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Branding Ascendancy: Fuel Coffee Shop in Brighton, MA.

Igor Ovsyannykov — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 09:00:34 +0000

Fuel is a new “vintage-modern” American coffeehouse that celebrates friendships, inspiration, hard work, and the American “can-do” spirit. To “Ignite your Journey,” they offer custom coffee, better beverages, fresh foods and baked goods.

What caught my attention about this ordinary coffee shop, was the well executed all around branding. Richie Stewart of Commoner Inc, was commissioned to design the branding and packaging for Fuel Coffee. For further explanation on the process, check out the following quote:

“Our goal for the design was to play off the name of the brand and create a concept that referenced the aesthetic of old motor oil cans. We sourced some super shiny, metallic bags to suggest what the material of those cans would have originally been made of.

We did 1& 2 color prints on self adhesive labels with the main logo mark and style of coffee. These were then applied to each bag individually. Not only did this save on cost but it gave the finished product a slightly more human, handmade quality which mirrors the small batch roasting process in which the coffee was made.” - Richie Stewart

The vibe and experience portrayed thought the images really encourage me to take a trip to Massachusetts. I’m a big advocate of the retro and vintage design trend. Even if you’re not in the same boat, I truly feel that the style and execution of Fuel Coffee is worth admiring. Enjoy!

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20 Delicious Honey Packaging Designs

Igor Ovsyannykov — Tue, 12 Mar 2013 08:00:45 +0000

Honey has a long history of human consumption, and is used in various foods and beverages as a sweetener and flavoring. It also has a role in religion, symbolism, and used in various medicinal traditions to treat ailments. Today we collected twenty beautiful honey packaging designs for your inspiration. We strongly believe the following designs are well executed and serve as great examples if you’re in the process of designing a packaging design yourself. All images are linked to their source. Enjoy!

BEEloved honey

Serramel

Babees Honey

Organic Honey

Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Honey

Doce Cielos

Mieles del Desierto

30 Quirky & Unique Playing Card Designs

Designraid — Mon, 17 Dec 2012 06:01:31 +0000

Playing cards are typically palm-sized for convenient handling. A complete set of cards is called a pack or deck, and the subset of cards held at one time by a player during a game is commonly called a hand. A deck of cards may be used for playing a great variety of card games, with varying elements of skill and chance, some of which are played for money. Because playing cards are standardized and commonly available, they are used for other purposes, such as illusions, cartomancy, cardistry, and building card structures.

Playing cards were invented in ancient China. They were found in China as early as the 9th century during the Tang Dynasty (618–907). The cards you see today weren’t always like this, they’ve gone through different designs, sizes, styling, suits, and regulations. Today any designer can create his/her own set and have them printed for a reasonable price. Because of this, designing creative playing cards has become a popular trend.

Kickstarter is an easy target for this trend, check out the following projects that are dedicated to designing and producing custom playing cards:

We hope the following designs will inspire you on making your own deck of playing cards. Enjoy!

Alice’s Adventure in Trumpworld/ Playing Cards

Futura Deck by Mark Mendola

I Baralho Esdiano

Perverted playing cards by Elena Dolgova

Órdaga

Best Made Playing Cards

Card of Hearts Business Cards

Helveticards

Barebones Playing Cards by Matt Castiglioni

Pixar Playing Cards

Gentleman’s Deck Playing Cards

Metrodeck Playing Cards

Black Playing Cards by Alexander Wang

Stainless Steel Playing Cards

Space Invaders 8-Bit Playing Cards

Bohemia Playing Cards by Uusi

Hip Hop Playing Cards by Mynority Classics x Sayori Wada

Legend of Zelda Playing Cards

Stealth Playing Cards by AK Graphx

Playing Cards Memo Pad by Studio Ding Dong

Ultraviolet Playing Cards

American Sport Culture Playing Cards

Futura Typographic Playing Cards

5 of spades – Creative Cards

Transparent Playing Cards

Tim Burtons Playing Cards

Blackrock playing cards

Playing Cards by Alyssa Liegel

La Boca | Typographic Playing Cards

Cirque Playing Cards

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20 Exceptional Book Packaging Designs

Igor Ovsyannykov — Fri, 14 Dec 2012 08:15:17 +0000

Packaging might be one, if not the, most important element of a product. We all know not to judge a book by it’s cover, however having an attractive design wont hurt. Book publishers are starting to realize that beautiful packaging lures the buyers in, that book might not even be touched if the package doesn’t communicate to the consumer. Getting creative with the front and back cover is a must. Today we’ve collected inspiring book packaging designs to demonstrate that good design speaks louder than words. Enjoy!

Rolling Words by Pereira & O’Dell

Juniper Park Moleskine

Wooden Toy Quarterly by Timba Smits

Reel Art Press by Progress Packaging

Macho Man Randy Savage by ILoveDust

New York

Neue Clothing by Rosalind Stoughton

Little Red Box of OCAD

Oxford Press Atlas of The World

BookJigs New Product Line

Justice League Paper Swatch Books

Book covers / BBS by Lili Thury

Sinnen by Fredrik Brännström

INKARNATION – Tattoo & Lifestyle Book by Dirk Behlau

VONNEGUT DE-STRUCTURE BOOK COVER SERIES by Sharon Park

Philip K. Dick book jackets

In Case of Packaging by Patrycja Zywert

Where Doodle You Do by Petter Bratland

Lapp & Fao Chocolate Books

7 for Exploramas by Alejandro de Antonio

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What makes a good album cover?

