The eye-catching color palette and the clean, high-contrast packaging design certainly catch your eye when you're shopping the beverage aisle, but have you ever actually read the label on a bottle of Energy Brand's Vitaminwater, a privately owned subsidiary of the Coca-Cola company? Lots of fun . . .
Chock full of breathtakingly well-designed packaging from a number of different CPG categories, like this private label brand of fruit jams for the upmarket UK grocery store Waitrose.
Take a look at the what was selected from over 800 entries sent in by package designers and retail branding firms from around the globe. Here's the link
That's what was discussed, explored, and pontificated about at the 2010 Fuse conference I attended recently in Chicago. The Fuse community brings together brand strategists, designers, creative directors, and trend forcasters from around the world (but mostly North America) for an annual three day conference, and at this year's event, as in years past, there was a big emphasis on shopper marketing and retail branding.
What made the biggest impression on me? It might have been the panel session in which marketers from Hershey, Kraft, General Mills, and Quaker gave their CPG perspective on the nexus between design and marketing: great packaging is the best marketing.
So accordingly, I drink Bourbon, not Scotch. And while Leslie was spot on in pointing out that beautiful packaging design from Gordon and Macphail, I couldn't help but feel it was a bit out of reach. I love high end design just as much as the next guy but I appreciate great branding for products that are accessible even more which is why I love these two Kentucky Bourbons.
Both are absolutely delicious and both have great branding and packaging. The Bulleit bottle has an oval shape with a classic look that reminds you of a flask and the raised glass lettering feels great in your hand and it almost makes you sad to throw away the bottle when the Bourbon is gone. The Basil Hayden's bottle, on the other hand, is a relatively standard circular bottle but the package gets a lot more interesting with the strong band around the center. It's a great visual tieback to the bands used to hold the aging barrels together, where that Bourbon stays for up to 8 years.
So if you haven't hit the lottery yet but want to keep your liquor interesting- you can't go wrong with either of these two.
Check out this new competition being put on by The Future Perfect design shop called Lift Hold Roll. The goal is to take an every day object and use one (or more) of them in an inspired way to make a new object. With a caster, pulley and clamp- the opportunities are endless. Whether it applies to our packaging design or a print ad- the creative process has to start somewhere, so we always love things like this.
I don't drink scotch. I don't like the taste of scotch. I don't like having a conversation with someone who has scotch on their breath. But I'm not sure I could refuse a drink that came in this box – and was poured out of this bottle. White hot packaging design and a strong shelf presence for Gordan & Macphail's single-malt Mortlock whiskey. Nicely done.
That's right. UK retailers have been pioneers in the private label branding wars which continue to erode the market share and brand recognition of big, heavily-advertised national brands. So it was no surprise when Selfridges, the fancy English department store, recently rolled out a new high-end food line. Here's what the agency responsible for the package design had to say:
"A re-branded food range that echo the store’s forward thinking and contemporary attitude towards retail. Although there were over 100 own brand products within the store it was somewhat unrecognisable and lacked shelf presence. Our approach was to create a range that was unique; that did not follow any traditional sector cues. Color coding everything black would make an incredible statement with only the type to reflect what was inside for example strawberry jam would have pink type. The typeface used was trade gothic range left and all the same point size across the range where possible. This ensured clarity and uniformity.”
I love vintage design. Especially when it comes to consumer goods packaging. And all graphic designers know that what was once vintage will come back around to be new again. Check out some old soda can designs collected by TheDieline.com. Mountain Dew has already brought back their vintage can design. Who will be next?
BMW has picked Jeff Koons to design the newest BMW Art Car for the programs 35th Anniversary. It's the ultimate in Packaging Design for the "ultimate driving machine". Art Cars have always been close to my heart because of my love for both cars and art and the combination has never been less than amazing. Jeff Koons has done some amazing work (check him out here) so it's a great move by BMW to pick him. I wish him well, but he will certainly have a hard time living up to my all time favorite Art Car by Roy Lichtenstein. I can't wait to see the results.
Hasbro, the makers of Monopoly, will be releasing a new circular version of the game to commemorate the 75th anniversary of its release. The new packaging design and shape is apparently an homage to one of the original prototypes built before the game was launched. This particular version does away with the cash system, though, and gives players cards and PIN numbers to automatically handle the banking.
Now if only I could bring myself to actually finish a whole game...
Potter, interior decorator, owner of wildly popular home furnishing and design stores bearing his name. Also head judge on "Top Design" (that new reality series on Bravo). Knows how to create the kind of fun sticky shelf candy that can't help but quickly fly off.
You'll find more of his his holiday designs at birdsong gregory's favorite product packaging website: dieline
This holiday season look beyond the standard wrapping paper when packaging up your gifts. New Japanese washi paper tape from happytape is a great way to get creative when sending packages or wrapping up festive treats for your favorite Charlotte graphic designer.
Clearly, there will be a special corner of hell set aside for whomever invented vacuum-sealed clamshell packaging.
Trying to remove your latest gadget from its transparent thermoformed polyvinyl chloride fortress can be compared to opening a can of food with a rock. It's an exercise in frustration, and by the time you're in, the contents might be damaged.
Shoppers are coming in to your store with a growing expectation that retailers and manufacturers toe the line when it comes to running a greener, less wasteful, and more environmentally conscious operation.
To that end, Tesco, a large British supermarket has launched a pilot program in several of its stores in which shoppers can, after checkout, shed any packaging they find excessive or unnecessary. Not only does Tesco recycle their shoppers' trash, but they are studying the results in order to help direct product manufacturers toward more efficient package design.
According to the company, common customer packaging complaints cited are the amount of plastic, cardboard, and foil used.
Read the full article here at the product design site dieline.
Starpack, the UK packaging industry's most prestigious awards, celebrates its 50th anniversary this year and has made their 2009 picks. Here at birdsong gregory, this had got to be one of our favorites
Winning the Gold for Best Drinks Design, this Jack Daniels perforated tin by Brown Forman is technically innovative and brilliantly executed. The partial vertical perforation of the body sidewall, gives a glimpse of the iconic Jack Daniels bottle inside, and features 9,000 perforated holes running from top to bottom. By only perforating half of the square container the design provides an ideal background for quality black print on the metallic surface, and the design is finished off with an embossed logo.
Three Starpack Awards (Gold, Silver, Bronze) are given within six categories: Brand Design, Food Design, Drinks Design, Health and Beauty Design, Household Design, and Luxury Product Design. Check 'em all out here.
A trademark is any phrase or symbol that functions as a brand, that is, it tells the public that there is a particular source or manufacturer for products or services (e.g., “Mattel” is a trademark for the toy company; the Apple logo is a trademark for the computer company). The scope of what can be a trademark is very broad — words, images, sounds and colors can all function as trademarks. Even packaging and promotional concepts for products or services can be protected as “trade dress,” which is another form of trademark rights (e.g., Apple’s iPod ads).
So North Carolina advertising agencies take note, trademarks must be distinctive, which means consumers recognize the mark as a designation of source, rather than just a phrase or decoration. Unfortunately, what makes a mark “strong” from a legal standpoint may be the opposite of what Charlotte graphic designers and their clients might think of as a strong mark. Under trademark law, marks that describe or suggest some feature of the goods or services are “weak.” For example, “Apple” would be a weak mark for a bakery that sells apple pies. Other food businesses would be able to use Apple marks without infringing the bakery’s trademark rights.
The strongest trademarks are made-up marks, or words or images that don’t suggest the goods or services. Xerox is a classic example of a made-up mark. Apple and the Apple logo for computers are also strong marks.
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