My Beatles fanaticism has been re-ignited recently with the remastered box set. I’ve been going through the albums in the order of their release and am just floored by the clarity of the sound. It’s definitely like hearing all these songs for the first time again.
Because of the remasters, I’m sure the Beatles have enjoyed a renewed interest from audiences old and new. Which brings me to the “Hey Jude” flowchart and this infographic gem: Charting the Beatles. There are four great charts at that link. Apparently it is the start of an open collaboration project and includes a Flickr pool.
I recently got on the True Blood bandwagon. The first thing I noticed of course was the stunning main title sequence designed by Digital Kitchen. If you haven’t seen it, watch it below (or in HD) and then see how DK made it. I will sit through the main titles every time. It’s beautiful, haunting and mesmerizing.
Customer and user experience is not always about the website, the phone call, or person-to-person interaction in a store. It can also come through the form of packaging.
I just bought a Mac mini recently (for a living room media server) and was blown away by the unboxing. Apple has always been really great about their packaging. Having worked at Apple, I’ve seen the extreme extent of explorations that go into creating the outside of the box (over 500 comps were created for the Power Mac G5 box). (Incidentally, I worked on the second generation iPod package that featured musical artists like Jimi Hendrix.)
What really impressed me about unboxing the Mac mini was not the outside (although nicely designed), but the inside. The package anticipated my every move. How? Let me illustrate.
After removing the slip case, the typical “Designed by Apple in California” copy is printed on the thin box of manuals and DVDs. This box sits flush with the larger box. Nicely protruding from the right side is a tab to pull the manual box out. The tab also acts as a closure for the box. Multipurpose.
Removing the manuals reveals the Mac mini. What most companies would do in this situation is force you to turn the box upside down and shake the product out. I’ve done this many times and have found it to be quite maddening.
Instead, Apple thoughtfully supplies two plastic tabs that allow you to lift the mini out of the box. Also very cool.
For the bottom of the box, another cardboard layer hides the power supply and cord. Again, there are pull-tabs here built in to help you lift it out of the box. Did you notice the graphic design pattern here? The tabs are all in the same place and of the same size and shape.
After being so impressed, I thought that surely Apple would fail on the one thing that companies always fail at: tape around the power cable would be impossible to remove. Nope. They read my mind and included a little tab to unwind the tape.
I opened our beverage fridge at work yesterday and noticed a couple of cans of Sunkist in there. I didn’t remember ever seeing Sunkist in our drink case, but what stood out more to me was the new design. Apparently the logo and can were redesigned back in November 2008. With all the talk of the bad redesigns recently (Pepsi is terrible; Tropicana is criminal), it was refreshing to see something that actually works.
The original logo (photo is from 1981, but it didn’t change since its debut in 1978) was pretty contemporary for its time. This new update brings the previous incarnation into the 21st century, but at the same time gives it a little retro feel. The typography reminds me of the Coca-Cola logo or the original Pepsi-Cola logo. I will concede to Armin at Brand New that the blue ocean swirls surrounding the type are a little much, but on the packaging, and really standing on the strength of the typography, it works. This mark has the perfect combo of contemporary and classic. Mmm… I think I’m going to have to make some Sunkist popsicles this weekend.
When us designers start off designing a home page, we invariably create at least one variation that’s based on the Apple.com home page: a large hero graphic and three or four smaller promo tiles below that. That basic framework that Apple perfected is essentially a reference design.
I think it’s a testament to the quality of work that comes out of Cupertino that most of their designs, whether it’s product, OS UI, advertising, print or online is held as the reference standard. Having worked at Apple, I can assure you that seemingly simple and elegant design (product shot with a headline set in Apple Myriad on a white background) is not as easy as it seems. Besides, what other company can you name that has sparked such design trends such as colored plastic, gel-like buttons, and glassy navigation tabs?
Although he has been designing since the seventh grade, Roger Wong officially began his design career in 1995. He is currently group creative director at LEVEL Studios in San Jose.
This site is an outlet for his musings on design, advertising and culture.
