Tata Simply Better Makhana Packaging Design

BALAJI KHICHIYA PAPAD

2025

Strategy, Brand Identity,
Nomenclature, Positioning,
Packaging Design,
Typography & Illustrationy

A taste of home, now packed in a box by Balaji Wafers.

Balaji Wafers, a name that echoes in every Indian home, wasn’t looking to reinvent the wheel. They wanted to honour it. Balaji has always been about bringing familiar flavours to the forefront, across age groups and occasions.

Khichiya Papad, a crunchy companion to steaming khichdi, a sidekick in thalis, a standalone snack with a squeeze of lime, has always had a quiet place in our kitchens. But in this box, it gets a louder one.

Balaji Wafers wanted to take this humble side dish and give it a front-row seat. Something that could sit proudly on shelves, look as good as it tastes, and still carry the comfort of home.

The brief was simple, but layered: Create a design that resonates with the older generation, who grew up eating it hot off the pan. And with the younger one, discovering it between meals. It had to feel grown-up without being dull. Nostalgic, but not old-fashioned. Something that could sit proudly on a modern shelf and still feel like home.

JEERI

2026

TATA Consumer Products

(Kolkata, India)

Packaging Design

Makhana Just Got Louder.

Makhana has always been the sensible snack choice. Light, familiar, rooted in everyday Indian consumption. But sensible does not have to mean invisible. When Tata Consumer Products approached De Icebreaker to design the packaging for the Tata Simply Better Protein Crunchy Makhana range, the ambition was clear: make healthy snacking feel louder, bolder, and far more shelf-disruptive than this category is used to.

The brief was specific. A packaging design system that communicates crunch, protein, and flavour at first glance, built primarily for Quick Commerce platforms and Modern Trade, where the decision to pick something up happens in under two seconds. In those environments, subtle and safe visual language does not survive. The packaging needed to behave like a proper FMCG snack brand, confident, contemporary, and immediately legible on a cluttered shelf or a small screen thumbnail.

The design answer was built on three things: bold colour blocking to create instant flavour recognition across the range, expressive typography that adds energy without losing the Tata Simply Better brand structure, and a high-impact visual approach that pushes makhana out of the wellness corner and into the mainstream snack conversation. Every decision was tested against one question: does this make someone stop scrolling or reach for the pack?

The result is a packaging identity that gives a traditional Indian superfood a more confident, contemporary shelf presence without abandoning what makes it worth choosing in the first place. It is honest about what the product is, high-protein, genuinely nutritious, genuinely crunchy, while making that honestly feel exciting rather than clinical. That balance between nutrition and energy, between category credibility and creative disruption, is exactly what strong snack packaging design should do. This one does it for one of India's most trusted FMCG brands.