Noramble

Noramble is a brand and packaging design studio helping brands grow through proper differentiation by rebelling against their category cliches.

Ever noticed how olive oil is always in a transparent bottle? Or how do Cereal brands always use a mascot? Or how most beauty products use a white? These category cliches create a sea of sameness on shelves and online. It makes buying products impossible and typically results in consumers finding the cheapest option becuase that's the only differentiator.

Since 2020, our work has rebelled against all this to help brands grow through true differentiation.

Founder

Creative Ninety Five

Freelance

QPC Global Ltd

Junior Packaging Designer

Apple

Specialist

Salford City College

Working in a team to create and layout information in the format of a newsletter. Turning pages of text and image into readable editorial layouts.

Graphic Designer

Iya, I’m Daniel (never Dan)

A 30-year-old, Manchester-born design agency founder. 

I started Noramble because I was frustrated seeing so many brands looking, talking, and feeling the same. Decision-making when shopping for a product becomes impossible and a chore, resulting in chasing the lowest price or the best deal.

At Noramble, we refuse to add more noise to the sea of sameness. Over the years, we have crafted a process to help brands rebel against their category and grow through proper differentiation that gives consumers a reason to give a crap.

So, we're pretty busy at Noramble, and we're looking for a mega freelance designer to let me cry on their shoulder. Fancy it?

What we're looking for:
🇬🇧 Ideally UK-based
📦 Has a sensational packaging portfolio
💡 Can take ideas from concept to final
🧑‍💻 3-5 years of experience working with clients
🥊 Likes to go against the grain with their work and ideas
💃 Has a crackin' sense of humour

If you're reading this thinking, "Gosh, that's me", and fancy working with us.

Send your portfolio and rates to careers@noramble.co.uk

Daniel Poll

Founder @ Noramble | Brand + Packaging design that rebels against category cliches

Don't EVER underestimate the tactile sense of touch in packaging design, especially in a cluttered retail space.

It's tough for FMCG brands to stand out in a retail environment. That's nothing new.

Especially in the RTD category.

I was in my local shop last week, and there were cans of MOTH Drinks - B Corp™ whispering "touch me"

And let me tell you, when I did, it was like discovering a hidden treasure!

The label wasn’t just a label; it had texture.

A subtle, tactile surprise that set it apart.

Here’s why this packaging nerd was over the moon:

- It created an experience I don't usually get when shopping
- Stood out in a sea of sameness, with competitors.
- Screamed “premium” without saying a word.

The tactile sense is a goldmine in retail packaging, yet it's still in the shadows.

If your products are in a retail space fighting for attention, then you should consider it:

- You can set class expectations for your products.
- Sets you apart on the shelf.
- Can be a mega way to differentiate different SKU’s.

P.S. This is the stuff that gets me out of bed in the morning.

MOTH Drinks - B Corp™

Cheers August. It's been mega.

Not sure how it's already September, but we had a smashing August.

- Had 12 new enquiries
- Onboarded two new clients
- 2 new projects started with current clients
- Hiring for a freelance designer
- Sent 8 new proposals
- Finished 2 brand & packaging projects

It's times like these, where you see the hard work pay off.

The sweat, blood, tears and sleepless nights become worth it.

Cheers August 🥂

P.S Only 114 days until Christmas. Can almost hear Michael Bublé warming up his vocals.

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Inaccessible packaging design is a huge-turn off for consumers.

Don’t believe me?

How pissed off would you be reading this?

You buy scissors because you need them to cut something, but you need to cut the packaging to get the scissors out. It’s like Inception — with scissors.

The takeaway? Inaccessible packaging is a huge-turn off for consumers.

What would I do differently? I would have designed some kind of cardboard perforated tear-off that secured the product.

What would you do?

Last week was absolutely MANIC 😮💨

- 6 fresh enquiries
- 5 new enquiry calls
- 4 proposals sent
- 2 concept phases delivered
- 1 new client onboarded
- 1 client lunch

I'm made up we're so busy.

So much for the summer holiday lull.

Let's see what excitement this week brings 🤸

We don't work with people that I wouldn't go for a cosmo with.

That's been a mantra of mine for a long time.

When someone enquires to work with us, I always do a vibe check:
- Do we get along?
- Do you properly value creativity?
- Can you have a laugh?
- Would I go for a cosmopolitan with you?

Jonathon Winstanley passed this test when we started working with Shift about 12 months ago.

