box vox

Clown Cereal

Clown cereal boxes (Kellogg’s, General Mills & Post) were, I think, all from Dan Goodsell’s Flickr Photostream

My early childhood was spent in Sarasota, Florida, home of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Clown College.

While clowns have been culturally waning for some time now, in those days, there was a show called “Circus Boy” on television (starring a young Micky Dolenz who grew up to become the Monkee‘s drummer) and there were lots of circus-themed packages at the grocery store. Not yet scary, clowns were still considered a good way to market children’s cereals.

Why the sudden interest in clowns, you ask?

(Asked and answered, after the fold...)

Ron English: Popaganda Shopdropping

Ron English is the artist who created the zipper/banana album cover mash-up that we wrote about last January.

More recently he’s been doing some cereal box package design (i.e.: art) which he’s been shopdropping into supermarkets. These “popaganda” food repacks are subversive in the same dumb sort of way that Wacky Packages were: creating momentary consumer confusion and adding a satiric, negative spin to trademarked food brands.

Some commentators have taken the cereal series as nutritional agitprop in opposition of childhood obesity. I’m not sure that English’s agenda is so politically correct, but I could be wrong.

The fun part of shopdropping, however, is when consumers puzzle over the aberrant branding messages and, in some cases, blithely purchase them.

Part of the reason I prefer not think that English’s messaging is sincerely literal is the “Sugar Diabetic Bear” below, which in my (diabetic) view is amusing, but not entirly accurate. Yes, Type 2 diabetes can be brought on by obesity, but what about Type 1 diabetes? Eating sugar certainly didn’t cause my diabetes. (See: Diabetes Myths)

(One more thing about Ron English and diabetes, after the fold...)

Nozzle Necklaces

Upper left: Sterling silver “Spray Can Nozzle” pendant from Solitary Man ($255); upper right: Nozzle Necklace w/ Krylon logo cut out of a can by Jaymeer, 1997 (see also: Silver Nozzle); lower left:  Hand-made clogged nozzle necklace by Steven Jacobs ($15); lower right: Sterling silver “Tag’n Run” necklaces—with and without diamond from Red Sofa ($65)

Some packaging jewelry of a very specific type: necklaces made from spray paint can nozzles.

Randy Ludacer
Beach Packaging Design

Coca Cola’s Dripping Negative Space

On left: “liquidated” Coca Cola logo by Zevs; center: a recently discontinued Coke can; on right: Zoo’s package design for Rubén Álvarez yogurt.

The first time I saw the seasonal Coca Cola can above was from a distance of about 3 yards (2.75 m). I was in the back of the supermarket by the meat cases when I noticed some cans with what appeared to be dripping white frosting (or melting glacial ice?) on display in a Coca Cola end cap.

I left my shopping cart where it was and crossed over for a closer look. Not drips at all, but just the negative space behind some polar bears on a silver ridge.

Maybe I’m predisposed to seeing dripping graphics everywhere, but, even if this optical illusion is unintentional, a dripping white package does seem in keeping with Coca Cola’s frosty, cold gestalt. And, to my eyes, the white ink comes to the foreground and the silver metal of the can is the more natural background.

None of this matters much in the face of another negative controversy. The package design was intended to be part of Coke’s “cause marketing” effort to protect the polar bear, but this message is being overshadowed by the problem of diabetic consumer confusion.

“I purchased three six-packs because I thought they were diet,” Gail O’Donnell of Danvers, Massachusetts, told ABC News.

“I drank one and wondered why it tasted so good. I didn’t look at the can. … I am a diabetic and can only drink diet sodas. They need to make it so it is not confused.”

Coke and Diet Coke Cans Should Be Polar Opposites, Buyers Say

Coca Cola has therefore discontinued production of the white can, switching back to last year’s red version. So diabetics (like me) won’t get confused and drink regular, caloric Coke by mistake, screwing up their blood sugar.

Come to think of it, the red can looks a little like dripping blood.

Randy Ludacer
Beach Packaging Design

Spray Paint Can Concepts

Part of the Canceptual V.4 show at Crewest was devoted to Man One’s collaboration with Berlin Packaging’s Studio One Eleven, “Paint the Future” envisioning alternate spray paint cans:

“One of our strengths lies in understanding and implementing experiential design — that is, how people actually use and interact with a package. Man One Design asked us to apply that expertise to provide a vision for paint delivery systems that suit the needs of street artists,” said Scott Jost, Berlin Packaging Vice President of Innovation and Design. “These ideas open a dialogue that can help pave the way for equipping graffiti artists with better tools.”

