This Seafood Packaging Has a Clean Look

Fuman designed the clean packaging for East Rock Seafood.

“Gisborne-based fishery East Rock was founded by brothers from Stromboli, Italy in 1926. After four generations of fishing the East Coast, the Zame family still follows the sustainable fishing methods they have always practiced — using small boats on short, regular trips to ensure the freshness of their catch. A key point of difference is the product’s ocean-to-plate transparency, with every fish traceable to the boat and location it was caught.”

“East Rock wanted to tell the story of their heritage and sustainable practices while appealing to local customers and the Asian export market, who love the quality and freshness of New Zealand fish. We had the added challenge of designing efficient packaging for a busy factory environment – helping meet the company’s guarantee of having their product on shelves within 24 hours of the fish being caught.

To speak to a culturally diverse market, we drew inspiration from Asian art forms such as Gyotaku – where a real fish is layered with ink and a print is taken directly from the skin. The logo uses Hanko signature stamps, which are hallmark stamps that signal quality across cultures.”

“To further communicate quality in every language, the packaging needed to look exceptionally clean and fresh. We used negative space to draw focus to the product and chose bold, clean typefaces inspired by ship stern plates.

The colour combination was chosen for its striking effect and international feel, with the bold red referencing Italian passion and Japanese stamp ink. Combined with blue and white, the colour scheme also reflects East Rock’s New Zealand beginnings. Black and white photos, fishing coordinates and encyclopaedic illustrations of each boat reflect the expertise that comes with almost 100 years of fishing New Zealand’s east coast.”

“We produced a custom sleeve to show as much of the product as possible — a balance between form and function. This fits East Rock’s commitment to transparency, as well as using 50% less material in line with their value of sustainability.

The three-sided sleeve was designed to be shipped flat, yet not require assembly during processing. Fish packers have a ‘dry hand’ and a ‘wet hand’, so the design allows them to use a single hand to pop the sleeve open and quickly slide it over the product – with a tight tolerance that requires no added adhesive.”

“It was vital that the packaging showed where each fish was caught. We created a separate sticker to display which vessel the product came from – letting customers know exactly what they were purchasing. This gives them confidence in the product’s freshness and sustainability. The sticker was designed to be a key part of the packaging, not an add-on. To accomplish this, we reserved space on the packaging and created a deliberately eye-catching sticker that clearly communicates this important information to consumers.

The result is packaging that helps launch a new concept of fish delivery – celebrating East Rock’s small-scale, high-quality practices while appealing to both local and international audiences.”

 

---

Designed By: Fuman

Creative Director: Jon Chapman-Smith

Team Members: Mike Chapman, Gio Trevilla

Client: East Rock

Location: Auckland, New Zealand

House Beer Gets a Streamlined Look

Made By Colony gave House Beer a new streamlined look.

“It started with a simple concept: one beer, done right.

We grew up drinking mainstream beers out of habit. While they went down smooth, they lacked flavor. Craft beers provided increased options, with better quality and flavor, but they didn’t give us the session beer quality we craved. We found ourselves choosing between beers that were great for drinking and beers that tasted great. When all we wanted was the perfect beer and nothing less.”

“So a group of us set out to craft the beer we had always wanted.

That’s House. Born in Venice, it’s a tribute to the city from which it came. To the people that define it. The creators and the modern makers. The bold. The authentic.

A premium crafted lager for those that push past tradition and expand the boundaries of their craft. House Beer. Always in good taste.”

 

---

Designed By: Made By Colony

Creative Director: House Brewing

Designers: Adam Nathanson & Tyler Ward

Location: Venice, CA

Will Canned Water Replace The Plastic Water Bottle?

By: Rudy Sanchez

Americans love bottled water, drinking 13.7 billion gallons of the stuff a year, even though it’s perhaps a healthier alternative to soda, it’s a lot of plastic bottles. Globally, a million bottles are sold a second, and for the most part, they’re made of plastic.

Beyond our abysmal recycling rates, plastic presents another problem in that it comes from a non-renewable resource, petroleum, dinosaur juice extracted from the ground that once used is gone.