Francesca Baker — Fri, 05 Oct 2012 08:26:15 +0000

Through my various musical activities, I have recently been through the rigmarole of deciding upon artwork for a debut album, and a few singles too. Even if the days of digital downloading, when a 300×300 pixel thumbnail is the way the majority of people experience the artwork, this stuff matters. Depending on who you’re talking to in the music business, image is either everything or nothing, and album art is a huge part of this. Being a brand, or a band, comes down to what you transmit to the consumer or audience, and so artwork’s relevance cannot be underestimated.

In the absence of sonic evidence by which to judge music, most people will make an assumption based upon what they can see, projecting the attributes of the art to your band – a fact which was particular important in the days before internet streaming, when the record store still reigned supreme. A means of identification, a sales tool, a dialogue with your fans, a statement of intent – there is much more to the process that a pretty picture.

An image that has the potential to become an icon will immediately register with the viewers conscious. You only have to see some newspaper lettering or the colors neon pink and yellow side by side to think of The Sex Pistols’ debut ‘Never Mind The Bollocks’.

Sometimes it doesn’t matter – take The Beatles’ 1967 ‘Magical Mystery Tour.’ Dreadful cover, but the band did alright. Only a year earlier however Apple insisted that they alter the image on the sleeve of ‘Yesterday and Today’, after the squeaky clean Beatles being surrounded by raw meat caused outrage. The cover says something about the music and the band, even if it is not wholly accurate.

Matching the music is important if you want to appeal to the ‘right’ audience. Swapping the covers of say an Anthrax album with those of a Britney Spears CD could lead to a whole host of problems. Jazz comes in smoky packaging images, metal bands do death icons, indie bands cast a different perspective on every day scenarios and boy bands are associated with shots of them standing looking shiny.

There are also the mundane factors and practicalities. If you can’t work out who a CD is by when you’re standing in store you’re unlikely to purchase it. Similarly the frustration caused by trying to find a record that is poorly titled on your shelf is likely to lead to you never listening to it. Stand out typography that is not intrusive will go a long way towards reaching the information serving objective.

As with most hugely important subjects, like say, life, there is no handbook or set of instructions as to what makes a good piece of album art. Everyone from The Clash, The Guardian and the NME have published lists of both best and worst album covers of all time, but it’s not that easy to see what distinguishes the two lists.

Dan from It’s All Happening believes that emotion is the key: ‘The best album covers are those that strike you, and the reason they do that is because they illicit some kind of emotion, whether that’s interest, a smile, or shock.’

The below are some examples of bands who got it right.

Oasis – (What’s The Story) Morning Glory? (1995)

A simple shot of slightly fuzzy London DJ Sean Rowley and album producer Owen Morris walking down Berwick Street in Soho, it inspired a generation and fitted into the band’s ethos: they make music for people like you.

Sonic Youth – Goo (1990)

A hand drawn comic allows the band to make a statement in an understated way.

Radiohead – In Rainbows (2007)

In some ways you could argue that it’s not art at all – just the album’s name repeated over a splodge. Exactly – you know who it is, you know that they are an ever changing entity, and that what is contained within will be hard to grasp, but still somehow feel right.

The Rolling Stones – Forty Licks (2002)

All institutions and brands need a logo, and this simple, exciting, immediate image became theirs. It even featured on Topshop t-shirts…

New Order – Power, Corruption & Lies (1993)

Could anything seem to be less fitting such a seething anarchistic title than a reproduction of the painting ‘A Basket of Roses’ by French artist Henri Fantin-Latour, usually found in the National Gallery’s permanent collection. The UK release, with no text on the cover used a bold grid of colours that could be decoded by referring to a key on the reverse, to spell out the band name and album title.

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40 Creative Wine Label Designs

Igor Ovsyannykov — Tue, 10 Jul 2012 14:00:40 +0000

The design of a wine label can make or break the success of a new wine introduced to the market. Wine labels are important sources of information for consumers since they tell the type and origin of the wine. Most of the time, when the bottle is without a box, the label is the only resource a buyer has for evaluating the wine before purchasing it. Information like the country of origin, quality, type of wine, alcoholic degree, producer, bottler, or importer is usually included in the wine label.

By law, wine must be packaged in one of the standard sizes — 50 mL, 100 mL, 187 mL, 375 mL, 500 mL, 750 mL, 1 L, 1.5 L, 3 L, and larger integral multiples of liters. Mandatory label information shall be stated on the brand label such as net contents according to standards of fill. As you will witness today, many graphic designers have focused their attention to making creative, compelling labels that connect a bottle of wine with its buyer. From the classic, elegant designs to those that bring some humor to a sometimes snooty industry, the wine labels you will see today are there to catch your attention. Enjoy!

Note: All images are linked to their source.

Mike Weir Underdog Wine Co.