“Street art is becoming an increasingly popular vehicle for brands to connect with younger consumers, but artists are limited by the capabilities of the conventional spray can. We asked Studio One Eleven to take an exploratory journey with us to think differently about the spray can and suggest ways to improve can performance,” said Scott Power, Managing Principal, Man One Design. “Our goal with the ‘Paint the Future’ showcase is to inspire and facilitate packaging innovation by asking a professional artist and heavy utilizer of spray paint like Man One what he wants and needs from a spray can to create his artwork. This is a path to discover new and meaningful value that translates into strategic opportunities for paint manufacturers.”

Berlin Packaging

Graffiti as “strategic opportunity” despite hardware stores keeping cans of spray paint in locked cabinets to discourage tagging.

Note concepts above for: accordion cartridge feature, a rocket shaped can and duplex spray can.

(More photos, after the fold...)

Canceptual

On left: “Knuck Can” by Waxer; on right: “Spray Bomb” by Brian Lynk

Canceptual v.4 is an art show of spray paint cans at Crewest in Los Angeles that ends tomorrow.

(See also: You Can Go Your Own Way and Can-Gun)

Randy Ludacer
Beach Packaging Design

More Drips

More drip/droplet packaging. Following up on an earlier post about this trend, I’m seeing more examples...

1. Magic marker brand, Krink is doing the Absolut Vodka thing, on left—thereby making the connection between packaging drips and graffiti absolutely explicit. (via: PopSop)

2. The single golden drip featured on Moruba’s label design for Karey Olive Oil (center) is more an illustration of package contents and about as far from expressionistic graffiti style as you can get. Have to admire the astute typographic insight that enabled the designer to see the discreet teardrop that was always latent in that sideways “y.” (via: the dieline)

3. Mystery packs: I don’t know where I found the blue-yellow-red bath set bottles, on right. I have lost track of my source. (If anyone knows, please tell me; I don’t like making them anonymous.) The dripping paper collar loops that cover the caps and tuck-in are interesting. The connotations here (for dripping primary colors) seem to be more painterly—less “street art.”

(A video of the Krink/Absolut bottle, after the fold...)

Lego Packaging

Lego packaging, three kinds:

1. CPG sculptures made out of Legos. (e.g.: David Hoffmann’s Krylon can above & T-Reichling’s Coke can below)

2. Self-similar Lego containers with lids designed to make them resemble Lego bricks. (Another example below)

3. The miniature doll-house-style packages that are included in certain Lego “Scala” kits. (Photos below via: ebay)

(More CPG sculptures, after the fold...)

Packaging Cakes

Top, left: Krylon spray paint can cake from DebbieDoesCakes; on right: Busch Beer Can “Groom’s Cake” (via: CakeCental.com); 2nd row, left: Opus Paint Tube Cake by HighBornTalon; 3rd row, left: Jack Daniel’s Bottle Cake from Dubai’s House of Cakes; on right: Marlboro Cigarette Pack Cake (via: CakeCentral.com); 4th row, left: Campbell’s Soup Can cake from Desserts in Bloom; on right: a prescription pill bottle cake from Jeremy Wolfe’s Flickr Photostream

Randy Ludacer
Beach Packaging Design

Sket One’s Anthro-Packs

Notcot featured some of Sket One’s sculpted toys way back in 2006, so, clearly, we are not the place to come for late-breaking, vinyl toy news.

I like to think that our métier is more in the line of “connecting the random dots” than in being first, but maybe I can be the first to point out that the Connecticut-based graffiti artist’s iconic, container-shaped characters —packaging with arms & legs— follow directly in the footsteps of many earlier anthropomorphic packages. (Although authorized product mascots are usually not blind and mute.)

(See how vinyl, anthropomorphic packaging is packaged and promoted these days, After the fold...)

Re: The Splat

Upper left: Phil Harvey’s Nichols Foods sauce packets; on right: Joli Glantz’s Bluefly Ale concept (via: The Dieline); lower left: Januar Rianto’s Amber Ale (via: Lovely Package); on right: Axel Peemoeller’s new YSL fragrance bottles

Another expressionist-painting-related packaging trend: the splat. Similar to the graffiti-related drip trend.

“Packaging splats” can relate to the viscosity of the contents, as in Phil Harvey’s sauce packets—“Nichols wanted impactful packaging...”—or Januar Rianto’s Ale labels, which imply contents “...that splashed out during the toast. The splashes symbolize the energy, spirit and the power of the people.”

Or splats may refer to something else about the brand, as in Joli Glantz’s visual joke about splatted “Blueflies.” (See also: the Nickelodeon splat which was a reference to their brand’s early history with “slime” but not usually about package contents)

Axel Peemoeller’s fragrance bottles rely more on a “fine arts” connotation than any literal reference to the nature their contents. Although one could make the case that these packs are about the synesthetic association of colors and smell.

Randy Ludacer
Beach Packaging Design

Campbell’s Spray Paint Cans

On left: “Campbell’s Graffiti Soup” by Rene Gagnon; on right: Mr. Brainwash’s “Tomato Spray.” Two different artists with a financial stake in the same concept. Both silkscreen prints. Both sold-out editions of 100.

