REPORT
TABLE OF CONTENT
1 INTRODUCTION.............................................. 3
1.1 Interpretation of the task................................. 5
1.2 Strategic Design................................................. 5
2 RESEARCH AND WORK PROCESS........... 6
2.1 Creative methods ...............................................7
2.2 Inspiration methods ........................................ 9
2.3 Analysis ............................................................... 9
2.4 Sketches............................................................. 10
2.5 Moodboards.......................................................12
3 DESIGN..............................................................15
3.1 Style/genre.........................................................16
3.2 Typography........................................................16
3.3 Colors.................................................................. 17
3.4 Composition, layout, grid...............................18
4 SELF EVALUATION.......................................20
5 SOURCES AND REFERENCES.................. 22
6 ATTACHMENT................................................ 25
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1 INTRODUCTION
Over these few weeks I have learned a lot about the branding process.
I have tested my skills within this area of graphic design.
I’ve been through a major part of this years curriculum - from idea development to final presentation.
I would say integration and consistency have been keywords in the back of my mind throughout the whole process.
I have gained knowledge about concept development, language of form, composition and color.
I’ve also learned a lot more about myself and how I work best, how to plan and execute an efficient work process.
I have also learned more about working in Adobe Creative Cloud, and am now working quite efficient in this software.
I guess practice makes perfect.
All in all, I’ve had a steep learning curve throughout the process,
and believe I have answered the questions in accordance with the requirements.
For more information regarding the specific learning activities, please take a look at my wordpress blog.
1.1 Interpretation of the task
1.2 Strategic Design
In this assignment we were supposed to design a logo and develop a
name for a dog food product.
The logo has to have a main visual and typography.
The target audience is of course dog owners. People who want the
best for their dogs, who care abut them. I believe all dog owners care
very much for their dogs, but if I must decrease my target audience
I will go for the newest dog owners, the ones who just got a dog. I
think these people will find it a bit hard to choose dog food – there
are so many brands out there! It is important for these people to
choose a good brand, that will be good for their dog.
Based on the assignment text, I think it is important that the main
visual of the logo does not get too detailed – the logo may be used in
pretty small sizes, and it is important that is still is readable.
We were also told to “test” the product, and get feedback from a
couple of people. This means that it is important for us that the
concept is understandable.
To attract the target audience I have to go for creative solutions. The
prodct must be eye-catching, and easy to recognize. It has to stand
out inbetween all the exsisting dog food brands. In addition to this,
the information has to be clear and easy to understand. Both the
brochures and packaging have to communicate well, and have clear
hierarchy so the target audience does not get confused.
My concept is in the name of the brand: Happytail. All of us know
that the tail reveals the dogs mood, and nothing is better than a
happy tail.
The concept is to focus on the dog itself: the food will be healthy, but
the main thought is that it will make your dog happy. It will be varied
and good, so the dog is not to get bored with it. The food wil give you
a happy tail – as simple as that.
The Happytail concept will be attracting the target group, as most of
the recent dog owners will not know what to buy, and will look for
something that is easy to understand.
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2.1 Creative methods
We got a couple of steps to follow for these exercises:
2.1.1 Logo
1. Exploration
Use sketching techniques to draw thumbnails and hand in your
thumbnails as scanned PDFs.
2 RESEARCH AND WORK PROCESS
2. Focus
Highlight three of the thumbnail ideas that you consider the best
options and state why. Hand in an A4 with visuals of the three
chosen thumbnails; include reasons for choosing each of these three
options.
3. Construction
Use sketching techniques and redraw ONE of your chosen concepts
until you’ve reached a conclusion on a successful logo. Hand in your
drawings as scanned PDFs.
4. Testing
Experiment more with your favorite options from Step 3 and ask
the opinion of a few people. Hand in examples of the logos shown to
people and write their feedback or opinion on each.
Reﬁnement
Choose your final design and execute it in Adobe Illustrator, along
with the name of the product. Hand in your final logo as an A4 PDF.
