JONESIN' FOR A JONES

JONES SODA = DELICIOUS.

whats more is that Jones has gone organic and made some tea drinks. the design of the labels is amazing: its clean and fresh, the graphics are simple, and the overall design just yells out from the shelf: DRINK ME I AM GOOD FOR YOU!

the mark itself for the new line is also really great; its not stuffy like a lot of organic products. the line flows through the a, n, and i to make the word more fluid. the rounded edges are reminiscent of organic-ness in general. i also like that the branding for Jones is also included because that really adds to brand identity. im definitely looking forward to trying these products.

Jones soda itself is a unique design. the copy and logo are all neutral colors, and Jones enthusiasts can send in photos to appear on the labels. i love seeing a colorful photo because the rest of the label just makes the photo pop out. (no pun intended). and if there is  no color from the label, there is color in the drink. you can even send in your own photos and order a custom case of soda. NICE.

excuse me, but i have to go get some beverage.

PEPSI re-design... better or not?

so i noticed at target that pepsi had new boxes. i didnt hear anything about them changing their logo... or logos. a bunch of products made by pepsi got facelifts as well: pepsi, diet pepsi, pepsi max, mountain dew, and sierra mist.

now i am not sure if i like this or not. it kind of reminds me of work done by a freshman design student, but hey, maybe pepsi is trying to start a trend. im not really a fan of the stark layout; i have been growing fond of all of the wackey designed backgrounds that were appearing on the pepsi cans.

the sans-serif, "modern" typeface is understandable (just talking about the pepsis themselves now), because that is sort of what is "now." but the logo redesign? in my opinion it is not different enough from the "old" logo. it just sort of looks like a registration error rather than a new logo. and if you look closely, regular pepsi, diet pepsi, and pepsi max all have a slightly different symbol (if you cant see it; look at the white space in the symbol). i dont get why they did that; didnt pepsi hear of visual guidelines for their logo?

now lets talk about mountain dew. first of all, have we become so lazy that we need abbreviations for EVERYTHING? 9 letters is apparently too long now. oops, i mean aprntly. i am liking the landscape vector background, which adds that mountain element. but the logo just doesnt do it for me. i really liked that shredder-esque mountain dew logo from before. its a good thing i cashed in my pepsi points to get a mountain dew beach towel back in the 90's; at least i will have that as a snuggly memento of what once was.

lest we forget sierra mist. i will skip over the glaring MIST for now, and talk about the creepy background. are those bare tree branches, spider veins, or green lightning? and what do any of those have to do with either "sierra" or "mist"? i suppose to tie in the name they decided to fog up the word mist to, well, make it look like mist. it hurts my eyes to look at it; and i kind of get creeped out a little too. the old logo was fun and colorful, and actually had a mountain in it at the top (translation of "sierra"). BRING IT BACK.

in fact, BRING THEM ALL BACK.

(note: i dont like pepsi and i would willingly choose a coke product over pepsi.)

MOLLYDOOKER WINES

earlier in this semester i had to do a project for my package design class where we had to design labels for wine bottles. of course every design project begins with research, so i set about looking at different wineries and their label design. i saw many great labels, but one winery stood out to me. and that is Mollydooker from McLaren Vale, Australia. 

Mollydooker was started by Sarah and Sparky Marquis, a married couple with a history in winemaking. They started their winery in 1998, and have been creating fantastic wines (with fantastic labels) ever since. The name Mollydooker is actually Aussie-slang for "left handed."

first of all, i love their logo. the two-line version is a knockout, but it also translates well to a single-line logo (find the two different ones above). i really am attracted to their overall label design though; they have a sort of vintage feel with the torn edges, faded colors, and illustration styles. 

a unique thing about their packaging, too, is that they started the trend of adding little collectible peel-off tabs so that customers can find the same bottle again at the store. it also doubles as a reminder of what you drank when you cant really remember the next day... also a lot of their labels wrap around so that you are more likely to buy the wine because you have to pick up the bottle (proven research, folks). AND some of their labels fit together to make a complete image, and all of them are personal to the couple and their family.

i think my favorite label is the Velvet Glove, which is a label actually made of velvet, with silver foil pressed into it. it even comes in a black velvet bag with satin rope ties on it. explains the $75 pricetag!

im not exactly sure who designs their labels; i couldnt really find an answer for that. but take a look around the website (which is also beautifully designed) and look at more of their labels.

source: MOLLYDOOKER WINERY