PACKAGING | Ireland's Own: Mic's Chilli Sauce

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Produced in the country of Ireland (who knew?!), Mic's Chilli Sauce features wonderfully intricate and interesting illustrations by artist Steve Simpson.

With motifs inspired by Mayan, Mexican, and Chinese cultures, Simpson has created beautiful works of art that are fun to explore. He has even designed custom barcodes that are in keeping with the flavor of the design (click link for images).

*camille

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ENVIRONMENT + BRAND | JouJou Toys and Treats

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JouJou is a toy store that is part of The Grand America hotel in Salt Lake City. In keeping with the whimsical luxury of the hotel, Utah firm Stuck managed to capture the feel of a child's imaginary paradise.

The colors, architectural details and playful iterations of the JouJou logo are certain to bring a smile to the faces of adults and children alike. In fact, I'm sitting here wondering if I have any reason to take a road trip to Salt Lake City. FAO Schwartz, move over!

Click the link above for more images, including an interesting look into the design development process.

*camille

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GRAPHICS | Childrens Story Posters

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(download)

Square Inch Design Blog posted this great series of posters illustrating -- in a gloriously minimalist way -- various children's stories.

Love these!

*camille

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PACKAGING | Rahal Farms' Farm Fresh Eggs

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Warm colors, rustic illustrations and an appealing mix of typography make for a lovely carton of eggs.

This colorful design was intended to "elevate" Rahal Farms' sustainable, fresh eggs above others on the store shelves. The design is certainly elegant, but it's also very approachable. There's an implied quality and attention to detail that you don't mind paying a little extra for.

*camille

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RESTAURANT KITSCH | Sissy’s Southern Kitchen

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The array of fun images and colors used for the Dallas restaurant Sissy's Southern Kitchen must be a hit with the locals.

Sure, there's a place for classy, mature, upscale elegance...But there are plenty of times when you just want to sit down in a place that makes you smile. It looks like Sissy's might fit the bill in that regard.

If the menus are indicative of the restaurant's interior, I'm pretty sure Sissy's would be on my list of favorite hang-outs.

*camille

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PACKAGING | El Paso Chile’s Border Town

When El Paso Chile Co. commissioned Charles S. Anderson Design in Minneapolis to create a new packaging system for its retail salsa and marinade lines, it wanted to make sure that consumers grasped the fact that its products were authentic Tex-Mex, not wannabe imitations made in places like Cincinnati or Brooklyn. A border town in far west Texas, El Paso is so close to Juarez in Mexico that the two cities are sometimes considered one metro area. El Paso Chile Co. knows its salsas and wanted the packaging to capture that in look and feel.


To get the Minnesota-based designers into the right mindset, El Paso Chile CEO W. Park Kerr insisted that they fly down to Texas and take a donkey ride through the desert to experience the true feel of the Southwest. He also nixed the first set of names — Gasping Gringo, Exploding Armadillo — that the Anderson team came up with, in favor of ones that sounded less aimed at tourists and more toward sophisticated Southwest cooks – e.g., Salsa Divino, Salsa Diablo. Authenticity was the one quality that El Paso Chile wanted to convey to consumers. That led the Anderson team to scour flea markets in Mexico City to identify true Mexican iconography and designs and even inspired them to package El Paso Chile’s fajita marinade in Mexican-style “beer” bottles with the label art pieced together from printed scrap.


My home state of Colorado has its share of salsa-lovers and salsa-makers, so I always have my eyes open for a nice label that helps distinguish one product from another.

This Texas-made salsa succeeds in having a homemade feel (with the rustic stamps) and nicely incorporates warm hints of color on an otherwise basic white label. The brand name imprinted along the edge of the jar top is also a great touch, differentiating the product just a bit more on the shelves.

*camille

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COLOR + TYPOGRAPHY | Tucumen Wines

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The Tucumen brand of wine is the product of an Argentinean vineyard and represents the regions of Tucuman and Mendoza.

Appropriately, the design of the labels use a "patchwork" layout to convey the joining of two different areas of the country, while also applying color that brings to mind the vibrant Latin culture that is Argentina.

These features, along with the fun mix of font types, help the Tucumen brand stand out among its stuffier competitors on retail shelves.

*camille

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PACKAGING | Miller64

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Apparently (I'm not really a beer-drinker), this is the re-introduction of Miller64 -- a 64-calorie light beer option from MillerCoors. Regardless, of whether one is familiar with the product, this new identity is certainly eye-catching.

The subtle design details, crisp typography, and masculine color scheme (I love the rich grey blue!) bring a refreshingly modern aesthetic to the the beer world.

*camille

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