Featured image for Cannabis Company Cresco Labs Hires Designer Scott Wilson

Cannabis Company Cresco Labs Hires Designer Scott Wilson

by Rudy Sanchez on 11/08/2018 | 2 Minute Read

One of the effects of legalizing cannabis is not only more societal acceptance but more commercial acceptance as well. The cannabis market could potentially rival that of the beer and wine market, growing to $47 billion within a decade. Unsurprisingly, as cannabis becomes a mainstream business, it was inevitable that it would attract some high-level design talent.

As first reported in Fast Company, after raising $100 million in private equity, Chicago-based Cresco Labs made a high-profile hire with bringing on Scott Wilson as Chief Experience Officer. Scott Wilson runs design firm MNML, and recently helmed design at Nike, as well as being a recipient of the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Award, one the country’s highest design honors

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As Chief Experience Officer, Wilson's task is to turn a new leaf when it comes to public perception with cannabis. For decades, it's been viewed as the domain of slackers, stoners and degenerates, despite its medicinal qualities and growing popularity among adults. Reframing and redesigning cannabis, from packaging to marketing, is a critical step in legitimizing the product for all consumers.

Much like wine or spirits, the packaging sets the stage for an experience with the product. It lends the brand and product credibility, instilling an assurance of quality and a promise of consistency in the mind of the consumer.

Cresco’s hire of Wilson not only sets a competitive bar, but it also helps lift a taboo for high-profile designers. Scott Wilson’s hire with a large cannabis company lends credence to the cannabis industry and opens opportunities for other talented designers in this fast-growing market segment, erasing some of the negative connotations that cannabis has long shouldered.

Elevating the cannabis experience from sandwich baggies to thoughtfully and creatively designed packaging gives the marijuana sector much-needed gravitas. How far Wilson and Cresco Labs can push cannabis towards the mainstream remains to be seen, but this is a promising development for legal and medical marijuana.