Choose a clear starting customer
Our recommendation is to begin with a customer and a use occasion, then select products that make sense together. A first collection does not need to represent every available category. Its job is to make your offer understandable and give each product a clear place within it.
Write a one-sentence range brief naming the species, intended customer and channel. A dog-focused range for specialist retail and a cat-focused online collection may need different explanations, formats and supporting material. These are planning choices to explore, not assumptions about what either market will buy.
Assign a distinct role to each candidate
Give each proposed product a short reason to exist before designing its label. That might be an everyday wellbeing role, a focused functional need or a different giving routine. Then describe the difference in language a buyer could repeat without reading a full ingredient table.
For example, a dog range might combine products for everyday wellbeing, mobility and dental care. Each has a distinct purpose. When two products serve a similar need, make their difference clear: the format, composition or way they fit into a daily routine.
Make a small comparison sheet
Use one row per proposed product. Keep the first version simple enough to discuss in a meeting. The aim is to reveal overlap and open decisions, not to create a score that pretends to predict sales.
- Role: what place will this product have in the collection?
- Customer and species: who is choosing it, and for which animal?
- Routine and format: how is it intended to be given?
- Product reference: which catalogue recipe or development brief is being reviewed?
- Decision still needed: what must be clarified before this item can move forward?
Create consistency without hiding differences
A common design system can connect the collection: consistent naming, a clear place for species and format, and a recognisable way to distinguish product needs. The useful test is whether someone can tell which product they are holding and why it differs from the one beside it.
Keep the exact formulation visible in your working documents. Two products can share a need while having different ingredient profiles or serving formats. A family resemblance on the shelf should make those choices easier to navigate. It should not encourage your team to treat separate recipes as interchangeable.
Separate the first collection from future ideas
Group your ideas by readiness: ready for specification review, requiring development or worth revisiting later. This helps you focus the first collection while keeping promising ideas for future launches.
Before committing to the collection, discuss the proposed quantities, packaging, artwork and commercial requirements for each selected product. Ask what can be shared across the range and what needs individual attention. Finish with a short list whose product roles you can explain, whose open questions are recorded and whose next decisions have owners.