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I.D. MAGAZINE


Packaging Design (Feature)


After the jurors had made their decisions, paring down this year‘s Packaging entries to
less than a dozen standout examples of streamlined and straightforward utility—a beer
bottle, a Ping-Pong paddle, Band-Aids, a mop, and soap—the question had to be asked: Is
minimalism back?


―Less is more,‖ declared Paulina Reyes. ―I‘m sick of logos,‖ muttered Kevin Smith.
―There‘s so much clutter and noise on the shelves,‖ mused Stephen Burks. ―In a world
shouting for attention, it‘s nice to have these things. I think the ‗New Transparency‘ has
arrived.‖


The transparency Burks was speaking of had less to do with light passing through the
objects than with an honest expression of function in the form of each package. And
while that might sound like the oldest dictate in the book, it explains why Puma‘s table
tennis set all but won at first sight. The case—two form-fitting pieces of milky white
PVC held together by magnets—clearly expresses both what‘s inside and what it‘s for,
and it took the jurors‘ every ounce of self-control not to drop their checklists and start
playing immediately.


The same rationale determined the other winners as well: In each case, the most useful,
most graceful, most legible forms won out. ―They‘re honest,‖ said Smith, eyeing the top
prizes lined up in a row. ―Simplicity is good,‖ Reyes added. ―Every package here has a
reason for being.‖


―The packages that either became a product or embodied a product were the ones that we
felt strongest about,‖ Burks explained. ―The shape of the paddle case says it‘s a paddle;
the Band-Aid pod is in the shape of a Band-Aid; even the Rado case is curved like a
watch and band.‖


Sustainability, especially in the use of materials, ranked nearly as high as utility on the
list of criteria. A pair of Method products—a biodegradable mop and a sensuously
engineered soap bottle—won Honorable Mentions, not only for aesthetics, but also
because the ideas of energy conservation and reusability were baked into each design. By
contrast, the jurors were positively venomous in their judgment of entries that seemed
particularly wasteful; they were equally dismissive of those that tried to coast on
graphics, typography, or materials alone. What they sought in the ―New Transparency‖
was proof of intelligence—some evidence that the designers had, in fact, considered the
essence of the product, not simply slapped on a fresh coat of paint. Asked why so many
designers still somehow think the latter is enough, Burks turned philosophical:


―I think it‘s about the economy of means. Most of the time you have a client who can‘t
afford to retool, or even tool at all, and the graphics solution is one that‘s necessary. But
unfortunately, it‘s not enough. Something that is obviously a greater investment—a more
liberated expression of the package—is the one worth honoring.‖


BEST OF CATEGORY


Puma PT3 Ultramagnetic Collection


Among the Big Three sneaker brands—Nike, Adidas, and Puma—the last strives hardest
for an identity. Denied the weekend-warrior loyalty of the first and the old-school
authenticity of the second, Puma now cross-trains, almost exclusively, in fashion and
design. Seeking its own sport to colonize and accessorize, the shoemaker hit, improbably,
upon Ping-Pong.


Eager to appeal more to hipsters than to Chinese Olympians, Puma charged the New
York firm Aruliden with creating a grand prize and emblem for its Puma Table Tennis
Tournaments (a.k.a. ―PT3‖), held annually since 2006 in downtown Manhattan. There
was no brief, no market research to consider, and no tradition of table-tennis gear for the
designers to draw upon, either. All they had to play with was the Ping-Pong ball and
paddle.


Principals Rinat Aruh and Johan Liden first toyed with reengineering the standard glue-
and-balsa paddle for the carbon-fiber age, but ultimately balked at such heresy. Electing
instead to invent a sleeker package for the sport, they produced a balls-and-paddles set
encased in a smooth expanse of milky black or white plastic and cushioned in EVA foam
—the material science of a bicycle helmet mated with the aesthetics of an iPod.


