Sunday, September 7, 2008

Cokes, Whitespace, and Skateboards

I agree with David that it seems the current design trend is to make it fancier. More details, more flourishes, more decoration. About a year ago, I came across an Internet article featuring a redesign of Coca-Cola's packaging. The new design is simple and clean. A throwback to a more straightforward design, before they went crazy with embossed type and illustrated water droplets. A month ago Business Week featured an article entitled Coke's New Design Direction. The article feature's the simple design concept showcased in various forms. Remember to view the slideshow. There is, however, a series of bottles that feature more stylized and elaborate illustrations, but they appear to be relegated to a limited collection. In case you all are wondering, I'm a Coca-Cola junkie.

Pam makes an excellent point too with regards to pleasing a client's need for more! more! more! by squeezing every conceivable piece of visual information in the allotted space. Most clients don't understand the importance of whitespace. They must think our job is like that of a carpet installer. We don't charge by the square foot (or perhaps in our case the square inch). Design is not a commodity!

Oh Pam, speaking of skateboards, if anybody is interested in the history and evolution of skateboard graphics, there's a cool website about a future documentary chronicling that. Go to sk8face.com. Be sure to view the trailer.

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