Monthly Archives: June 2009

The UPC is 35 today

Posted on June 26, 2009 by

On the morning of June 26, 1974 a UPC symbol, on the back of a 10-pack of Juicy Fruit gum, was scanned at a Marsh’s supermarket in Troy, Ohio. Thus ushering in a technology that would change the face of … Continue reading →

Posted in Design Practice, Packages Yesterday | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

The package, as social media

Posted on June 25, 2009 by

In the old days a package was expected to do little more than sit nicely on the shelf and smile. We didn’t require much more than that. Even today there are rarely expectations of a package being anything other than … Continue reading →

Posted in Design Criticism, Design Practice | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Dummies for package design

Posted on June 23, 2009 by

There was a piece in the New York Times over the weekend about two small museums that are repositories of nostalgic collections, one for ventriloquist dummies, and one for retail signs. It reminded me of the amazing resource the web … Continue reading →

Posted in Beauty & Personal Care, Beverages, Candy, Design Criticism, Design Practice, Packages Yesterday, Wine, Beer, & Spirits | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Thinking outside the boxed wine

Posted on June 19, 2009 by

Boxed wine has historically had a bad rap. But better product and better packaging may be changing that perception. Packaging Digest has a recent post written by David Belim that discusses new products that will certainly lift the perception of … Continue reading →

Posted in Beverages, Design Practice, Environmental Packaging, Wine, Beer, & Spirits | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Crowdsourced Creativity, continued

Posted on June 17, 2009 by

I posted some thoughts about crowd sourced creativity on April 10th, and mentioned all of the reasons why I thought it was a bad, no a really bad, trend for both designers and clients. But it keeps cropping up in the … Continue reading →

Posted in Design Criticism, Design Practice | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Pixar’s tens of thousands of ideas

Posted on June 16, 2009 by

Just finished an amazing piece, in the Harvard Business Review written by Ed Catmull, the President of Pixar, on managing collective creativity. It is one of the most intelligent, rigorous, yet straightforward summations of how great ideas come out of large … Continue reading →

Posted in Design Criticism, Design Practice | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Peter Max, paleoartists, and package design

Posted on June 10, 2009 by

I got an acetylene torch for my high school graduation present, and went off to art school intending to become the next David Smith or Richard Serra. Then I met Peter Max.  I had always enjoyed the 3 dimensional quality … Continue reading →

Posted in Design Practice | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

Work on spec, just say no!

Posted on June 9, 2009 by

The design community seems to be getting increasingly vocal in its opposition to work on spec, and it is none too soon. The internet, as it has the potential to do with most things, may turn the traditions of design … Continue reading →

Posted in Design Criticism, Design Practice | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Who writes cultural history

Posted on June 4, 2009 by

There is an interesting article in the Sunday New York Times, by Holland Cotter. It asks, through a review of two art exhibitions now in New York, who has the right to define cultural history and enshrine the cultural icons … Continue reading →

Posted in Design Criticism, Design Practice, Package Design, a leading or trailing indicator | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment