Hairy McCleary

Yoinked from the ever wonderful Dieline, this delightful bag was created for a women's hair salon by Serbian firm Peter Gregson.

Apparently hand drawn especially for this project. Ouch.

The contrast of the bright red logo with the busy patterned background is great, I really like that kind of juxtaposition. This keyboard seems a bit unresponsive so I'll keep it short. Great quality, great use of colours, great theme, great illustration! Love it!

Packaging design!

Above are two of my own packaging designs for a startup vodka premix line by One Part, based out of New York. The brief was for a front, back and neck label that incorporated their logo (the octopus with the umbrella) and a label which was refined, eye-catching and appealed to the demographic of 18-25yo males and females.

I presented the black label concept first, but found out they were after a more traditional British vibe. With the second concept (silver labels) I introduced a more traditional shape and incorporated their logo on the main label. I thought the use of silver and black was a fairly unisex approach. With the style, I tried to be innovative and think outside the standard oval shape. I introduced basic illustration to brighten up the label and also to colour-code for each flavour.

My favoured version is the black labels, I think they're fairly attention-grabbing.. Unfortunately neither concepts were chosen but it did give me a little experience in packaging design and it's definitely something that appeals to me.

Est is a Brazilian skincare company. I found this on www.thedieline.com, which is fast becoming my favourite site. Brazilian design firm Satelite produced this packaging.

The function is to present the product in a classic and understated way.

What really caught my eye is that the typography plays two roles, obviously the typographical role but also the graphic role, which I think creates an awesome effect. The diagonals are reminiscent of Constructivism, though the typography is serif. It's quite minimal but that's what made such an impression on me. The use of colour defines what scent or flavour the product is inspired from.

I think the quality is exceptional in its simplicity. The pastel colours also work well within the skincare range, generating a calm and restful air.

I think packaging design is a great way to not only sell products but also showcase design!

Early modernism, today!

I spied this ad for IBM in the Design Graphics mag issue #59. It's function is to display the product in a racy way.

The style comes across as a sort of homage to early modernism, in particular the function and form of De Stijl shown in the tricycle, and Constructivism in the grid format of the text in a sans-serif font, with horizontals and verticals all aligning in order.

The use of white space is effective in drawing your eye straight to the main focal point, being the computer.

The header text "wanna race?" is entirely lowercase with a fullstop breaking the text up. All lowercase typography is so passe, they were doing it in the 30's.

Get with the times IBM.

Got milk?

How crazy are these milk cartons?? I found them over on http://www.thedieline.com/. They were designed by David Fung. It caught my eye as it's such an unusual packaging for an everyday item like milk.



The function seems to be to present milk in a fun new way. The colours correspond to the type of milk, which is a good visual method for your customers to rely on for distinguishing the differences. The use of flat white gives us an idea of the milk inside, which I thought was a great simple effect instead of opting for a more detailed approach. The droplet running from the spout and splashing at the bottom also adds a nice touch to break up the white and to keep the repetition of colour from each side.



The style has an almost De Stil / Pop Art feel to it. The use of solid blocks of colour contrasted against white is brilliant. The colour scheme shown here is pretty much a triad as well, I can imagine a whole aisle of this milk would look pretty speccy.



I particularly like the typography - for such a modern take on milk, I would have expected a heavier sans-serif font. The slim, simple font they've used works really well however.



I think the quality is excellent, it really shows a well executed 'outside the box' concept and I would totally buy this milk if I saw it at Woolies!

EDIT: It seems that designing milk cartons may be a standard part of a design degree, as I found some more cartons in a similar style.. Check it out..

I'm not really digging the thick outlined cow on these..

This has a cute 'Whitmans Sampler' cottage feel to it. Life is like a box of cows..

Nothing gets me more amped for some serious milk drinking than Mexico's Day of the Dead. Very cool.

Business card design

Above is a business card for Shikaku (www.shikakufx.com) designed by Miguel Vega (www.accent.tv). It is printed on cardstock with Spot Gloss UV Varnish on the transparent logo, to create an interesting shift depending on where the light hits.

The function of a business card is to provide your business identity and contact info in an eye-catching manner to current or prospective clients. This particular card caught my eye with the complementary colour scheme, 90% green with 10% red. It also embodies the "less is more" approach to design with just the company logo set to the left quite small, which is very effective and draws the eye.

The organic green abstractions fit in with the company profile, which is a visual effects production for electronic music gigs. The back of the card contains the bare minimum of contact information on a cream background.

The typography is modern and sans-serif, with use of bold to draw attention to his name. The style is quite modern and seems popular at the moment, I've noticed these sorts of organic light graphics with Apple backgrounds and the screensaver Flurry.

The quality is great, the designer achieved a great finish by combining print press techniques with the digital design element. Overall I thought it was a pretty neat business card and it definitely caught my attention...

Alberto Seveso

Alberto Seveso is an Italian illustrator & designer (http://www.burdu976.com/). I came across his work whilst browsing design portfolios and his distinct style caught my eye. These are illustrations in set 'Vintage976'.

The style is beautiful. In this particular set he captures a whimsical & vintage feel, the clever combination of photography and illustration flow seamlessly between one another.

The colour palette is soft and subdued, with minor compliments between the yellows and purples, blue and oranges.

The quality of the artwork is amazing. His style is unique and unlike anything I have seen before. I love the combination of photography and design.

Seveso's website showcases his diverse talents and I hope you take some time to have a look, this vintage theme seems to be a step out of the comfort zone for him and I think you will be surprised at the darker work he has to offer...

Overall very inspirational work, even if a little disheartening in the amount of skill and time it would take to achieve such awesome results!