To the extent that graffiti (and art, in general) has certain competitive goals in common with product branding—(getting the name out there, claiming territory, defending reputation)—it should come as no big surprise that graffiti artists would think of referencing consumer packaged goods.

While it’s nice to think that parallel ideas might signify some broader cultural shift, in situations where there is a potential for "consumer confusion"—as with consumer brands—this can be considered trademark infringement. 

Massachusetts-based Rene Gagnon and Los-Angeles-based Frenchman, Thierry Guetta (aka "Mr. Brainwash") are both graffiti-style artists, whose works have frequently alluded to Andy Warhol’s work. Among their many Warhol-based concepts, they each have done many, many artworks using this Campbells-Soup/Spray-Paint-Can idea. Naturally there has been controversy about who’s ripping off whom. (See: Bansky Forum) For the record, it appears that Rene Gagnon got there first in 2006.

Sure, “great minds think alike” and maybe the controversy has helped both artists garner more attention —(and therefore sell more art). But confusing, it certainly is.

“Multiplied Tomato Spray” by Mr. Brainwash (via: Dregs)

Rene Gagnon’s poster, above, confronts his competitor directly by ironically claiming “The Original” as his product benefit. (Layout is based on the same Campbell’s Soup “Can Bag” promotion that we featured: here) 

(More, after the fold...)

Parsing Drips & Droplets

Top row, left: David Fung’s milk carton concept—the length of drip corresponds to fat content (via); on right: David Drummond’s design for olive oil packaging; 2nd row left: graphic design for Mew “cereal milk” by Thailand-based Subconscious (via); at center and on right: Casa Loreto olive oil by London-based The Partners (via: bad banana blog); 3rd row, left: another olive oil bottle with a large 3D droplet—Dom Diogo, designed by Base and Michael Young (via); on right: Nature’s Agave “agave nectar” bottles by San Francisco-based studio,  The Engine Room; 4th row, left: Turner Duckworth’s design for Bliss Vital Oils (via); on right: Shefa Young Wine label (with diecut drip-shaped windows) by Israel-based Nine99Design (via); bottom left: Method’s teardrop-shaped hand-wash bottles

Is it my imagination or has there lately been a deluge of graphic drips and droplets on packaging? The teardrop-shaped droplet has long served as a graphic shorthand for liquids. A good way way to quickly communicate liquid or viscous contents, but some of these drips —particularly the long extended drips— would seem to run contrary to the ideal objectives of a container. The prospect of a food or a beverage oozing down the sides of a package is not generally seen as a plus from the consumer point of view. (Why else do we have those “no-drip” caps on bottles of ketchup and chocolate syrup?) So what, then, is behind this mini-trend?

Can this be packaging’s muted and minimalist response to expressionist graffiti? The examples above are not very expressionistic and even with graffiti, drips were not always desirable.

Drips are generally a kind of incontinence, a mark of control betrayed by the treacheries of fluid, whether allowed to happen by house painters or by artists. The masters of subway graffiti recruited apprentices to wipe away the drips, regarded by them as inconsistent with their claim to mastery. Abstract Expressionism made wiping drips away obsolete.

Arthur C. Danto, Pollock and the Drip
The Nation, January 25, 1999

If Abstract Expressionism has taught graffiti artists not to bother wiping away the drips, the graffiti artist who most profitably absorbed this lesson was Craig Costello, aka KR. Costello created the Krink brand of magic marker with a specially formulated runny ink. Krink^® is credited for having “changed the look of vandalism” in New York. But if graffiti artists are now embracing expressionist drips, it’s no incidental sign of the painting process. The drips are often the whole point. (See: Zev’s graffiti logos and Advert Expressionism)

Surprisingly, Krink’s packaging does not feature drips¹:

Krink’s packaging has a crisp, minimalist look that doesn’t scream graffiti... to leave the door open to a wider audience than taggers...

And the brand does present a different image than much of what is in online stores openly selling “graffiti supplies.” (On the Run markers, for example, feature a logo of a shadowy guy running with a spray-paint can.) Plenty of young artists have told Costello they love the Krink look — but they’re not graffiti writers and don’t intend to start. So when he talks about expanding into a product line that will make sense in a Pearl Paint store, or even a Michael’s, it’s a sentiment with more pragmatic origins than avoiding demonization as a vandal supplier: the market for the street-art aesthetic and influence is far bigger than the market of actual street artists.

Rob Walker, “Tag Sale”
(New York Times Magazine” Consumed column, February 24, 2008)

If art suppliers and paint companies are refraining from letting their graphics drip down the sides—(see Turner Duckworth’s “Flawless” paint can)—why is it OK for food packaging? And do David Fung’s milk cartons and Nine99Design’s wine labels really fit into anyone’s definition of a “street-art” aesthetic?