Their coup de grâce—the one that lends the set its name—are the magnets embedded in
the rim of each case, which snap it together, seamlessly. ―Look at the role magnets play
in lipsticks or the power cables of the MacBook,‖ Aruh says. ―There‘s such beautiful
functionality involved.‖


The jurors couldn‘t have agreed more. They discovered the Ultramagnetic Collection
with a joyous whoop and brandished the cases gleefully all morning. (―We thought this
could be the paddle itself!‖ said Burks.) They not only praised the elegance of the
magnets and the use of materials, but also raved, while practicing their forehands, about
the understated use of Puma‘s logo—a single cat debossed on each case. ―I love that
there‘s no printing on this,‖ said Reyes. ―The lack of a big logo makes it more unique.
You have so much loud stuff on the shelves these days.‖


―You‘re not trying to show off the brand,‖ added Burks. ―You‘re just carrying this useful
thing. And maybe that‘s why I like it. It‘s Puma, but it doesn‘t have to scream it. It‘s
confident about what‘s inside.‖


Design Aruliden (New York): Rinat Aruh and Johan Liden, principals; Tyler Askew,
graphic designer
Client Puma (New York)
Materials ABS plastic, EVA foam
Software 3-D tools


Q&A with Rinat Aruh and Johan Liden, Aruliden


You’re a small, young firm (less than a year old when the PT3 came about) and you
hadn’t done work for Puma before. Did you pitch this as a concept? Or did they
approach you?
Rinat Aruh: Puma came to us and said, ―We‘re doing this great event called PT3. It
would be great to have a product built around it.‖ We looked around and saw there were
no accessories for Ping-Pong in the industry, which raised an interesting question: How
do you design something that is not part of the core line for Puma, but is strong enough to
be timeless, iconic, and create fans? So we came back to them with the idea for a case.
There really wasn‘t a brief.


The only other paddle case I’ve ever seen is in waxed cotton, by Jack Spade, which
obviously couldn’t look and feel more different from yours. Where did you start in
terms of inspiration?
Johan Liden: Whether you‘re a fan of Ping-Pong or not, you can relate to the shape of the
paddle, and that led to the idea of bringing out the paddle in the actual case. Ping-Pong
hasn‘t had a facelift in a long time, and what we did was to introduce some new ways of
thinking—this has no zippers or seams, for example, like old-school cases from the ‘70s
did. Simplicity was our inspiration from a graphics point of view—pure reduction. And
from a materials standpoint, it was important to find a material that was unexpected in
this context. We wanted to change the whole feel of it and to find some intuitive way to
open and close it. We didn‘t want to make it obvious how the thing works: You can‘t see
the magnets, it just snaps shut, like that.


The judges were immediately drawn to the functional simplicity of your design. Is
that a hallmark of your approach?
Aruh: Making things complicated is easy. Making them simple is the tougher approach.
We went with magnets in this case because it was the one solution that didn‘t need an
instruction manual. Keeping it simple goes back to what we‘re about: The product should
be so good that you don‘t need an ad campaign. You can set it on a table and photograph
it. There‘s your ad campaign.


DESIGN DISTINCTIONS


Eagle


Eternally overshadowed by that other Dutch beer in a green bottle, Grolsch has always
been best known in America for its distinctive swing-top stopper. Back home, however,
the pilsner was sold in generic brown bottles that tended to disappear on the shelves.
Determined to go head-to-head with Heineken and draw upon the equity of its stopper,
Grolsch urged designer Ronald Lewerissa, of native firm FLEX/the INNOVATIONLAB,
to go green. He responded with an idea to ditch the beer‘s label entirely, instead
embossing Grolsch‘s name into the glass of the bottle itself. ―It was a huge move to take
the label off,‖ said Smith. ―It looks back to the stopper,‖ by making the bottle itself the
statement, ―but the green of the glass was the icon that made you excited, and they‘ve
enhanced that.‖ Once again, the other jurors were impressed by a solution that folded an
identity change into functional improvements—the bottle now holds 10 percent more
beer, and its flattened sides and raised lettering give the hand greater purchase. ―It feels
classic, not trendy,‖ Reyes said. ―We like what a minimal intervention it is,‖ Burks
added.


