Cyberpac Blog: July 2012

Tuesday, 31 July 2012

Yume Ume

Packaging for a made-to-order Japanese kitchen in Gainesville, Florida. Based out of Gainesville, Florida, Rolls n’ Bowls is a made-to-order Japanese kitchen. In need of a new identity—one that could accentuate its strengths and propel the company from local stronghold to national franchise—Rolls n’ Bowls called on 160over90. Upon developing a concept that focuses on customers’ ability to create the most unique sushi rolls, salads, and rice bowls they desire, Yume Ume was born. In addition to this new name and identity, 160over90 created a logo, website, menu, and campaign pieces by the project’s end. Japanese for “Delicious Dream”, Yume Ume now emphasises the role of imagination and creativity in the experience at Yume Ume, where “Imagination is Edible.”

Disclaimer: Some images hosted on this blog have been collected from external research associates to be presented as stimulus to those seeking news from the cutting edge of packaging. The imagery is not being presented as our own and copyright still belongs to the owner/creator of said work.

Monday, 30 July 2012

Trata On Ice

There’s no denying that this packaging is both beautiful and unique! There’s no real story here, it’s frozen fish with an illustration of a fish, squid, prawn or lobster on the front, but what makes it special is the execution of the pack. Simple typography plus a black background with a simple illustration makes for a very generic sounding pack but put quite simply it’s really very effective.

Indeed Beetroot, the greek design agency behind the design, have earnt the recognition they deserve having won a Dieline award, a Red Dot award, a Pentaward and a European Design award, not bad for a weeks work! It just goes to show that beautiful packaging doesn't have to be complicated.

Friday, 27 July 2012

Churchkey Can Co.

Churchkey Can Co. began as the desire to experience a great beer in a simple can as the generations before had. Quickly realising the flat top can – introduced in 1935 and a standard in the beer industry until the pull-tab came to market in the mid-1960s – was all but a memory, Co-Founders Justin Hawkins and Adrian Grenier set the wheels in motion to found Churchkey Can Co.

Their desire was to give the most original beer can experience you have ever had by making a quality craft beer in the original flat top beer can. Hawkins is also the creative director for Churchkey Can Co and designed the graphics for the flat top can and logo, as well as the six-pack packaging.

Thursday, 26 July 2012

Not Your Average Business Card

Here are some fun and inventive business cards... maybe they'll offer you a spark of inspiration for your own!

Wednesday, 25 July 2012

Air - Alcohol That Tastes Like Water

For those who like getting drunk but dislike the taste of alcohol, Mckenzie River Corporation has created a drink for you. ‘Air’ (Alcohol Inspired Refresher), is a carbonated alcoholic drink is virtually tasteless, colourless and odourless—like alcohol that tastes like water—so no one will know you’re getting drunk on it.

The malt-based mixture contains 4% alcohol, and also comes in berry and citrus flavours. It’s all natural and only 95 Calories making it perfect for getting your evening started, keeping the night going or just taking a quick break.

Tuesday, 24 July 2012

+More

+More is a premium fruit juice which contains a high percentage of real fruit extracts. The plus (+) icon on the simple packaging is used as a symbol to indicate the rich fruit ingredient of More; it also changes colour according to the flavour. White is used all over the packaging. These both emphasise the healthiness and trigger the perception of hygiene. White also differentiates the packaging from the other fruit juices on the market. The simplicity of the package is an advantage. Illustrations are effective but do not distort the overall simplicity.

Monday, 23 July 2012

Curly's Pocket Guide to Sport

If there's any doubt in your mind as to Taekwondo's rules of engagement, or how a gymnast's performance is scored, you need simply to refer to a new app called Curly's Pocket Guide to Sports which should set you straight.

The app has been developed by digital agency Wilson Fletcher after one of its employees found herself at Wimbledon last year and heard somebody in front of her ask a friend how many times the ball could bounce. The idea for an app that explains the rules to sport but in a witty, jargon-free way was born. Wonderfully illustrated by Ryan Todd, the app is very easy to use, simply swipe along a number of illustrated cards which each represent a sport such as beach volleyball. Click on it to read a summary of what the particular sport is all about, also what the rules are and how it's scored in competition. As well as the rules, there are also some fun facts thrown in for good measure!

Friday, 20 July 2012

Level Life

Level Life livens up diabetic product aisle. Although diabetes affects people of every age, the design, naming and packaging of today’s diabetes nutritional support products target an extremely aged demographic.

With Level Life, they wanted to breathe some soul back into the category — to get people inspired to live beyond the disease — to live a great life and not just maintain. Much of this thrust comes from the company’s founder. Since being diagnosed with diabetes at 12 years old, he’s searched for a way to put an end to days spent chasing his blood-sugar highs and lows — and for a product that matched his youthful, energetic attitude about managing the disease and moving on with the day. He never found the answer. So he invented it.

