And now for something a little lighter

If there are any regular bfrancesi blog readers out there, you may incorrectly assume the only thing I'm doing in grad school is Design Research. That's partly true, but I'm also doing an incredible amount of other work too, like product packaging for my 3D Formal Investigations class. Essentially it's a standard packaging project, but it's been a fun alternative to some of the other coursework I'm doing at the moment. My goal was to design a package for pastries that was easy to carry, easy for employees to pack, stylish, and didn't require customers to transfer the pastries to a separate platter for presentation purposes (i.e. no ugly boxes). And just to up the cuteness factor? The tote is designed carry mini pastries.

Enjoy. And go have a mini pastry. Thanks to my studio mate Jackie for modeling.

The Internet is Amazing

I feel like I'm rediscovering the internet. It's been filled with wonderful things today, and it's not even noon! Here's the run down:

Rebrand of Yogurtland

Image credit: Brand New / Under Consideration

My most recent food obsession is frozen yogurt. I can't get enough and am ashamed to admit that I think about it all day long. Earlier this week, my husband introduced me to Yogurtland, a smorgasbord of fro-yo and toppings. I'm partial to original with fruit toppings, but it doesn't matter because you purchase this stuff by the ounce. The ounce!

That being said, it was fun to see Yogurtland's rebrand featured on one of my favorite blogs, Brand New, this morning.

Turner Duckworth Studio Tour:

Image credit: The DieLine

Another one of my favorite blogs, The Dieline, featured a studio tour / interview with David Turner. Seriously lovely.

Erik Spiekermann

And last but certainly not least, you can listen to the König of Type talk about visual language, the design process, and of course, typography.

Erik Spiekermann - Putting Back the Face into Typography from Gestalten on Vimeo.

Bringing Holiday Cheer...Aptera Style

One of my most favorite parts of what I do at Aptera is designing the Christmas cards, and I've been lucky enough to snag that gig three out of the four Christmas's I've been there. This year, we sent out a mass Thanksgiving card and decided to ramp up our efforts for an all-out holiday package for our "VIP" clients.

There wasn't a specific budget for the packages, but we wanted to stay as inexpensive as possible while still sending out something memorable...and what's more memorable than a four-pack of Aptera-branded beer?

All of the printing, assembly, and label-scrubbing was done in-house, so the only major cost was the beer.

DESIGN #...PSYCH.

Ever since we returned from the UK, my Design a Day performance has been spotty. For some reason I've had a barrage of side projects pop up and they've been consuming most of my "after work work". I'm very excited about the project I just completed because it involves my dad, food, and a food company. Unfortunately, at this stage it's still confidential so I'm not allowed to post any designs. In lieu of a gorgeous ampersand or new work, I'm posting a few images I've been storing in my Found Images folder on my desktop. Nearly anything that catches my eye goes there. I've done my best to attribute each design - I apologize in advance for anything I've missed.

Lovely work by Derek J Hunt

Gorgeous Danish stamp - unsure of the designer

Draphic design poster by Lunchbreath

Packaging by I Love Dust

MMM TASTY!

Let me start this off by saying that when you have a mother who loves to cook and a father who is a food magician...okay, scientist, you have the privilege of being involved in a loads of fun food adventures. My mom makes the best, most delicious fresh raspberry sauce I've ever tasted. We put it on pancakes, ice cream, or even just eat it right out of the container. Recently, she's played around with the idea of making it in bulk and selling it - she's even gone so far as to order sample jars and asked me to design a label!

Like all entrepreneurial adventures, cost plays a big role, so my goal with this project was to design a label that was simple, and would look good even when printed on inexpensive, white, self-adhesive labels. Since I've been on a cutesy design kick lately, I was able to whip this up in no time. Simple and folksy, yet elegant. I love it.

If the raspberry flavor really takes off, there is a chance she may want to expand into other flavors of sauces. I created a label for a peach flavor to demonstrate the versatility of the design and also show how easily the label could translate from flavor to flavor. Hungry yet?

STRAIGHT FROM THE MASTERS OF DESIGN

Pentagram has a post on their blog about the possible new regulations for cigarettes. Designs by DJ Stout, a Pentagram Partner. Love it. ---------------

This month the Senate approved new legislation that will heavily restrict the nicotine content and marketing of cigarettes, including the requirement that colorful ads and displays be replaced with black-and-white-only text. The bill is expected to pass in the House and President Obama has said he will sign it. For a piece in its Sunday Perspectives section, the St. Petersburg Times asked DJ Stout what cigarette manufacturers like Marlboro might do to follow the new marketing rules. (The full article is print only; we’ve posted it here.) Stout suggests that to comply with the crackdown, tobacco companies should embrace the restrictions and make cigarettes look truly dangerous. This, of course, will still appeal to a core group of smokers.

“Over the years there has been an onslaught of public awareness messaging about the evils of smoking,” says Stout. “Unless you’ve been living in a cave for the last 50 years you are very aware that smoking is not only bad for you, it could very likely kill you. All smokers know this for sure but it doesn’t deter them.

“Our marketing advice to cigarette companies in the new heavily regulated era is to fully accept the new aggressive anti-smoking restrictions and wallow in the government’s apocalyptic health warnings. Don’t make excuses or dance around the stepped-up marketing regulations, just transform the whole cigarette pack into a three dimensional warning label.”

MAKES ME WANT TO HAVE MY WEDDING OVER

You know when you see something that just makes you want to go back and redo an experience you've already had? That is exactly what went through my mind when I saw the invitations designed by Matthew Muller for his own wedding on the Behance network. The invites are actually 6x9" hand-sewn, 14 pages booklets that appear to catalog the couples experiences together.

Drool.