Carrier bags in Singapore, 1950s-’80s

Caught this at the National Museum of Singapore, more than just paper, glue and string… this was a virtual trip down memory lane of ‘cheena’ looking letter-press printed paperbags with their red and white twine carrier handles.

But whether paper or plastic, we certainly were no strangers to carrier bags; it was a common form of ‘convenient’ packaging and an alternative to the rattan basket.

The exhibition showcases 60 paper and plastic bags in the National Museum’s collection.

Together with contextual photos, the display highlights different uses of the ubiquitous carrier bag; its role as a mobile advertisement, and also shed light on the paper bag business in Singapore – a much forgotten trade that is still surviving today.

It runs from 19 December 2009 to 18 April 2010.

Museum exhibition panel - darn cool design

Pepsi New Logo – Smile if you love it

Arnell Design Agency, responsible for Pepsi’s new US$1 million brand identity rationalized their controversial ‘smiley’ redesign with a 27-page design brief entitled “Breathtaking”. It’s been said that the presentation reads like a scientific white paper, infused with psycho-marketingspeak (and what some sources define as unprecedented levels of highly creative BS). Comments Matt Casey of Bevnet.com , “Apparently, the gravitational pull of the sun, the Mona Lisa, the exponential growth of the universe, Earth’s magnetic field and Pepsi’s new logos all have something in common – at least if you believe the design agency that created it.”

Aaron Perry-Zucker of Fast Company Magazine (read article below) called it “branding lunacy… perpetrated by somebody calling himself a designer…  Every page of this document is more ridiculous than the last ending with a pseudo-scientific explanation of how Pepsi’s new branding identity will manifest it’s own gravitational pull.”

Equally critical was the L.A. Times: “Behold, then, the scattered and burning debris field of one of corporate America’s most misbegotten image makeovers… According to the brief, the new Pepsi logo lies along a trajectory of human consciousness that includes in its arc the Vastu Shastra, a 3,000-year-old Hindu architectural guide; Pythagoras (the Golden Section); the Roman architect Vitruvius; the Fibonacci series; Descartes; and Corbusier.”

So, what do you think?

Packaging design & Japanese font workshop: Sake Bottles!

Japanese rice wine, or sake labels have bold designs decorated with pictures of crashing waves, strong calligraphy letterings, gildings and whatnot. When you look closely at these sake labels, the designs are all so typically Japanese and there just seems to be a certain special feeling about it.

Absolut

By Sara Wilson

Absolut is the third largest international spirits brand in the world, shipping to 125 different markets, and is known throughout the world as being a premium vodka. But this is largely due to more than 20 years of creative marketing.

With the recent launches of Absolut Generations and Absolut Next Generation, the brand is paying tribute to art — one very essential value that has helped define the brand for nearly two decades and began with Andy Warhol.

In 1985, Andy Warhol admired the Absolut bottle so much that he was inspired to create one of his own. Dramatic and colorful, his creation became known as “ABSOLUT WARHOL.” It also signified the beginning of a beautiful relationship between Absolut and more than 600 artists, each one attempting to capture the spirit and essence of the brand. Inspired by Warhol’s original creation, ABSOLUT ART exhibitions recently appeared in Paris, New York and Stockholm. Meanwhile, the vodka brand has become nearly synonymous with art.

Cool Packs 3

Beatles Discography on Apple USB Drive

Cool Packs 2

Frisk

Designer: Mats Ottdal of Oslo, Norway does great cool design work – illustrations, sketches, typography, packaging design. Check him out!

Gelati Sky – Brand identity and packaging

Certainly not your standard ordinary ice-cream pack design; this Australian design has loads of visual inferences, symbolism and implications… a move away from ‘branded’ imaging.

Cool Packs 1

Beeline

Beeline - all the goodness of nature 'captured' in the simplicity of its packaging design..

A beautiful Honey Package made by Kym Abrams Design. North Lawndale Employment Network (NLEN) is a nonprofit organization that creates innovative employment initiatives in a distressed Chicago neighborhood.

Trademark and Tradedress in Product Package Design

Packaging Solutions

Packaging – The Folding Food Box

Sportlife pop-up packaging design by Chungdha

Packaging

Cd packaging design by Chungdha

8 Years of Great Mac OS X Box Design ends with a stock photo

By Jesus Diaz

Diaz rants in his cool article about the latest member to the Mac OS X box design family. He puts in in perspective and raises an interesting point about design consistency; do we need to see an image of a clouded snow leopard at all? Apple has always understood the power of semiotics – its all about perception. Maybe they were worried about consumers getting snow leopard mixed up with leopard? (Well… I did!) Then again, perhaps the packaging designers just ran out of suitable ‘X’ fonts!

iPhone killer – zunePhone ad

Cheeky!

Microsoft Re-Designs the Ipod Packaging

This has been around for sometime now, but its still worth a look.