packaging as content

April 30, 2012

Can Within a Can

Another “Sack O’Sauce” can, but this image caught my interest because of the Droste-like self-referencing. (via: Small Works in Wool)

Does this represent the product’s actual label design? Or was it a clever shorthand image from some grocery store circular to simultaneously communicate the product in its opened and closed states. (A sort of Shrödinger’s can paradox.)

The thing is: the label’s design is really only effective from a very limited point of view. From a certain perspective (centered, 3/4 view from above) it’s as if we’re peering into a can which contains a shorter opened version of itself, and which, in turn, contains a bag of sauce. Seen from the side or from a lower perspective, of course, this illusion would be lost.

The idea of actually finding a can within a can, however, is apparently not so farfetched…

-Randy Ludacer

April 27, 2012

Remarkable New Food Packaging Invention

Led to this topic by Dan Goodsell’s rusty can of Oscar Mayer Wieners (on left) it turned out to be a different story than the one I thought I might tell.

At first I was thinking that it would be about orthographic graphic design in canned food labels.

Or maybe I’d compare its label design to the once popular: “Crown Roast of Frankfurters,” and give it an alliterative, Spiro Agnew style title like “Fifties Phalanx of Phallic Franks.” (As Jon Stewart has pointed out about the former Vice President’s name, “Spiro Agnew” is also an anagram for “grow a penis.”)

That was more or less the plan until I read about the later development, pictured on the right…

Sack-in-Can Package

A new food package, developed by GO Mayer, vice-president of Oscar Mayer & Co., of Madison, Wis., permits two foods of separate and distinct flavors to be packed in the same can without interchange of flavors. This has been utilized in canned wieners by putting a barbecue sauce-filled Pliofilm sack into a can of wieners. Blending of two separate food flavors during the canning process is prevented. Other ready-to-eat food combinations will soon be put up this way. The Pliofilm sack is heat sealed, after which it is air- and watertight and break-proof under normal handling conditions. Housewives can open the sack with scissors or a knife. Sauce and wieners can be heated together, or they can be heated separately and the sauce poured over the wieners.

Food Engineering (Volume 19) 1947

I knew that Pliofilm had been used in margarine color-packs, but this was news to me.

As wonderful an artifact as it is, Goodsell’s can must have seemed like a plain spinster aunt in comparison to this new and potent marketing mix of canned wieners with a patented sauce packet. Still mentioned in Oscar Mayer magazine ads, the plain brine version was relegated to a footnoted “also ran” status.

The glamorous young “Composite Food Package” was patented by none other than Oscar’s own brother, Gottfried O. Mayer…

Side bar: I’m very happy to see that the patent drawings above include additional orthographic views.

(Advertising, promotion, and modern art, after the fold…) (more…)

April 26, 2012

Package Eats Logo

Sometimes an illustrated open mouth, depicted on a package, is not a window, but a graphic device containing the product logo. Caveman Cookies and Snackle Mouth packages both have stacked logotypes contained in the gaping mouths of their illustrated characters. (Kristina Sacci designed and illustrated the packaging for Caveman Cookies; Nate Dyer of Moxie Sozo designed and illustrated the Snack Mouth packages.)

Package design for Fresh & Easy kids cereals (by P&W) uses a similar device, except that, along with the Fresh & Easy logo, the mouths contain additional typography.

(One more example, after the fold…) (more…)

April 25, 2012

Mouth-as-window: Package Eats Product

Top: Tequechongos!; 2nd row: Dusan Čežek’s Booster Engery 4-pack box; 3rd row: Design Herynek’s Adriana Mini-Pasta; bottom: Kanikko crab-shaped candy crab packaging

The 1971 ad for two discontinued Tootsie Roll products (Tootsie Tots & Tootsie Jesters ad from Gregg Koenig’s Flickr Photostream) reminded me that I’d been seeing more mouth-shaped windows on packages lately. Maybe now’s a good time for another round up.

Most of it’s food packaging, of course, but not all. As previously observed, when gaping mouths appear on packaging, they are not human mouths.

But seeing them all together, what’s really notable is that they are all illustrations. No photography.

I always liked the simplicity of seeing the product through a mouth-shaped window. As a consumer you’re invited to identify with the character (animal, monster, etc.) and imagine that product in your mouth.

There are also packages that open in mouth-like ways to dispense the product, but however clever these solutions, unless you’re a baby bird, there’s something off-putting about the idea of taking food from another mouth.

Colgate’s 2011 cross marketing effort to sell toothpaste from within a pizza box

Preston Grubbs (whose Spherical-Wedge Juice Packs we looked at last month) connects a chain of three boxes to form a puppet-like “S’mores” kit, in which the upper and lower boxes form a monster character’s mouth and the middle box serves as a sort of “serving suggestion.”