(More questions, after the fold...)

Packaging and Music Posters

Via Packaging Uqam: more evidence of the connection between packaging and pop music. These posters are by Emanuela Grasso for music performances at Montreal’s “Café Campus.” (I like the way her drips here simultaneously reference: graffiti, messy food, & action painting.)

(Another packaging/music poster after the fold...)

4 Aerosol Paint Can Spin-Offs

I’ve got 4 spray-paint-can related items that I had been planning to ration out one at a time, but since they all seem to have evolved from the same set of cultural chromosomes, I’m now thinking that it would make more sense to look at them all in one fell swoop.

Just to remind ourselves that aerosol paint cans did not always signify renegade street art & graffiti, I give you a historical note about the father of the spray paint can, Edward Seymour. (pictured, above left)

In 1949, Edward Seymour added paint to existing aerosol can technology at his wife Bonnie’s suggestion. Initially designed to demonstrate his aluminum paint, the delivery system itself was instantly popular. Seymour of Sycamore, Inc. still produces aerosol spray paints to this day.

Wikipedia entry on aerosol paint cans

The thing about a spray paint container is that it’s not just a container. It’s also the tool used to apply the paint. And because of that, spray paint cans are natural candidates for being turned into fetish objects signifying graffiti. Like artists’ paint brushes—(see: Jasper Johns)—spray paint cans have taken on the cachet of an entire creative pursuit. Although with spray paint cans there is also a kind of cultural vandalism being embraced. Spray paint is, after all, a packaged product that must now be purchased from a special locked cabinet because its renegade customers may transgress the rules of private & public property.

1. Jake Rankin’s Spray Paint Lamps

Jake Rankin turns used spray paint cans into desk lamps, with the spray nozzle as a switch. Obviously appealing for fans of graffiti and/or fans of upcycling. (Not really sure how often those two demographic groups might overlap.)

I think these lamps have an interesting counterintuitive aspect. Both light and spray paint are thought of and depicted in similar ways—as a sort of expanding, but dissipating ray. Yet the lamp’s light does not emerge from the same place that the spray paint does. The light comes from a bulb in the base of the can rather than the nozzle. I know there are practical reasons for this, but formally and conceptually... I’m just saying.

(via the unconsumption blog)

(3 more aerosol paint can spin-offs, after the fold...)

bar codes

I noticed the other day that on the back of my Encyclopedia Wine bottle (can you guess my ulterior motives for buying that exact brand? Hmm?) even the bar code was made into that distinctive Erlenmeyer Flask/decanter shape. Alas, in my zeal to denude the bottle of stickers, I tore off the label before I got a picture of it. When I find my camera and buy another bottle of wine, I'll be sure to document it carefully.

In the meantime, I have been looking at some fairly cool barcode designs. Barcodes seem to be taken in two philosophical directions; on the one hand, some designers have taken the time to prettify this necessary bit of packaging, thus unifying it with the overall design of the product and taking advantage of the space to express the product's uniqueness. On the other hand, barcodes are seen as a symbol of uniformity and consumerism, and are appropriated as such in art. It's really wonderful how much has been done with a bit of design that was conceived for purely functional reasons.

Coke-bottle shaped barcode on a can of coke, uploaded by Flickr user Disco Suicide.

Existential Marginalia

(See the wide screen version here.)

My older son (Robert Ludacer*) recently graduated from SCAD with a BFA in animation. I'd been after him for a long time to make a “€œmusic video”€ of one of my songs, and he finally did!

Marginal Existence tells the story of his parents’ threadbare, but happy times in the early 1980s on the lower east side—€”Allen Street, to be precise. I love how he’s envisioned the place, based entirely on his recollections of our descriptions. Stories & anecdotes that we’€™ve probably told him too many times are cataloged here into a sort of storybook mythology...

• the time I had the dog off the leash and—€”alarmed by the noise of the gate coming down—€”he bit the owner of the liquor store as he has closing up. (Thank you for not suing!)

• Debby making her casts of pig heads (purchased at the butcher on Stanton Street)

• her coming out of our front door and spooking Keith Haring, doing graffiti on the other side of the door (Note the eyeglasses.)

• the burglar (who we actually interrupted trying to break into the liquor store and who left behind a hammer that we still use today)

What has any of this to do with packaging? Well, you can be pretty sure there was packaging in our kitchen and in our fridge. (Jolly Time pop corn and Brown Cow yogurt, come to mind.) And check out those bottles downstairs in the liquor store...

And about those fireworks at the end: I remember after one particularly incendiary holiday (4th of July or something) taking our very nervous dog on a walk with the street completely awash in red paper from exploded Black Cat firecrackers.

Randy Ludacer
Beach Packaging Design

*Check out his most recent animation here.

 

Annotated Graffiti