PLANT’s fictitious identity and packaging for The Drop Store paint a striking and scary scene

“We were hired by Publicis Groupe Benelux to develop the brand and packaging design for The Drop Store” as part of the United Nations’ 2023 Water Conference, the Reykjavik and São Paulo-based creative practice PLANT contextualise. “The concept revolves around how the water crisis will impact products in the near future,” they explain, fictionalising a range of affected items, such as a $299 toilet roll or $2,899 35g hamburger, revealing what a world with less water would be like. Balancing the sincerity of the project with the commercial context of the issues, PLANT achieved an accessible and believable futuristic aesthetic. “We avoided the decadent atmosphere of Blade Runner or the aseptic portrayal found in Wall-E,” they recall. Across the products, changing from item to item, the packaging presents an enormity of information in a way both understandable and powerfully pleasing, implementing small iconographic and typographic features crafted for specific objects. “Two key principles guided us in developing the identity: transparency and complete information,” PLANT explain, “aspects that we believe conscious people will increasingly demand in the future.”