06 Introduction

08 Chapter 1 - Packaging for Food and Alcohol

17 Package Innovation - Ted Mininni20 Simon Walker26 Interview – Peter Allen, Turner Duckworth.

30 Chapter 2 - Packaging for Music and Film

37 Motherbird

44 Chapter 3 - Identity

50 Steps of a Successful Logo Design Process - Brian Hoff56 Interview – JR Crosby, PTARMAK.

60 Chapter 4 - Branding

63 Rob Petrie, Kitchen 68 Christian Helms74 It’s not all design

Contents

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Bespoke design for branding and packaging

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Introduction

This book looks at who I am as a designer, what influences and inspires me. There are many aspects of graphic design that I am passionate about. I try not to put label them but a lot of it revolves around branding and packaging.All the design that I enjoy is bespoke, high spec, high budget, high concept, and innovative design. That’s what I want to produce and that is what I really enjoy about design. When a brand or product sings quality and well thought out considered graphic design it makes me excited and encourages me to try and do the same. When I think of design I see it as fixing things. Making something more appealable and aesthetically pleasing. I have an attraction to design which is reminiscent of and older age. When new design looks old but has a modern and contemporary twist that brings it to life. Design with nostalgia. Not all of the design I like and produce fits into that area becuase sometimes modern and contemporary design appeals to me as long as it looks good and does the job its intended for. Branding spaces, packaging and identities with Innovation, great typography, considered colours and good ideas is what I love about design.

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1 Chapter

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Packaging for Food and Alcohol

This chapter focuses on bespoke packaging for food and alcohol including companies from around the world that all produce amazing packaging that is innovative and takes into consideration range and branding.

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I Love Dust - Food Packaging Glorious Soup

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Inhouse - Food Packaging Sir Kensington’s Gourmet Ketchup

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Peter Schmidt Group - Food Packaging John John Hand cooked crisps

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Frank Aloi - Food packaging South Australian Divine Dairy

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Pearlfisher - Food packaging Jamie Oliver

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DARING TO BREAK OUT OF THE EXPECTED

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All too often, consumer product companies focus on their product offerings when it comes to innovation. But think about it: how many ground-breaking products entered the marketplace over the past year? Certainly numerous consumer products have featured incremental innovation. But how many are memorable due to being real game changers?

So here’s something worth considering. Package innovations have sometimes become the game changers for brands; not products. It’s time to step back and take a long look at packaging to see what could be dramatically improved. Just because “conventional” category packaging has always been in place, does it necessarily represent the best solution? This isn’t about developing unique structure, new substrates, closures or package attributes for the sole purpose of brand differentiation, although they certainly help. It’s about rethinking packaging based on consumer engagement as well as their current and changing needs, and then delivering it by daring to break out of the expected.

Observing consumers’ interactions with packaging and soliciting input on how it might be innovated is a good

starting point. Find out what matters most to consumers who are purchasing products within the category: ease of use? Avoiding wrap rage scenarios? Better maintenance of product integrity? Reusable packaging? Sustainability? When logical, realistic solutions present themselves, brand managers and consumers will wonder why it took so long to achieve them. Companies that have corporate cultures that innovate product and packaging on an ongoing basis require top-down commitment to create and nurture this kind of environment. Even when competitors get into the act and copy the latest improvement, strong brands continue to move ahead. That ensures they stay out in front, delivering strong customer experiences and reaping the reward of loyalty no matter how many competitors emerge. Any time an entire category of packaging is challenged with something startlingly new, breathtaking and unique, there’s a more than good chance it will succeed brilliantly if properly researched (with end users) and executed. While exciting, it’s true that there’s still an element of risk involved. But that’s what game changers embrace. They act and deliver optimal category packaging solutions.

Using Package Innovation as the Ultimate Game Changer by Ted Mininni

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Stranger & Stranger - Alcohol Packaging The Kraken Rum

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Hand-created lettering (especially when it’s digitally manipulated to feel weathered and aged) resonates so strongly among designers, I think, because it reflects the history behind brand-making – which is to say that before computers it was all hand-made, all the time. Hand-painted letters and signs grab our attention because despite our love for technology, many of us are clinging to the nostalgia of those whose footsteps we follow in: craftsmen, artisans of style, purveyors of a trade and a highly sought-after hand-skill. Whatever the reason, audiences seem to respond well to nostalgia, and it’s for that reason that I personally feel more drawn towards capturing the visual romance and history of a brand – even one that’s essentially brand new – than making it “clever”. To be fair, I still love clean, simple logos driven by a clever concept, and still seek those solutions myself when it seems appropriate. The kind of neo-nostalgia many of us are trying to embrace will more than likely pass into something new in a few years. Nevertheless, at least one thing about logo design has never changed for me, and that’s something that my design instructor from college taught me: that a logo, if nothing else, should be memorable. Not easy to do, especially when you’re drawing so much inspiration from what others have done and continue to do. But if the drive to create something completely new and memorable is always there, you’ll find your successes in all kinds of unexpected ways.

