New style : October 2010

Saturday, October 30, 2010

10/30 Report - Beaches Neither Trick Nor Treat

Beach at Turtle Trail This Morning.The entire Treasure Coast looks pretty much the same. You can see the remains of cuts from two previous times - slightly larger cuts towards the dunes and in front of that some smaller cuts made last weekend. The low tide shows a low flat beach front and in front of that a lot of sand. The low tide zone is worth detecting. I'm surprised by how many coins and

Friday, October 29, 2010

Snooty Truffle Oils (Student Work)

Snooty is the only brand you will ever need for your truffle oil needs. Not only does this kit come packaged in a container that lets you experience what it is like to be a truffle pig, but it also includes Snooty's own special truffle oil recipes. So if you're hungry it's time to get Snooty! Art directed by Kristin Sommese.

Hap!!

Hap!! is the latest brand added to the Mandy Foods Grup portfolio developed by Firestarter, Romania.

Mandy Foods Grup is one of the leading companies in the Romanian food industry, entering the market in 2000 with the Mandy Foods brand, and being shortly followed by Spring Sauce. After Firestarter won the pitch at the end of 2009, the auditing of the company and its’ brand portfolio started. One of the main objectives was to develop a new brand for Mandy Foods Grup (MFG), so that the product portfolio would have a clearer stand on the market. Hap!! is the new brand through which MFG targets the consumers with medium wages, while providing the well established quality standards of Mandy Foods. The products marketed under the Hap!! name consist of three types of pâté and traditional bean stew, and they have entered the supermarkets in September 2010.

Throughout the course of 2010 Firestarter has developed an ample rebranding process of the Mandy Foods Grup company out of which the brand and communication strategy resulted. The first outcome of this partnership was the brand Hap!! which was developed between December 2009 and march 2010. The concept behind the name and product design is backed up by the slogan “Retete cu zambete” (eng. “Recipes with smiles”) and addresses the customers a simple and straightforward message: “The Hap!! products are inspired by an active lifestyle when having lunch is the best time to joke with your friends. Along with the natural ingredients and our quality care, we added to the recipe those smiles that make each day count. Who says lunch can’t be fun?”

The name Hap!! is the interjection used to express the fast swallowing of a delicious food. The distinctive sound of the name makes it easy to remember and to associate with the range of products it represents.

The packaging design was done extremely different from the choice of other competing brands, using both simple visual elements and unique photographic techniques. The label consist of photographs of handcrafted slices of bread covered with pâté shaped into a pig, a chicken or a leaf, in accordance with each type of pâté.

”The visual identity chosen to represent the Hap!! brand revolve around the idea of cheerfulness, and the added details send us to our teenage years, when we used to doodle on pictures from magazines and newspapers. Adding these personal notes to the images is basically what supports the Hap!! slogan – “Retete cu zambete”.

- Razvan Patrascu, Creative Director – Firestarter.

The Hap!! project is part of the Mandy Foods Grup company rebranding process which will constantly bring new communication elements resulting from the new developed strategy on the market.

Zero Waste WowCalendar

[Bradford, UK] – Eco-friendly CD and DVD packaging company wewow Ltd have today announced the launch of an innovative, re-usable promo calendar. The zero-waste ‘WowCalendar’ is set to transform the promotional market by providing a sustainable alternative to the thousands of throw-away, promo calendars that will be distributed in the New Year.

The 100% recycled card calendar has been ingeniously designed so that at the end of each month the user simply tears off the page and folds the pre-creased sheet into a branded CD/DVD card wallet, ideal for storing data or packaging a branded CD!

No part of the WowCalendar need end up in landfill as the small amount of left over card is easily recycled and the discrete metal screw that holds the calendar together can be re-used time and time again. With a minimum order of just 10 units, the WowCalendar is ideal even for companies who are looking to send out a promotional desk item to a select few clients. The benefits are enormous as the company’s brand will be sat in front of their clients for 12 months along with a powerful reminder of the brand’s environmental ethic.

