TheDieline.com: Package Design

Recovering a Corrupt AI File

Have you ever worked on a design in Adobe Illustrator only to try opening it later and discover it's corrupt? Hours of work go down the drain, yet there is a ray of hope to crack open that file once again.

This will work in Adobe Illustrator 10 and up (but try it in older versions - it may also work.)

Requires Acrobat (not just the Reader).

Works on (and was tested in) Illustrator version 10 and all CS versions.

>Open the corrupt file in Acrobat.
>Take the arrow tool.
>Click on any element or text in the document.
>Just move the object by hitting one of the directional arrows on your keyboard.
>File, Save.

>Open the file in Illustrator.
>It will say 'this file has been modified outside of Illustrator' or something to that effect. it will ask if you want to keep changes.
>Say 'Yes' (or OK)

Your file will open virtually intact!

(Postscript: this tip was originally posted on Behance.net in the Tip Exchange section. Go ahead and give it a thumbs up if you found it useful! And, don't forget to spread the word - it can save hours of work and frustration for any designer.)

 

Innovation in Wine Labels

When you've finally found a wine you really like, how often do you remember its name when you're out wine shopping again? Oxford Landing's South Australian Shiraz wine label sports a useful innovation that can help - a tear-off tab to retain all the useful bits of info to remind you about your great wine experience. It's a simple idea I haven't yet seen anywhere and I hope it gains widespread popularity in the wine industry. I'm curious if anyone has seen this elsewhere, including other types of products. (Note: the photo shows a view of the back label, so it can be pretty discrete.)

(thanks to Rob Walker and Ben Terrett for this great find)

Method Le Scrub & Lil' Bowl Blu

San Francisco-based Method's two latest products are arriving in stores across the country this month.  Le Scrub and Lil' Bowl Blu mark the company's entrance into "deep cleaning" products and round out their line of bathroom products.

Featuring new distinctive packaging made from 25% recycled #2 HDPE plastic the products stand out on store shelves thanks to some clever and innovative design. 

The packaging was designed in house by Method's own design team and features a soft blue color to match the products spa inspired eucalyptus mint scent Method's Katie Molinari said. 

Le Scrub's packaging was designed to be highly functional with the top of the bottle serving as a storage place for the included microfiber cleaning pad.  Molinari said the bottle was designed to eliminate the all the too familiar problem of tossing a cleaning sponge under the sink after use and never finding it again.

Lil' Bowl Blu is the company's first toilet bowl cleaner and was a product that spent a significant amount of time in development.  The packaging design is functional and yields a product designed to make cleaning the toilet as much fun as possible.

Sustainable is Good

Spring and the Seeds

On the first day of spring, it seems only fitting to review packaging that is sunny, bright and well, spring-like. The packaging for the Sean Conway line of seeds, available at Target is just that.

Incorporating sunny photos of blooms with architectural design details and a rich texture, the seed packets come to life on the shelf. The color palette complements popular trends in home decor, which helps the consumer to envision these flowers in their own garden. The red "tape label" adds the perfect casual touch, something you might expect to see if you were purchasing seed packets from your local nursery. Who else is ready for spring?

Camel Redesigned

Unfolded box, scanned by smoker, Lester Nelson from Further Studios

An interesting article by Armin at Brand New about Camel’s newly redesigned cigarette packaging. A thorough analysis of the re-design plus a lively forum of comments. Sample comment: “The old design was good enough to kill countless thousands of RJ Reynold’s most dedicated customers...why would they feel like anything needed fixing?”

No design firms are mentioned in the article, so presumably, this was an in-house project at R.J. Reynolds. A link to the article is here: The Camel’s New Clothes.

Question: if a camel is a horse designed by committee, what do you call the redesign? 

box vox

Fudges

Looking for cookie packs, I found out "Fudges". I decided to publish it not because of the innovative solutions of the graphics, but because I found out also the old version of the same packs...

Steinlager: Before and After

Steinlager is a New Zealand beer brand with quite a history, however it hadn't been refreshed for a long time. It had lost status and was mimicking imported European beers rather than being proud of its origins and establishing its own style. Enter Curious Design, a boutique design agency based in New Zealand who recently designed a new line called "Pure". As a result, there was a huge bump in sales when it was launched. Take a look at the original design and new line:

Before:

New:

Waitrose Cat Food

Another example of good design by one of  my favorite design studio: Turner Duckworth!
Their engagement with Waitrose started long time ago, and the quality of the ideas is still really very high.
Usually when we work on a project for long time, creativity can gradually fall down, this is not the case of Turner Duckworth.
The January/February issue of Communication Arts magazine published a long article about TD. I suggest to read it, it is always important to read about great design!