SIMON WALKER

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I Love Dust - Alcohol Packaging Breuckelen Distilling Company Gin

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Beau Monroe - Alcohol Packaging Concannon Vineyards wine

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Inhouse - Alcohol Packaging Ole Smoky Tennesee Moonshine

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What is Turner Duckworth’s philosophy?

Our approach to design is defined by three elements: clarity, simplicity and emotion. First, our work must generate a genuine emotional response from consumers. We want to engage peoples’ hearts as well as their minds. Second, although simplicity is probably an overused buzzword these days, we truly believe that our work should contain nothing that doesn’t serve a specific purpose. If you strip away all the visual clutter and extraneous elements, you can communicate what truly makes a brand special much more effectively. Third, clarity means thoughtfully, rigorously and beautifully crafting every detail.

I think that our philosophy and approach is highly differentiated as well. We’ve stayed true to our passion and what we do best: creating and designing consumer brand identities and packaging. We know who we are. But of equal importance, we know who we’re not. We don’t claim to be, or want to be for that matter, an “integrated” or “multidisciplinary” shop that offers / promises clients everything in the marketing mix. We want to do great brand design, period. Our clients find our approach refreshing, and I think it’s big reason so many companies want to work with us.

Is there a “Turner Duckworth” style?

No, we don’t have a house style. If you look at our portfolio of work over the last 15 years, you’ll see that our designs reflect the spirit and personality of the brands, not ours.

What is the Turner Duckworth design process?

Our process is rigorous but flexible. We value our intuitions and perceptions as highly, if not more so, than research data or focus group feedback. We believe that every brand has a unique story or distinct personality. We don’t stop until we uncover a point of clarity that captures and expresses a brand’s raison d’etre.

One incredibly important factor in identifying and articulating a brand’s point of clarity is that our London and San Francisco studios collaborate on every project. Work flows freely between each, so our clients get a rich and nuanced perspective from both sides of the Atlantic. It’s a nice blend of “American pragmatism meets English irony”.

We also conduct weekly ‘distant crits’, where each studio reviews the other’s work with no punches pulled. We don’t talk about non-design issues like client budgets or deadlines or internal politics. The focus is design, and design only. Each office serves as the other’s conscience and it inspires better work because we still want to impress each other.

In 2001 TD was about a 15 member team. Today is there a large team working in both the offices? And how big is the creative department?

As February 2008, we have 29 people total on staff: 17 in our San Francisco studio and 12 in our London Studio. In San Francisco, our creative team comprises 11 designers, two production designers, and one design intern. In London, our creative team comprises six designers and two production designers.

Interview – Peter Allen, Brand Development Director, Turner Duckworth.

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After winning over 200 international design awards what is the TD reaction towards awards? Is it still as exciting or has it become a norm to win?

We’re excited when our work wins awards. We never get tired of it. It’s always extremely gratifying and fulfilling to be recognized by our peers in the industry, and it’s a wonderful testament to the talent of our London and San Francisco creative teams.

How does it feel to stand in the supermarket and watch someone put down another product and pick a TD designed product?

It still feels great. Every firm and every designer likes to know that their work is appreciated, and we’re no different. At the end of the day, what we do is all about enticing consumers to buy the products that we’ve designed. When you see it happen in the store, it’s fun, rewarding and motivating.

Tell us a bit about yourself. Where did you start? Your schooling? Your experiences?

After earning a B.A. in journalism at Lynchburg College in Lynchburg, Virginia, I began my career as a newspaper reporter in New Jersey and Connecticut. I quickly learned that I wasn’t suited to be an ink-stained wretch, and I switched to what my former reporter colleagues would call the “dark side”, working in public relations. I joined the American Advertising Federation in Washington, DC as Director of Communications.

After five years in DC, I moved to San Francisco and joined Landor Associates, where I served as Head of Worldwide Marketing Communications for five years. I left Landor in 1998 to start my own branding / marketing consulting business, which I ran for six years.