Design FLEX/the INNOVATIONLAB (Delft, the Netherlands): Ronald Lewerissa,
creative director
Client Grolsche Bierbrouwerij Nederland
Materials Glass, paper
Software Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop; SolidWorks
Jasper Morrison Designed Packaging for Rado Ceramica Limited Edition


To celebrate its 50th anniversary last year, the Swiss watchmaker Rado rereleased its
groundbreaking Ceramica, the first entirely ceramic chronograph. To supplement the
original edition, arch-minimalist Jasper Morrison imbued a more limited edition with his
golden touch: 50 timepieces with the dials and other details made of white-, rose-, and
three other alloys. Morrison designed his own box, as well—a black leather ellipse with
the watch coiled inside. The only indication of what‘s contained within is the gold‘s
chemical formula heat-stamped into the soft leather: ―Au2N,‖ for example, or ―AuPd.‖
―The packaging,‖ declared Burks, ―is actually better than the watch.‖ The other jurors
agreed with his assessment that the case ―feels reassuring, very hand-crafted. It is luxury
being quiet, which feels more luxurious that way.‖


Design Jasper Morrison
Client Rado (Lengnau, Switzerland)
Materials Leather


Band-Aid Brand Adhesive Bandages Interlocking Pods


It‘s no coincidence that the two products designed with club stores in mind (think Sam‘s
Club or Costco) were both winners in this year‘s Packaging category. The combination of
design attributes needed for success in that market—utility, value, restraint—aligned
neatly with the jurors‘ own criteria. Along with the hefty Method handwash refill bottle,
Johnson & Johnson earned a nod for its Band-Aid ―Pods,‖ which contain the complete
line of Band-Aids, sorted and sub-divided for easy access, and are meant to be restocked
rather than discarded. Smith loved the idea of improving something as simple and
ubiquitous as Band-Aids. ―iPhones and beer and Ping-Pong equipment are luxury items,‖
he said, ―but Band-Aids are a first-aid product that everyone needs to have in their
homes, and that elevates them above a purely beautiful object. Just to be able to find the
actual Band-Aid you‘re looking for is a huge deal.‖ (The fact that this need had never
been addressed before was a knock against Johnson & Johnson in Burks‘ view.) Smith
and Reyes noted the pods‘ reusability, recyclability, and utility in that they could be
divided and stored individually as needed in someone‘s home. ―It‘s a huge
improvement,‖ Smith said.


Design Johnson & Johnson (New York): Elysha Huntington and Elan Cole, designers;
Chris Hacker, principal
Materials Injection-molded polypropylene, paper
Software SolidWorks


HONORABLE MENTIONS


McSweeney‘s #22


The San Francisco–based literary journal McSweeney’s has pushed the limits of
periodical design since its very first issue—Chris Ware-designed covers, the ―z-binding‖
technique, the books-within-books—but it wasn‘t until the 22nd edition that
McSweeney’s editors figured out how to physically unbundle a magazine. Quite literally
composed of three books in one, a trio of paperbacks is ―bound‖ to the issue‘s spine only
by magnets, allowing readers to detach whichever volume they‘re reading while leaving
the others sheltered within the hardcover. The use of magnets once again impressed the
jurors (see ―Best of Category‖), especially devout McSweeney’s reader Kevin Smith, who
claims to own every issue. ―This is an innovative book,‖ he said, ―and it‘s hard to
innovate with books. I‘ve never seen this before. It‘s a lot of reading, but you don‘t have
to take it all with you. You can drop a piece in your messenger bag, come home, and read
another piece next week.‖ And, handily, as the editors point out, you can stick your keys
in it.