The WowCalendar has been launched in perfect time for the pre-Christmas rush for brandable gifts and the Bradford based company is confident that their utterly unique concept will generate a huge buzz in the market.

Waitemata Limited Edition Sparkling Ale

Our brief was to re-package a limited edition of a much loved, but discontinued beer in time to celebrate DB’s 80th year of beer production. So we set out to ‘Re-mix’ a classic in an engaging, fresh way.

We worked with historical ingredients, classic imagery and old advertising lines and had a bit of fun, re-jigging the mix, re-energizing it to appeal to the aesthetic tastes of a new generation. Bright, bold, overlapping typography and shapes were screen-printed onto the box along with the advice, probably considered PC at the time - ‘drink to your health.’

This project was produced as a gift – a Christmas beer - for DB’s staff and friends that went down a treat. It’s a nod to the past, designed for DB’s people to drink to the future.

10/29 Report - Blackbeard's Skeleton Dog & Various Sunken Treasures

Black Beard's Dog? I just thought this was a great image for Halloween. I've posted it before. If I remember correctly, it is a dog skeleton found on the Queen Anne's Revenge wreck site, and could therefore be Blackbeard's dog.Looks like he is still guarding the treasure.For information on that wreck and the salvage efforts, archaeology, artifacts and conservation, here is the link. It is a good

Thursday, October 28, 2010

Saxa's Sea Salt Flakes

Designed by AKA Brand Design, Australia. AKA Brand Design was set up by Austin Marsden (ex CD Landor and Cowan) Adam Ray (ex Production Director, Landor) with Kaitlin Houlahan (ex Client Services, Anthem) at the beginning of this year.

An iconic rebrand with a pinch of salt…

Newly formed Sydney design agency AKA has refreshed the entire Saxa portfolio of products with Saxa Natural and Iodised Sea Salt Flakes the first products to hit the Australian supermarket shelves.

The new look pack has been transformed from flexible pouch to a premium carton communicating the pure natural quality of Saxa's Sea Salt Flakes.

AKA worked closely with Senior Brand Manager, Megan Francis at Cerebos and their suppliers to create the unique handy bench-top functionality built in to the pack, adding value for the consumer.

Toxic Trail Mix

An imaginary product designed by Debby Davis to promote her environmental "Toxic Trail Map".

Debby Davis is an artist, photographer and graphic designer who has lived on Staten Island for 20 years. She was the recipient of a 2008 COAHSI Premier Grant for her project, "This is What Time Does: A Year of Walking Richmond Road". She has shown her work in solo and group shows in New York since 1978. Her bio and other work can be viewed at http://www.debbydavisart.com/. Her packaging design work can be viewed at http://www.beachpackagingdesign.com/

Why Does Staten Island Lead New York City in Cases of Breast Cancer Mortality, Lung Cancer, Colon Cancer and Thyroid Cancer?

Staten Island, NY – September 28, 2010 – Along with being the home of Fresh Kills Landfill, one of the largest garbage dumps in human history, Staten Island has long been the victim of "money talks" corruption when it comes to the dumping of contaminated materials, the inspecting of industrial sites and the enforcing of federal regulations. With the support of a grant from the New York State Council on the Arts and Staten Island Creative Communities, artist Debby Davis has spent the past year mapping and documenting the areas of Staten Island which have been contaminated by industry corruption and neglect. She has spent time researching the history of factories on Staten Island by studying old maps and publications at the Staten Island Museum Archives as well as photographing the actual sites as they are today. She has also done extensive online research on the EPA site, the NYS DEP Environmental Database as well as many online news publications.

Toxic Trail Map of Staten Island can be viewed two ways:

• The interactive version can be seen at: http://www.toxictrailmap.com/
The viewer will be able to click on specific sites to access pop-up windows showing photos and images of the contaminated site along with a short written description and history.