From Level Life’s unique logo treatment to the go-anywhere pouch packaging design and the precise product formula, everything about the brand points toward a momentum that keeps the consumer moving forward. Level Life is offered in 4 flavours — including Mandarin Orange, Caramel, Strawberry, Banana and Vanilla.

Thursday, 19 July 2012

GraphicDesign& Everything

Publishers GraphicDesign& have ambitious plans this weekend: they aim to start an online archive of objects that illustrate graphic design's connection to, well, everything else. And they need your help to contribute examples. According to GD& this Saturday (July 21) will see "the launch of our quest to prove that graphic design is connected with all other subjects".

Over a one-day event at London's Design Museum and via the web, GD&'s Lucienne Roberts and Rebecca Wright are seeking contributions to a graphic design archive where examples will be catalogued using the various top-level subject categories from the Bliss Bibliographic Classification system (categories are below.)

"We're interested in everyday occurrences of graphic design in context," write GD& on their website, "professional and vernacular, familiar and unfamiliar, old and new, weird and wonderful – and the subject/s to which they connect." Pack shots and examples of designer self-promotion are a no-no.
Collectors can submit their finds between 10am and 5pm BST on July 21, either via Twitter or in person at GD&'s pop-up lab at the Design Museum.

To kick things off GD& have posted a few examples of their own on their site including Milton Glaser's 'I Love NY' design for New York State (categorised as 'geography', 'psychology' and 'sociology', among others) and a hinged hazard warning sign from the back of an American truck (which is classified as 'chemistry', 'law' and 'technology').

Here's what you need to do

Check the calendar. Is it Saturday July 21, between 10am and 5pm BST?
Choose any example of graphic design
Photograph it (preferably portrait format)
Categorise it, using the list of subject categories below
Tweet your photograph to @gdand_ using the hashtag #Everything. (If your example fits into more than one category then Tweet it more than once)
If there's room add any additional information you wish
Check out the dedicated '& Everything' webpage as examples are uploaded to the GraphicDesign& Everything archive on the day

If you wish to attend the one-day event, simply bring your object along on Saturday to the Design Museum, 28 Shad Thames, London SE1 2YD. The GD& team will help categorise, photograph and upload your example to the archive. There will also be large scale projections of the archive as it grows in size over the course of the day.

Wednesday, 18 July 2012

Shrewsbury's New Brand Campaign

Tired of being overshadowed by the better-known neighbouring towns of Hay-on-Wye and Ludlow, Shrewsbury in Shropshire is hoping a new £25,000 brand identity and campaign will help put it more clearly on the tourism map. The campaign, created by two London agencies, & Smith and We All Need Words, was commissioned by Shropshire Council on behalf of Destination Shrewsbury, with the main aim of promoting Shrewsbury as a prime location to live, work, visit and invest in.

Graphically, the Shrewsbury branding is based on a large original black and white pattern which nods towards the many wood-beamed Tudor buildings in the town. The pattern has been applied to business cards and some of the graphic elements appear in a specially adapted version of Dalton Maag typeface Efra which acts as the official brand typeface for headlines. An advertising campaign shows off the adapted typeface pairing up words such as "graffiti" or "chain store" with photographs of Shrewsbury's take on it.

The idea from the offset was to create something that local businesses could use and employ to help market themselves. So the two collaborating agencies created the line "A Shrewsbury One-Off Since…" strap line and graphic stamp device that could be used in maps, brochures and advertising. The idea is that the device can be used to show how old (or how fresh) something is - from a building that's as old as 1586 to a cake that was baked at 6.30am. "We wanted to come up with a shorthand for Shrewsbury," explains Rob Mitchell of We All Need Words. "If Hay-on-Wye is books, what is Shrewsbury? The more time we spent there, the more we realised that Shrewsbury has lots of things to talk about. We had to come up with a way to sum that up that was memorable and could be used in lots of ways by different people."

Local businesses will also have their own stamps and stickers to bring the campaign to life further in their own shops. Although not implemented just yet, the branding will be applied to the visitshrewsbury.com website too.

Tuesday, 17 July 2012

The Tripot Teapot

There’s more to a product than its finished goods and for the most part the real compelling story is how it came to be.

To communicate the process, this product has used the packaging as the envelope for delivery. The tripot teapot is hand made in the United States by Boehm porcelain. These unique objects are created through the age-old process of slip casting. They are literally cracked out of the plaster of Paris molds and thrown in a kiln for firing.

The packaging exploits these moulds by dressing as one itself. This way when the user unboxes their new teapot just as they do in the factory. This packaging experience pays tribute to the craft, in turn adding value to the teapot itself and further sustains the life and use of the product.