Show me the macaroni
You were chatting in the previous comment thread about minimalism in packaging design, and how with opaque boxes in particular, it’s important to show contents (below-left as opposed to right).
Today I got a delivery from Landor that shows new packaging design for Kraft’s Macaroni & Cheese.
Not to every designer’s taste, I’m sure, but a relevant example of how where food packaging is concerned, there are more factors at play than style alone.
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9 appreciated comments on “Show me the macaroni”
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“…but a relevant example of how where food packaging is concerned, there are more factors at play than style alone.”
I’d apply this to any product or service, and hopefully the fact that demographics and data per industry are most important; style being how we tell the tale.
Dear lord, just how many typefaces did they use?!
It’s a bit busy, and they certainly could have trimmed one or two fonts from the layout, but I do like the “Say Cheese” concept.
The “Made with Real Kraft Cheese” mark could be smaller, assuming it’s necessary at all.
On the back recipe instructions, the first row has centered text while the second row is left-aligned. It doesn’t look bad here, but I don’t care for centering paragraph text…
Having the imagery of the product at the top of the box behind the brand mark is really effective at creating interest and contrast. Have to agree about the typography though…
(By the way – seems like a lot of money to spend on shipping lunch pails around the world! )
It’s for the US market. It’s no award winner, but US food packaging is pretty busy in general and it’s got to work on context.
What I don’t understand is why they all look the same and yet they appear to be different products of different qualities. Differentiation seems poor, as does the photography, but it depends on the brief. I’m not sure what Landor are shouting about with the mailer. Any idea why they sent it to you David?
The box was sent by Landor’s PR firm, who asked for my mailing address a while back. I wasn’t sure what they’d be sending, but it seems like a blog promotion push. A touch over-elaborate with this one.
Wow! They did go a bit overboard, but an interesting detail nonetheless. In response to John’s comment about the “made with real cheese” declaration. That is a big selling point for Kraft’s macaroni and cheese products. So it is necessary, though it might be smaller (however, if it were, it might get lost in the typeface jungle).
As far as centering the text in the directions, the centered text is tied to the thumbnail image of the ingredient to which it refers. Which is what makes it “work” in that application. Left- or Right- justification would distract the eye away from the image that the text describes.
Thanks for sharing David
With most design projects there are more factors at play than style alone unfortunately.
If only it were just a matter of making things pretty eh, projects would be so much more fun :)
I like the macaroni smile!
Personally, I would have liked to see the recipe on a white or at least lighter background. The recipe fights with the Basic Cooking Directions “WHAT AM I MEANT TO DO?”. A little consistency wouldn’t have gone a miss either. On the other hand, my stomach is rumbling and thats what I buy with.