Lovely Package
October 30, 2008 11:39 AM   Subscribe

 
This rocks. Wonder how it tastes?
posted by Mister_A at 11:47 AM on October 30, 2008


Not the lovely packages I was hoping to see. Can we have, like, a porn Wednesday?
posted by Astro Zombie at 11:50 AM on October 30, 2008 [1 favorite]


Wonderful link. Love these wine bottles, especially.
posted by May Kasahara at 11:51 AM on October 30, 2008


Astro Zombie, I was originally going to post the link without the site tag line. I thought that would lead to too much confusion.
posted by chunking express at 11:59 AM on October 30, 2008


Also, Tachen has a book about big penises. Maybe i'll make an FPP about that another day.
posted by chunking express at 12:00 PM on October 30, 2008


I was hoping for a packaging engineering blog, but it's really applied graphic design. Maybe next time.
posted by zamboni at 12:05 PM on October 30, 2008


Hey, aimless graduate student. Here's your thesis idea: Packaging as Product, How the Commodification of Brand turned the Container into the Contained.

Be sure to include references to Warhol's Campbell's soup art and one of the following post-modern philosophers: Lyotard, Derrida, or Baudrillard.

You're welcome.
posted by strangeleftydoublethink at 12:08 PM on October 30, 2008 [2 favorites]


When I remarked on my personal blog how much I liked this site, everyone pointed me to The DieLine, which is also very good and surprisingly there's virtually no overlap between the two.
posted by mathowie at 12:08 PM on October 30, 2008 [2 favorites]


Mister_A notes This rocks. Wonder how it tastes?

Not that great, not well enough to maintain market share. I should know, I worked on the in-store POP when they abandoned beer brewing and slapped the brand on an energy drink.

They were owned by MillerSAB and brewed by Steel Reserve, no idea who owns them now as their website is a overgrown, worthless flash funhouse that tell you nothing about the product, which in marketing terms means its perfect.
posted by MiltonRandKalman at 12:11 PM on October 30, 2008 [1 favorite]


I was hoping for a packaging engineering blog, but it's really applied graphic design. Maybe next time.

Nah, then you'd just end up with comment flamewars about whether it's called cardboard or corrugated.
posted by WinnipegDragon at 12:11 PM on October 30, 2008


My rule of thumb is that anything that uses fancy packaging is trying to make up for some deficit in the actual product. Disclaimer: I have used design as a factor in selecting wine and literature in the past and I only buy Apple computers.
posted by strangeleftydoublethink at 12:25 PM on October 30, 2008


The Dieline has the new Pepsi redesign (go ahead, I double dare you to say it), and its awful.

The logo is a joke, they have a logo variant for the diet for no apparent reason, the Mist has the Hulks veins all over it and Mtn(?) Dew 2 liter includes a screenshot of flying topographic map demo at the '77 SIGGRAPH conference.
posted by MiltonRandKalman at 12:30 PM on October 30, 2008


And, come on, hand-cut crisps (chips)? Finding a niche in a saturated market brings ridiculous results. Yes, I want to pay more for chips that were cut by hand, because, well, because, I want to know my chips were made risking the fingers of real humans, possibly young humans. I will enjoy them that much more.

Also, don't like that packaging. Many of those examples are already feeling overdone. Hand-cut, my ass. Show me video proof. Grumble, grumble.
posted by strangeleftydoublethink at 12:34 PM on October 30, 2008


i just started "getting into" packaging design (this is sad, I know), and this post + Matt's TheDieline link made me a happy camper. God bless MeFi.
posted by Optimus Chyme at 12:37 PM on October 30, 2008


That hand cut crisp one especially annoys me, since it's clearly a mock up and not an actual photo (logo changes to show back and front, but clearly pasted on the same bag photo).
posted by piratebowling at 12:39 PM on October 30, 2008


The hand crisp design annoys me because its over indulgent design, making it no better student work. If the problem is to convey to the audience the hand-made organic nature of the chips, that type treatment on back doesn't solve it, and the front is a failure too.

Now this is good design, I'm getting a reading of trying to say: inexpensive, solid, bold, friendly, conversational and no fuss. Its perfect example of problem -> solution, as all good design should be.
posted by MiltonRandKalman at 12:52 PM on October 30, 2008


Most of those are a bit pretentious. Sort of inbred graphic design like.

In my view, of course.
posted by krilli at 12:55 PM on October 30, 2008


Originally a jab at packaging engineers, but I guess it's equally relevant to graphic arts majors:

If you can't hack it, pack it.
posted by backseatpilot at 1:17 PM on October 30, 2008


This site is just going to intensify my tendency to buy stuff based on how lovely I find the packaging. I swear I can hear my wife sighing in exasperation from here.
posted by joelhunt at 1:45 PM on October 30, 2008


I love good design, and attractive packaging has swayed me on an embarrassing amount of purchases, but I'm not particularly swayed by many of the products here.

And, yeah, I agree that quite a few of them are pretentious. Including the Org Anic Han Dcu Trci Sps. Is there a name for the "hey check it out, it's Helvetica Bold on a solid background" school of design?
posted by Metroid Baby at 2:08 PM on October 30, 2008


A lot of these seem to be reaching for that unreachable star that is no name.

From a design perspective: Yay! No more noise and clutter! Clean! Bold! Simple!

In terms of branding, though: Is it really a good idea to imitate another brand, let alone the one brand specifically designed to be the single most bland and generic "imitation brand" of them all?
posted by Sys Rq at 2:18 PM on October 30, 2008


I have never look at Amstel Light or Pepsi Cans with such fondness.

The Dieline has the new Pepsi redesign

It looks like the design it self fell from a high shelf and mangled it self.
posted by SheMulp AKA Plus 1 at 3:36 PM on October 30, 2008


Story on the pepsi redesign
posted by MiltonRandKalman at 5:19 PM on October 30, 2008


Beset FPP in a dog's age. Thanks!
posted by Manhasset at 5:42 PM on October 30, 2008


The logo is a joke, they have a logo variant for the diet for no apparent reason

Ah... it's thinner. Seems like a pretty apparent reason to me.
posted by Manhasset at 5:46 PM on October 30, 2008


Pepsi redesign, or, one more nail in the gradients coffin.
posted by amuseDetachment at 5:50 PM on October 30, 2008


I'm not ashamed to say I've picked up a few bottles of House Wine based on the packaging alone. Thankfully, it's actually pretty good..
posted by schoolgirl report at 7:35 PM on October 30, 2008


This right here presses all of my aesthetic pleasure buttons. Look, bright colors! Superflat! Smooth lines! Tone-on-tone palettes!

Mind you, I think the flower icons on the middle carton were taken directly from a 70's-era coffee mug I have back at my parent's place. It's great, tho.
posted by LMGM at 8:05 PM on October 30, 2008


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