PAULO FREITASProduct Designer + Engineer

COSTCO • PACKAGING • 2024

Branding and packaging for Costco's automotive product line

True Barrier nitrile glove packaging — medical-grade retail system
Role
Product Designer
Timeline
2023 – 2025
Team
xix3D
Skills
Packaging and brand systems, Retail craft at volume, Positioning through visual design

Proof

Packaging system

Medical-gradeClear count, size, and grade — trust at warehouse distance.
Heavy-duty / automotiveSame mark, darker system — food, home, auto, sanitary, painting, vet.
In contextShelf and lab presence without looking like a generic warehouse carton.

Problem

Kirkland Signature is known for value, but in the automotive aftermarket space, value alone doesn't build trust. The challenge was creating brand identity and packaging that positions Kirkland's automotive and technology products as credible competitors to specialist brands — while staying true to the straightforward, no-nonsense identity that Costco customers expect.

Process

I treated packaging as the product interface: grade, count, use, and trust have to read at warehouse distance. Medical and automotive variants share a mark and structure so the line feels like one brand, not a pile of white boxes.

Outcome

The final brand and packaging system bridges the gap between mass-market retail and the specialist automotive world — giving Kirkland products shelf presence and visual credibility that competes with brands charging significantly more, without losing the brand's identity as an accessible, high-quality option.

My role

Owned

  • Brand identity for Kirkland / True Barrier automotive and technology SKUs
  • Packaging system across medical-grade and heavy-duty / automotive variants
  • Shelf presence that competes with specialist brands without abandoning Costco's value read

Did not own

  • Product manufacturing and regulatory claims
  • Retail planogram and warehouse operations
  • Kirkland Signature master brand governance

Collaborators: xix3D, Costco / Kirkland Signature

Key decisions

Decision 1

Specialist-grade vs. warehouse-generic

Chose: Medical and automotive cues — shield, grade marks, use icons — so the box earns trust next to brands that charge more.

Rejected: A plain warehouse carton. Value without craft reads as cheap in a category where people buy on trust.

Decision 2

One pack vs. a SKU system

Chose: A family: medical-grade white/blue and heavy-duty black/blue, same mark, different job. The brand holds as the line expands.

Rejected: A one-off box. Costco lines don't stay at one SKU, and a single hero pack wouldn't survive the aisle.