Adir Winery

The Quest

Snake + Herring

The Bottle of Wits

Daniel Brokstad

Tucumen

The Cloud Factory

Coma Fredosa

Ali LaBelle

30 Stimulating & Creative Coffee Packaging Designs

Igor Ovsyannykov — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 12:00:02 +0000

Coffee is an important agricultural export commodity for many different countries. As you might already know, coffee can have a stimulating effect on humans due to its caffeine content. It is one of the most-consumed beverages in the world, and has a strong audience behind it. Some controversy is associated with coffee cultivation and its impact on the environment as well as certain health conditions.

Coffee berries, which contain the coffee seeds or “beans”, are produced by several species of small evergreen bush of the genus Coffea. Once ripe, coffee berries are picked, processed, and dried. The seeds are then roasted to varying degrees, depending on the desired flavor. This is the reason we see different one of four-color categories: light, medium, medium-dark, dark. The final step involves the coffee being grounded and brewed to create that tasty cup of joe!

Coffee packaging plays a huge role in attracting customers. Your coffee needs to taste good while having an attractive design. Obviously there are thousands of coffee companies, and the market is getting saturated with more competition as you read this. In order to stand out, most companies focus on what they are most passionate about. As an example of this, take a look at Peeze Coffee below.

Those people who are holding a cup of coffee, are the ones who worked hard to get it to you in the first place. Even tho you will probably never see them in your life time, seeing them on the packaging gives me a special feeling inside. For this very reason I really love the approach that Sogooddesign, the company who created this, took.

The coffee business is not an easy one, respecting the people who made it happen is very important. Labor costs in other countries are extremely low, thus huge profits are made here in United States. People from around the world work very hard to support their family and create a better life for their kids. Any human being on earth can relate to this effort, because we have jobs for the same reason.

We hope you will enjoy this collection, and get inspired!

Note: All of the images are linked to their source.

Peeze Coffee

Mayaland Coffee

Tiempo

Paulig Coffee

The Coffee Co•Op

Jacu Coffee Roastery

Cielito

Metrio Coffee

Coffee Nova

Good Co. Coffee

Ma?a Czarna

Hello Coffee

Eos Coffee

Jimmy’s Iced Coffee

Coffee Lovers

Drink Responsibly: POPbottles by Anna Utopia Giordano

Igor Ovsyannykov — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 19:41:36 +0000

This is a clever and well designed project by the Italian designer Anna Utopia Giordano. Unfortunately these bottles are NOT for sale, they are part of an art exhibition. This ongoing project aims to raise social awareness on topics such as alcohol abuse by teens, alcohol abuse by pregnant women, and the disinterest of some parents towards their children.

It’s sad to see how far marketers can go to gain the attention of their younger customers. Always remember, please, the minimum age for drinking alcohol in your country (if you do not know, see this table) and drink responsibly. We would love to hear your take on this, so please comment below!

Note: There are no commercial purposes.

We hope you enjoyed this showcase! We would love to hear your opinion/feedback, so please don’t hesitate to comment below. For more inspirational articles don’t forget to subscribe to the RSS-feed and follow Inspirationfeed on Twitter, Google + and Facebook! If you enjoyed the following article we humbly ask you to comment, and help us spread the word!

10 Remarkable Packaging Designs from the World of Beer

Igor Ovsyannykov — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 20:25:57 +0000

Oh Beautiful Beer celebrates remarkable graphic design from the world of beer. The site is completely dedicated to showcasing beautiful beer branding, packaging, and graphical design. The following designs were collected from the site. Without really thinking about it, you would be surprised how much competition the brewing industry holds. Non-stop commercials encourage us to purchase ale from major players like Budweiser, Heineken, Corona, Guinness, Miller Light, and etc. Here is a quick look of the big dogs in United States;

Anheuser-Busch InBev: Budweiser, Bud Light, Stella Artois, Brahma, Skol, Beck’s
Heineken: Heineken
SABMiller: Miller Lite
Diageo: Guinness
Grupo Modelo: Corona

Their brand values play with billions of dollars, however little players aim at them on daily basis. When you are the small local brewing company, it’s hard to succeed with a low advertising budget. Every single day you are presented with challenges like expanding your reach, providing great taste, and an affordable price. All of which could fail automatically if the packaging is ugly.

When we buy beer we want it to please our eyes and stomach. Going the extra mile to provide a visual experience should be on every CEO’s agenda. Nobody want a bottle that says “Beer” on it. The background story, slogan, logo, and anything else a consumer should be aware off has to be presented. Explaining visually what the brand is about has to be done without forcing the drinker to visit the official website. Today we have a small showcase of remarkable graphic designs from the world of beer. The following designers had specific intentions on coming up with the final product. We hope these designs will inspire you and be worthy of bookmarking for future reference.

Bard’s

Bard’s is America’s first gluten-free beer, founded in 2005 by two home brewers with celiac disease. Given the unusual niche of their business, they knew it had to be marketed just right.

VS. Brewery

The idea I had was of a company based on historic rivalries. Each six pack of beer would contain two kinds of beer selected to mirror each side of the rivalry for three of each kind.