In March 2004, I moved to New York with my wife Heather – a graphic designer who I met when we were both working at Landor – and I joined Siegel+Gale as Senior Vice President of Business Development.

In May 2006, we moved back to San Francisco. I joined Turner Duckworth for a few reasons. Having worked at the big, holding-company owned branding agencies like Landor (WPP) and Siegel+Gale (Omnicom), I was looking for a smaller, independent and creatively driven firm where I could make a significant impact on the agency’s success. My wife Heather has long admired Turner Duckworth’s work and she suggested that I contact them. Serendipity ensued, and here I am.

How did you decide that Brand Strategy was what you wanted to do?

I never really “decided” that I wanted to be a brand strategist. It became one of the skills that I’ve been fortunate enough to learn and improve upon over the last 15 years. But I enjoy all aspects of the design and branding business, not just strategy, and I consider myself more of a hybrid marketing / branding / communications / business development person than a brand strategist.

What kind of relationships do you share with the creative teams?

Many people are surprised to learn that we have “only” 29 people in two studios, given that we work with many big brands like Coke, Motorola, Waitrose and Amazon.com. But we’re a small, close-knit company that thrives on collaboration. The creative teams work intimately with our client services people

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The work of Turner Duckwoth

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2Chapter

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Packaging for Music and Film

This chapter focuses on bespoke packaging for music and film. Looking at design from old and new times that is innovative, clever and considers its audiences for the best design outcome. CD, vinyl and DVD packaging that is bold, different and beautiful.

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Left - Various Album package designs

Meneo - DVD Packaging Getxo

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Bas Koopmans - Music Packaging Fresku CD

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Motherbird - Music Packaging Escaping April EP

Electro Pop duo Escaping April commissioned Motherbird to design their debut album. Photos taken by Motherbird in South America were used to produce photographic collages based on the themes science and space. The imagery was given an extraterrestrial feel through the use of digital collaging. This was further emphasized through a black and gold print accompanied by an exposed screen-printed disk.

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Various Vinyl Designs

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Marc Bessant - Music Packaging Peter Gabriel Scratch my back box set

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Marc Bessant - Music Packaging Portishead 3 album

Marc Bessant - DVD Packaging Peter Gabriel Play videos

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Various DVD Cover designs

3 Chapter

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Identity

This chapter is based on the concept of identity. The application of a logo for a company or person which signifies their talent or service with in a symbol. Looking at identities that are fresh, innovative and make a company come to life though the application of a logo.

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46 Rethink Canada - Identity La Charcuterie deli/restaurant

KRZYSZTOF ZDUNKIEWICZ - Identity Wood Works

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Taylor Pemerton - Identity Cavalier

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A FANTASTIC ACID TEST FOR A LOGO IS HOW WELL IT

DISPLAYS IN BLACK AND WHITE

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Brian Hoff

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The strategies behind designing a successful and memorable logo involves a process which progresses through various stages of listening, research, development, feedback and changes. Below I share my logo process I go through when designing a logo:

Steps of a Successful Logo Design Processby Brian Hoff

Step 1: Defining the problem and understanding the goal

Getting the right amount of details and having a clear understanding of a client’s problems and goals from the beginning is the most important factor when starting a new logo design.

Asking questions such as, How does your company differ from its competitors?, What keywords should best describe your new logo?, or What type of logos typically appeal to you?, will help you and your clients become more on the same page and set up for a successful deliverable. Personally, each of my clients receives an interactive Logo Handout that asks questions about their company and project.

Step 2: Research

After receiving the Logo Handout and initiating phone conversation to get additional details the handout did not provide, I begin researching their company and competitors to get a better feel for their market – this helps in the overall look and message the final logo conveys.

Step 3: Inspiration

Every so often I’ll flip through some logo design books or online logo galleries to get the creative juices flowing. When not designing I focus as much as possible on bettering my own skills and becoming a more aware designer, this way I stay inspired and helps when approaching new work.

Step 4: Sketching and mind mapping

My designs, whether it’s logos or websites, always start off on paper. This allows me to get my brain moving

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in the right direction and get down as many ideas as possible. Jumping directly onto the computer can slow the creative process – it takes more time to execute ideas and one can tend to pay more attention to minuet details early on. Mind mapping also helps in exploring and growing your topic. You can easily expand upon ideas and keywords. Consider it the sketching of keywords.

