Design Blitz

Design is everywhere, regardless if we acknowledge it. The everyday household item has multiple prototypes that we have probably never seen before. It is important to test and experiment with different components of design to see which can most efficiently and intensively grab the attention of your audience.

Baked Snacks Sending A Message

Something I have seen a lot in product design and packaging is when companies include and highlight characteristics of a product on the packaging. For instance, the packaging for Goldfish Flavor Blasted snacks incorporates an actual image of a "blast" as part of their traditional Goldfish logo. As well as the monochromatic moment with the strictly orange look, conveying the fact of the "Xtra Cheddar".

Not only does the packaging mainly focus on the center, but it directs your eye to see the "Goldfish" logo first and then the "Flavor Blasted" aspect. The blast dominates nearly the whole top half of the bag. The bold font reminded me again that the baked snacks would be flavorful. Another thing I thought was interesting is that the design heavily relies on what size and what type of container or packaging is being designed. The 6.6 oz package has a slightly different design style than the .9 oz package. Each design is fitted to be proportional to the package. I think that this design is effective, as these cheesy snacks are marketed towards children. What better than bright bold colors, as well as an association to a cartoon fish.

'S' Is For Salt

I think I may be hungry because all the objects and ads I found were food or restaurant related. Another great one I found was a salt container. I thought it was interesting how many times I have seen these objects but have nevertheless ignored the underlying meanings. It truly makes it that much more interesting. If you look up "Morton salt and pepper shaker" on Google, a much older version appears, one that looks similar because it is white with vegetables all over it, but not in the 'S' formation.

The vegetable ingredients was a very clever packaging choice on Mortons behalf. It goes along with the traditonal salt and pepper labels but gives it a twist. I also thought it was cool that they seemingly made a pattern with the word "iodized salt" which is the background of the package. Its uniform and simple but catches your eye enough to where its effective in getting across what the product is.

I think an effective way to approach design when writing and creating graphics is to first highlight what you want the message or purpose of the design to be. For example, is it food related? Travel? Fashion? Health? Beauty? Finance? All these difference niches may have slightly different ideal approaches

Are You Thirsty?

It's not common to see ads that do not directly correlate to the campaign or product. As for most actually, designers attempt to directly reflect the advertisment in the style of design. An example for this would be this coaster from Outback.

Its not common to see ads that do not directly correlate to the campaign or product. As for most actually, designers attempt to directly reflect the advertisment in the style of design. An example for this would be this coaster from Outback.

Not only does it use spark words or metaphors such as "ICE COLD" to appeal to guests to want to order a beverage, but it also has an image along the bottom that depicts a refreshing carbonated soda. This is supposed to remind guests that their drink will arrive frothy and fresh every single time. This is obviously also some kind of partnership with Dr. Pepper so the main aim is to remind guests that Dr. Pepper is popular and readily available to be served.

Say Goodbye To Itchy Eyes

There are endless examples of great design strategies, but this one might just be my favorite. It conveys the meaning and purpose of a product so perfectly. Clear Eyes Redness Relief Eyedrops have effectively marketed their eyedrops to people with red, itchy and uncomfortable eyes. At first notice I recognize that the "Clear Eyes" is a significantly larger text than everything else. The small few lines of red writing balance out to the two big chunky rows of lettering.

The use of color in this packaging is crucial. The red is supposed to symbolize irritation and dryness in the eyes. The Clear Eyes text font is blue to symbolize the relief and "lubrication" it will bring to the eyes. The logo of the blue eye that has the arrow depicting that the irritation is leaving when the eye as soon as the eyedrops are administered.

It's creative and can see that the red and blue trend is popular amongst eyedrop brands. Visine and Rohtos both incorporate blue and red to some extent. Visine's branding and colors are almost exactly alike to Clear Eyes, but Rohtos incorporates other colors such as pink and purple. In some of the LinkedIn videos it described how it may be more efficient to steer clear of any branding that is similar to that of your competitor (Adams, Sean).

All these examples show why it is so imperitive to the design process to think about what the campaign or final product is supposed to convey or mean to others.

Sources:

Adams, Sean. “Graphic Design Foundations: Layout and Composition Online Class: Linkedin Learning, Formerly Lynda.com.” LinkedIn, https://www.linkedin.com/learning/graphic-design-foundations-layout-and-composition-2013/using-excess-to-success?autoSkip=true&autoplay=true&resume=false&u=2150050.