Three boxes of cannabis featuring the brand name POTheads set on a white background. They also feature stereotypical marijuana users, all with various types as pots as their heads.

POTheads

POTheads is a cannabis brand which aims to provide quality products packaged with a playful and punny twist.

Role

Package Design, Branding, Illustration

Timeline

February–April 2021

context

The growing legal cannabis market has bolstered the popularity of its consumption, however it continues to be taboo in certain circles. In response to lingering stigma, POTheads aims to offset and undermine the negative connotations cannabis consumption can carry by employing a distinct flavour of referential humour.

A close up of an illustration of a 1990s skater on cannabis packaging with a cooking pot for a head.
An orange repeating pattern featuring various pots such as cooking pots, teapots, and plant pots.
Cannabis packaging featuring the brand name POTheads and an illustration of a 1960s hippie with a plant pot for a head, set against an orange background.
Cannabis packaging featuring the brand name POTheads and an illustration of a 2010s hipster with a dutch oven pot for a head, set against a red background.
Three boxes of cannabis featuring the brand name POTheads set on a white background. They also feature stereotypical marijuana users, all with various types as pots as their heads.
Cannabis packaging featuring the brand name POTheads and an illustration of a 1990s skater with a cooking pot for a head, set against a blue background.
Cannabis joints scattered onto a white background that features the POTheads logo, consisting of a symbol of a pot and the word heads.
The side and back of the POTheads branded cannabis package.
Cannabis joints spilling out of a box onto a red background.

Illustrations

“Pothead” is a slang term for “a person who smokes marijuana, especially frequently” but a more playful, literal interpretation yields “somebody with a pot for a head”. These tongue-in-cheek illustrations satirize existing “pothead” tropes, including a 1960s hippie, a 1990s skater, and an early 2010s hipster.

A blue rough sketch of a 1960s hippie with a plant pot for a head.
Black and white lineart of the hippie with a plant pot head.
The final hippie-pothead illustration, consisting of the line art to its left cleaned up, with portions coloured in orange.
Part of the flat POTheads packaging featuring the illustration of a 1960s hippie with a plant pot for a head.
Part of the flat POTheads packaging featuring the illustration of a 1990s skater with a cooking pot for a head.
Part of the flat POTheads packaging featuring the illustration of a 2010s hipster with a dutch oven pot for a head.

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