TheDieline.com: The Leading Package Design Blog

Equal Exchange

Agency: Good-Creative

Finé

Finé by Karim Rashid: "Karim is a leading figure in the fields of product, interior, fashion, furniture, lighting design and art. Born in Cairo, half Egyptian, half English, and raised in Canada, Karim now practices in New York. He is best known for bringing his democratic design sensibility to the masses. Designing for an impressive array of clients from Alessi to Dirt Devil, Umbra to Prada, Miyake to Method, Karim is radically changing the aesthetics of product design and the very nature of the consumer culture. He has had some 2500 objects put into production to date."

Starbucks - back to basics

 
(Photo: Powerbooktrance via Flickr)

After 37 years, Starbucks has gone back to its roots with their new "Pike Place Roast" and redesign of the iconic cup. The retro logo showcases a modified version of the original "siren" logo designed by Terry Heckler. (You'll notice that this one is a bit more PC).

Although, is it still a redesign if it's an old design? The design is part of a back to basics campaign focusing on the history of the brand, and establishing their place as coffee experts - but is only a temporary move. So if you're a fan of the green logo, have no fear, it will return.

So what do we think? I personally like the return to their roots. I like the brown color-scheme and the historical reference. If nothing else, it really makes you look twice, as we're so conditioned to seeing the Starbucks green. It's no secret that Starbucks sales have been down lately... they've rapidly opened stores, created drive-thru windows, and have started offering all kinds of food and beverage options, that have diluted their original brand. They also have a lot of competition from the likes of Dunkin' Donuts and McDonalds, which all now offer coffee and espresso drinks. Perhaps this marks the beginning of a return to what Starbucks does best - good coffee.

Click here for a brief history on the Starbucks logo.

 

Activate

Activate is a new functional beverage that just launched in Southern California. The drink’s vitamins and herbs are stored as powder in a chamber inside the cap. When you twist the cap clockwise, a small plastic blade cuts the seal in the chamber. Simultaneously, a small armature opens the chamber allowing the ingredients to drop into the water below.

Vitamins and other healthful ingredients deteriorate sitting in water. Storing the ingredients separate inside the cap keeps them fresh until the moment they’re released, for maximum potency.

More pics after the jump of this beautiful design and innovative concept, and a video of it in action here.

Manhattan Milk

Manhattan Milk brings old-fashioned milk delivery to Manhattan residents. It's a great idea for busy people. The milk is 100% certified organic, which is great. They also offer a few other basic dairy products like yogurt and cheese from Pennsylvania Dutch country. If you live near NYC, check to see if they deliver to your area.

The bottles are based on original old-fashioned glass milk delivery bottles. I really like the cute cow illustration and mostly unadorned bottle.

J A P A N !

I popped over there a little while ago, and packed my suitcase FULL of all the packaging over there. The supermarket isles are an utterly uncomprehendible sea of little faces, eyes, grins all looking at you! Its really split between chaotic very character-full visually packed branding, to the other extreme: elegant, refined, minimal. Its a fascinating place design-wise. Appologies for no credits and crap scanning, its the best I can do! See loads more after the jump...

First Juice

First Juice® brand organic fruit and vegetable juice beverage is designed specifically for young, developing taste buds, with a blend that's naturally lower in sugar. It's a new way for parents to get on a roll toward developing their toddlers' taste preferences early on. The branding and packaging was designed by Haley Johnson of Minneapolis, copy writing by Mike Gibbs.

Ferrarelle Special Edition

Here the new bottle that Ferrarelle water presented in occasion of the Salone Internazionale del Mobile 2008 (in Milan from 16th to 21st April). After the jump the bottle normally available in stores.
A little curiosity: I found the bottle during the projection of a new movie by Peter Greenaway about the da Vinci's Last Supper...is it a way to say that this is a kind of holy water?

illy Ready-To-Drink

"The Coca-Cola Company and illycaffè SpA announced today the companies have finalized their global joint venture and will be introducing three premium ready-to-drink (RTD) coffee products in several European countries in April... Additional countries in Europe, Asia, North America, Eurasia and the Pacific are slated for expansion throughout the remainder of 2008 and into 2009 and will be delivered through the Coca-Cola system." Not sure who did the packaging, it may have been done in-house. Simple and striking.

megalomaniac wines

Lovely wine bottles from Brandever, these recently won gold at the LIA awards. Each type of wine has it's own rather unsavoury personality! Brandever does many lovely designs for wine bottles, worth a further look. More piccies of megalomaniac after the jump.