The new label looks similar, but features some lightened verbiage. The previous and admittedly wordy description went like this:

Jack Daniel’s Old Time, Old No. 7 Brand, Quality Tennessee Sour Mash Whiskey, Distilled and Bottled by Jack Daniel Distillery, Lem Motlow, Proprietor, Lynchburg (Pop. 361), Tenn. U.S.A., Est. & Reg. in 1866.

The noted population of Lynchburg, which wasn’t 361 anyway, has been removed along with a few other bits and bobs. For more, check out the article.

While I have been known, from time to time, to get defensive of a heritage brand trying to modernise, I don’t mind this at all. I think adapting the wording of the packaging a perfectly suitable adaption for today’s modern consumer (who doesn’t read or give a fuck about history). The overall design is the same, the trademark typography remains, and the newly added icons are very much in the old-fashion style. Plus, it’s all so subtle that very few will notice — especially after a few shots.

Also, how often does the Journal use the word “rejigger” in an article title? Gotta love that.

The various networks take different approaches to their packaging. HBO always goes aces. NBC, unfortunately, seems to be trying way too hard. Cue the environmental moaning.

Pardon the video from Hulu, which is jam-packed with ads and a clunky interface. Give it a watch, it’s funny!

I read a lot of blogs. I follow many people on Twitter. I attend meetups, and lectures, and chat with my industry pals whenever possible. It’s great. They’re not at all dummies, but occasionally, I do find myself missing the intellectual demands of my life as a college student (and grad student). Intelligence, by most traditional definitions, is shoved into the background of day-to-day agency life, where the smarts of a designer (or strategist, or account exec) is usually anecdotal. So I welcome the return of the smart-guys to the design business. I’m glad to see so many of our speakers with PhDs and hear from published authors who didn’t simply compile magazine covers into a coffee-table book (not that there’s anything wrong with that).

The day started with Andrew Pek analysing our brains. Getting us to strive for enlightenment in our innovation. Shouting exercises and the throwing of crumpled paper can be just as stimulating as any math problem, if only because it’s new. Andrew is a smart guy.

It’s a bit of an understatement to say that our keynote speaker Dr. Michio Kaku is a smart guy. I thought it was funny how “creating a unified field theory” is just one of his accomplishments, with a whole list of accolades and endeavors to follow. Kaku’s talk helped bring us back to a science-minded future, thinking of how technology and innovations which are just around the corner can affect our practice and business. We weren’t charged to pick up Einstein’s work where he left off, but we were, in a sense, charged with being part of the future, and understanding all that sciencey stuff.

A different kind of smarts is required when thinking about gender marketing, and how to bring a woman’s need into the building of a brand or the development of a product. I enjoyed hearing from Agnete Enga and Paulette Bluhm-Sauriol of Smart Design‘s Femme Den who challenged us to think about how so much of our design, branding, and marketing efforts are stupidly male-focused. Time to smarten up.

Aside from the need to get smarter, we designers need to be bolder. Simple, bold, consistent design was the key to Turner Duckworth‘s successful work with Coca-Cola and the driving force behind the creation of evr by Dragon Rouge. I sit writing this from the lounge at The Wit Hotel, itself a bold design, as presented by architect Jackie Koo.

A smart solution isn’t always an intricate solution. Simple can be smart, and it usually is. Boldness doesn’t have to disrupt, sometimes it fits right in, as if it was there all along. Gone are the days when the smartest guy in the room was also the shyest. Designers, it’s time be bold; time to be smart.

Pepsi has announced they are [finally] moving away from plastic bottles towards those made from plant materials.

The bottle is made from switch grass, pine bark, corn husks and other materials. Ultimately, Pepsi plans to also use orange peels, oat hulls, potato scraps and other leftovers from its food business.

This is a step in the right direction. Maybe we can finally put America’s corn production to good use, instead of making fake sugar that turns us all into fat slobs. Oh wait, I see some irony emerging.

Read the article for more. »

via The Christian Science Monitor »

This is cool. Heinz has announced the roll-out of their long-awaited new, innovative, dual-purpose ketchup packets — Dip & Squeeze. There’s isn’t much more I can add from the recap on Core 77:

While many of you might not consider this “high design,” this is a great example of a humble product design that millions upon millions of people are going to touch and use every day.

Some folks will grumble at the fact that we are still throwing away millions of plastic, packets of anything (and not using, I guess, miniature juice boxes full of ketchup?) but these are damn clever. Anything that helps us use product more efficiently is an improvement in conservation and the reduction of waste. Isn’t that a step in the right direction?

My only question: when are we going to see this as the standard, with BBQ sauce, mayo, and the like?

via Core 77 »

Ugh, are we back to this? I’ve never visited the land where fragrance brands are born, but I seriously wonder what sort of toxic cesspool brings forth these wacky ideas.

Enter Jack Bauer cologne. Y’know, because staying awake for 24 hours running and jumping over things, shooting guns, torturing people, and yelling makes one smell amazing. The smell of victory, friends. Bizarre.

