All shapes & sizes

Continuing with the Best of 2009 Challenge

December 15 Best packaging. Did your headphones come in a sweet case? See a bottle of tea in another country that stood off the shelves?

This prompt is especially relevant because I work at a graphic design firm. We specialize in branding and packaging, so I breathe this stuff day in and day out. I also blog about package design for The Dieline.

Instead of picking “the best,” I’m going to name a few highlights by category. To make life simpler, I’m also limiting the pool to packages that I posted to The Dieline.

Note: one of these packages was designed by the company I work for! In fact, back then I was still involved in account service, so I actually worked on it! Call me silly, but I still get stupidly excited whenever I see one of our packages on shelf. (I can only imagine how magnified that feeling will be when it’s one of my books in a store!)

Beautiful:


Marimekko
for Avon

Kate Macleod
for Bloom

Face Boutique

Kahina – Giving Beauty

Fun/Interesting:


Cleanup Soap

LH2O

Coca Cola ’09
ornament bottles

Redesigns:


Tropicana orange juice
(later un-redesigned)

Dryel

Kraft Cheese

Also, I would be remiss if I didn’t thank Angie for constantly emailing me about cool design stuff she sees. Probably 1/3 to 1/2 of what I post to the Dieline should be credited to her. Thanks, Angie-sama!


11 responses to “All shapes & sizes”

  1. Shanna Avatar

    Kristan! these are great. I totally love the Fun/Interesting ones! Especially the Coca Cola Ornament Bottles…
    .-= • Recent post by Shanna: Best of 2009: Packaging =-.

  2. Allie Avatar

    I love those Coca Cola ornament bottles!! Bakerella made snow-globe cupcakes with them!

    http://www.bakerella.com/snow-globe-coca-cola-cupcakes/

  3. Kristan Avatar

    Shanna-
    Thanks!

    Allie-
    Omigosh, that is SO cool!! If I could do anything besides burn myself in the kitchen, I would totally make those.

  4. Albie Avatar

    haha, i love this post! i haven’t seen most of these (durr) but i really like the LH20 and coca cola one! I hated the tropicana one. I don’t want to drink sterile, high-tech, edgey orange juice. I want “splash of sunshine” and “soft happiness” I’m glad they re-re-branded =P

  5. Kimberly Franklin Avatar

    I love, love, love fun packaging. For instance, if I saw that soap or those water bottles in the store, I would definitely HAVE to buy them. Both. : )

  6. Jon Avatar

    I love the Avon cases and the clean-up soap. Not so sure I like the cheese packaging, although I must admit I have had bad experiences with Kraft. Now I want to wear makeup! Jk.
    .-= • Recent post by Jon: Quickie Review: Up in the Air =-.

  7. Aisha Avatar

    Yeah I don’t blame them for unredesigning that Tropicana carton, it looks like medicine to me :P

  8. Kristan Avatar

    Albie-
    Well, their re-re-brand was just to go back to the old design, lol. But yeah, that was the general feeling about that design. Glad you liked the post!

    Kimberly-
    Hehe, isn’t packaging so much fun? Sometimes I keep old packages after I’ve used the product. Haven’t figured out what to do with them though…

    Jon-
    Aww, sorry to hear about your cheese problems. I don’t necessarily know anything about the products within the packages I select, though, hehe, so it’s no skin off my back. :)

    Aisha-
    Medicine, eh? Hehe, I hadn’t thought of that, but I can totally see it.

  9. Sonja Avatar

    I’m not that into packaging, although I do sometimes see packaging and think it’s nice, but I can’t really remember any particular packaging from this past year. I got (the original first version of) the amazon Kindle back in spring 2008, and I did like that packaging. I still have the box up on my bookshelf. I told myself I was keeping the packaging just to hold the documents, etc., that came with the Kindle, but part of it is definitely aesthetic. I’m pretty sure that my partner has gotten me the Kindle DX for xmas (now that she regularly steals my Kindle 1!), so we’ll see if the box is still as pretty.
    .-= • Recent post by Sonja: Introducing Mr. Poopy-peey =-.

  10. MKL Avatar

    Sorry to repeat myself, but I’m also a fan of those Coca-Cola ornament bottles :D
    .-= • Recent post by MKL: MKL’s hottest women of 2009 =-.

  11. Kristan Avatar

    Yeah, I’ve heard the Kindle packaging is nice! I know someone who’s getting one this Xmas so I’m looking forward to seeing it. :D