eBay’s Reusable Boxes

November 17th, 2010 by Julie Hill

San Francisco’s Office never fails to impress. Now they have created the happiest shipping box ever for eBay, to be sent to 100,000 eBay sellers, encouraging them to reuse the boxes.

From Lovely Package:
“According to eBay, if each box gets used five times, the program could protect nearly 4,000 trees, save 2.4 million gallons of water, and conserve enough electricity to power 49 homes for a year.

Designed by San Francisco-based Office, the boxes engage sellers by emphasizing potential benefits to the planet with friendly illustrations and copy. Tips for greener packing include finding “a new calling for old phone books.” A happy little bird asks, “Where to next?” And to track each box’s journey, there’s space to write a note so the next person to receive it can see just how far it’s come.

Each eBay Box is made with 100 percent recycled content, printed with water-based inks, and designed to require minimal tape. And once it reaches the end of its useful shipping life, it’s fully recyclable.”

Posted in Design, Thinking | 168 Comments »

Corn Flakes

June 16th, 2010 by Julie Hill

I don’t eat Corn Flakes. That being said, I LOVE CORN FLAKES.

YES I WOULD LIKE A HUCKLEBERRY HOUND FUN MASK PLEASE AND THANK YOU
Package design circa whenever Huckleberry Hound was popular

The rooster, Cornelius, has been the Corn Flakes mascot since 1958, and C-Flakes have been fairly consistent in their depiction of old Corny throughout the redesigns, the obligatory (unnecessary?) kid-friendly drawings notwithstanding.

cornflakes
Current American Packaging

How lovely is that? How timeless and not-for-kids? I love it. I love always noticing it in the sea of graphic insanity that is the breakfast aisle. I love it all except for the beveling. Why always with the beveling?? You are soooo close, Kellogg’s! So close to meeting a designer’s cereal dreams. Just uncheck that layer effect! It takes like one second!

Then again, considering that this is the same company who is capable of sending this to the shelf, I should probably just shut up and enjoy it while it lasts.

euroflakes
European Corn Flakes

Posted in Design | 140 Comments »

Tropicana, drink your heart out.

January 8th, 2010 by Julie Hill

New Minute Maid

I’m sure this will end up being a bigger deal than it should be because of what transpired last year with Tropicana’s epic redesign fail, but I thought I’d share a little behind the scenes look at Minute Maid’s new holistic global packaging redesign. It’s a cleaner refresh, but it’s honestly not that big of a stretch from where they currently are (aesthetically), at least to the U.S. consumer. What is smart is their approach to bring their synonymous global brands into the same redesign, making their whole lineup very cohesive.

The New Minute Maid Lineup

As far as the design goes, it’s an improvement, with subtle typeface updates, but it’s not a spectacular “new” design. What it is, is smart. A great billboarding effect at shelf is created as one package ends and another one starts with the same fruit, creating a seamless effect of fruit on all sides of the package. Pretty cool. Here’s a look behind the scenes. Let the “bigger deal than it should be” begin. Well played, Coca-Cola.

Posted in Design | 173 Comments »

Package Design Missteps: A Case Study OR Why My Heart Breaks

September 8th, 2009 by admin

I’m going to let you guys in on a little packaging saga I have been agonizing over for the past few years. First, let me preface by saying that I have a soft spot for any and all things Canadian. I don’t know why, I just do. Their accents and maple-leaf pennies just make my world dandy. So imagine how pleased I was when this appeared on shelves whilst I was in high school:

How cute! What refreshing, simple packaging! And I loved the drink itself, the subtle flavoring and over-the-top bubbliness made me think, “this is a grown-up pop”. Even the 2-liters were glass. But then after a while, this happened: (more…)

Posted in Design | 191 Comments »