Step 5: Digital implementation

After I’ve seen some sketches starting to come alive and take form, I then take my ideas to the computer. My software of choice is typically Adobe Illustrator for creating logos. Lines and shapes in Illustrator use vectors that are easily scalable and retain consistent clarity.

I also in the early stages of the process I do not add colour until I have decided on a couple of ideas that I feel are successful or the client would like to see more of. This allows me to focus more on the mark itself — a good logo should work well in both black, white and colour.

Step 5, 7 and 9: Client feedback

Working closely with my clients is not only essential to my business objectives, but without a doubt helps in the process of creating a logo that represents them and their company.

I do my best to touch base with my clients frequently and get their feedback through various stages of the logo design process. This also helps in building their trust, as the gain a better understanding of what their money is being invested into.

Step 6: More digital implementation

After some client feedback I tend to head back to the computer and make changes or provide additional samples. This gives me the chance to take in more ideas from the client and understand their vision more clearly after the initial feedback.

Step 8: Colour and typefaces

After I’m at least 80% satisfied with the logos I have so designed I play around with colour combination and font variation.

I typically provide my clients with at least 3 different logo samples, each having colour variations and typefaces that work well with the mark and company’s message.

Step 10: Final revisions

After the client comes to an agreement of the best overall solution for their logo, I will go in and make any additional minor changes I feel are necessary, if need be.

At this stage I’ll also mock-up what their new logo will look like on their existing website or stationery. This helps your clients see how the logo works as a collective, not just a stand alone object.

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Alex Dalmau - Identity Percussionist Dan Arisa

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Hampus Jageland - Identity Edge Board

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How do you ensure the integrity of your work?

Well here are 8 things that help set the stage for a consistent quality of work: (note: this list applies more to teams of designers vs. freelancers or artists)

1. Obviously, you need a standard of in-tent. Are you aiming for ‘great’ design or successful design? Work only with folks who share that viewpoint. “Both” is not a viable option as an approach.2. Surround yourself with good people who view design as a lifestyle (vs. a career).3. Develop a kit of briefing tools that (actually) yield valuable context and direction, and (actually) evaluate your work against it. 4. Select the right clients. You need a standard and you need to stick to it. It’s ok to say no on principle OR gut… but do so graciously.5. Establish and defend a culture of trust and validation – it’s paramount for productive internal critiques and a col-laborative process with your clients.6. Stay teachable & be receptive. The idea is more important than the ideator. Ideas should be group property and eve-ryone is qualified to contribute.7. Decide which hill(s) you’re willing to die on. If you wait to consider this until the heat of a disagreement with the client, you’ll either fold or risk a rash de-cision. It’s obviously a good idea if your client knows where your flexibility stops before you begin.8. Don’t show work that lacks integrity. And quit taking yourself so seriously.

What are your favourite aspects of the design process?

I don’t know where I’m headed here - but I’ll start by stating the thing I love most about the act of designing. I’m all

about the exaltation and humiliation of discovery. It’s a spiritual experience for me.

In the design process, I’ve found two things that really fertilize discovery; observation and intuition. Observation is great. It’s always honest and informative. But my favourite aspect of the process is the role of intuition. Sometimes it’s the lock. Sometimes it’s the ignition. Usu-ally, it’s the key.

The interesting thing about intuition is that, when properly filtered, it makes our discoveries hauntingly familiar, in a very personal way. It’s a key informer to the process but it biases our solutions as designers. It exists prior to creation, and still it offers the highest creative reward. Fulfilment. A taste of creative freedom. I think that’s beautiful.

However, it’s as important to challenge intuition as it is to give it air. If intui-tion is misappropriated for selfish gain or overindulged for personal expression it becomes a trap door to the process. Intuition can be a tyrant. But I’m not sure there’s a creative force that’s more critical to design.

Ok, I just have to add… I also love those epiphanic moments when some incred-ible idea (finally) leaps forth from some-where deep in our right lobes. It’s the idea all other ideas were suffocating and it comes floating on a stream of seroto-nin. You know… the idea. “YEHSSS!’, we shout, triumphantly… ‘dude, that’s IT!” Frantically, we look around for someone to share the moment with. We drop our pencils or Wacom™ pens – maybe take a victory lap around the studio. We’re so excited to make it real… to give it life! Those innocent seconds are the greatest of our careers. If we’re lucky, we have a few of them throughout the course

Interview – JR Crosby, Creative Director, PTARMAK.

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of each project. I try to relish in them. They’re usually followed by two panic strickening realizations that mean hard labor. What if it’s been done before? What if they don’t go for it? That’s when the really good work begins.

