Packaging & Branding...

I love anything packaging related & this is not only packaging, but branding, too! I found this in Communication Arts magazine (Sept/Oct 2013) in the packaging section.

The designer is Elijah Schroeder (for Young & Laramore ad agency) and the client is Silver in the City. "Silver in the City, an unconventional gift store, needed help getting the attention of new customers not yet familiar with its 'jewelry, housewares and whatnot.' The branding assistance we provided included basic, but bold, package design that also functioned as out-of-home advertising."

They also worked on other items for them, including, packaging tape, boxes for their jewelry, bumper stickers, display cards, etc. All having the same "flair."

The final image I'm including is of their business cards. I like the way the only pop of color is on the top two people, that makes it "pop" even more!

Alex Fowkes - graphic designer, typographer, illustrator...

I ran across Alex Fowkes in Communication Arts Advertising Annual (Nov/Dec 2013) in the "Fresh" section. His bold typography was what first caught my eye. The second thing was his retro flair. Check out the colors on the images I've attached, and the layout, etc. and you'll see what I mean.

The second image has even been made to look older in the way the colors have muted out in places (like chipped paint, etc.). It makes me think of the old drive-in restaurant I used to go to in my home-town. 

The final image is part of a campaign he did for Fila - Japan for their spring/summer line of golf and tennis apparel. They "approached me to help them build a fun typographic campaign..."

Check out some of his other work at his website.

Branding...

I was looking at branding ideas for our most recent project in Graphic Design II & ran across these for Lovejoy Vodka. I found them in Communication Arts - 2008 Design Annual; designer, Jared Milam for his client Integrity Spirits. I was actually pretty impressed by such interesting designs for alcoholic beverages.

They even have pretty snazzy holiday packaging seen in the second image.

I'm not a drinker, but I do enjoy great packaging designs which is why I wanted to share these with you. Hope you enjoyed them!

Dallas Farmers Market

I found these in Communication Arts Advertising Annual (November/December 2013). At first look you think they are fries, skittles, a burger & ice cream. It takes a closer look to see what they really are - the more healthy alternative.

Carrots, beans, berries, tomatoes, peppers, mushrooms, apples, oranges & cherries all fresh and yummy looking!

These designs were done by Rick Thompson, illustrator at Firehouse ad agency, for Dallas Farmers Market.

Wrong Way?

I found these wonderful images in the new Communication Arts Advertising Annual 54 (November/December 2013). Lidan Ma is the designer for the Grey Group China Beijing ad agency, and the client is Garmin.

At first glance they just look like some kind of oddly designed new vehicles...then, when you look a little bit closer... Oh! I get it! 

Pretty cool way to get the "wrong way" idea across, isn't it. I was sucked right in! Then I started dissecting the images to try and figure out exactly where the images were flipped.

My favorite one is this fourth image. I absolutely love the way it looks flipped like this. It looks like some kind of hybrid Batmobile or something.

Pretty ingenious idea, don't you think? Something so simple, but it works so well. Thank you Linda Ma &  Garmin for taking peoples innate ability to get all turned around and turning it into a cool design.

Carry Out Menus

Since we are working on designing menus in Graphic Design II, I thought I would share a few of the Carry-Out Menus I have laying around. Remember this is just a few of many. Ha ha!

Most of you will recognize this first image; it's for Jimmy John's! I think this design works really well. It's 5x7.25 (not a standard size) and crammed full of information, but, I think it is an overall good design. They have a few fun additions, like the finger pointing, the star burst, and the playful way they put the prices at an angle. They also have a white with black ink version of this, but I prefer this one.

The second image is for Billy Barooz Pub & Grill. Some people don't even realize what GREAT food they have here (my favorite is the Monterey Burger). This is only the front of their carry-out menu. It is actually legal size, front & back, folded to 7x8.5. It's nothing fancy, only one color, but it has all of the pertinent information. 

