packaging as content
Contact Box Vox
Packaging Songs
join our pack
Recent Comments
- Steve on Postmodern Structural Packaging
- Daniel on Remarkable New Food Packaging Invention
- Lynne on Majestic Milk and Package Receiver
- Daniel on Schaedler Pinwheel
- Daniel on The Trickle-Up Effect
- Zora Göschl on Postmodern Structural Packaging
- David Wilder on Packaging Puppets & Evangelical Ventriloquism
- Astronaut Water | cocinaymatematicas on Astronaut Water Revisited
- Justin on Pipe Shaped Bottle | Bottle Shaped Pipe
- Randy Ludacer on Astronaut Water Revisited
Recent Posts
Archives
- May 2012
- April 2012
- March 2012
- February 2012
- January 2012
- December 2011
- November 2011
- October 2011
- September 2011
- August 2011
- July 2011
- June 2011
- May 2011
- April 2011
- March 2011
- February 2011
- January 2011
- December 2010
- November 2010
- October 2010
- September 2010
- August 2010
- July 2010
- June 2010
- May 2010
- April 2010
- March 2010
- February 2010
- January 2010
- December 2009
- November 2009
- October 2009
- September 2009
- August 2009
- July 2009
- June 2009
- May 2009
- April 2009
- March 2009
- February 2009
- January 2009
- December 2008
- November 2008
- October 2008
- September 2008
- August 2008
- July 2008
- June 2008
- May 2008
- April 2008
- March 2008
- February 2008
- January 2008
- December 2007
- November 2007
- October 2007
- September 2007
February 28, 2011
Reeds Beach Vacation Rental
Now available for vacation rentals: our Summer beach house in Reeds Beach.
More information: here.
February 28, 2011
Ketchup & Catsup Bottles on the Vine
However you spell it (Ketchup or Catsup) their bottles sometimes aspire to become metaphors for what they contain.
The Heinz Ketchup ad on the left is part of the same advertising campaign that gave us the sliced tomato Ketchup bottle we featured last September.
The Hunt’s Catsup bottle above is shown growing on a vine—(from SA_Steve’s Flickr Photostream)—and as a tomato with a cap and a label on the right. (Photo from eBay)
See also
Packaged Water Towers
Consumer Packaged Goods Tattoos
Chris Von Szombathy
Sket One’s Anthro-Packs
Jar & Bottle Shaped Packets
Randy Ludacer
Beach Packaging Design
February 25, 2011
More Open Mouth Windows
Pearlfisher’s new packaging for The Natural Confectionery Company uses the same open-mouth-window idea that we’ve looked into before…
“The product window is now integrated as part of the dominant character—viewing the product inside pack through the character’s mouth.”
Here, as with other food packaging using this concept, it’s animals whose mouths we view the product through—rather than people. Why should this should be so?
For parents, struggling to teach their children not to chew with their mouths open, a package featuring a view of its product through a gaping human mouth might be deemed an unhelpful influence. In this context, animals—(even anthropomorphic animals)—somehow fare better.
(via: the dieline)
Randy Ludacer
Beach Packaging Design
February 24, 2011
Cross-Category Yogurt-Wristwatch Packaging
Nooka & Karim Rashid’s collaborative wristwatch called “Yogurt” (above) comes packaged in a cross-category food-pack. Not the first wristwatch packaged like food. Another brightly-colored silicone watch that we looked at in 2009 was the Too Late wristwatch, which came packaged in a small jar. (on right)
As with many cross-category packages, the conceptual connection between this wristwatch and creamy yogurt is pretty tenuous.
Their press release talks about: the synergies of “democratic design” and “universal language”—but I’m not sure how that leads to the idea of yogurt, the food. (Is it about “culture”?) Anyway, the Yogurt’s color choices are expressed as fruit-flavors à la early iMacs.
(Via: Lovely Package)
Launch video below:
Randy Ludacer
Beach Packaging Design
February 23, 2011
Kirsten Justesen’s Sculpture #2
Kirsten Justesen, Sculpture # 2, Ed.7, 1968
Kirsten Justesen’s 1968 Sculpture #2:
“It started with the cardboard box in 1968, Skulptur II. Basically, a sculpture is a plinth with a form on top — and it’s often a naked woman up there. My Skulptur II is a cardboard box with a black-and-white photograph of me inside. So it’s identical with the basic sculpture: the cardboard box is a plinth you can walk round, and there’s a woman in it without any clothes on. And what is more, it’s the artist who has entered into her own work. It can be folded up and it’s easy to transport. It is nothing less than the ideal sculpture…”
Kirsten Justesen interviewed by Malene Vest Hansen
On the one hand, the photo on the box-top of Sculpture #2 functions as a less-than-convincing form of trompe-l’œil, as if one might be fooled into thinking that there’s actually a woman curled up in this box.
