Package Design - Kefalonia Fisheries by Mousegraphics

I have mentioned several times the wonderful Greek studio Mousegraphics. Every design they release is simple, fresh and yet so memerable because of 1) the concept they put behind it, 2) their attention to detail. This sleeve label for fresh fish seems simple, but I love how inside the packaging the fish is fresh, while the label shows it already cooked and covered with drops of sauce. "A differentiating band, on an otherwise transparent packaging, offers much more than the image of a serving suggestion. It works like an x-ray image of a pure product of Greek nature, as well as a preview of the particular culinary experience, the moment just -before-eating, when a fish is opened and all fine smells and juices are liberated."
Brilliant.

Polish Design - Jami Jami packaging by Krzysztof Zdunkiewicz

Original package design concept by Polish designer Krzysztof Zdunkiewicz.
via Łowcy Dizajnu

Kiel Mead - Birdie Light

I have seen lamps made of many many things (i.e. the one made of Bic pens I wrote about recently), but this one by Kiel Mead - made out of badminton birdie / shuttlecock - is definitely surprising... More and more I catch myself looking around, spotting objects suitable to be transformed into lamp. And I'm on a lamp-hunt at the moment (to my freshly renovated kitchen), so it may result in something interesting.

Soft Nugat Packaging

Maria Stylianaki is a graphic designer from Greece (island of Crete) and she just sent us her packaging for A new product line from Cretamel a family owned confectionery company in the island of Crete. Soft Nougat bars with fruits and nuts in 6 different flavors. A colorful and pleasant approach for this new packaging.
I like the combonation of white background, vivid colour distinguishing flavours and the transparent window showing the product.

Coke Without The Red

 

Would you buy Coke, if it wasn't red? When my studio did some print job for Coke,they actually brought a tin of "Coke Red" ink to use during the printing process. That's how much the famous red colour constitutes their brand. What if it wasn't there...?

Jonah and the Whale Vodka

That's a good one: “Jonah and the Whale Vodka. Who says the bible and alcohol can’t be mixed!”
By TACN Studio via lovely package
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Premium Packaging by Stromme Thornsten Design

Beautiful premium package design for ...pancakes by Stromme Thornsten Design studio from Norway. I have been in ♥ with their design aesthetics for a while now and keep checking their website for new designs occasionally. I have already mentioned their amazing packaging for salmon here - it seems they either have a lot of asignments for package design jobs that are targeted at the high end market, or simply every design they release looks so exquisite.

Vintage Persil

Looking at the statistics of this website it seems that everyone enjoys thevintage packaging stories, like the one about Barilla or vintage Coke advertising. Here's a few more then, by Persil.

Smaki Podlasia by Monika Ostaszewska-Olszewska

Smaki Podlasia - The Falvours of Podlasie - is an original concept of packaging created by Monika Ostaszewska-Olszewska for regional products from Podlasie. The series won a number of awards, to be followed by another one. On Monday Monika won the Debuts category at the Art Of Packaging 2011, the biggest package design competition in Poland.

Kameleon Design Studio at Art Of Packaging

Everyone was talking about the Oscars today and I receieved a call from the organizers of the Art Of Packaging competition. Kameleon Design Studio (that I'm an Art Director of) was nominated for the Polish Oscars of package design. The competition is tough, so I'm not saying we will win, but it's good to be among the best. We are nominated in two categories for two series of premium fish products. I have already mentioned the Connoisseur Seafood series (salmon and caviar), but there is also the one above. Selection of herring packaging for Contimax Selection.

Wine Packaging from Mousegraphics

I work in a graphic studio. I love my studio. We have fun, we design packaging. We like what we do. But if I was to chose another studio in the world to work for, it would probably be a Greek studio Mousegraphics. I have no idea whether they are nice people or if their coffee machine makes coffee as good as ours. But i love to follow their design work and always check for updates on their page. This time I found a new wine packaging. It's called Anathima which stands for: votive offering: a dedication, a precious gift; from antiquity to the present, it is connected with any votive act made to implore, to gratify to praise. 
It would definitely be a precious gift.

Pomoc Domowa by Brandy Design

Brandy Design is a Polish studio specializing in package design. They just sent us their new piece of work, series of packaging for a new brand Pomoc Domowa (Daily Help). Brandy came up with the name and all of the package design for the line. The use of colour referrs to products seen at construction sites, yellow and black are usually associated with warning signs. The logo features picture of a woman, that reminds me of old communist propaganda posters, which I guess was intentional. In general the whole line shares the design concept for Organic Drop, both based on similar typography layout.

Vintage Package Design of Barilla's Pasta

Yesterday I spent some time on the internet looking for various examples of pasta packaging, as a part of a research for a project we're working on. While browsing Barilla's website I found a section dedicated to their vintage packaging. It's not often that you can see the evolution of a brand and their package design, so I'm sharing it with you.

I was touched and amused when I saw their old posters and packaging. Old designs used to be based on emotions so much more. They worked with feelings and atmosphere. Nowadays brands try to fit the shelf well. They try look just like other brands with small changes to have something to be recognized by. And the end result is they all look bland. Don't you think?

