Packaging at its finest.... or not

I'm going to go ahead and get the bad ones out of the way first, so we can look at the good ones afterward and feel much better!

Anyways, here goes:

Undesirable:

Exhibit A: "Creme de Pirouline", assorted flavored tube-like waver things. I found these to be particularly disappointing due to a single, outstanding trait: the shot of the product is done incredibly well, yet everything else seems to stand out so much that it fights with the wonderful photo - thus making the packaging design not-too successful. There is too much going on in the type, where all the colors are different from one another. It almost seems as though the main logo should be in the same format as "Vanille".


Exhibit B: "Pirate's *Booty* With Aged White Cheddar YES Puffed Rice and Corn ALL NATURAL Good for you! CRUNCHY...." well, you get the picture. At a first glance, the general appeal of this product is a big let-down. First off all, you can't be too sure whether it's some sort of potato chips, pop corn or pirate linguistics training manual. So, in other words, you don't really know what's in there, and if you can't figure that out at a first glance..... well, then - you simply don't care. Second of all, I think the name could have been shortened a tad. With so many little thought bubbles and random utterances all over the package, you don't even know what the product is called. And last, pirates aren't even that cool anyway. It's all about ninjas. But, pirates are cool too. Just not as cool.

Exhibit C: "Orangel Liqueur" This product was a bit of a surprise for me. It looked great at first, and was definitely very appealing... until I took a close look at it. I think the easiest way to describe this design would be to say that it's too busy, but at the same time - it still has several qualities that could stand out on their own. So to sum it all up, I think all this design needs is a simple trim on some of its features, and it would just dandy. I mean, come on - who hasn't seen those sun rays behind the peeled orange before? And they really insist on reminding us that this drink is orange-flavored... though the name of the product already spells it out for us, as does the liquid itself. They could use an accent color of some sort, because quite frankly - that is just way too much orange.

Moving on, here is the good part of packaging. Yay!

Desirable:

Exhibit X: "Rose's Cocktail Infusions", martini mixes of all sorts of wonderful and dashing flavors. I really can't see what I could do to improve this design. Just look at it! It reads from top to bottom, where the design follows a "Here is our logo and name, here is a really nice picture of a martini, and here is the flavor of the product. Done" formula. It is basically very clear and concise and it goes straight to the point. Oh, and did I mention that the back side has a neat'o recipe for making the actual drink? No? Well, then I guess that would be up to you to find out!

Exhibit Y: "Spaten, Premium Beer" If I were a German beer-maker, (and believe me - I'd be one the first chance I get) I think I would make a pretty good job of making a lovely design package for my beer in order to sell it to other countries. Maybe it's because I'm European, maybe it's because I think it's a great-tasting beer. Nonetheless, this package truly fascinates me. Even though it is an extremely simple solution, to repeat the design of the bottle on the packaging, I think the initial design of the bottle label went so great that the company deserves to be lazy. You should go try this one. It does not disappoint. EVAR.

Exhibit Z: "Veev, Acai Spirit" The sheer simplicity of this design is phenomenal. I really can't think of anything else to say. Oh, and sorry I could not take a better photo. The bottle was so big that I could not find a good place to capture its true essence. You know, without the Sam Adams and Sierra Nevada back there. It's not like I'm trying to sell you something. Or am I?