I have gone a lot back and forth between the three first steps in this
assignment. I started out with making a dog out of the first letter,
and ended up with something totally different.
I have made some illustrator sketches in addition to the guidelines. I
do not draw so well by hand, so I find it a lot better to make sketches
on my computer. I was very curious how the dog letter could look, so
I tried various versions of this in Illustrator.
2.1.2Brochure
1. Illustration of infographic
The brochure design and infographic illustration should work
together. Consider the format and style of your brochure and
illustrate an infographic using fictitious data (or you could do
research to get a better idea of actual statistics). The infographic
must display the nutritious benefit of your product to dogs. It should
contain the nutritional value, as compared to the necessary nutrition
intake of dogs. It must also give an indication of consumption per
size of dog. You may also add information of your choice that you
think is relevant.
2. Design of brochure
Design a brochure that introduces your product and includes
the infographic illustrated in Question 1. You can decide on the
information and format of your brochure. As a guideline, consider
a brochure of A4 (lying), folding to A5 (standing). You don’t have to
have more than four pages in your brochure (but it depends on your
design and style). You must base your brochure design on the design
of your logo. Thus, look at your logo and design a brochure that
complements and blends in with it.
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I did a lot of research on brochures, and looked for the use of color,
the formats and the layout in general. As we were recommended to
use A5 format, I chose this one, as this seemed like the cleanest way
to present the infographic. I did have some other ideas, that included
cutouts, but this got too cluttered too fast, and as the deadline was
approaching I decided to stick with the chosen standard format.
4. Presentation
Make a life-size mock-up of your final design and take photographs
of it. Remember that you can take more than one photo to show the
different angles and sides of the packaging. Here your presentation
skills are vital. How do you present the final mock-up in a photo to
reflect the true essence of your design?
2.1.3Packaging
In this part I tried following the steps, but always had Illustrator/
Indesign nearby. I made quick sketches here as well as on the paper.
This way, throughout the whole assignment, I have learned a lot
about the programs.
1. Exploration
Use sketching techniques to draw thumbnails and hand in your
thumbnails as scanned PDFs.
2. Brand integration
Choose one of your thumbnails and refine your design. Place it next
to your brochure and logo and see how you can merge your design
with the brand identity. Also, what fundamentals of the brand can
you draw from and use in your design?
Hand in a picture of your thumbnails, mock-ups, logo and brochure
together.
3. Design
Now design your packaging properly, using any design application
of your choice (or a combination of e.g. Photoshop, InDesign and
Illustrator). Export the flat design as a PDF.
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2.1.4Point of Sale
At this point I chose to go right in to Illustrator and Photoshop, and
made some quick sketches on paper along the way. I had gotten
some ideas already, as I knew this would come as a final step.
Throughout my creative process for the whole brand, I used the
SCAMPER method to develop my ideas.
I made some research beforehand, and noticed that many of the
Points of Sale in stores are made as big boxes or stands. However,
some of the designs were very creative and fun. I got really inspired
by this, and thought that it is now the time to make something out of
the box. Nothing ventured – nothing gained.
2.2 Inspiration methods
2.3 Analysis
I did some research online to get inspiration - you can see my
inspiration under chapter 2.5 Moodboards. I think I have found the
most inspiration in general searches for the specific product types;
these were most creative and clever in my opinion.
2.3.1Logo
I also went to the pet store nearby to see if there was something I
could be inspired by. Not much luck here, as most of the products
were found in my Internet research. I am aware of many brands
within dog food, so I guess I knew what to search for.
Existing solutions within dog food logos are in my opinion not so
clever, compare to the ones I found during my research on logos in
general.
The logos that communicated the product were a bit too busy, while
the “clean” logos, did not communicate what type of product this
was. Some logos were of course good as well.
Of all the general logos I found online, I was very fond of the ones
that used negative space, maybe this was something to try? They
looked timeless, and were really recognizable.
