An innovative self-heating canned food product has been given a complete rebrand by Sheffield Hallam University's in-house design consultancy, Design Futures.

The HOTCAN brand of tinned food, produced by Heat Food & Drink Ltd, has re-launched with the new branding applied to all of its products.

John Kirkby, creative director of Design Futures at Sheffield Hallam, said: "The old design was quite busy and we wanted to make sure the main message was as prominent as possible. We also wanted to create a sense of character and tone for the range that would appeal to the target audience."

The redesign extended to product titles, a new strapline and new logo. John said: "The previous product titles were very straight forward, so we've used more informal titles wherever possible to demonstrate the fun element of the product.

"For the new logo we kept the wording bold and clear, adding a 'degree' symbol to the letter 'C' to highlight the self heating element of the product along with the new strapline, 'No microwave. No kettle. Just HOTCAN'."

Although the standout properties of the white can will benefit consumer retail sales, making it easy for shoppers to spot on supermarket shelves, HOTCAN's customers also include the emergency services, Disaster Management Agency and military. So the design team also produced camouflage versions of the products for uses where strong visibility is a disadvantage.

Each HOTCAN contains over 400g of nutritious food and the self-contained heating mechanism is activated by simply piercing the rim of the can with the provided key. This action sets up a completely safe exothermic reaction which heats the food inside the can to a perfect eating temperature in 10-12 minutes. The food inside then stays hot for up to 45 minutes, so you can tuck in straight away or leave it while you do something else.

Vibrant image

Mark Taylor, managing director of Heat Food & Drink Ltd said: "HOTCANs have been produced for over 30 years but in 2010 we took over the product, so it was certainly time to revisit the packaging. We were looking for a distinctive, timeless identity that would really stand out on the shelf and we knew instantly that Design Futures had hit the nail on the head when we saw the proposals.

"We're really happy with the redesign - it gives the product a really new vibrant image. It's been part of a complete re-vamp for the product, which has also included upgrading the heating mechanism, developing a new range of high quality food and we've even reduced prices to make the product more cost-effective for our customers."

To find out more about HOTCAN products visit www.hotcan.com. To find out more about Design Futures, Sheffield Hallam's in-house design consultancy, visit www.designfuturesgroup.com.