• A printed version of the map will be mailed in late September as a poster in the centerfold of the Fall 2010 COAHSI newsletter which has a circulation of 20,000.

The purpose of the Toxic Trail Map of Staten Island is to help make more people aware of the toxins in their immediate environment.

Read more

Everything (P-Money)

Objective
P-Money was in the process of launching his latest album ‘Everything’ and wanted something more fun, more original, than the album art on shelves in New Zealand stores right now.

Solution
Inspired by the many sample tracks on the album from days gone by – everything from 70s funk to 80s electro – we decided to celebrate the days of analogue; the days when everything was hand-crafted because there was no digital world filled with toys like Photoshop. The album artwork - which took more than 350 hours to complete - is constructed from styrofoam, balsa wood, coloured paper and cotton wool which we then shot as part of a diorama. The computer image is made relevant by the fact it is key to P-Money’s music production process - he feeds all the retro samples in to his computer in order to spit out tunes for a new generation of listeners.

10/28 Report - Flat Low Tide Areas & Cold Front Coming

Treasure Coast Beach Near Low Tide Today.Notice all of that flat low-tide area that is now available for hunting. That area was difficult to get to, let alone detect, when the water was rough. Now, there it is.That is the type of area that you also want to eye-ball when you detect near the water's edge. I once showed what appears to be a intact wax seal that was found at the edge of the water in

Chroma Paint (Student Work)

Designed by Stephanie Kuga, currently studying at Art Center College of Design, United States. She will be graduating in December 2010.

Chroma Paint is an environment conscious line of interior home paints. An expansion of the line to concentrated, clean air, and solar paints change the perception of what paint is, and opens possibilities to what paint can be. The cardboard modular shape is inspired by plant cells, and is easily collapsible for recycling. An inner plastic lining is the only trash generated from this packaging.

AuntieJi’s Kitchen

A new company called AuntieJi’s kitchen needed a brand new identity and packaging for their fresh curry sauce and Kheer Vermicelli dessert. The brand identity is modern but with an Indian flavour without it being overly embellished and the logo uses the bindhi in the dot of the 'i' giving a strong reference to Indian culture The colour palette is earthy and natural using browns, aubergine and reds as they were keen to emphasise the natural and fresh qualities of the product and to stay clear of traditional colours used in indian food packaging such as purples and yellows. To contrast the minimalist branding, illustrative mendhi designs have been used on the top of pack which gives the overall packaging a strong, graphic look.

Calyx Wine

I made this label design for Calyx wine. I was inspired by Gothic cathedrals and swashbuckling novels of Alexander Dumas. That's why the circular shape on a label can be considered as being Rose window or a seal of a secret society from a Bourbon dynasty period.

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

OKTO Wine

OKTO Wines are freshly produced on the small island of Crete, Greece. Designed by TACN Studio, Canada.

Selfridges Tea

Selfridges tea packaging designed by Noreen Khan and Lewis Moberly, United Kingdom.

Some beautifully colourful tea packaging produced for London department store Selfridges, which uses the store’s signature yellow colour to great effect on the gussets of the bags.

10/27 Report - Burt Webber & the Solo Dios Gloria & Weekend Waves

19th Century Anchor Found Near Perdido River.An oil boom snagged an 19th century anchor while working to clean up the oil spill near the mouth of the Perdido River.This is a relatively small anchor, probably from a smaller vessel.Below is the link to the Press-Register story.http://blog.al.com/live/2010/10/archeologist_present_as_oil_sp.htmlBurt Webber Jr. and his crew returned to salvage the

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Wegmans (Student Work)

The rebranding of Wegmans Organic line unifies a variety of products with
a clean and simple design that focuses on the origin of each product.

Bob's Your Uncle

Wine in a beer bottle with a crown cap... Sold in South Africa for 20 Bobs for a BOB.