(A non-food monster pack example, after the fold…) (more…)

April 5, 2012

Postmodern Structural Packaging

If “form follows function” is a modernist idea, then using mock functional features as decorative elements is surely “postmodern.” Hence, the little Polar mixed fruit jar’s tiny useless lug handles may suggest old world tradition, but are in no way functional handles.

Similarly postmodern, are the bottles with mock, pitcher-style spouts like the Tropicana orange juice and Coombs Family Farms maple syrup jugs below.

Here, a pointed spout shape may point up the pourability of the bottle’s contents, but it is through the hole in the cap that the pouring actually happens.

I’m thinking there must be other examples.

–Randy Ludacer

April 2, 2012

Brands Make Ü Happy

Bliss Buter-Thompson’s observations about package design that seeks to evoke positive feelings with smiley faces (see: Kraft Macaroni and Cheese) reminded me of another persistent graphic design trend. The umlauted, sans-serif “U” as a happy face.

Gü, Frü—(now merged with Gü), pür, güd (designed by Baldwin&),  yogen früz, Fünf, jüni, men-ü… (the second dot of men-ü’s logo is an encircled ™, giving its happy face an unfortunate dead eye.)

This kind of anthropomorphic typography in package design also reads as an emoticon: (“The letters Ö and Ü can be seen as an emoticon, as the upright version of :O (meaning that one is surprised) and :D (meaning that one is very happy).”) If consumers can respond to this method of expressing emotion on their cell phones, then why wouldn’t they respond to it on packaging?

There are plenty of other brands, not pictured above, whose logo designers have also sought to get happy in this way. (Füd, Güd Füd,  Nü Car Rentals, Trüf Creative…)

Writer, Douglas Coupland has commented on this attraction to the umlauted Ü:

The idea that this particular character in this particular typeface is the most attractive seems to intentionally conflate typeface with happy face. In his 2003 novel, Hey, Nostradamus!, Coupland also wrote this sentence:

“But the Quails spoke only their own language, which had only one word, glü, with a jaunty, Ikea-like umlaut on the ü.”

For a completely different type of happy umlaut pack, also inspired by Coupland, see the Knotoryus Eastpak Artist Studio Bag, below. The logo is also featured on their Ü website.

(See Also: Douglas Coupland’s Plastic Bottle Sculptures)

–Randy Ludacer

March 29, 2012

Anthropomorphic Condiment Packaging

Photo of “Mr. Ketchup” from Inha Leex Hale ’s Flickr Photostream

I remember we featured an anthropomorphic jar of Miracle Whip manning a cash register back in 2009, but these European anthro-packs were brand new to me.

Amora and Calvé are both part of “the Hellmann’s worldwide brand family.” (See also: Our Family of Products)

Via: Global Packaging Gallery (Photo by Krissy Sauter)

Does this package design infringe on Bart Simpson’s trademark hairstyle? At any rate, the Calvé character has siblings and cousin’s as shown in the Amora commerical below…

(More anthropomorphic condiment, after the fold…) (more…)

March 28, 2012

Preston Grubbs’s Spherical Wedge Juice Packs

When I first saw these pictures of Preston Grubbs’s orange-colored, orange-shaped juice box concept, it reminded of other packages, designed to resemble their contents. (Or their origins.)

We’ve seen packages shaped like whole oranges and packages shaped like half an orange and, at first, what I thought I was seeing here were juice boxes shaped like an 1/8 of an orange. But that’s not right. The net bag contains 10 pieces. As if an orange were cut into 5 longitudinal, spherical wedge shaped pieces and the cut in half along the equator.

See also: Package as Skin, Packaging and Plastic Fruit and Terry’s Chocolate Oranges

–Randy Ludacer

March 26, 2012

Majestic Milk and Package Receiver

©2011 Ray Ludacer

I found this photo on my computer. It was from a batch of photos that my son took last year at a friend’s new (old) house.

When I was a kid growing up in Florida my parents used to have an insulated milk box in the driveway where the milkman delivered our milk, but I’d never heard of these built-in “milk and package receivers.” So I thought I should maybe look into it…

Here and there, you can find other photos of them online.

Upper left: from Kodamakitty’s Flicker Photostream; on right: from tjunedavis’s Flickr Photostream; lower left and lower right: from Albany (NY) Daily Photo

I also found the company’s 1927 product catalog…

“The Majestic Milk and Package Receiver makes it possible to receive milk, groceries and other parcels without going outside or opening a door of the house. Two cast iron frames and doors connected by an adjustable steel body are installed in the wall of the kitchen…

Both of the doors can be unlocked from the inside only. The delivery man deposits the articles in the Receiver from the outside. When he closes the outside door it locks automatically and can not be opened again until the latch is released by an extended chain on the inside, making the Receiver ready for further deliveries. The Majestic Receiver is inconspicuous, occupies no needed space and gives protection against weather, annoyance, theft and intrusion.”

