Red Hots Redesign

Submitted by Korteenea on Mon, 2005-12-05 07:05.

Critique

I dunno if any of you have ever had Red Hots before. They're little cinnamon pellets... kinda tasty. Anyhoo... for my typography class we had to do three redesigns of the packaging for the product, so here's my three concepts, along with a sample of what could go on the back.

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All three concepts are

Submitted by Ivan on Mon, 2005-12-05 07:18.

All three concepts are great. You're good girl!

A few comments...

Submitted by wurx on Mon, 2005-12-05 13:37.

They are all nice, but let me give you a little 1-up on your class mates. I have been the (contracted) art director for the worlds largest sweets company (you can figure it out ...) for about 6 years now and have developed many brands of candy. I am sure you bought my products (well my packaged design on thier products)

Anyway, here are a few pointers, that your classmates (even your instructor) may not be aware of.....and it all has to do with the legal department. (the legal department is creative kryptonite)

Red Hots is not one of my brands, but as far as candy packaging goes, I have done more than most, and this is what I always keep in mind.

# 1 "Red Hots" should have a TM and/or a © in the same color as the logo.

# 2 "Red Hots" has a specific font (no changing) I know this is a type project, but i have to mention that brand identity is will never change. I have tried for the last 6 years to update some logo's and at best I added a slight shadow and/or highlight. I blame the instructor on this one.

#3 They use 1 color printing on a white box. You went to full color. It would not pass legal due to production costs. At best you could add yellow, as they have in the past.

#4 The comany "ferrara Pan" must MUST have a © ALWAYS (look the first box)

#5 Net Weight may, I stress "may" have to be on bottom.

#6 Red Hots should be solid red or white.

I just realised I could go on forever, about truncated UPC's on the box and how companies like WallMart will not carry candy in boxes that big with truncated UPC's (new policy that will never hold up!) Again, I could ramble on forever.....

Realisticly box #1 is the best. Althought 3 color, I would drop black and add halftones of red to get more depth, it follows more or less what a company would be looking for as far as new concepts.

Remeber corporate design is always done with 1 hand tied behind your back, sometimes even 2 or 3.

Want to get an "A" for this project....print the whole box out and score/fold so it looks perfect. If you did do that (It looks like you justed glued on the front) try printing on double sided matte paper, when you fold it, the ink will not chip and/or scrape off. It will look perfect.

If you have to submit a picture, or just to brown-nose a bit, shoot it on a white background with 1 box standing and another on it's side (showing the back and side) with the lid open, spilling some red hots out. Then tell your teacher this is a leave behind for the client.

I know I rambled on a while....sorry.

Great comments

Submitted by jadit2 on Mon, 2005-12-05 21:22.

Wurx, you made some fantastic comments. I would highly advise you to write articles on CB regarding legal work, UPCs you talked about, and other issues like box printing and brand consistency. It’s these subjects that are often ignored that are the most important in designing a piece for a company.

With rules and regulations aside, I personally like the box on the right. Everyone loves tikimen :)

Wow! Thanks for the

Submitted by Korteenea on Mon, 2005-12-05 23:52.

Wow! Thanks for the heads-up, I really appreciate it! This is definitely stuff they don't teach us in classes, and it's great to learn about it before encountering it firsthand in the real world.

I guess these could be considered, "If-the-legal-department-didn't-exist" concepts, lol.

The teacher gave us a scan of the original box she brought in to show us, and I used that to trace out a template for the box, and I tried to recreate as many of the elements from the original as I could (such as the "Quality Ferpanco Candies" seal, the Nutrition Facts, and the company's logo. A lot of students didn't bother copying the UPCs and such... but I wanted to try and make them look as authentic as possible. I wasn't aware of the strict guidelines on the typeface used for the "Red Hots" title.. that's really interesting to hear about.

I actually did print these on 80lbs. cardstock, then scored and folded them. Unfortunately, when I folded them the toner from the school's color laser printer didn't really stick all that well to the edges and so they look a little worn, but I was going for a vintage look so I wasn't overly concerned... they look a lot better than they appear in the photo.

Now if only I could find some real Red Hots to put inside them for tomorrow! I would have ordered some online, but I didn't have enough time to get them shipped and such. ><

Thanks again for your insight! I'll definitely file this post away for future reference next time I need to do a theoretical corporate redesign!

Laser Printer

Submitted by wurx on Tue, 2005-12-06 03:31.

Glad I could help. I would like to teach one day. I graduated from Parson School of Design with a BFA in product design and I have found that students do not have a clue about real life design. Don't get me wrong, I think school should be a place to explore without limitation (certainly without a legal department) but I would love to educate students abouit real life situations and give them a little edge for a better first job. Maybe I'll just start writing a blog :)

FYI - Use an inkjet on matte paper, laser prints are actually a layer of plastic (aka toner) that is fused to the top of the paper, hence it cracks. Injets....well you know what they do, and they don't crack.

IMO, design school is good

Submitted by Pete on Tue, 2005-12-06 17:10.

IMO, design school is good for a few things (and obviously I may have left a few out):

- training your eye to recognize a strong layout
- how to effectively use color in your design
- typography

Everything else is learned 'on the job' - I've taught myself so much since graduating that I can't even remember what skills I left college with anymore...

____________
work with pete!

School

Submitted by wurx on Wed, 2005-12-07 13:16.

"I can't even remember what skills I left college with anymore..."

But you do have them all those skills burnt into your brain and it has become a natural process....Sounds like you got a good education.

I do think there should be 1 class that would make students more prepared for real life. I graduated from Parsons School of Design in the early 90's, which is a top ranked school (if not #1) and they provided very little real life training. Still, I would never trade my BFA from there for anywhere else, I got a great education.

I really like the fist one

Submitted by Abdul on Mon, 2005-12-05 17:24.

I really like the first one (on the left). Job well done!

Nice.

Submitted by calvincarl on Tue, 2005-12-06 10:48.

They are all interesting takes on the design, but the only one that really looks plausible as an actual possibility is the one on the left. Corporations always like clean, clean, clean...did I mention clean. The other ones look a little too artsy. As pieces though, they all look very good, and interesting. They look like very well planned designs. You should actually get ahold of Ferrara Pan and pitch a redesign to them. Who knows, maybe you could get lucky.

CalvinCarl.com