On the other hand, Justesen was curled up in this box at one point (or a box like this) in order to take the photo. As with any orthographically-projecting package, the photo on the top of the box speaks to us about the box’s contents, but here there is misdirection. The box is presumably empty and the orthographic projection is of the box’s former contents.
Randy Ludacer
Beach Packaging Design
February 22, 2011
Doss Blockos: Self-Concealing Beer Bottles
Doss Blockos Beer: their six pack of concealed beer bottles alludes to something we’ve touched only peripherally: the moral turpitude of drinking in public.
(via: the dieline)
Randy Ludacer
Beach Packaging Design
February 21, 2011
Flat Bulb Box
From 2008: Joonhyun Kim’s “Flat Bulb”
As the era of incandescent light seems to be waning, Joonhyun Kim offers one last idea for an object that has long served as a symbol for ideas:
“I designed bulbs which would be disappeared that I felt like last time to design.”
Using the orthographic projection technique, the box shows an actual size diagram of its contents, but only from one familiar-looking angle. In another context—(a thicker, less flat box)—this diagram might seem deceptive, but the flatness of the box, combined with the product name help gets the idea across in a flash.
(Photos of Joonhyun Kim with his prototype, after the fold…)
February 18, 2011
Lamp Packaging / Packaging Lamp
1. Lamp Packaging: As a designer of polyhedral lamps, Tom Dixon is no slouch in the area of complex symmetries, but the packaging for his Etch Light (a deltoidal icositetrahedron) is a standard rectangular box.
In fact, the only polyhedral package for a Tom Dixon lamp that I’ve ever seen was the dodecahedron-shaped box for his discontinued “Star Light.”
The rectangluar box for the “Etch Light” was designed by Mind Design:
“We designed a functional packaging range and a series of different patterns for Tom Dixon’s new ‘Etch Light’. The first versions of this self-assembly lamp shades were launched in Milan as part of the Tom Dixon Factory. Respect to the Op-Art masters of the 60’s who designed even more complex graphic patterns without any help of a computer…”
2. Packaging Lamp: While the economic constraints of carton construction & shipping may have led Dixon away from polyhedral packaging for his own products, he has recently gone in the other direction and made polyhedral lamps from rectangular boxes.
His “Comet Lamp” (above right) was made from reconstructed Veuve Clicquot “DesignBoxes” as part of their “Out of The Box” promotion:
“I created the Comet lamp… while looking at the DesignBox and thinking of the technical complexity of the cardboard object with such a simple appearance. Think of the beauty of simple shapes, of the way in which the geometry is everywhere present in design, and then think of the natural progression of simple mathematical forms, from the cube to the square; this enables us as designers to create infinite possibilities by starting from the simplest point of departure! … A Comet lamp, beneficent and sparkling, like champagne, based on the universally attractive laws of geometry, from the starting point of a simple, well-made cardboard box”
(Both lamps in the light of day, after the fold…)
February 17, 2011
Beverage Brand & Body Image
The recent negative publicity surrounding the Fashion Week introduction of Diet Pepsi’s new “skinny” can design just goes to show how closely we identify with our product packaging. (See: Package as Metaphor—Body)
While it’s generally understood how photographs of emaciated fashion models might have a negative impact on a person’s body image, it’s surprising, perhaps, that a skinny soda can could be deemed a similarly harmful influence.
What did Diet Pepsi do to provoke such a backlash? It wasn’t that they used their new can shape to suggest that drinking Diet Pepsi might make a person skinnier, but in suggesting that their “slim, attractive new can” was an apt metaphor for “beautiful, confident women” in general.
The skinnier can shape is nothing new and has been in use overseas for a while. The Australian Coke can (above, right) is not a diet drink, but it has the same narrow shape. Its Coke-bottle-figure pictorial logo, however, has long been associated with a certain non-anorexic body type. (from: Roberta W.B.’s Flickr Photostream)
And diet product packages that emulate body types is also nothing new—as the 1963 Slim-Mates bottle, below, will attest. (from RoadsidePictures’ Flickr Photostream)
(See also: Damnation & Diet Delight and The Concept of Coke & Pepsi)
Randy Ludacer
Beach Packaging Design
February 16, 2011
Maker’s Mark Trademark
And speaking of bottles and drips…
Maker’s Mark is sold in squarish bottles which are sealed with red wax… Samuels’ wife, Marjorie “Margie” Samuels, gave the whisky its name, drew its label, and thought up the wax dipping that gives the bottle its distinctive look. It was introduced to the market in 1959.