But, despite both of us living/working in Manchester, we'd never actually met in person.

So last week, we went to lunch, and it was mega to catch up in person and talk about all things:
- Business
- Creativity
- Our current projects with Shift
- Manufacturing
- Life

Unfortunately, there were no cosmopolitans involved. 

Always work with people that you get on with, because life's too short to work with 🍆heads

Founder of Shift. The UK’s first 100% plastic-free, refillable deodorant.

Shift

Another one from the archives 🤌

Cane X Noramble 

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗻𝗴𝗲
Cane is a new entrant to the toothbrush market. It saw a gap in the market and offered a new, sustainable toothbrush for the eco-conscious consumer.

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗪𝗲 𝗗𝗶𝗱
We did away with the typical market cues to help cut through the noise. We paired a bold typeface with a brash colour palette; we put the product centre stage on the packaging with a simple illustration to help communicate the product from the off.

HOT TAKE: If I accept your connection request, and you jump straight into my DM's to sell me something.

You're getting blocked.

Take me for dinner before jumping into bed with me 💚

"We want our brand to really stand out.
We want to be the flamingo"

That was the brief I got on a call a while ago.

My response?

What if that room is full of flamingos?

Every brand wants the spotlight.

If every brand tries to be a flamingo, you just get a lot of squawking and bright feathers.

No one knows where to look.

You want to be noticed?
Don't just copy the loudest or brightest bird in the room.

Be a penguin.

Suddenly, all eyes are on you, simply because you’re different.

These days, too many brands spend their time chasing trends.

So the market ends up flooded with flamingos.

Be a penguin in a room full of flamingos.

Get it? Good.

Category cues are literally killing most brands on the shelf, and this is a hill I'll die.

In my local Tesco, the other day, on the deodorant aisle.

Just a sea of sameness:
- Mostly white bottles
- Tall with their coloured lids
- A bunch of ingredients and scent claims

BORING

It just becomes a price battle for brands because nothing else differentiates them.

However, Mitchum threw all these category cliches out and said, "Watch this"

The picture speaks for itself; their design practically jumps off the shelf

- Nicely designed label
- Green colour blocking to make a statement
- Benefits clearly communicated

Being differentiated makes buying decisions incredibly easy for a consumer.

Cheers to those who dare to be different and shake up the shelf game 🥂

Your packaging is 90% of your marketing touchpoints. Show it some love.

Something that always gets overlooked by brands is how your packaging fits into your marketing mix.

I often sit on calls with, Brand managers, Founders & Marketing managers

And they assume packaging will just sit on a shelf.

It's so far from reality.

Your packaging is a marketing ninja, showing up nearly everywhere.

I'd argue about 90% of your touchpoints.

Think about it; it's not just on the shelf. It's on:
- Social media posts
- Billboards
- The sides of buses
- Brochures
- Website images
- Digital banners
- Point of sales
- Emails
- Events

Your packaging is EVERYWHERE.

So, what happens if it’s not pulling its weight?

You’ve got a packing nightmare plastered over 90% of your marketing.

Ouch.

The lesson? Don't let your packaging be the weak link in your marketing chain.

P.S. I'll never not use SURREAL as an example. Don't @ me.

Oh Iya! We're pretty busy and are looking for a talented freelance designer with extensive experience in brand and packaging design.

What we're looking for:
🇬🇧 UK-based, ideally Manchester
📦 Has a sensational packaging portfolio
💡 Can take ideas from concept to final
🧑‍💻 3-5 years of experience working with clients
🥊 Likes to go against the grain with their work and ideas
💃 Has a crackin' sense of humour

If you're reading this thinking, "Gosh, that's me", and fancy working with us.

Send your portfolio and rates to careers@noramble.co.uk

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again but, here's my advice to anyone hiring a studio, freelancer or agency 👇

If you’re hiring a studio or a freelancer in a specific area.

You’re obviously struggling with solving a problem.

So, you decide to hire experts in that field to help solve that problem.

Could be:
- Web design agency
- Marketing consultancy
- Packaging design studio 👀

You're paying not just for their time but for their years of expertise.

Their mastery honed over years, even decades.

𝗧𝗵𝗮𝘁’𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝘆 𝘆𝗼𝘂’𝗿𝗲 𝗵𝗶𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺!