479° Popcorn (Extension)

San Francisco-based, The Engine Room, Inc., has just launched this packaging extension for artisan popcorn maker 479° Popcorn. Check out the rest launched before this. (United States)

Now that 479° has made its mark as a higher end snack, a new pouch style container has been developed to hit a lower price point, facilitate a stronger wholesale push and reach a broader audience. The Engine Room adapted the original 6-sided box style to this 3-sided pouch, though maintaining the distinguishing minimalism of the brand identity.

10/26 Report - Unsold Treasure Lots at Reduced Prices

Treasure Coast Beach This Morning.More about that later.I received the following email from SedwickCoins.Many thanks to all our consignors and bidders for making it happen again: Our third auction in a row over $1 million! About 90% of the lots sold, but now you can make that number higher: As always, we are offering the unsold lots on our website at reduced prices for ONE DAY ONLY (ending at 4

Monday, October 25, 2010

Espolón Tequila

Just in time to celebrate the 200th anniversary of Mexico’s independence from Spain, Espolón Tequila is returning to the United States to stage a revolution of its own. Though the liquid inside is the same critically acclaimed, award-winning, 100% Blue Agave tequila, the packaging has a whole new look. Inspired by 19th century Dia de los Muertos-style imagery, Espolón Tequila's labels pay homage to the brave men and women who fiercely fought for today’s “Real Mexico," celebrating the country's storied culture as well as the iconic rooster – a symbol of national pride.

Illustrated in traditional 19th Century “Dia de los Muertos” (Day of the Dead)-style
images, the labels illustrate the fictitious journey of characters Rosarita and Guadalupe, with their inspirational companion, Ramón the Rooster, depicting the struggles of the Mexican people during pivotal moments in history.

Two expressions of Espolón Tequila–Blanco and Reposado–have been reintroduced more following a several-year absence in the market. While the bottles and labels themselves have changed, the award-winning tequila within has not. Espolón Tequila Blanco is a crystal clear tequila made from 100% pure Blue Agave—sourced from the Los Altos(highlands) region of Jalisco, Mexico—possessing a soft-mouth feel with notes of pepper, vanilla bean, and grilled pineapple, finishing clean with a hint of spice. Espolón Tequila Reposado has a golden hue made from 100% pure Blue Agave, aged six months in American Oak barrels. The bold, round mouth-feel leads to a medium-dry, full-bodied palate with rich roasted agave, sweet tropical fruit, intense vanilla and brown spices, finishing slowly with a sweet spicy fade.

This heralded premium tequila is crafted at the artisan Destiladora San Nicolas located in Jalisco, Mexico, under the guidance of Master Distiller Cirilo Oropeza. Espolón Tequila is currently available nationwide, with a suggested retail price of $24.99.

About the labels:

Espolón Tequila Blanco:
The Espolón Tequila Blanco label tells the story of Guadalupe and Rosarita joining Father Miguel Hidalgo in his brave campaign for Mexican independence from Spain. As depicted in this label’s scene, the duo fought fiercely with undying passion. As Ramón the Rooster crowed his shrill battle cry, the brave army of revolutionists clashed against tyranny, against the cruel caste system, willing to sacrifice everything for the cause. This movement set the stage for Mexico’s eventual independence.

Espolón Tequila Reposado:
Spain’s Hernando Cortés captured the Aztec capital of Tenochititlan, conquering its people and building Mexico City in its place. As illustrated in the Espolón Tequila Reposado label, Guadalupe and Rosarita reveled in the markets of this new metropolis, yet a pair of devilishly toothy grins hinted at their true intentions. Driven by a passion for Aztec civilization—as their spirits had once played a role in this complex culture—the couple schemed to infuse elements of Aztec culture into every market in the country. Guided by Ramón the Rooster, they vowed that generations would benefit from this fallen society’s impressive achievements.
Read more

Prigat (Redesigned)

Prigat was established 60 years ago as a small juice factory based in a "Kibbutz". Gradually through the years, their products grew to become a product found in nearly every home in Israel, and Prigat became part of the Israeli heritage.