The last one I'm sharing is kind of an odd size too. It's 11x6 and full color. It's for Fire Station Pizza (now called Fire House Pizza). If you thought Jimmy John's had a lot on theirs, take a look at this one! If they have to have all of this on here, I don't know if I could design it much better. You can read it and it has "Eye Catching" headings, although they're not really my style. 

Mick Brownfield - Illustrator

This week I decided to look at some more of one of the illustrators from our "Thinking Visually" book - Mick Brownfield.

The first image I have included is one that is actually in our book. It's called "Cocktail Bar". The image caught my eye partially because of the retro looking surrounding and her long purple gloves. I just really like the way the image is put together.

The second image I have is from his website. It was in his Advertising section. I thought that this was kind of different way to address the "free" aspect of advertising. He just simply puts it in the steam. But, you've got the starry night depicted there, & who wouldn't want a nice cup of warm cocoa (Ovaltine) before going to bed.

Most of you are too young to even know who W.C. Fields was, but, I loved this image. It's on a postcard series Brownfield did & I think it is a Great depiction of Fields. It captures his persona perfectly! Note the mask in the background is pretty much his face & not a disguise at all.

I included this one simply because I love just about everything snow related - sledding, snowmen.

Otto Storch - a blast from the past!

I was using one of my GDS books from last year (Meggs' History of Graphic Design) as reference for another class & decided to take a closer look at one of the designers. I got the first and fourth images from this book and the other two from the web.

I remember briefly going over Otto Storch, but couldn't remember much about him. So, here are some of his most well known pieces.

Storch was an art director at the Dell publishing house and then worked freelance for a period before going to work for McCall's magazine, where he was art director for almost fifteen years. This magazine was aimed at housewives, mostly.

You'll notice that he really liked doing the double page layout - with an image starting on one side and continuing across the other. I like this concept - it draws the eye from one point to the other. His designs were a little bit advanced for the more conservative magazine and he therefore resigned to concentrate on photography.

I really enjoy looking at this sandwich - It makes me think of an old cartoon called "Blondie". Her husband, Dagwood Bumstead, was constantly making sandwiches that looked like this. How on earth would you even get your mouth around it?

Then you have the last image. It looks like she's sleeping very comfortably, and the text is even bending with her on the page. A very clever design that I think works very well. 

If you're interested in more of his designs, just "google" him, there are a ton of blogs, pinterest boards, magazine articles, etc. about his career. He passed away in 1999 at the age of 86.

Pizza Boxes in C-U

 I just can't stay away from packaging designs! This week I thought I would share just a few of the local pizza box designs with you.

This first image (sorry the picture is so bad) is for the current Pizza Hut large pizza box. The only thing on the cover that points to Pizza hut is the logo superimposed on the mug. Otherwise, their logo isn't anywhere on the cover at all. This image immediately caught my eye due to the typography in the mug.

The second image is one of Domino's boxes. They tend to have a couple of different one's that they rotate between, but, this one is one of my favorites. Who doesn't like to do mazes. Haha! Plus it has so many interesting facts, too.

Who doesn't know the catch phrase "Better Ingredients, Better Pizza - Papa John's"? If you live in the C-U area you should! Papa John's has been using this box (or a variation of it) for quite some time. There's not really anything wrong with it, either.

Rosati's (sorry it has a receipt over it) is a bit more formal looking to me. It has an illustration of a neighborhood on it which gives it an inviting, "come see us" feel. 

Lastly, I've included Little Caesars. Their boxes have changed over the years, but one thing hasn't changed much at all - their logo. As far back as I can remember they've had their "Little Caesar guy" on their logo & I get a kick out of him. I don't know if it's the style he's drawn in or the personality they give him in their commercials. I just know I like him.

I know I've missed quite a few of the local pizza joints, but, I thought 5 were plenty. If you're still interested, just look up "champaign urbana pizza places" online - you won't be disappointed!

Fabulous Tissue Box Designs

This week I decided to go with something I find very necessary this time of year since I have allergies - the tissue box!

The first one's that I'm showing are for Kleenex and were done by a designer named Hiroko Sanders. I find these very playful & fun to look at. The designer also did another version of this for the flat, rectangular boxes, but I didn't include a picture of it. 