This reminds me of Smith & Wesson cologne, which likewise is aimed at manly men, and also to makes absolutely no sense as a brand extension. The lesson, once again, don’t extend your brand beyond its reasonable boundaries. If your brand, service, product, or show has nothing to do with hygiene, fashion, health care, or elegance/luxury, you’ve got no business releasing a fragrance. There, I said it.

Pardon the alarmist headline (which, of course, is a take-off on the famous Onion headline from 21 July 1969), but in the world of branding and graphic design, this is kind of a big deal. At least to the many, many design blogs which picked up the story almost immediately from Monday night this week. (Yes, I’m a little late but my whole point here is about insight and analysis, not to ‘break’ design stories)

The Updated Starbucks Logo

Oddly, it’s a very big deal over what amounts to a very subtle graphic update. Stabucks, our favourite big-ole-coffee-chain-as-global-brand have announced plans to roll out an updated logo in March 2011. The new logo isn’t a new logo outright, simply the next evolution in their identity. This time around, they’ve taken away the name in the outer ring, and gone solely with their now-ubiquitous Siren illustration as the entire logo. So in this case, it seems, less is more, but also less is exactly the same, which in the end means more. Something like that.

Starbucks logos through the years

I’m a fan of this logo evolution, as I am a fan in general of illustrated mark-only logos. The strength here is two-fold: Firstly, as the shape and colour combination — green circle — still holds, in the eyes and lizard-brains of Starbucks’ consumers worldwide it hasn’t changed at all. We are still be able to recognise the brand mark, which means that all associated brand equity, visual language, and learned emotional response will be carried over without a second thought. Secondly, it simplifies the mark and makes it more universal. By eliminating language, the now-global chain can use identical visuals the world over.

A look at the evolution of logos-on-cup shows the simplification in action

To that second point, though, there is already a proverbial asterisk appearing. Our old friends in Saudi Arabia have vetoed the new logo and its emphasis on the Siren image, requiring Starbucks to create an alternate version.

Starbucks current logo (left) and its special Saudi edition. What will come next?

The website And Far Away has the story, with a proposal for how the new logo might look.

I have, of course, written about Starbucks many times previously on this blog. Who can forget Starbucks and the Death of Seasons or Starbucks Minus Starbucks. I could go on and on (and usually do).

via CR Blog, Brand New, MSNBC, Design:Related, Identity Works, Logo of the Day, and Starbucks, to name a few

I suppose this was inevitable: Julian Assage now has a condom designed in his honour. Presumably, amid his legal allegations in Sweden, these are designed not to break. And in a pun that would make even Myq Kaplan cringe, the name “Dickileaks” graces their wrapper.

DickiLeak Condoms are made for those unique individuals who seek the thrill of the leak but desire to wear a condom to comply with local ordinances. All DickiLeaks condoms feature nanocircuitry that determine the timing and amount of the leak, adding to the excitement of every release!

Um, please note that none of the above is true. We lied. However, despite that fact that DickiLeak condoms do provide unsurpassed protection and do not leak, DickiLeaks are still a great way to spice up your next WikiLeaks release party, especially in Sweden!

Oh, condom ads. Endless fun for every copywriter and marketing team.

Strangely, these aren’t the most absurd person-themed condoms I’ve seen. That superlative still goes to the Obama- and McCain-themed condoms which appeared during the 2008 campaign.

Oh, and apparently Philly is copying New York by introducing a Philly-themed condom, and associated design contest for the wrapper. If you’re interested, I have in fact written about condoms previously.

via Village Voice and Gothamist »

This is very clever and I totally wish I thought of it. The folks at Antrepo have taken several well-known consumer brands and reduced their packaging to a simpler, more elegant design. There’s also the a “missing link”, as seen above.

Very cool, check it out.

This is a funny area of discussion because it ignites a huge debate about mass consumer products. One like myself would advocate that a well-crafted brand marque, paired with consistent colour usage, and intuitive naming will create one heck of a powerful brand. Other people, often armed with focus group research, will argue that design has to be more mainstream, more “in your face”, with the label serving as a canvas to tell the entire story of the brand and product. Ever heard of “flavour cues”? How about “Freshness triggers?” Yea, that’s what all that crud is.

I’d like to think I have the fortitude never to include fake water drops or a random slice of lemon on a package that I would design, but at the same time, I dunno if I have the salesman chops to support a design with nothing but a white logo printed on a clear jar. That’s some skills right there.

via Antrepo blog » »

The year is 2030.

The post-apocalyptic darkness have fell, and the earth as we know it, has come to an end. This is the dystopic story of man’s existence after earth’s destruction.

The disaster and the subsequent ice age destroyed all organic life, and all forms of human civilization. There was nowhere to hide, the earth would soon be covered by a kilometer-thick layer of ice.

All hope for the existence of humanity, would always be lost, hadn’t it not been for…

So obviously this is a cool project. We all love to see some consistency and planning from government agencies — even if under fictitious circumstances. But the problem we’ve got to face is that FEMA and other agencies use massive third-party resources. They don’t have any branded supplies, and barely even have an office. It’s essentially a bunch of people making phone calls — not some disaster-relief corps like you might see in a sci-fi movie. Expand FEMA? Maybe if the government came into some massive amount of money, or if we operated under the quasi-socialist model of other nations. Norway, for instance.