Connoisseur Salmon - Premium Salmon Packaging

A couple of weeks ago the studio got  a copy of Connoisseur Salmon packaging we have designed and printed. This packaging for premium salmon is produced by Contimax Selection but sold under the Connoisseur Seafood brand. You can find it in fine foods stores across Poland. The packaging was designed to fit the whole collection, started by the Connoisseur Caviar that I wrote about recently. It is supposed  to be very simple and tasty (I believe it is!). At the back of the packaging we have a list of wines recommended to go with the wine, as the product is addressed to the finest connoisseurs. It also features a photo of two wine glasses we took ourselves. Let me tell you the glasses are handmade, they come from the best glassworks in Poland (Krosno SA) and they cost a fortune. It also took us a day or two just to photograph them and catch their beautiful shape.

Apart from designing the packaging, we have also carried out the printing process. This time with less obstacles than with the caviar packaging. The packaging is matt-foiled (to protect the folds) and then coated with UV varnish. The ornament you see on the sides in reality comes out from the difference between the coated and uncoated surface. Check out the full size design after the break!

Package Design Freak's Desk

Some of you may know, or have already noticed by reading this blog, that I'm a package design freak. I mean, I love design in general but what I do in life is I run a graphic studio specializing in package design and I love it. I used to blog for The Dieline (a while ago, when I actually had some free time to spare) and I think it's one of the best aspects of design, because it affects us all by appearing in our houses. In general the advantage of design over art, in my opinion, is that it has a chance to be a part of our lives on a daily basis. We don't have to go to museums, be educated, understand what the artist wanted to say. Design is with us every single day and package design is simply ubiquitous.

Above then is a photo of my desk. I tend to hijack my laptop and work from the comfortable surface of my sofa most of the time actually, but that would be officially where I'm supposed to work, when I'm at home. It's a simple table from Ikea, with a funny poster by Marcin Maciejowski above and.... well, package design collection on top of it. It so happens that there are three water bottles. Jean Paul Gaultier's special edition of Evian water (that I got from a friend for my birthday), Voda Voda (that my friends brought from their trip to Montenegro) and the famous Ogo Water by Ora Ito.

There is a pack of Marks & Spencer's all butter toffee too and Fortnum & Mason Picadilly buscuits, I think mostly because they're blue, which matches the colour of one of the walls and my sofa. I also keep a set of connoisseur caviar and salmon packaging designed by our studio - but that's a different story.

Grouchy Panda on Sephora Shelves

I was doing some Christmas shopping last week and as I passed perfume shelves at Sephora, this angry little animal looked at me from one of the shelves. It was really funny to see a clearly upset panda in a perfume store, so I took a photo of it to look up the possible genesis of it's presence there. It is called "Grouchy Panda" but not too many things popped out ingoogle for that combination. The name of the artist - Jiji - revealed more clues. This quote is from dazed digital Chinese born artist Jiji has made a name for himself through his cartoon of an annoyed panda. Ten years after creating the character, he is now launching his brand Hi Panda Fashion in France – proving that fashion and naughty art can cohabit, even in the capital of Haute Couture. It still doesn't explain how the panda ended up in Sephora, but it made my shopping much more entertaining.

Connoisseur Gold - Premium Caviar Packaging

One of the nicest packaging our studio designed this year, or at least one that I'm most attached to, is finally ready to be sold in stores. Caviar Gold is a promotional set consisting of a plated golden spoon, two kinds of caviar (with obviously beautiful labels!) and a special box holding all of that together. It is realeased under the brand Connoisseur Seafood Selection, which was created to sell premium products by Contimax. I had a lot of fun and satisfaction designing the whole set and it will be soon followed by other products.

We also organised the production of all the pieces and I will show you photos from each phase in a seperate post. There were a loooooot of obstacles on the way so we're all happy it is finally over and looks so good!

Hennessy - Beauté du Siecle Premium Packaging

Right now my studio works on a series of caviar and salmon packaging and we keep discussing what is premium in package design. There can be many types of packaging qualifying for that term, I think, while your clients rarely state what they really want. While browsing through the premium packaging examples, I found this one (from around 2007), created for Hennessy's Beauté du Siecle special edition. This unique bottle of Hennessy Cognac is worth $200,000 and it comes in crystle bottle by Baccarat and a chest, both designed by a French designer Jean-Michel Othoniel. Now, looking at this, I don't think my caviar is all that premium after all... :)

Ringnes Eventyrbrus Redesign

Today I am in mood to post some examples of good package design, which - apart from book covers - is my favourite part of the design world. I also browsed through many design portfolios today to catch up on the latest trends, therefore I have loads new stuff I like. Right now a sweet Before & After case for Ringnes by a Norwegian studio Audun Aas.

The Challenge: Ringnes AS is one of Norways leading distributors of beverages, both alcoholic and non-alcoholic. Ringnes Eventyrbrus as a brand has remained unchanged for the last 50 years. How can one refresh this soda brand to increase the number of buyers without losing your current fanbase?


The Solution: Flaskeladdens Eventyrbrus is a concept for re-branding of Ringnes Eventyrbrus. The concept consists of small and big bottles, cans, and packaging for 4 small bottles. The big bottles is Ringnes’ standard bottles, while the small bottles were chosen based on the ergonomics (small radius and grip for a small childrens hands) and exposure area (cylinder formed). The tall and narrow cans also give a good exposure area for the label.

Marmite Guinness - Limited Edition

Isn't that genius? I have to agree with the poster... (I am pretty sure both the products tast equally... well, wrong). Designed by Core.