The Brazilian design studio PS2 created this beautiful self promotional typographic memory card game.

This concentration game consist of 20 pairs of card, each one with a different type family.

Set has some extra cards with a typographical glossary and the explanation of the sentence that names the gift: “the quick brown fox jumps to over the lazy dog”.
The package also contains a text about the evolution of type design, locating in history each font used in the cards.

Set is the annual gift to customers and friends of the graphic design universe and of the agency and comes in a limited edition of 300 numbered copies.

JUST BRILLIANT.

Some Spec:
Principal Type: Univers Condensed, by Adrian Frutiger
Paper: Condat Silk + Matte
Colors: Pantone
Finishing: Lustre Lamination + Die Cut

Click to view a larger image

Some time ago UnderConsideration introduced the new design of the Tropicana packaging, a brand of the Pepsi Company.
The new bottle showed a cold, anonymous big picture of a glass of orange juice with plain sans serif typography.
Article ended the commentary with “I really want to believe that the screw-cap will not be an orange-colored boobie as in the rendering above”.
I couldn’t agree more.
That half-orange shaped cap was not only ugly but probably difficult to use too. (The one above is the initial rendering, at the end of the post the two real bottle compared)

YES.
I’ve said “was”.

New packaging arouse hell in all designers communities, and after a brief test period Tropicana has decided to return to its old packaging.

Let’s face the truth, with redesign it lost his identity: it was not
anymore the fresh fruit bursting with juice that made us all eager to drink.It became a plain product in a glass. Like anyone else.
There’s more.
Maybe this loss of quality in packaging was even perceived as a loss of quality in the product itself in the usual consumer too?
It may be.

Am I unfair?
I mean…I’ve always liked clean and sleek designs and this design is not bad in itself. Really.
Problem is that those that made the redesign forgot that this brand
has his history and his (strong) personality, and in their eagerness
to reach kids, moms, dads, grandpas and all in between cleaned up
and cut too much and in the end made it just…floppy.

So…what’s next now?
Will we see an update of the rejected design, an update of the old
one, a completely new one or we’ll keep on see the old beloved one
for years to come?

David Butler, who now is vice-president for design, joined Coca-Cola almost five years ago, receiving what he calls “the Post-it Note mandate: We need to do more with design. Go figure it out.” He then had soon written up a 30-page manifesto setting out a design strategy for the company.

Here it is how new Coca-Cola design course started.
With new approach, instead of developing new concept that probably would have never seen light, the design team had to concentrate on problems and issues that could be fixed by design.

‘How can we make the can feel colder, longer?‘
It has been from this starting concept that the new aluminum bottle and the new generation of coolers are born.

Aluminum is more modern, less expensive to produce, it has a re-sealable cap, and yes, it gives to customers the perception of being more cold. In addiction, it is manufactured using recycled material and is itself recyclable.
Coca-Cola aims, too, to reinforce brand installing new designed coolers into stores. And for those stores that don’t want to invest in a new one, a set of panels has been created to attach to old cooler to give it the look of the new model.

There are few brands in world as famous as Coca-Cola.
However in last decade it really seemed struggling with competitors, everyone fighting to add the more sparks and ribbons and bubbles and splashes and so on to their designs.

Coca-Cola classic brand redesign decided to invert this [messy, in my opinion] tendency and get back to basics.
The redesign of the logo removes all the unnecessary stuff and leaves a clean logotype over a red background.
This update brought Coke’s home the Cannes Lions Design Grand Prix. Good job!

This is the LESS IS MORE I love.

Some years ago I made a set of four advertising (I realized both visual and copy) for a branch of a press agency that deals technology and computer gadgets.
They all (but one) were two pages wide and were going to have nationwide diffusion (for those who don’t know I am in Italy).

The reason I am writing about this is that few days ago I was leafing through a technology magazine when it happened, to my great surprise, that I saw one of those old adverts (and to be more exact, the one you can see a detail in the pic above).
As far as I’ve always known all advertising campaign have their life cycle: customer gets attracted and interested in products thanks to the freshness of the message, than desire and acquire (you know … the old good A.I.D.A. formula …).
So, when customer already knows your visual and he is already accustomed to it, your message higly risks to get unnoticed.
I am pretty sure the result of each campaign has always been benchmarked by that company so, if they keep on publishing that advert it can only mean one thing: IT KEEPS ON SELLING.

This whole story inspired me some insights that I want to share in this article.

• Good Design Tells a Story.
  Design IS communication, and spending your hours with your tools just to make a composition look better or to refine your tecnique is useless. No one of the element of design should be gratuitous, everyone of them must convey your message. It doesn’t? Discard it. Never forget the old rule LESS IS MORE.
• It all starts by the definition of a “concept”.
  I know of a lot of colegues that when they are going to start a new project brainstorm by jotting down everything comes to their mind then refine in a second time. I work in a different way. I start defining a creative concept that should describe client and product. Something daring that I want to hook the customer. Something different and new.
  The case in example was particularly challenging: how many online technology and gadgets shops already exists? How could I been able to compel customers to get there?
  To make things even more difficult target audience of adverts were a lot heterogeneous because they were going to be featured not only on business and high-end tech mag, but on newbies magazines too.
• You got to reach your customer “emotionally”.
  Best feature of the client was that he offeres often rare to find tech gadgets and solutions, so, the starting principle of all four adverts I developed was the he provides products that make life easier. As a plus, to contrast with “cold” technology I wanted my message to be strongly emotional.
  Watch in the pic above and you already know the direction I took. I choose a photo of a happy grandfather and child, imagining the first whispering to the second about a secret place where he would have bought some unique and rare to find gift.
  
• Colors have to be active element of your composition.
  They never-ever have to be casual. Colors communicate as much as visuals itself, I’m of the opinion that every designer should learn the power of a correct use of color. I often like to desaturate the scene and leave color to the element I want it to have emotional impact, but this is not a set rule.