How Packaging Design Can Make Boring Foods Exciting

Tesco, one of England’s largest grocery stores, has realized just how important it is to put design effort into their products.

The seafood aisle in the supermarket is rather unexciting and not only because of the smell. The packages are bland! Tesco wanted to increase the sales of their Saucy Fish Co. products and decided to make the packaging way more appealing. The decision totally paid off (literally and figuratively!)

Melting Photo Albums?

Debra Folz, a RISD MFA graduate created “The Whole Story,” a simple yet artsy photo album that is sculpted to look like the book is melting into the table/desk.

Let’s face it: how many times a year do you actually go out and buy a photo album for yourself? Ten years ago, the answer may have been several times, but now, the answer is probably zero. Flickr, Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, etc. are our modern day photo albums so what’s the point of buying one? For it’s design of course!

Board Game for Designers!

Have you ever tried to explain to a family member, a friend, or even a stranger what graphic design is? It’s an easy thing to show but how do you describe it? Worry no more thanks to The Pitch: The Game of Graphic Design. The board game is in the middle of development on Kickstarter and is gradually gaining widespread support and notice from the design community. It is a great idea and of course the physical design of the game is great.

Here is a description of the concept from the game’s creator, Fatimah Kabba:

“All great design begins with one thing: a great idea. This idea is the root of every well produced, beautiful, or savvy execution.Whether it’s the representation of a brand by understanding the audience, the consideration of a books content when creating a cover design, or the basis of a political campaign that goes on to influence millions. As designers we have the ability to influence a world that is more aware of and impacted by design than it realizes.”

Famous Artists' Color Palette

British artist Arthur Buxton has done one of the most ingenious things any art lover could do: discover the top five colors used by the world’s most famous painters and arrange those colors into pie charts for further analyzation. This is a beautiful set of charts that you can order as prints from Buxton’s website.

It seems that shades of green, brown, and yellow were the most popular color among these famous artists (besides! I know what colors I’m going to be using more from now on…

Minimalistic Infographics

Every weekday Fast Co. Design posts these amazing and though-provoking infographics. A lot of their posts relate to social causes, however they do provide readers with other topics like video games, technology, movies, etc.

The infographic for today is one that shouldn’t be missed: What if the world were a village of 100 people?

Toby Ng, a graphic designer from London, has created wonderful infographics answering the above question. This clever and creative idea provides us with a new perception about the world and the people we share it with.

Olympic Torch - London 2012

*Cue Olympics Theme Song*

The 2012 London Olympic Torch has arrived! A symbol of the months leading up to the opening ceremony, the Olympic Torch is a beautiful piece of work that should get more recognition for its design. This prototype torch for the 2012 summer games was created by Edward Barber and Jay Ogersby, two industrial designers from England.

The torch features 8,000 dots that represented the 8,000 people who will help carry the torch to its new home in London.

It is a well-crafted, simple, and elegant design that I’m sure will look great no matter where it is or who holds it!

Scroll Bookshelf

The Scroll Bookshelf is the perfect product for people like me, who have a ton of books, but barely any space to keep them (I lay mine against my window sill).

Shaped very much like the Torah, the Scroll Bookshelf is stretchable which is great for a growing or shrinking book collection. The two “scrolls” also contain pockets to keep your pens, pencils, scissors, etc.