2.3.2Brochure
There are many good and informative brochures online. I have
noticed a very broad use of color – there are often used many colors
in the brochures/infographics. Some brochures are in my opinion
too cluttered, with too much colors and elements, while others are
very balanced. I guess balance will be the key here.
I have also noticed that many brochures (pet related) included real
life dog pictures.
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2.4 Sketches
2.3.3Packaging
2.4.1Logo
There are many creative solutions for dog food packaging. One thing
I have noticed here as well is the use of real life dog pictures. There
are often used many colors, but in a good way. I have also noticed
that sometime the logo and the rest of the packaging have pretty
different styles.
After making a lot of thumbnails I chose three sketches to work on.
Two of them had a dog instead of the first letter, and one of them
has a circle with a wagging tale in it as main visual. I liked all of these:
2.3.4Point of Sale
I noticed that many of the Points of Sale in stores are made as
standard large boxes or stands. However, some of the designs were
very creative and fun. These really catch attention and interest.
Few of these had selling phrases - the stands spoke for themselves
and the creativity was the thing that attracted customers. I got
really inspired by this, and thought that it is now the time to make
something out of the box. What is better than a really creative
point of sale for a new dog food brand? Nothing ventured – nothing
gained.
Please find some examples of existing solutions in chapter 2.5
Moodboards.
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The first two logos were very unique – I haven’t seen any dog logo
look like this. I was excited about the idea of playing with both text
and figure in one. On the other side, this logo could turn out a bit
childish and unprofessional.
My final three coices were: Ingenium (natural, quality in latin),
Amicus (best friend in latin) and Happytail (easy to understand for
my audience, name speaks for itself). I chose the last one, as this is
appropriate for my concept, ant fits best for the target group.
As my scanner was broken, I had to take pictures of my sketches and
combine them in a document.
2.4.2Brochure
After some work on these, I got exactly what I was afraid of:
something that looked like a kids drawing. I tried to make it work
with frames, different dogs, different typography etc. but could not
manage to make it work properly.
Here I started with the inside first. I made some illustrations for
the infographic, and found some text online. I then put all of this
together as the inside of my brochure. I experimented with colors
and placement. When the inside was finished I made the outside of
the brochure.
The third sketch I liked because of its simplicity and the negative
space. I personally think that these kinds of logos are often very
good. I was afraid of this one being too simple and boring, but with
color I think it really stands out and looks great.
I have gone back and forth on the colors of my brochure, and posted
some sketches on the forum. Here I got some tips and chose one of
my sketches to be the final brochure.
The comments I got were pretty much the same as I thought myself:
the dog logos were kind of unprofessional, and didn’t catch on,
though some of the people I talked to liked them. When they saw
the last sketch, this was definitely it: professional, clean and simple.
This logo communicates both product and a “happy feeling”. My test
audience would buy it at the store.
Since we were to develop the brand name as well, I experimented
with different names as well - what name woud attract my target
group?
After I had finished the packaging design, I also went back to the
brochure, and did some changes to make a more consistent brand
identity.
2.4.3Packaging
I drew up a couple of ideas, and tried out some of these in Illustrator.
I found my favorite pretty fast this time, and developed the
packaging. I was very pleased with the result right away, but did
some modifications to test if it could be even better. In the end I got
a good result, and a design that stands out from the rest.
2.4.4Point of Sale
As earlier mentioned I did not make a lot of good sketches for this
product, as I had some ideas beforehand. I guess all the work over
these last weeks had my right (creative) side of the brain working
full-time.
I was first playing around with the figures from my packaging, but
found this a bit dull as it looked too much like the packaging. I
eventually ended up with a point of sale that is an enlarged logo.
I have also played around with the idea of a large dog food packaging
as my Point of Sale, but this got to monotonous as the packaging
itself would be presented in the Point of Sale.
I used some creative methods with my original idea, and developed
my final result.
Please find the sketches for all the developed products attached.
I have made most of my sketches in Illustrator, due to the easy
change in color and placement of elements. This is, like I already
mentioned, a more efficient way to work for me.