The second picture is of designs by Annie Chou and they are for Scotties tissues. These are in the "standard" shape, but have a more modern design to them that I find inviting.

The Looney Tunes box design is aimed more at youth, but I think it is a really fun idea. Who hasn't tried to make things out of a tissue box at some point in their life? This design is by Franco Creations.

The castle and dragon one's are just for the kid in me (those in my Illustration class know how much I love dragons). These were designed by Jared Moore. I think it's fun how they added color tissue paper to the boxes, when they were done using them, to look like flames coming out of the mouths.

I added this one to show you that sometimes they have design contests even for tissue boxes. You should check out the winners here.

Wee Society

I found these adorable images in the new Sept/Oct Communication Arts Design Annual 54. These are in the Integrated Branding Program section. 

"Wee Society creates playful, colorful experiences that bring parents and their kids closer together...uncontrollable giggles make the world better; our favorite color is rainbow; sharing stuff is good, but sharing experiences is way better...from the Wee Workshop."

 I love their new alphabet animals, they're not the same old "A - Apple, etc." Yes, they do have an Owl, Zebra, etc., but the way in which they illustrate them is unique and fun.

What kid wouldn't want one of these cute critters on their phone (I know I wouldn't mind having one on mine. Haha!)

The designers are: Rob Alexander & Chris Mann of Jason Schulte Design, San Francisco, CA.

I thought you might want to check out the Wee Society for yourself. Wee Society

Angie's Artisan Treats

I absolutely LOVE cool packaging designs & ideas! Plus, this is for Kettle Corn! YUM!!

These designs caught my eye because the images are different depending on the flavor. Here are three of their 4 designs at right.

Here is a close-up of the picture above the bowl on their "Classic Sweet & Salty" flavor. I wanted you to be able to see that each design has phrases in place of some of the kernels to add some fun to the design.

They even added icons to their "Goodness You'll Love" panel on the back. I don't know that it's necessary, but, I appreciate the effort they put into it.

I would be remiss if I didn't include the logo design, too.

The line "distinctly" changes from flavor to flavor. They went with "classic" on the Sweet & Salty; "sweetly" White Cheddar; "politely" Sweet & Spicy; and "uncommonly" Salted Caramel.

I found these in the Sept/Oct 2013, Design Annual 54, Communication Arts.

Designed by mono (Minneapolis, MN) ad agency.

Gretchen Wieshuber - Studio 2D

This week we were supposed to go to the Gallery Show for our homework, however, since I was sick I couldn't make it. Therefore, I looked some of the artists up online and ran across Gretchen's site. Since what she does is most like what I have been doing for the last 20 years, I was of course drawn to her portfolio.

I really liked these branding pages; the design, the colors, the flow from one piece to another. It works really well.

Then I checked out the rest of her on-line portfolio and ran across this fun item. Of course this grabbed my attention and I had to include it in my blog. How wonderful to have a bone shaped item with a picture of a dog and it be for a referring DVM item. Too cute.

I was lucky enough to have Gretchen for Typography I & II last year and just wanted to share some of her designs with you.

Here's her website: Studio 2d

CBS Classic Shows

I was looking at the winners of the 2013 Communication Arts Annual design contest and ran across these in the poster category.

These designs, by Ty Mattson, are very simplistic, but grasp the ideal of the shows perfectly.

I have seen every one of these shows and can honestly say that I loved them all. They are from top left; I Love Lucy, Magnum P.I., Gilligan's Island, Lost In Space, and Mary Tyler Moore.

Williams-Sonoma Packaging

These are packaging designs that I found in the July/August 2013 issue of Communication Arts.

I liked the old fashioned feel that they had, and the color palette that was used. They make me think of Christmas time.

The End!

I wanted to share this for my last blog of the class. It is a humorously designed bookend. I can't find the designers' name anywhere, but the brand is Goodwin & Goodwin. It was designed and manufactured in the UK.

Enjoy your summer & I'll see some of you next semester!