Like “dumb waiters,” the Majestic Milk and Package Receiver was promoted as a replacement for people —(a “silent, automatic servant”)— in much the same way that rise of packaging also served to replace people. (See: Fallout Shelter Packaging)

The catalog’s photo-illustrations of the milkman delivering the milk outside and the woman in the kitchen receiving it through the wall, also calls to mind the Automat, another early 20th Century concept for avoiding unwanted human interactions.

(We look further into the Majestic Milk and Package Receiver, after the fold…)

(more…)

March 15, 2012

Dummy Packaging | Packaging Dummies

1. Dummy Packaging

“Dummy packages” are the prototypes that package designers make for clients wishing to evaluate a new package design, or as part of a proposal presentation to a store buyer. (Also known as: “mock ups” or “comps”)  Traditionally, these dummy packages are constructed by hand (scored, cut & folded) at a drawing table.

The commercial above for Life Cereal shows their version of this type of dummy package.

These days, the dummy packaging we make is increasingly digital dummy packaging. That is, simulated 3D product images now serve many of the same purposes that were once served only by traditional mock ups.

2. Packaging Dummies

Research for Tuesday’s “Packaging for Dummies” led me to discover Clinton Detweiler’s ventriloquist dummies made from cereal boxes. One of which happens to be a Life Cereal box.

Life and Total were the two cereal brands most frequently requested as puppets. Kix came in as a close third place. I made a good number of these that were sold during the ’80s. Then as some of you know, I offered cereal box puppets (moving mouth and eyes) again in 2009.

–Clinton Detweiler

I was sorry not to find any videos of these cereal box dummies in use.

(More dummy cereal box packaging, after the fold…) (more…)

March 7, 2012

Trix Cereal X-Ray Pack

About a year ago, we featured some package design by Mark Oliver, Inc. (above, left) that used actual-sized product photography of cereal to cover the outside of some Vita Crunch cereal boxes. Not just a photo of cereal in a bowl with milk, but a continuous, all-over pattern of cereal covering the front, tops and sides of each box. As if the boxes were transparent and we could see the contents inside. (See also: Packaging & What Lies Beneath)

“The client wanted to sell breakfast cereals priced at 99 cents each. The budget was tight and limited to process color. We made the product the hero. We laid it on scanners to record, used 3-D type to grab attention, and created distinctive, fun, colorful boxes that jump from the shelves.”

Later I saw this Trix Cereal packaging and realized that there had been an earlier precedent for this kind of X-ray package design for cereal.

Above: the introductory Trix ad from a 1956 issue of Life Magazine.

These earlier, rabbit-less Trix packages were a revelation to me… modern, in the same way that Jackson Pollack’s “allover” drip paintings were considered modern in  those days…

“Allover painting refers to a canvas covered in paint from edge to edge and from corner to corner, in which each area of the composition is given equal attention and significance. This is a radically different approach from modes of painting that offer specific focal points, such as the sitter’s face in the case of a portrait. With an allover composition, our eyes are invited to wander the canvas from the top to the bottom, following lines, shapes, and colors.”

Allover Painting, Museum of Modern Art

As a kid, I was convinced that I could correctly identify colors on black & white television. Perhaps it was advertising like this that gave me this idea. Above, is a screen shot from one of the earliest black & white TV commercials for Trix. The way they labeled the colors on screen (raspberry red, orange, lemon yellow) reminds me of Jasper Johns’ allover paintings from around the same time.

Below: Jubillee and False Start from 1959. (via: Flourishing Mirth)

(More Trix-ray vision, after the fold…) (more…)

March 4, 2012

Emotion in Packaging: Part 1, The Good

Continuing on the Packaging an Emotion theme, let’s explore the consumer products side of things.

One of the most important forces in consumer purchasing, emotion in packaging can be affected by all sorts of things–ranging from price, to form, to design theory and lastly the retail environment. The two types of emotion I want to talk about are literal emotion, where smiling characters or such smack you over the head with their idea; and secondly, perceived emotion, which is how the product makes you feel. Kraft happens to have an example of both with their Macaroni and Cheese line:

Created by the experts at Landor, the new Kraft Macaroni and Cheese package doesn’t use goofy characters, but insead highlights the singular noodle as the star.  Right away the upturned noodle unambiguously smiles at you from a round plane which makes one think of the familiar Smiley face.  The text headline “smmmile, it’s the cheesiest” actually *tells* you to smile, and why (mmmm).  It’s hard to be more literal than that, other than maybe borrow a page from the warning pictures on cigarettes.