My biggest advice to anyone hiring an expert is:
- Value their advice, they're the experts!
- Foster collaboration, teamwork makes the dream work
- Keep an open mind, innovation thrives on it

𝗢𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝘄𝗶𝘀𝗲, 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁’𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗼𝗶𝗻𝘁?

It’s like finding a leak in your bathroom, hiring a plumber, and then disagreeing with his solution to fix the leak.

Every designer will make this mistake at some point.

When I started my design career nearly 10 years ago, I used to send work to clients blindly.

I used to send them deliverables without any justification.

I expected them to understand my thought process, ideas, and direction.

I wasn't working with mind-readers, so obviously, they were completely lost.

That's when a client called me out on it, and everything clicked.

So, I started sending deliverable decks that show a complete process of how I got to a design concept.

It helped:
👉 The client understand what the f*ck I was going on about
👉 The work becomes much more effective
👉 The client relationship become stronger

I took it through when starting Noramble, and we will always do it, no matter how big or small the project.

I finally got my hands on some SURREAL Cereal (or SURROLA 🤦‍♂️)

Anyone who knows me personally knows I love cereal. I also love creativity, branding and packaging.

So, when I stumbled upon Surreal in my local co-op, I couldn't not pick up a box.

I was well excited.

But, it got me wondering, why was I so excited?

At this point, I wasn't excited about a taste or product I hadn't tried.

𝗜𝘁 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝘀𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲. 𝗕𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗱.

👉 A tone of voice that's humorous and bold
👉 Creative direction like nothing else on the shelf
👉 Painting their competitors as the enemy and themselves as the underdog
👉 Playful marketing that's sticky
👉 Strong differentiation within the market

Surreal has built a relatable, human brand that stood out above everything else.

P.S They taste mega, for anyone else wondering

People don't tend to talk about the bad times on social media, so here goes nothing.

Back in 2017, when I first started working with clients, I had:
👉 No experience
👉 No process
👉 No bloody idea

And this ended up biting me on the arse.

I got a promising lead via email. We exchanged messages; after a lot of back-and-forth, I sent over a proposal.

Then it all went south.

𝗜 𝗵𝗮𝗱 𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗹𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗹𝗶𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝗻𝗮𝗺𝗲 𝗔𝗡𝗗 𝗯𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗻𝗮𝗺𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲𝘁𝗲𝗹𝘆 𝘄𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝗻 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝗽𝗮𝗴𝗲.

Her reply was a polite rejection laced with some hard truths. It was a gut punch.

But that brutal lesson turned me into a stickler for detail.

Fast forward 7 years, and my meticulous nature is now my strongest asset.

P.S ‘appy Friday. Someone get me a cosmo

I'm taking a week off from LinkedIn this week.

Don't miss me too much.

C'ya next week 💃

A story about a lesson I learned the hard way back when I first started Noramble

You know how it is. You start a business, and it's all exciting and fluffy.

You start saying yes to every opportunity because it feels wrong to turn down work.

However, this came to bite me on the bum about 2 years ago.

We were overloaded with projects. The bank account was happy, but our work wasn't. Quality slipped as everything became rushed.

The team hit burnout. A client noticed the drop in standards, and things went south.

We had to make some hard choices: pause projects, cancel contracts, and issue refunds.

But within days, everything changed. Our work improved, the team found their groove again, and clients noticed the difference.

The lesson? Know your business's limits. Balance quality with quantity.

One thing I do struggle with as a business owner is making time to see the people I love.

I started my business journey when I was 21.

At a time when I was meant to be:

- Going out drinking
- Making bad decisions
- Meeting new friends

I didn't do that, and I regret it now and again.

I wish I had done all the above and started my journey a little later in life.

Most people on here will tell you to:

- Start a business ASAP
- Climb the ladder ASAP
- Grow up ASAP

There is zero rush to get to your goals, whatever they are.

Contrary to popular belief, life IS long.

So, take it from me that no matter what you've got going on, make time to live with the people you love.

One positive I do take away from it is my work ethic and discipline.

Getting leads into the pipeline and winning work is one thing, but what happens after that is what matters.

Anyone who knows me personally will tell you I'm a sucker for a good process and structure.

And if first impressions are everything, then a solid client onboarding process is vital.

Here's how we do it:

👉 Contract of work sent via E-Signature

👉 Initial invoice sent

👉 Onboard the client into our project management software

👉 Schedule first kick-off meeting

That's it, proper simple. Professional.

No need for an 11-step onboarding process.

Taplio

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