Magnum just launched two new ice cream bars — La Pistache and La Pêche — and treated the packaging like a fashion house would treat a runway collection. Working with London branding studio Sunhouse, they built the entire visual system around what they’re calling The House of Magnum, a concept that sounds like marketing speak until you see how thoroughly they committed to it.
Magnum Ice Cream Packaging as Couture
Each box is anchored by a cocoa base tone with green or orange accents that correspond directly to the flavor inside. The back panel features a cracked-chocolate texture meant to evoke flowing fabric, and the front includes a layered diagram breaking down taste and texture directly on the pack. It’s not minimal, and it’s not apologetic about that. The design leans into theatricality — the kind that premium ice cream can actually support if the execution is disciplined.
Sunhouse partner Sally Knapton described the challenge plainly: the packaging has to work on shelf, in hand, on camera, and in the split-second scroll, all without losing the couture feel at any scale. That’s the brief most consumer brands live with now, especially in food and beverage, where the product has to perform in a bodega cooler and on a carousel post with equal clarity. Most solve it by flattening everything into one safe middle ground — a logo, a hero image, maybe a subtle gradient. Magnum did the opposite. They leaned into detail and structure, trusting that specificity would hold up better than restraint.
Ice Cream Brand Design That Earns the Premium
The decision to treat ice cream packaging like couture isn’t new, but it’s rarely this literal. Magnum has always positioned itself at the premium end of the freezer aisle, but premium is a claim that has to be earned visually every time. A gold foil logo isn’t enough anymore. Consumers know what luxury branding looks like across categories, and they’ve learned to spot when it’s decorative versus when it’s systemic. This packaging is systemic. The color palette, the texture work, the typographic hierarchy, the diagram — it all points in the same direction. It reads as considered, not decorated.
There’s also something smart about putting the flavor breakdown directly on the pack. It’s informational, but it doubles as a design element. It gives the consumer something to look at beyond the product shot, and it reinforces the idea that this bar was designed, not just manufactured. That’s the gap between commodity and brand.
The cracked-chocolate texture is the detail that sells it. It’s a small move — most people won’t consciously register it — but it adds tactile credibility to a product you can’t touch through the package. It’s the kind of thing a fashion designer would do: give the eye something to anchor on that suggests craftsmanship even when the format is mass-produced.
Packaging Design That Works Across Contexts
What Sunhouse got right is that the design doesn’t collapse when you shrink it down or blow it up. The structure holds. That’s harder than it sounds. A lot of packaging that looks elegant in a mockup falls apart on a phone screen or under grocery store lighting. Magnum’s system works because the hierarchy is clear and the color palette does most of the work. You don’t need to read the type to know which flavor you’re looking at, and you don’t need perfect lighting to register the premium positioning.
The House of Magnum framework also gives them room to expand. Once you’ve established the language — cocoa tones, flavor accents, texture as fabric, layered diagrams — you can apply it to new flavors without starting from scratch every time. That’s good branding. It’s a system that can grow without losing coherence, and it doesn’t rely on a single hero image or tagline to do all the lifting. The design itself is the idea.
Enjoyed this? Subscribe to our newsletter.
