Taking a first, second and third read of New York marijuana regulations, the rules started to sound a lot like the regulations in Canada. If you take a quick Google image search of Canadian packaging you might be struck with this question: how is any brand or product going to differentiate from each other? Well, the color, logo design, and fonts will need to do a lot of the heavy marketing share. Investing in a logo that will be clear and attractive at a small size is something to remember the logo design process. Strategizing the color palette by making sure your package is not going to be placed next to a competitor’s with the same color on the shelf will also help.
Fear not! All is not lost. When researching Canadian brands I saw some creative solutions and opportunities that Canadian cannabis brands are taking advantage of in the digital brand experience.
Glancing at it, there is a small logo, product name, a choice of color, government provided “universal symbol” for cannabis, a white label with the technical information and a yellow label with warnings. Let’s take a look at each part.
“Universal Symbol” for a Cannabis Product

Just like the red sticker shaped like a stop sign with a weed leaf and THC on the bottom, New York has issued their own cannabis sticker. It is in 3 different layouts depending on how it will best fit your package. A half inch in width minimum. The symbol must be made conspicuous by printing the symbol on, or outlining the symbol with, a contrasting color
Yellow Label for Warnings
The warning label also seems to be similar. It has to be a bright yellow text box on the principal packaging display panel. If the label or package is yellow in color, the text box shall be offset with a distinctive border so as to differentiate it from the surrounding label or package.
White Label for Product Information
Just like the Canadian label, it is required to have a white background with black text, no smaller than 6-point font size. The fonts can be Times New Roman, Calibri, Arial, or Helvetica. Unlike the Canadian label, the checklist for the required information is a bit longer. You’ll need a barcode or QR code linked to a downloadable certificate of analysis, or linked to a website where the certificate of analysis can be downloaded.
No Candy, Neon, Bubble Font & Minimum Branding

The branding and marketing on the package is limited to one brand logo or name (wordmark) and one product name. These have size restrictions however, can be any font and color. There can not be any pictures or graphics. Take care with a logo design that is optimized for the size restrictions as well.
The most important regulation has to do with making your cannabis product appealing to children or persons under 21. This includes cartoons, bubble-type or other cartoon-like fonts, bright colors that are “neon” in appearance or any imitation or similarities of food, candy, soda, drinks, cookies, or cereal. This might mean that most cannabis brands in New York might for a pastel or earth toned pallet. Make sure you keep an eye on the competition on the shelves.
Canada Gets Creative Digitally
If you take a look at some of the online wholesalers, you’ll see these package designs on the ecommerce sites. But if you take a glance at the retailer’s own website there is a creative opportunity happening. The websites are age gated – users will testify that they are over the age of 21. So it looks like the website holds permission to enhance the design and marketing a touch more to differentiate over competitor products. Something that is almost impossible to do with the regulations.
These “normal” packaging designs are not over the top and they still avoid designs that avoid looking like candy or sweets, but they are expressing the flavors and brand emotions. I took note that images of the products and the rest of the website uses a mix of the regulated packaging design but also the “free range” design. This communicates to the customer that even though there is a beautiful package on the website, they should expect to see the regulated designs in dispensaries. It creates a connection in the consumer’s mind from web to store packaging. They are prompted to look for the colors and logos in the stores.

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