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2.5 Moodboards
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3 DESIGN
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3.1 Style/genre
3.2 Typography
3.3 Colors
As always, I wanted to make something original. I wanted to limit
the number of colors, so the design would look clearer. In addition
to this, I did not want to use real life dogs; I wanted to make the
pictures as illustrations/figures. I think that this contributes to
recognition of the label, as well as a broader audience - the reader
would see a dog, not the dog.
I have used, among others, “Google fonts” to find the right fonts for
this assignment. I added the fonts in a collection, and then compared
them with each other and the rest of my design.
The first color I chose was for the logo. In order for the logo to look
as one, I only used one color here. I chose the orange color, as it
radiates warmth and happiness, which are exactly what that I want
my logo “Happytail” to be associated with. The shade is a bit dark and
not so radiant, for the color to be readable on both black and white.
The “wagging” figures are made in a tint of orange, to divert the
attention.
Even though I have made a lot of figures, I have manages to avoid the
childish appearance (which I did not want for this brand) I started
out with. I think all of the elements look professional, and the style is
consistent in all of the developed products.
I think this style goes very well with my target audience, everything
is easy to read and understand, and the figures are very selfexplainable. The design has a happy mood over it, and still looks
clean and not too playful. The ideas are original and a bit out of the
box, which I am very pleased with. I have also consulted a few people
in my target audience .who believed they would try out this eyecatching product if it was on the market.
The chosen fonts work very well with the design. I have managed
to find a rounded geometric sans-serif font that really compliments
the logo figure. This font is used in the logo, and the titles of my
products, in various sizes
The body text is a serif font, as this will be easier to read when small
and in a large block of text in a printed product. This is one of the
most rounded serif font I could find, and I think this goes well with
the title font and the rest of the design.
To read more about the font choices, please see the Brand Manual.
Going forward, with the brochure and packaging, I added a
complimentary color. At first I chose purple, in a dark shade. This
made the orange really stand out. After some thinking and forum
discussions I found out that this was a bit “too much”, and a bit
heavy. I needed to add in more white/light space.
For the Point of Sale I originally only used orange. This got a bit
much here as well, so I used white color on the shelves. This made
the whole thing, once again, less heavy. For the brochure holders I
used glass. This makes the Point of sale look a bit more exclusive,
and does not draw to much attention. In addition, this makes it
possible to see the down part of the brochure, and it is easy to see
if the holders are empty. I have played with the idea of making the
holders the same shape and design as the bottom of the brochure,
but I think the glass (with its texure) looks best and gives the eye a
break.
To read more about the color choices, please see the Brand Manual.
I found it a bit hard to find light colors that would go well with the
orange logo. Therefore, I chose to have a white background on the
brochure and packaging. In order for the designs to be pleasant
for the eye, I wanted to add another color. The original dark purple
shade made too much contrast with the white, and a lighter shade
did nor compliment the orange in the same way, so I added different
color instead – brown, one dark shade, and one light (tinted).
The brown color stands for stability and support, and is often the
color of the dog food itself. I think this is a great color to use in this
context. The dark shade of brown, which is used for the text and
some figures, works really well with the logo. The light (tinted), is
used for the lines and framing of text, works with all the colors,
and makes the design more balanced. The colors are also helping
emphasize the text.
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3.4 Composition, layout, grid
3.4.1Logo
I placed the figure over the text to make the logo “square”. I believe
this looks better than to have text on the side, because of the round
shape of the figure.
The negative space in the figure goes well for my chosen clear and
simple design. Personally, I am a fan of the use of negative space in
logos, as I think this makes a logo more recognizable, original and
noticeable.
3.4.2Brochure
As I mentioned earlier, the format of the brochure is A5, which folds
out to a landscape A4. This format is good for print, and is suitable
for a brochure (not to big or small). I also think that a standard
format is easy to read and divide into sequences.
Headings are framed with an orange figure, which also plays with
the negative space. The eye believes that the rest of the folded out
brochure makes a circle. I started with a regular square shape, to
make the titles stand out, but changed to a rounder shape to better
compliment the logo,
The brochure is divided into three sequences, where the title is a
simple question that is answered below. The first two pages are
divided, while the last two are connected for a bigger illustration.
