Type Exploration

I found this awesome “Soy Mamelle” soy milk packaging on www.beautifullife.info. This package was designed by the Russian brand agency KIAN for the soy milk called “Soy Mamelle”. The concept of the package is to resemble the udders of a cow giving the consumer the idea that this soy milk product is just like regular milk (a concern of many new soy milk drinkers.) The tag of the container as well as the green color used on the product also sends the message to the consumer that it is an all natural product. 

According to the post about this product packaging this product is available in two different sizes. An individual sized bottle made out of glass and a family size bottle that is made of a type of natural latex. 

I think this package is not only interesting and and eye-catching with its unique shape, but it is conceptually well developed giving a great idea of what the consumer should expect.

I found these type heavy potato chip bags on lovelypackage.com. They are Hairy Bikers Potato Crisps designed by Here. The design is very simple, with fun & different colors than normally used on chip bags. I also find the touch of foil is a great attribute to create visual interest. 

The same font, Bureau Grot, is used on each bag, adding to the continuity, as well as similar placement of words and use of bolds, italics or outlines. 

The unique design is very inviting to the unique flavors of the potato crisps.

Another fantastic juice box design! These juice boxes are designed by Naoto Fukasawa, a Japanese industrial designer. There is a series of different flavors with the packaging having the look and feel of the flavor it contains. I enjoy the obviousness to the packaging. There is no doubt what flavor to expect when drinking there. My personal favorite would be the kiwi design. The brown color and texture makes the juice box appear as if it were actually constructed out of the sin of a kiwi. This packaging concept can appeal to both children and adults. The children will enjoy the textures, the colors and that it looks like a fruit, plus what kid has ever turned down a juice box? Adults will be attracted to the real life look to the juice boxes because I know that I personally would feel that it is healthy and great juice. It will look and feel like you are sucking the juices straight out of the fruit. 

There is not much to the design typographically, however, which leads the consumer wondering, id this 100% juice? What ingredients does this contain? The banana flavor does have a logo that resembles a produce sticker that I find to be a fun little aspect to the design. 

I found this hot sauce packaging designed by Michael Freimuth or Azita’s Almost-All-American Hot Sauce on Lovelypackage.com, and found it to be such a unique design of a hot sauce bottle. Hot sauce packaging tends to be rather similar in shape with various different labels, but these bottles break the mold with lame-like shape and use of typography. According to the site’s article about this packaging “The designs for each is language literally pulled from conversations with Azita and are indicative of the talkative, expressive nature of the chef and her recipes.” (Lovelypackage.com) This aspect to the design drew me even more to them because not only is the design of the bottles unique and eye catching, but there is also an element of self branding for the chef who created these sauces. 

This penguin juice box, from Jeksel is such a cute and creative packaging idea that is great for kids! (Heck, I’d buy it to drink too just because the packaging is that cute). Without changing the basic shape of a juice box, and using the same folds, just not completely compact in to a rectangle, this juice box comes alive! (Figuratively, of course!) This penguin themed juice box package is a successful design and great for getting a kids attention.

Designed by Soon Mo Kang, titled Hang Me Some Tea, is one of the most fun treatments to tea packaging I’ve ever seen. When completely in its packaging, the tea bags look like “tea”shirts hanging in a closet. Then a tea bag can be removed from the “closet” and hung on the rim of your cup for a fun and cute new look to drinking tea. Each type of tea is color-coded by the cute little hangers for easy to find flavor choices, just like a well organized closet. I think this is a very creative and different way to approach packaging of tea with a fun opportunity to use a great play on words- “Tea”-Shirts! 

A clean a simple design, Kleenex’s “Slice of Summer” tissue boxes were introduced in 2009 and took Best of the Show of Pentawards in 2009. 

With a unique shape compared to traditional rectangular or square shaped tissue boxes, Kleenex’s “Slice of Summer” has a fresh and summer look to them that will brighten any room. 

I personally always shop for a tissue box that will blend in with the decor of a room, for example in my bathroom I always look for a beach-like pattern or design and in my bedroom and more neutral pattern that will blend in. These boxes however are a decoration in themselves for summer! They have a look that gives a fun and freshness to room in a tasteful and mature manner, and really makes me want some tasty fruit!

YouTheDesigner- Graphic Design Blog has a ton of interesting blogs for designers to check out. To go along with my interest in unique product packaging, they also have a great post called “30 Bizarre and Creative Packaging Design Examples.” Through this blog I found this little gem! It’s a Pop-up Popcorn package. How creative! Designed by Packlab from Finland. With an origami aesthetic, this packaging has dual purposes and both packaging and bowl for the popcorn- and I just love multiple use packaging! It is not just economically resourceful, but also great for us lazy popcorn eater who don’t want to wash the bowl after! 

Designed by Tommaso Ceschi, this dual packaging product can be used for the cleaning product inside, and also as dumb-bells! The idea behind a “Mr. Clean” cleaning product in the shape of an actual dumb-bell is to encourage strength. “Mr. Clean” himself is a strong man appearing on his products, but now is encouraging his users to be strong as well. The packaging not only helps Mr. Clean to stand out against his competing products but also has multiple functions! The dumb-bells not only function when full, but once used and be reused again by being refilled with sand or water. The packaging not only encourages exercise (something that should be very encouraged) but also is reusable, which is something many people look for today in efforts to go green!

I truly enjoy this packaging for its multipurpose use. I, myself have worked out with large bottles of laundry detergent when there is nothing else around, and I am always looking for more ways to be more resourceful with spending less and wasting less, and this product packaging of a Mr. Clean dumb-bell is perfect for that.

My initial goal of this blog is to show off and discuss unique packaging design that I come across in daily life or at least in person, but while using the blog browser called StumbleUpon.com I came across some packaging that I could not pass up on posting. For those who do not know the concept of StumbleUpon.com, it is a website that with a click of the mouse, StumbleUpon finds a randomly selected blog that is directed towards the users interests. Since my interests, along with many others, include design, they brought me to this: 30 Bizarre and Creative Packaging Design Examples; published on YouTheDesigner.com.

Among 30 different examples of very unique packaging designs, I knew that this one had to be my first post for my Type Exploration blog for Typography II. 

Designed by Julien De Repentigny and made in collaboration with Gabriel Lefebvre, this milk carton was an experimental packaging design. Julien De Rependtigny’s description of this project was that this is an “experiment in cardboard packaging as well as in communication. It represents the content of the product in the simplest way, both through word and image. The packaging is the same dimension as a 2 liter milk carton.” 

I was personally drawn to this package design above 29 other very interesting designs featured, because it uses typography so uniquely as words, imagery, and a utilitarian way. The typography IS the package. The white conveys a clean and modern look, while conceptually describes milk. The use of a Sans Serif type also gives the carton a clean and modern look that would not be achieved if a Serif or Script type were used. The proportionate size comparable to an actual 2 liter carton of milk would also not be visually as obvious if another typeface were used. 

This package design was, however, an experimental design by Julien De Repentigny, and not a client based design, but none-the-less and extremely interesting and unique packaging design that I find absolutely delightful.