallows£3.00–4.50
LabelPrinted adhesive£0.10
Shipping boxCorrugated cardboard£0.40
Total production£6.20–6.50