This variation makes the design more interesting. The figure that
goes over two pages is also quite original, and communicates the
message in a good way.
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I have made frames around some of the text to make it stand out,
and to compliment the rest. I have also varied the alignment of text,
to make clearer sections and to make the design more eye-catching.
I have used negative space in the text as well (white text on colored
background), to compliment the logo design.
I have also added in some lines to section the design, both visible and
invisible (by rotating the text 90 degrees).
3.4.3Packaging
In the packaging design, I have enlarged the dog figure from my
brochure. I put a part of it on both sides – one side has the head
and the other side has the tail, as a frame. The tail repeats the logo
figure, compliments the brand identity and is making the design
consistent. The head looks a bit more abstract, which does not
take the attention from the tail. The figures make it look like there
are two dogs going around the package, this makes the packaging
carried out.
On the front of the design I have placed the most important
elements: the age mark, the flavor and the logo, which also is the
name of the food. I have broken up the text with figures of the
nutritional benefits – which are explained on the back side. On the
back side you also find the meal dose for your dog, the ingredients,
and the logo. The line in the middle separates two sections in an
elegant way. The ingredients list is in a small font (as there is a lot of
text), but is emphasized with a box.
All of the elements are places in the middle of the two dogs, which
works really well.
3.4.5Brand manual
3.4.4Point of Sale
The brand manual was the last product in this assignment. The
colors and typography were set, so the only thing to focus on was
the format and placement.
My Point of Sale is shaped like the logo. I think this really
compliments both the packaging and brochures, even though it is
different. I have not seen use of round shapes in my research, so I
thought this was an exciting idea.
I have chosen a A4 landscape format for the manual. I think this
goes well both with print and web/screen reading purposes. The A4
format is big enough for a lot of elements and text as well.
As the name of the brand originally is on the bottom of the logo, I
chose to do something different here. By placing the name of the
brand on top, it becomes more visible, and the products are lower
– easier to reach. In addition, I think that this adds a bit variation to
the brand.
I have sectioned the manual, and made a simple front page for each
section. I have put in an interactive table of content, page numbering
and headers for easy navigation and overview.
I have made a clean and simple layout, in the brand colors – I did not
want the layout of the manual taking attention from the content.
I have placed the shelves on the right side, going in a half circle so to
say. This compliments the roundness used in the brand identity.
The brochures are placed on the left side, in glass holders. These are
also placed in a half circle formation to compliment the rest of the
brand.
The Point of Sale is supposed to hang on the wall, but can also be
attached to a square background with a foot on the backside.
I made it quite open, with no “walls” around, for it to be able to be
seen from different angles. I think this also adds to the clean design.
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I think all of the work really paid of in this assignment. I am pleased
with the products:
4 SELF EVALUATION
•
The design is concistant, with strong concept. All of the products go well together and separately
•
The communication is good, the products fit well with the target audience.
•
The typography and colors are carefully selected and go well with the rest of the design.
•
The design is unique and creative - I believe the language of form and the use of negative space are to thank for that. The products look like “one of a kind”.
Even though I am pleased with my work, especially considering the
amount of time we had on this assignment, there is always room to
improve. For next time I will keep this in mind:
•
The brochure format could be made more interesting. I would really like to experiment with cut-out parts and different folding techniques.
•
The packaging could also be made more personal, perhaps an enitrely new and different packaging?
All in all, I could probably develop even more creative solutions, but I
think for this assignment, for this target group, and with this amount
of time, the final result is looking great.
As previously mentioned I believe I have finally mastered to work
efficient in the Adobe software programs. I am now able to work
pretty fast, and make my sketches right on the computer.
I am also better in the planning part, and I sucsessfully met my own
personal day-to-day deadlines.
Due to the efficient work process I had good time to write the
report, the report was established the first week, and I have worked
on it consistantly during the assignment.
