“Minimalist effect in the maximalist market”
Good evening,
Related to the “Starbucks logo” getting simplified, I found an interesting website about symbol marks and package designs. Do you think every brand need an alternate simple version for it’s logo? This may attract consumers by using clear visuals, but on the other hand, brands are losing it’s own colour. Still, I feel there are too much information when you visit a supermarket.
Here is the link. http://bit.ly/gGspGH
Posted on February 22, 2011, in Rhetoric. Bookmark the permalink. 6 Comments.
MAGD Group R 
I also prefer the minimalist version of the brand, but I guess if you ask someone in the supermarket they would disagree, people (non-designers) prefer boom!, splashy, colourful, aggressive to their eyes in order to make a stand in the shelf. Can we make a supermarket (or a world/bubble) just for us designers? I would like that.
Joana, I believe that it depends where ? their are many people that are fed up with bombarded messages when they come into the supermarket.
Maybe this will make it stand out, just because of the minimalist look, with all the colours and big, bold statements of other brands and products surrounding it on the shelves? Would the eye be attracted to this calm ‘eye of the storm’ or will it be overlooked as not shouting enough?
My comment to this is:
less is more!
But as I`m always critical about my own opinion I will comment more:
Visually I think the products are more “beautiful” but it is not al about beauty…
For me Brands also work like for an analphabetic person, I see a picture not necessarily the word “nutella”. I am a very visual person so I get the impression before context.
I admit I aslo tempt to be more attracted to simple packaged products I don`t like the artificial and loud screaming stuff. But imagine if all of a sudden all the products in the supermarkets where reduced down to only a typographical logo. I guess it would very difficult to find the product you are after? Because you would have to read every name of every chocolate spread till you find nutella.
They seem to have used a fairly simple methodology for generating the ‘simple’ designs – just extracting the core product name and type style. Whilst that is interesting to designers, it may leave the wider customer base a little cold, and it relies heavily on product recognition of major brands. Imagine visiting a ‘foreign’ supermarket and trying to figure out what was in each package with no visual/pictoral stimuli…
Actually, there used to be a UK supermarket chain in the 1970s (now showing my age…) called Fine Fare, which used plain yellow packaging for all products with simple typographic information:-
http://www.thedisciplesofdesign.co.uk/2010/12/fine-fare/
So you get tins of beans alongside tins of dog food, with only the text indicating any difference of the contents…
Russ
A whole shop filled with these minimalist packagings might get a tad boring after a while, if there is more or less the same looks on every shelf, now being so used to the more distinctive looks of different brands. You’d maybe even start to miss the louder screams from competing laundry detergents or dog foods. Even though some brands would have something to gain in toning down and simplify their packaging, you do get skilled in (trained to?) sifting through the masses of products on offer and looking for “your” brand of washing up liquid, for example.
In any case, I guess reading the labels carefully in this Fine Fair shop was recommended or you might have a few surprises when you came home and started unpacking the week’s shopping.