Packaging Design ...The Good...

Packaging design

Well, my definition of good package design would be something innovative, meaning conceptual. Whether thats something that would catch the consumers eye, like good label design , or the package itself is designed in such a manner that makes it useful or original. 

Conceptually I chose this Cider can design. Here, it's just simply a 

label design, but it possess a smart logo type. The first two letters of the word cider, spelled vertically makes an image of a smiley face winking at you. This alone, from a designers perspective would make me stop, acknowledge the product, and maybe buy it. 

Next, This concept for band-aid packaging, I think, is very  innovative. Like Joe has said in class, being eco-conscious is the trend right now. In order to eliminate the unnecessary waste generated by band-aid wrappers, here they use just one package for several band-aids. I would imagine they would have 1 package for several different sized band-aids. Otherwise, hopefully you only get small cuts. Now, considering this concept I don't know if this would fall under good design or poor design. You decide. Let me know. 

Here's the package for a DVD set, I guess of a season for the show House. Now if I saw this on the shelf I would totally be intrigued. The show is about a doctor...I think, and the case that the dvd set comes in mimics a blood pack. Totally awesome. Even the label has a medical look. I think this is another great example of innovative package design. And very conceptual. It incorporates elements of the show into the design of the package.

Good Poster Idea.

I came across these poster designs on the internet and thought that this would have been a good solve for the poster assignment we just had. Instead of searching for a good image to help tell the story, allow the negative space to do so. I saved these images a few days ago and can not find the source in which I found them. I forget if ti was for a newspaper, or magazine, or what, but the message is clear...read. It is a clever idea I wish I had saw it for inspiration while I was in the brainstorming (thumbnail) stages of our last project. And I could have use simpler images, or even just text, like they did, to tell the narrative of the story. 

I had a revolution.

I had a revolution.

For this new project (the film festival posters) I was going to do Quentin Tarantino films. After attempting a few ideas and concepts the designs were falling a little flat. Not really satisfied with what I was producing, I decided to rethink, and conceptualize other ideas for this project. Then, it hit me. I thought of doing politically charged movies. Particularly involving revolutions with in the movie (ie. V for Vendetta). I thought this MAY be a good idea. When I think of revolution I think of the propaganda posters from the early part of the 20th century during the poster war years. During this time Russia was ravaged by cilvil war. During this period of political trauma, a brief flowering of creative art in Russia had an international influence on 20th century graphic design. Russian artists absorbed cubism and futurism with amazing speed and then moved on to new innovations. Amazing propaganda posters were produced during this time. Being such a fan of Russian suprematism and constructivism, I thought it would be a fun challenge to try to apply this to my poster designs. I don't know what the end result is going to be, or if they're going to even come out the way I envision. But it would be a fun challenge none-the less. 

I would scan some of the photos that I'm going to use for inspiration but I don't have access to a scanner right now.  

On the topic of David Carson, 

I can't image anyone not knowing who he is. For all the type students in the class if you're not familiar with his work he can  be very inspiring. He has a very untraditional approach to type.

Sometimes I think about ow lucky he was. 

Carson never went to school, he was a surfer who would design. I think when he first began designing it was in his friends surf magazines. Using only the elements he had available to him. I think he would have to design spreads, or flyers, or something in that nature.

When photos were sent to him he would use the envelope it came in, tear it up, scan it, and incorporate i in his design. He would also use the stamp, whatever, anything to make the layout look interesting.

Since he didn't have any training he just did what he thought looked goo

d. Even if it was not conventional, and even if it broke all sorts of rules.

I know I have a designs and though, "Hmmm... this wont work because there's two san serifs" or, "Oh, this will not work because I'm not using a grid system". I think that shows how talented David Carson really was. He became a very successful designer based on the fact that he just designed based on what he thought looked good. And some how achieved successful designs that were interesting and aesthetically pleasing.

Here is some examples of his work: 

Here is a spread that I designed on/for David Carson. I was required to use him as inspiration (spread). :

Later on in his career, in a spread he designed for his magazine entitled Ray Gun, he was creating a spread for a musician, or author and he thought the content of the story was so boring that he chose dig-bats as the font for the spread. I was completely il

legible.

1st Critique

We just had our first critique yesterday and I was blown away by the caliber of everyones designs. Everyone in this course is very talented, and I think thats great. When there's a classroom full of talented, creative designers I think it forces everyone to kick up the quality of their own design just that much more. I can't wait for the next project. I enjoy Joe's teaching style and really appreciate his constructive criticism. My main objective is to come out of this class with at least 2 rockin' portfolio pieces. Hopefully it happens. I can't wait to see everyones posters.

Blog 1 - Stephan Sagmeister

Hello All, 

I'm not really sure if what i am about to blog about is necessarily what Joe wants, but I'm just going to go for it...

Stephan Sagmeister. Who's a fan? You either love him, or hate him.

Well... I shouldn't say that ... I'm kind of in the middle

There is some elements of is work that I really like, but I can't say I am a fan of all his designs.

Don't get me wrong, I totally respect what he does. And some of his ideas are really out-there which makes them memorable.

What I really enjoy about Sagmeister is his hand made type.

In his designs, you will never see traditional typefaces, he always creates his own type, either by writing it himself and incorporating it into his design, or by creating it out of objects such as french fries, duct tape, plants, or even carving words into his flesh.

He is innovative, and certainly thinks outside the box.

Sagmeister avoids anything corporate. And is truly original.

Although I can not say I am a fan of every one of his pieces, he is definitely a strong inspiration. He inspires me to step way from the computer, and take more of a hands on approach when it comes to design. And his work, to me is very memorable because it is so different from any other designer out there.

One of his craziest pieces is "Sagmeister on a Binge" I believe it was a self promotional poster that consist of two photos of Sagmeister, one where he had starved himself in which he looks very thin, and another photo of himself after he binged on a whole bunch of food and his stomach is swollen and he looks bloated. And of course the poster contains only his own, hand written type.

My First Blog (ever)

Hello Friends.

Test Test 1 2 3.