Was it a desire of yours from the start to find and run your own studio?

Yes and no, not exactly. As a youngster, I often dreamt of owning my own shop ‘one day.’ I talked about doing it. I came up with names and logos. But my plans had no plan whatsoever. I daydreamed in escape from any real opportunity. I ‘paid my dues’ to avoid risk. Like most twentysomething creatives, I was chock full of naiveté and wanderlust – driven by boundless energy to ferret out ‘cor-porate’ injustices, and passionate about my own theories (i.e. oversimplifica-tions) on cures for the common client.

Looking back, I realize those dreams were simply my own misappropriated desire for creative freedom. Owning and operating a business didn’t interest me until I understood what it meant. Specifically, not until I saw the oppor-tunity (or need) for a unique business structure… An operating model adapted to the specific needs of small and mid-sized creative shops. The idea seemed like a suitable experiment. Enter » the corporate collaborative… and the birth of what we affectionately refer to as Ptarmak, Uncorporated.

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The work of PTARMAK

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4 Chapter

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Branding

This chapter focuses on branding. But when branding becomes more than an identity. When it considers the whole feeling, ambience, look and feel of an environment. From the colour of the chairs to what’s on the walls. Designing a place that has the brand built into it which is done cleverly and beautifully.

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Design agency ‘The Kitchen was asked to create an identity for the Levi’s girls store in Paris that included a logo and in-store graphics. The result is a bold, fresh identity that has a distinct feminine attitude and an edgy strength. The main graphic and logo-the girl’s face- came after the design team studied hundreds of photographs of girl’s faces, eventually creating a unique, silhouetted graphic. The look and feel is heavily influenced by the west coast psychedelic music posters of the last sixties, but the design has reinterpreted this to give a contemporary, up-to-date feel. The strong magenta references pop art’s bright colours. “It was important to ensure that the girl’s face was created as a logo and that it was not too photographic.” explains ‘The Kitchens’ creative director Rob Petrie.

“And, in order for it to be applied to the walls in-store, we followed the architect’s planes very closely so that the hair and curls worked around the shop fittings.”

According to Levi’s market research,the reaction to this new identity has been extremely positive. It is a strong visual identity with a difference; although many stores have favoured in-store graphics of late; this one, with the girl’s hair growing flame-like from the logo to spread across the whole in-store area, is a unique exercise in Biba-esque branding.

ROB PETRIE - KITCHEN

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Tunnel Bravo - Branding The Arrogant Butcher

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DESIGN IS ABOUT MAKING THINGS GOOD (AND THEN BETTER) AND RIGHT (AND

FANTASTIC) FOR THE PEOPLE WHO USE AND

ENCOUNTER THEM.

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Matt Beale

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I had a number of goals for the brand personality. First was to craft an honest expression of the joy we felt in building Frank and in what we were offering the public. At its heart the restaurant is a product of our shared interests, passions and quirks. Speaking personally, I’m really moved that people connect with it in such a big way. I think Daniel and Geoff would agree.Second, in building the brand I was obsessed with the idea of creating moments where people could feel like a kid again. The playful nature of the tone and viewpoint were driven by that goal. The “come and take it” sausage flag, and the sausage phone, the pig-nose pint glasses are all part of trying to give our customers a few seconds of child-like wonder and amusement. I think it’s the best gift you can give someone.Aesthetically. I always joke that the design strategy was “circus comes to town, broadsides hot dog cart.” The bright mustard and ketchup tones,

CHRISTIAN HELMS

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the big midway typography, all of that comes from there. Add in a nod to my home state of North Carolina and our shared love of the south and you end up with a ridiculous celebration of artisan food, southern culture and the versatility of the hot dog. I could talk about that place all day.The idea of Frank really started with our partner Geoff Peveto, who developed an obsession with a number of hot dog joints around the country— most notably Hot Doug’s in Chicago. He actually approached Doug about franchising, and Doug declined but offered to share his thoughts and support if we wanted to start our own sausage-venture. If I had a dollar for every hot dog, sausage or bacon image that Geoff texted or emailed me during that period I could probably retire.

During that same time we were going to Woodland a lot, because it was near our homes and it was just run so well— the kind of place where you feel like a regular after one visit. We got to know the manager, Daniel Northcutt really well and not to long afterward we hada shared epiphany. We had everyone we needed to start a restaurant sitting there at the bar. So there was no excuse not to try it.

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Various Innovative and eye catching design for environments that make the area more exciting and appealing.

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