Plastic isn’t the only material we can use to make beverage containers, however. Just over a quarter of glass is recovered, and while it’s 100% recyclable, it’s not ideal because it’s heavy. Aluminum is lightweight, 100% recyclable, and already used for a lot of beverages, in fact, 70% of aluminum beverage containers get recycled. Aluminum also stays cold longer than plastic, so it begs the question: why doesn’t more water come in cans?

While it makes sense to can water in aluminum, outside of Deja Blue on Southwest flights, there are few cans of water to be found on the market as it continues to be a specialty item sold primarily to disaster preppers. Most aluminum cans aren’t resealable, whereas plastic bottles are capped and resealable, so consumers can carry them around and hydrate one sip at a time.

During natural disasters, Anheuser-Busch breweries temporarily stop canning beer and start distributing water. Of course, the cans aren’t sold. Instead, they go to those who don’t have access to running water. Several companies, however, are looking to kick the plastic bottle to the curb and sell cans of water to the public.

One such company is CanOWater, selling alpine spring water in traditional 330ml aluminum cans in two versions, resealable top, and the more familiar pull-tab. Their packaging is artfully minimal: still water comes in white, and sparkling comes in black.

Green Sheep also bottles sparkling and still water in aluminum bottles and cans. The bottles feature a cap made entirely of aluminum, and the 12oz cans are similar to beer and soda cans. Green Sheep also donates 1% of sales to the Surfrider Foundation which aims to protect the oceans, beaches, and waves through advocacy with 81 chapters located primarily throughout North and South America.

Noah’s Spring Water use a totally different type of aluminum can, a 24oz cap can, most commonly seen on those big, probably not good for you, energy drink cans. These aluminum cans feature a twist off cap, making it resealable. Of course, the packaging isn’t entirely plastic-free however: the cap needs to be sealed with a tamper-evident plastic wrap to ensure consumer safety and transport.

Hydration is salvation, and the most environmentally conscious way to do it is to use refillable canteens and bottles. Unfortunately, that’s not always feasible, and recycling spent bottles might not be an option either. While consumers are growing more and more concerned about the need to reduce plastic packaging, they are unlikely to get less thirsty anytime soon, and aluminum might be the next material we all chug out of.

---

Rudy Sanchez

Rudy Sanchez is a product marketing consultant based in Southern California. Once described by a friend as her “technology life coach,” he is a techie and avid lifelong gamer. When he’s not writing or helping clients improve their products, he’s either watching comedies on Netflix, playing the latest shooter or battle royale game or out exploring the world via Ingress and Pokémon Go.

TaylorMade — The Green is Greener on the Other Side

“Good packaging is a creative solution to a business challenge. In the case of TaylorMade, that challenge was simple: to sell more golf balls quickly while clearly communicating TaylorMade’s product superiority on a shelf dominated by competitors.”

—Derek Springston, Creative Director, Moxie Sozo

TaylorMade is loved for its 40-year history of developing innovative, performance-driven products for amateur and professional golfers alike. Players like Tiger Woods, Dustin Johnson, and Jason Day have played its products to countless wins on the national stage. Even those new to the sport know the TaylorMade brand as an industry leader in golf clubs, bags, and other accessories. Brand affinity reached into every corner of the category but one: golf balls.

Despite consumers’ reverence for TaylorMade golf clubs, few consumers gave their golf balls the same respect. Despite superior products and professional representation, sales for TaylorMade golf balls fell short of those of other leading brands in the category.

TaylorMade engaged Boulder-based creative studio Moxie Sozo to reimagine the brand’s on-shelf presence. To succeed, the new packaging would need to be disruptive and engaging, challenging consumers’ purchase habits and inspiring them to try something new. Moxie Sozo did precisely that, using a combination of design and production techniques—including custom typefaces, 3D-graphics, multi-level embossing, debossing, spot gloss, matte finishes, and custom die cuts—to effectively communicate the advanced technology and superior quality of the ball.

Within months, TaylorMade gained substantial market share, grew its audience base and significantly advanced its market position. Perhaps more importantly, the packaging is helping consumers to experience the TaylorMade brand they trust in an aisle they may not have thought to look for it.