Prigat has a unique and vast variety of products (even in international terms) which includes a aside to freshly squeezed fruit juices, also 100% natural juices, Nectars, herbal drinks, fruit syrups and frozen concentrated fruit drinks.

According to the "Globes" (Israeli Financial Magazine), Prigat is ranked 35th in the index of the 100 most valuable brands in Israel. (Coca Cola Brand is ranked 1st and the cellular company Orange is 2nd).

When analyzing the fruit based non carbonated beverage category, one can see it appears to operate in a rather generic manner.

Most brands in the category convey the same language, focusing mainly on the product and without any emotional added value as a brand. Following this understanding, we created a pioneering move and built a new fresh agenda for the Prigat brand, under the slogan "Start with a Smile". We created a brand identity which is expressed over 100 packages according to a distinctive system which is consistent with the various categories, in addition to an advertising campaign which communicates the new agenda.

Rain Nutrition Energy Drink

The Rain Nutrition packaging includes box and product designs for RUSH energy drink, SOUL antioxidant drink, PURE probiotic pill supplement, and STORM recovery drink mix. The packaging exhibits clean, simple designs which reinforce the concept of health and well-being through fresh colors and custom photographic splashes.The packaging has been very well received and was recently selected as a winner in the 2010 I.D. Annual Design Review.

Lewis & Co.

Lewis & Co. is a luxury mens clothing & accessories company, specializing in modern interpretations of classic aesthetics. I chose to reflect this sensibility in the packaging concepts through the use of tuxedo-shirt pleating and a minimalist palette.

Coca Cola Mystic

MYSTIC surprised by its beauty and intensity. It was created to live an intense and fleeting moment. Its racy style describes a supernatural world which soars skyward. Its skin has a sculpted unique spiritual experience.

We discover in the palm of our hand soft and aerodynamic forms. Its living surface is shaped by a force mysterious and transparent.

It sends us all the energy and excitement of Coca-Cola Its sexy lines and red color give happiness in 3 dimensions.

Both organic shapes intertwine and form a body ambiguous and fascinating. Its loving silhouette, ties into a true popular poetry.

10/25 Report - Slightly Improved Conditions & Heart Shaped Cobs

Treasure Coast Beach This Morning. The big news this morning is the improving beach conditions. I took a quick look at three different beaches this morning in St. Lucie County and all three were eroding to some extent. I saw about a mile length with two to three foot cuts at one beach. Another had a cut that was not as long and not as high - less than a foot. But still every place I looked I saw

Saturday, October 23, 2010

10/23 Report - 7 Thousand Dollar Silver Cob & "Bubble" Cobs

Piece of Eight Showing Bubble Hole.This is a photo of a cob listed in the recent SedwickCoins auction and described as having a bubble hole.It is not extremely uncommon to find holes like this in Mexican cobs of the 1715 Fleet. It is more unusual to find bubble holes from cobs of other mints.One auction listed a similar cob as being pierced, which is probably not how the hole was created.Alan

Friday, October 22, 2010

Løvenskiold

Designed by Strømme Throndsen Design, Norway.

Fresh premium elk products dressed in beautifully designed and simple packaging.
Read more

Thursday, October 21, 2010

Dulux Valentine

CB'a helped Dulux Valentine in developing a premium range of paints which targets decoration experts, and which is exclusively sold in Leroy Merlin stores, France.

Objective: developing a graphic innovative concept able to associate premium & technicity, by Dulux Valentine.

CB’a’s approach: to capitalize on the Architect as a prescriber / expert in upscale decoration

Work realized:

A strong design inspired by an architecture universe, attractive for expert consumers
Pure and modern graphic codes, focusing on colour as main element to communicate
A structure which can be adapted accordingly to the different ranges of products
A Dulux Valentine signature with a specific look & feel ensuring a good recognition by consumers and appropriation by the brand