Perceived  emotion then takes over.  The package graphics are simple, easy to understand, kid-like.

 In the standard box, the “noodle” type is reinforced four times; once in the graphic on the top, once on the spoon, once in the copy, and again on the base in the color band.  There is little way to accidently grab the wrong variety so the consumer is confident in their decision.  The colors are also appealing.  While comforting and familiar, the blue gradient also contrasts with the noodles making them stand out.  Also, the package structure is simple, recognizable and appropriate for the product size and use.

February 21, 2012

Packaging Typography

Packaging Typography: 3 kinds.

1. Letters made out of packages

The cover of Sunday’s NY Times magazine section featured some illustrated typography by Georgina Luck: letters made out of packages. Illustrating an article entitled, “How Companies Learn Your Secrets,” the entire illustration spells out “HEY! YOU’RE HAVING A BABY!”

Another example of a letter form made from different types of packaging is Richard Conn’s “R” made from crushed packaged from a 1998 show in London called “Cast of characters.” (via: All About Lettering)

2. Packaging shaped like letters

Since letters are are flat symbols, any packaging based on letter forms tends to be based primarily on the 3D block style typography. Viktoriya Gadomska’s Vitamin boxes (A–F) and the “MILK” carton by Julien De Repentigny & Gabriel Lefebvre are examples of this approach.

(3rd kind of Packaging Typography, after the fold…) (more…)

February 20, 2012

Stickney & Poor’s Spiral Peppersauce Bottle

One last thing before we wind up last week’s “spiral bottle” thread…

From 1884, Stickney & Poor’s patented bottle design for a hexagonal spiral glass bottle. Like many figural glass bottles of the time, the structural packaging concept trumps the graphic design…

“These bottles were neck labeled since labels could not adhere well to the lumpy body.”

via: Society for Historical Archaeology

The non-spiral neck portion was labeled like this…

(See also Dr. Fisch’s Bitters in which a figural, fish shaped bottle was labeled on the bottom.)

(Rufus Barrus Stickney’s design patent, after the fold…)

(more…)

February 14, 2012

Hearts & Packaging

Top left: Jamie Nash’s bee’s wings heart illustration for Lovely Honey; top center & 2nd row left: because olive oil is “heart healthy,” Soporte Comunicación’s package design for “Secret to Live” Olive Oil uses olive parts to make whole hearts (see also: The Incomplete Package); on right: Ralph Lauren “Love” perfume in its limited edition “Heart of Gold” bottle; lower right: Vanguard Creation’s faceted, heart-shaped bottle for Diesel’s “Loverdose”

Some heart-related packaging for Valentine’s Day. ♡

–Randy Ludacer

February 8, 2012

Rachel Perry Welty’s Miniature Packaging

Rachel Perry Welty’s artwork has sometimes involved the making of miniature folding cartons. Her commissioned work for Johnson & Johnson’s New York lobby (“Product” 2007) for example, features hundreds of miniature versions of their retail boxes, past and present.

February 6, 2012

Colbert’s SuperPack Pack

If I had just waited a few more weeks, I could have made Stephen Colbert’s SuperPack pack the centerpiece of last month’s post about Super PAC packaging.

Colbert recently announced (facetiously?) that Ben & Jerry’s was coming out with a limited edition “SuperPack Pack” of his “Americone Dream” flavor. Whether or not this is true, it pleases me to see the packaging implications of “Super PAC” come to the fore.

Americone Dream’s package design has already undergone a few iterations. An earlier version had a red & white striped flag background, rather than the Ben & Jerry’s new blue skies. The new “SuperPack” pack also appears to now have red, white & blue banners, festooned under the lid.

To my way of thinking, Colbert’s Super PAC (“Americans for a Better Tomorrow, Tomorrow”) is a brilliant piece of popular conceptual art. By legally forming a bona fide “Political Action Committee” with comedic rather than (strictly) political intentions, Colbert uses a similar stratagem to that of the “N.E. Thing Company”—artists who officially formed a corporation in 1966, hiring a corporate graphic designer to design their corporate logo, etc. and yet who had entirely non-corporate motivations for doing so.

Like N.E. Thing Co., Colbert used an existing legal entity (a Super PAC, in his case) as an opportunity to subvert and critique an institution while feigning participation. N.E. Thing attended trade shows and sent out corporate faxes. (The fax/facsimile was the latest thing in corporate communications in 1966, just as the Super PAC/Political Action Committee is the latest thing in political fund-raising in 2012.) Colbert ran faux political ads on television and tried (belatedly) to get on the ballot on the South Carolina Republican primary.

(A video of Colbert’s SuperPack pack announcement follows, after the fold…) (more…)