Learn more ABOUT MOXIE SOZO

---

Agency: Moxie Sozo
Designers: Derek Springston, Nate Dyer, Kris Haro, Ivan Rocha
Client: TaylorMade
Location: United States

Smart Hit Supplements Are Shaking Up The Market With Bold Geometric Packaging

Critical designed the geometric packaging for Smart Hit, a dietary supplement brand. With a bold color scheme along with black shapes, the design stands out within the market.

“Smart Hit is the first liposomal vitamin formula in Lithuanian supplement market. This formula has better vitamin observation than the regular vitamins, therefore it is a smart choice.

Smart Hit SKU family has 5 products featuring different properties. To enhance individual product specifications different colours and patterns were applied. Each pattern is unique and dynamic inducing consumer to analyse and recognise afterwards. The design solutions matches the revolutionary product. Both mathematically detailed.”

“As the product is innovative the infographic schemes are used to explain liposomal formula on the side B of the packaging. The illustration visualises the benefits of the formula and how it works, introduces the other Smart Hit products.”

 

---

Design: Critical

Client: Valentis Pharma

Photography: packshot.lt

Location: Vilnius, LIthuania

Dry Run Is Serving Up Natural Artisanal Honey

Dry Run Honey Company, a boutique apiary nestled between Maryland’s Catoctin Mountain and South Mountain, has a passion and commitment to producing quality artisan raw honey from organically kept bees. Unfiltered and unheated, the way nature intended—no nonsense between the hive and the kitchen.

Dry Run Honey turned to Octavo Designs to develop the packaging design for a new line of premium honeys set to hit shelves in late 2018. They wanted something truly unique—a design that would not only showcase the nature of their exceptional product and the passion that goes into it, but one that will stand out in a growing market. With a project this fun and delicious, the Octavo team found themselves abuzz with some pretty sweet concepts. In the end we let the honey do a lot of the talking and let the packaging celebrate the beauty of nature and the fruits of its labor.

Starting with the bottle itself, we wanted to honor the origin of honey—we turned to Baltimore Glass Decorators to silkscreen Dry Run Honey’s delicate wildflower illustration directly onto the jars. This provided a stunning canvas for the clean, modern lid closure label and jar label, tying everything together in a beautiful and cohesive way. From top to bottom, each feature of this design connects. The lid closure label tops everything off, honoring Dry Run Honey’s brandmark enclosed within a signature honeycomb, and down its slender side, the company’s tagline, “PURE. LOCAL. SWEET.” We carefully designed this label to merge perfectly with the wrap-around jar label that showcases the Dry Run Honey logo, series’ flavor, apiarist’s signature, and important raw honey instructions. The added bonus of the silk screened illustration and the label’s strategic low placement: eye-catching golden refractions produced by the wildflower that shines through the golden honey within.

Dry Run Honey Company’s approach to beekeeping inspired our team’s approach to this project. We wanted a look and feel that stays true to their philosophy and appeals to their target market: those who take pride in local, artisan products. Honey-lovers who appreciate all things organic, simple, and sweet will appreciate showcasing these remarkable jars.

 

---

Designed By: Octavo Designs

Creative Director: Sue Hough

Senior Designer: Lisa Gorham

Graphic Designer: Cory McNamee

Silk Screen Printer: Baltimore Glass Decorators

Printer: Label Aid

Location: Frederick, Maryland, USA

Dona Spice Sodas Are Bringing A Clean Typographic Approach

We love the clean typographic approach for these tea beverages. Zachary Ruden designed the look for Dona Chai, a spice tea soda brand.

“About the company: Dona Chai is an indie maker of spice-based tea concentrates & sodas. Thoughtful ingredients, quality focused, spice obsessed. We began in March of 2014, brewing chai concentrates. Since then, we’ve discovered our love for spices. They are beautiful, exotic, and versatile beyond masala chai & savory foods.

We bring you news: We now make a thing called Spice Sodas.

Pink Peppercorn Lemon

Turmeric Honeybush

Juniper Lime”

“Brewed in house, with real spices, herbs & flowers, and less sugar.

Our branding was intentional. This line, compared to our classy, timeless concentrates, is bold, wacky, poppy, and fun. It is a true reflection of what is inside the can.

They are now being produced. We will begin with NYC distribution next week.”

 

---

Designed By: Zachary Ruden

Location: Brooklyn, NY USA