Ikea Packaging as Advertisement

Ikea is known for both their inventive advertising campaigns and for being the pioneer of flat-pack designed furniture. Here is an example of one of Ikea's flat-pack boxes used in a commerical advertisement. The box was hung behind glass at Brooklyn bus stops, informing locals about a new store opening in Red Hook. This advertisement catches your attention and provides an innovative use of packaging.  

Notable Packaging @ Renegade Craft Fair

At the 2008 Renegade Craft Fair in McCarren Park Pool, Body Care Packaging dominated as the most creative and compelling. Check out who UD picked for Most Notable Packaging and all the runner ups. 

Biggs & Featherbell

Biggs & Featherbell Heath Conscious Body Care was chosen as UD's Most Notable Packaging. Their packaging is hand painted with bright colors and gives off a playful girly essences. Each item has a clever name and a corresponding illustration. Biggs & Featherbell products and packaging are made by sisters Kelly and Hasey Evick. Check out all the places you can buy Biggs & Featherbell. 

And The Runner Ups Are:

Dirty Loves Clean

Check out Dirty Loves Clean soup packaging made from New York City Subway maps and corrugated cardboard.

Honey Flower

Check out the Honey Flower Natural Skincare product line and Blog. 

Disquieting Designs

Check out Disquieting Designs body care products and their new Soytastic soy candles on their website where you can buy it all. 

Bunny Butt Apothecary

Check out Bunny Butt Apothecary hand-crafted soaps and excellent smelling perfumes.

East Pack Packaging Expo 2008

East Pack is the east cost's largest packaging expo and UnwrappedDesign was there to see it all. The convention featured the latest innovations in packaging, processing and technology. Two floors of the massive Jacob K. Javits Convention Center were filled with trade booths displaying each company's packaging, innovative new recyclable packaging materials, and assembly lines showing how the packaging was stamped out, assembled, filled with the product and labeled. Visiting the booths there was a common theme expressed of maximum product exposure with minimum packaging using recyclable materials. Check out some of the packaging we saw at East Pack 2008.

Inside the Jacob Javits Center

Bottles That Got My Attention

I'm constantly observing the packaging being sold all around me. When I walk down the aisle of a corner market or grocery store, I let the packaging on the shelves compete for my attention. I try to see whose label, shape, or interesting detail stands out most. 

Checkout some of the bottles I've picked up recently.  

Story Telling

In a 2007 issue of I.D. Magazine an article was written with packaging trends to watch for. The number two item listed was "Story Telling". This is a way to connect consumers with stories to help remember the product and give the item credibility. Text copy designed to makes us pause, read and engage with the packaging.

While waiting at the checkout line at the grocery store I find myself reading labels and packaging looking for these snippets. I really enjoy finding these little surprises while purchasing items.

2008 Pratt Show

  In the Spring 2008 issue of Pratt's magazine Prattfolio, Debera Johnson the academic director of sustainability writes, "In September 2007, Pratt was awarded a 3-year, $475,000 grant from the U.S. government's Fund to Improve Post-Secondary Education (FIPSE). [They] were the only institution to receive a grant to "green" its academic programs and only three percent of the applicants received funding." This Green Grant is helping Pratt to teach its students about understanding environmental sustainability in relation to the student's chosen profession. 

At this year's 2008 Pratt show in Manhattan, it was clear that the "green" sustainable teaching was underway. Biodegradable, organic and recyclable materials were the main trends I saw in the student's Packaging Design work. It is great to know that these future designers will have the skills needed to work in our chaotic ever-changing world. Check out some of the Packaging Design I saw at this year's Pratt Show.