packaging as content

February 13, 2008

Boss Lady

I embarrassed myself at the Gift Fair booth of Blue Q, the Massachusetts-based company, founded in 1988 by brothers, Seth and Mitch Nash. The dieline has already featured at least four different product lines from this company: Miso Pretty, Total Bitch, Wash Away Your Sins, and Mental Case.
I, however, totally blanked out on the fact that each of these very
different-looking products are from the same company. Mitch patiently
explained to me how their company uses different designers (in-house
and otherwise) for different projects. A little research turned up a
2005 interview of Mitch by Steven Heller about Blue Q’s working relationships with various designers (and other topics).

Haley Johnson is the designer,
illustrator and copywriter who is behind Blue Q’s “Boss Lady” brand.
Boss Lady has a hilarious, western dominatrix thing going on—(reminds
me a little of Barbara Stanwyck in The Big Valley)—and
really illustrates the importance of strong copy writing. In addition
to the illustration and graphic design, Haley wrote all the tough-gal, romance copy including such nuggets as “Send
Dry Lips Packing,” “Dig in you heels,” "crack the whip” and
“Drive a hard bargain”. Read what she has to say about the project after the jump…

(more to read a lots more pictures of Boss Lady packaging)

In an email Haley revealed some of the creative origins of “Boss Lady”…

I
referenced illustration of a certain type from Westerns to Pulp Fiction
in my attempt to master a style. The character is original. I had my
sister in mind as I created her. (My sister is not a cowgirl, but she
is bossy and she has a puffy hair-do!)

The copy was the result of finding a language that got directly to
the point. No need for flowery extras. All of the other graphic
elements are custom made also to support the spirit of the action and
invoke a feeling of quality and earthiness.