iPhone


The typically compact and elegant design of the iPhone box split the jurors, with Smith
championing its effectiveness while Burks admitted he was burnt out on honoring Apple
and its design chief, Jonathan Ive. Smith carried the day, however, arguing in favor of its
efficiently compact design and trademark minimalism. ―This is an appropriate box,‖ he
said, running his hands over the matte black cardboard before sliding it open, revealing
both an elegant void at the center (where the phone is cradled) and hidden compartments
for the manual and cables. ―It feels expensive, and it contains an expensive object. It‘s an
experience opening it,‖ he concluded. The other jurors, however, had a difficult time
explaining why they eventually lent their endorsements as well. Perhaps the vaunted
―halo effect‖ of the iPhone extends to its packaging as well? ―It‘s really about the sexy
object inside,‖ Burks said later, buttressing the theory. ―Apple always goes in the
opposite direction with packaging—by making it so minimalist—because the object
inside is so powerful.‖




Blossa X5


Otherwise obsessed with form following function, the jurors were dazzled by BVD‘s
unrepentant use of color, typography and graphics for the bottles of Blossa‘s limited-
edition gift set of glogg. Sweden‘s preferred holiday tipple, glogg is a mulled wine
enhanced with various liqueurs and flavors. Just in time for Christmas, Blossa released
this sampler of five recent vintages pitched to aficionados and the uninitiated alike.
Leaving the bottle‘s traditional shape untouched, BVD updated Blossa‘s staid labels with
a wildly stylized approach for each, ranging from a lushly calligraphic orange to a mod
green. ―We like the scale and the really beautiful typography,‖ Smith said. ―It‘s festive
without being overly so. The simplicity of the box lets the product shine through‖—
literally, in fact, as its mirrored background amplifies the bottles‘ colors. ―It‘s luminous,‖
Reyes said, and even Burks conceded that BVD had somehow achieved the impossible:
―They‘ve generated an entirely new treatment using just color and graphics.‖


Method OMOP Floor Love System
One of two Method products to earn Honorable Mentions, the OMOP Floor Love System
is the San Francisco–based company‘s eco-friendly reinvention of the mop. Eschewing
the Swiffer approach of disposable cleaning sheets, the OMOP is made of 50 percent
bamboo and 50 percent recycled fibers, materials that are themselves recyclable and
compostable. For efficiency‘s sake, the size and shape of OMOP‘s packaging are the
same as its reusable microfiber cleaning pad, which customers can touch via a small hole
in its label. Playful, minimal, and environmentally sound, ―it genuinely feels eco-
conscious,‖ said Paulina Reyes. ―And the fact that they didn‘t put a plastic window where
they didn‘t need one shows restraint.‖


Method 96 oz. Handwash Refill Bottle


Taking an iconic design and simply making it bigger may seem like a cop-out, but the
jurors were moved by the attention to detail evident in Method‘s oversized refill bottle for
its fast-becoming-iconic handwash dispensers. Designed for Costco, the recyclable bottle
deliberately echoes the teardrop shape of its smaller cousin—a shape that also just
happens to be the most efficient in terms of holding the largest volume of liquid within
the smallest surface area. Creative director Josh Handy and his team then added a handle
for hauling purposes and an easy-to-pour spout for refills. ―What I like about Method is
that they‘ve created a unique visual language and an approach to a category that hasn‘t
really been considered,‖ said Burks. ―This is so impressive as an object—it‘s nice enough
on its own to be displayed next to the sink.‖ ―I love how it uses the product itself—the
translucent soap—as part of the design,‖ Reyes added.


Marc Jacobs Daisy


While the jurors nodded appreciatively at the bottle, the box, and its typography, the
cap‘s the thing when it comes to Marc Jacobs Daisy. Fresh, fruity, and patently
inoffensive, Daisy is aimed squarely at young women for whom cuteness is all-
consuming. (The joke, of course, is that daisies have no scent of their own.) The plastic
daisies crowning the cap earned praise for both the aesthetics and the latent possibilities
in Wilhelm Liden‘s design for the fragrance giant Coty. ―What‘s clever about this is that
they can change the cap, and all of a sudden, the bottle is different,‖ said Burks. ―This
allows them to do seasonal changes. Next year, it could be different flowers or different
materials.‖ Reyes liked that the flowers also made the bottle much easier to handle and
open. ―They chose a good gripping material,‖ she noted approvingly.