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5.1Books
5.3 Other websites
Lerdahl, E. 2007. Slagkraft. Oslo: Gyldendal.
http://www.empower-yourself-with-color-psychology.com/colororange.html
Logo Design Workbook: A Hands-On Guide to Creating Logos,
Adams, S; Morioka, N; Stone, T. 2006, Rockport Publishers Inc.
5 SOURCES AND REFERENCES
David Dabner, Sheema Calvert, Anoki Casey. 2011. A Foundation
Course for Graphic Designers Working in Print, Moving Image and
Digital Media. England: Thames & Hudson
5.2Lynda.com
Designing a Logo with Nigel French
Foundations of Typography with Ina Saltz
Logo Design Techniques with Nigel French
Brand Building Basics with Lorrie Thomas Ross
http://www.empower-yourself-with-color-psychology.com/colorbrown.html
http://logofaves.com
http://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logo
http://www.pixeden.com/psd-mock-up-templates/psd-paper-bagmock-up-template-vol2
http://www.themeraid.com/freebies/a4-bifold-brochure-mockup/
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http://designshack.net/articles/inspiration/10-tips-for-designinglogos-that-dont-suck/
http://www.logokompaniet.no/logodesign/en-reise-i-logoenshulrom/
http://www.creativebloq.com/graphic-design/pro-guide-logodesign-21221
http://mashable.com/2014/04/30/logo-design-tips/
https://www.purinaone.com/dogs/what-is-balanced-nutrition
https://www.purinaone.com/ingredients
My dogs food packaging (used as text on the last pages)
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http://pixabay.com/en/dog-pet-friend-animal-silhouette-313609/
http://pixabay.com/en/paw-cat-orange-footprint-animal-296964/
http://pixabay.com/en/dentist-teeth-tooth-happy-smiling-158225/
http://pixabay.com/en/feces-faeces-stool-turd-poo-309859/
http://pixabay.com/en/scales-balance-weight-justice-311504/
Copyright information here: http://pixabay.com/en/service/terms/
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Scissors_%26_comb_
icon.png
Copyright information here: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/
by-sa/3.0/
http://downloadpsd.com/graphics/shelf-psd-mockups
6 ATTACHMENT
Sketches
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Just figuring out how to
balance your own diet can
be plenty difficult.
Are you getting enough calcium?
Drinking enough water every day?
Getting the vitamin everyone’s
talking about?
Lucky for you, feeding your dog
with just what he needs doesn’t
have to cause you any extra
headaches. Just by feeding him
the right pet food for his
lifestage, you’re giving him a
completely balanced diet.
Happytail
www.happytail.com
Dog Food
Happytail
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Nutrition guide
35
Just figuring out how to
balance your own diet can
be plenty difficult.
Are you getting enough calcium?
Drinking enough water every day?
Getting the vitamin everyone’s
talking about?
Lucky for you, feeding your dog
with just what he needs doesn’t
have to cause you any extra
headaches. Just by feeding him
the right pet food for his
lifestage, you’re giving him a
completely balanced diet.
Happytail
www.happytail.com
Dog Food
Happytail
36
Nutrition guide
37
Just figuring out how to
balance your own diet can
be plenty difficult.
Are you getting enough calcium?
Drinking enough water every day?
Getting the vitamin everyone’s
talking about?
Lucky for you, feeding your dog
with just what he needs doesn’t
have to cause you any extra
headaches. Just by feeding him
the right pet food for his
lifestage, you’re giving him a
completely balanced diet.
ADULT
Chicken flavoured
Dry food
Happytail
www.happytail.com
Happytail
Dog Food
Happytail
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Nutrition guide
Advanced nutrition for your dog´s
top 5 essential health needs
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Balanced
Palatable
Digestible
The nutrients are
present in the
correct proportions
Appealing
enough to
be eaten
Your pet is able to digest
the food and absorb the
nutrients
Complete
Safe
Provides adequate amounts of all
the required nutrients
Free of toxins or anything which could
harm a pet