Wikipedia entry on Maker’s Mark
Introduced in 1959 — trademarked in 1985 (below), in 2003 Maker’s Mark (above, left) sued Cuervo for violation of trademark due to Reserva tequila’s similar dripping red wax seal (above, right).
This lawsuit dragged on for seven years, but Maker’s Mark ultimately prevailed. (See: Maker’s Mark Trademark Wax Seal Is Affirmed)
How it is done:
(More about Maker’s Mark, after the fold…)
February 15, 2011
More Drips
More drip/droplet packaging. Following up on an earlier post about this trend, I’m seeing more examples…
1. Magic marker brand, Krink is doing the Absolut Vodka thing, on left—thereby making the connection between packaging drips and graffiti absolutely explicit. (via: PopSop)
2. The single golden drip featured on Moruba’s label design for Karey Olive Oil (center) is more an illustration of package contents and about as far from expressionistic graffiti style as you can get. Have to admire the astute typographic insight that enabled the designer to see the discreet teardrop that was always latent in that sideways “y.” (via: the dieline)
3. Mystery packs: I don’t know where I found the blue-yellow-red bath set bottles, on right. I have lost track of my source. (If anyone knows, please tell me; I don’t like making them anonymous.) The dripping paper collar loops that cover the caps and tuck-in are interesting. The connotations here (for dripping primary colors) seem to be more painterly—less “street art.”
(A video of the Krink/Absolut bottle, after the fold…)
February 14, 2011
Frack Pack
Saw Gasland on TV a while back, so I knew about “fracking” and how it had seriously contaminated drinking water here in the United States, but I didn’t know that Canada was thinking of competing with us in the area of flammable drinking water!
Goût de schiste (“Good Taste of Quebec Shale”) is Valérie L’italien’s concept for the commercialization of this particular type of firewater. (d’eau flambé?)
Turning the perceived flaw of flammability into a product feature, she brings us: packaged (flammable) water.
Done as a project for Sylvain Allard’s packaging class at UQAM, Professor Allard has this to say about the new beverage:
… after having promised the moon to oil and gas companies, our good government finds itself in trouble because of the negative reaction of Quebecers who fear the environmental consequences of shale gas. In fact, dramatic stories have been reported in some American states where groundwater got contaminated with the shale gas. Pictures of taps that ignite were shown in the media…
Never mind, we must move forward announced Minister Nathalie Normandeau hammering that shale gas must create wealth. She never explains how this wealth will eventually come back to us though. In fact, like all our natural resources, profits seem more a vision of the mind than a reality. But Nathalie seems convinced that people just don’t get it and that against all odds, her government has the mandate to go forward.
In my packaging class, we believe we have the real solution to increase the collective wealth. Because shale gas is likely to contaminate our groundwater, why resist the temptation to exploit the bonanza? Indeed, what may seem like a catastrophe could become a true treasure. I named the shale gas carbonated water developed by my student Valerie Italian. After Perrier and Sanpellegrino, we would have the Good Taste of Quebec Shale. This particular carbonated water would be available in several flavors and come with a match to burn the excess gas…
via: Packaging UQAM (Read the full story: here)
(See also: Toxic Trail Mix and Elizabeth Royte on Packaged Water)
Randy Ludacer
Beach Packaging Design
February 11, 2011
Joshua Casey’s Empty Package Paintings
Paintings of empty packages by Josh Casey…
This new collection of paintings is an extension my own background in package design and product illustration. It also pays tribute to my interest in antiquated objects and the empty vessels of mass consumption. These everyday objects were intended to be used and discarded but have miraculously survived and traveled through time like an ark, carrying nothing but bearing the patina and wear of its human contact and documenting the eroding landscape of the 20th century.
(A couple more of his paintings, after the fold…)
February 10, 2011
Tom Pfannerstill’s Trompe-l’oeil Packaging
Pfannerstill retrieves “trash” from the street and takes it into the studio where… He carefully and faithfully reproduces the object in wood and paint…
from Cumberland Gallery announcement:
‘Talking Trash’ With Tom Pfannerstill
In this context, when you see the word, “trash” — read: “packaging”.
(via: the MKTG Tumbler site)
(See also: Packaging Walk and Sergeech)
Randy Ludacer
Beach Packaging Design
February 9, 2011
The Jar Project
Sampling of works from The Jar Project… top left: “The Jar Project” by Damir Porobic (a Marshmallow Fluff jar containing a black & white laser copy of itself); top center: “Dried Maine Crab” by Michael Heiko; top right: “Watson, come here! I need more Dippity Doo!” by Jim Flahaven (Hair gel, tinsel, beads, fishing lures); 2nd row, left: “Nuts About Drupes” by Adriane Herman (Recipe, almonds and photo of shelf of Jars of nuts); 2nd row, right: Remnants from the "Burn Diaries" by Shoshannah White; 3rd row, left: “E.R.T.(Early Romance Test)” by Nicole Hogarty (Slime—water, glue, soap); 3rd row, center: “Recipes for Eating” by Lis Janes; 3rd row, right: “Tangled Map” by Jeff Woodbury (Dissected map); bottom row, left: “Chatwood” by Cat Jensen; bottom, center: “Gallery in a Jar” by Jane Sutherland; bottom, right: “Hermit Island, Maine” by Elliott Teel (Horlick's Malted Milk Jar with archival pigment print on Hahnemuhle Bamboo paper)
I learned about The Jar Project via Lisa Dahl’s participation. (Her “Larder” jar on the right contains houses similar to the houses in Suburban Export, only these are made specifically from can good labels.)
The brainchild of Portland-based artist Alex Sax, the Jar Project highlights the creative contributions of numerous local talents…
The jar is an emblem of an era when our lives moved at a slower pace and we had a stronger connection to nature, community and our sources of nourishment. Whether it is canned peaches, pickles, garlic, or tomato sauce, or marbles, pennies, seashells or gumdrops, the items in jars add richness and piquancy to our lives, and keep vibrant a pre-technological vision of human existence…
In Maine, artists, farmers, and citizens cohabitate, celebrating both the natural bounty and the human industry that defines the state, and valuing preservation, sustainability, community-supported agriculture and the arts. The Jar Project thrives on the spirit of Maine, enabling artists who have lived or spent time in Maine to preserve and present their work in this most relevant medium.
from The Jar Project site
Randy Ludacer
Beach Packaging Design
February 8, 2011
Lisa Dahl’s “Suburban Export”
Lisa Dahl at work (photo by Daniel Carlson from Daniel Carlson NYC’s Flickr Photostream): photo on right from Lisa Dahl Studio Blog
In the past, Lisa Dahl has constructed little houses from wood grained contact paper (Sub Prime) and security envelopes of financial institutions (Trickle Down). This time, the houses are to be made from recycled packaging:
Suburban Export is a paper sculpture series that uses lightweight household cardboard to create small houses, formed from a single template, which are then arranged into neighborhoods based on suburban development patterns. Using this recyclable material to create art humorously points to the never ending flow of products that run through our households — some of which we can reuse or recycle, most of which we throw away. The name of this series “Suburban Export” resulted from the realization that trash is the main commodity that comes out of the residential zones of our cities.
COAHSI’s 2011 Original Work Grantees
(Another photo of the neighborhood, after the fold…)
February 7, 2011
McSweeney’s Head Box
Recently spotted at Barnes & Nobel: Issue No. 36 of McSweeney’s Quarterly—a “head box” with illustrations by Matt Furie. (Note: Illustration on bottom of box shows that this is actually a severed head box.)
This package features the kind of orthographic graphic design we’ve discussed before, but usually it’s the contents of the box that are projected onto the side panels. Here, it’s more like a “serving suggestion” of what you might make of the box’s contents—(your head being the presumptive destination of the ideas contained).
But besides serving as a repository for literary contents, an orthographically projected head also makes a nice diagram to explain our human predisposition toward rectangular, Cartesian coordinates. With eyes facing forward, an ear on either side, it’s only natural we navigate the world in egocentric, rectangular directions: forward, backward, left, right, up, down.
In an earlier post about close-packing polyhedrons, I wondered why packaging so often seems to skew rectangular. Egocentric coordinates could be one explanation. Our skulls may be round, but our ideas are definitely square.
The video below shows what’s in the box.
(The sound track is: “Poodle in the Hen House”)
(See also: Skull Bottles and Our Family of Products)
Randy Ludacer
Beach Packaging Design
Kudos
Consumer/Culture
-
Rob Walker’s Design Observer Blog
-
The MKTG Tumblr Site
-
Justin Kirkwood's brand fiction site
-
The Unconsumption Tumblr Site
-
What did you buy today?
-
The Church of Stop Shopping
other pack-blogs
links
-
The Man Who Moved Manhattan
-
Belgian journalist, Tom Ronse's blog
-
-
