ANM 324 Project 4
Creating a label requires a broad range of illustration and design skills.  These are small works of marketing art that, if successful, demand attention and help sell the product they represent.

Here’s my general grading criteria for this project:

95-100- Label is complete and artwork is challenging.  It has excellent shelf appeal and demonstrated clear command of the Illustrator toolset.  The label is a work of art!

90-95-Lable is very well done but there are some minor flaws in concept or execution. Type styling may not resonate with the content or theme of the product or you may have created a less than spectacular composition of image and text.

85-89-Label is good but may not completely communicate the essence of the product in either type resonance or design elements

80-85-Label has obvious technical and design issues that will prevent it from having good shelf appeal.  Type doesn’t fit or image is too complex to be clearly understood by shoppers.

70-80-Label is not effective is communicating the essence of the product and major requirements are missing.  There are significant technical flaws.

70-below very late work

Note: Late work will be downgraded by 10 pts and the lack of group critique will result in a 5 pt deduction.

Late -10

No Group Critique -5

Missing required component-rational for design or original label for comparison. -5

Anita Kunz Group

Renee
-I agree with your assessment that the original label just doesn’t fit the product. I’ve purchased this salsa and also thought the design was a little unusual. Your decision to go with a more traditional mix of salsa veggies has some risks in that will be more self-explanatory but it also may not stand-out as much as the original. Your artwork is good but it would have been more sophisticated if you had not relied on the stroke around the peppers and garlic but instead used gradients and highlights to depict the shapes and give them depth.
The large red pepper shows good skill with the tools but it still would be stronger without the stroke. Type has good resoance..looks like a southwest style and you’ve done a very good job of recreating the label details such as the nutrition, ingredients and upc.

Patricia-Those Bell’s olives look mighty good! I think you’re correct in your observation that shoppers these days are attracted to brands and labels that have a more natural look whether the ingredients have changed or not. You’ve basically recreated the original label with the addition of a “swag” of olive branches. The solution could have been more creative but I do appreciate your illustration of the olives with vector art. They are exceptionally well done. The Bell’s name looks hand-drawn with a calligraphy
brush tip. Rather than try to duplicate the original font, it might be easier and more effective to find a script font style that had the look you wanted. You’ve done a good job with the other details on the label. The nutrition block is very precise.

Lauren –Your new label for the Vienna Sausages is definitely a departure from the original. Those little squishy dogs are a classic…I’m not sure what they would do all dressed up and sophisticated. Of course, one benefit is that a shopper wouldn’t be able to see what they looked like so they would be even more surprised when they opened the can.
You have good rational for your redo…is that building in the background from Vienna? Did you actually redraw the Libby and Conagra logos? I guess that would be appropriate. Because the packaging looks so different from the traditional brands, I think it would standout on the shelf. Whether shoppers would buy is another story. I’d probably stick with one with a picture so I knew I was getting the “real wieners”. All your added information and upc looks very good. Overall, I like the fact that you took a chance with a major change to the product labeling.

Steven-The Chiclets packaging has been around for a long time and basically unchanged for as long as I can remember. With all the high-end gum packaging it makes good sense to freshen-up Chiclets to compete at the checkout stand. I really like the contrasting black box and the colorful gums. It’s very contemporary and eye-catching. You’ve used highlight gradients to give the individual pieces a realistic form. Although I like the font style…the use of this very thin-line type with a black background will result in loss of detail such as the cross on the lowercase “t”. It would likely be even more compromised if printed because the black ink would probably bleed more. This is a technical issue to consider. Very creative and very attractive!

Rosenwald Group

Terell-I agree, the Great Value brand of Wal-Mart definitely has a cheap look. I think they like it that way since it fits their bargain marketing. Having said that, there is room for improvement and your redo definitely adds energy to an otherwise static look. You’ve definitely used your vector drawing skills to render the fruit and those bold brush strokes. My only suggestion is to consider the visual hierarchy…it’s clearly the Great Value name on your package in contrast to the bowl of cereal on the original package. You do want your shoppers to easily recognize the brand and the specific product at a glance.
I appreciate your rational for the redo but you did not include the side panel with nutrition information, ingredients and upc as required.

Cassandra-I thought your Velamints packaging was one of the most creative redos in the class. I really like the contemporary look of the vector art and think it would really stand-out at the checkout line where products like this are at eye level. My only suggestion is to refine the head of your snowboarder…I put a cap on to better define the head shape. As is, it ‘s quite abstract compared to the rest of the form. The design would definitely appeal to the younger and active generation. As you indicated, it also resonates the minty freshness of the product. You’ve also done an excellent job of redoing the nutrition info and upc on the back. Excellent work!

Larysa-I agree with your assessment that the original label left some room for showing the product. I suspect, since the label would be on the bottle, that they would figure it out. What your design does do is communicated a use for the product and you can almost smell those old fashion cookies baking in the oven. Now that’s very effective marketing! You’ve done a very good job illustrating both the bottle and the cookies. The type in the banner Old Fashion Molasses is rather awkward. Old and Fashion need to have the same letter spacing…not compressed. You just need to make room or choose another way to display such as stacking the type. Molasses doesn’t look very smooth and uniform in it’s arc. The easiest way to do this is to select the type then go to Object>Rasterize then Effect>Warp and in this case use the arc effect. You’ve done an excellent job with the nutrition type, product info and upc. Your project redo is very complete with good attention to detail.

Jessica-I appreciate your rational for updating this classic game packaging. The new cover art is very attractive and the card suits are very attractive with the drop-shadows. My only question is why different reds for hearts and diamonds? The wood grain is attractive and creates a very strong contrast for the type and suits. Your artwork for the bottom of the box is outstanding..Wow! the art clearly represents family and tells the potential buyer a lot about the game without even understanding it. My only suggestion is to consider using one of the brown colors on the top as the background for the back. Doesn’t seem like this would connect the two parts more effectively? Excellent info and upc. Outstanding artwork and skill with drawing tools!

Kroencke Group

Megan-You didn’t include your rational for the design but I seem to recall from your original sketches that the original was too complex and didn’t highlight the apple theme as strongly as you thought it should. There are some very strong elements in your new design..I do like the illustration of the apples and the use of highlights helps give them form. The new type style is also more playful and I think more appealing to most shoppers. I do thing the space between Apple Scented and the apples is too large..I would just bring down the type until it visually established a stronger visual flow. Maybe that leaf could have a gradient on it too? Added type looks complete but be careful of the serif fonts at small size..they appear to be a little hard to read compared to san-serif ..maybe it’s just the font style. Best smelling label in class!

Jeremy- You are missing the original label and the rational for your design. The new label definitely has a country look which compliments the Strawberry Preserves. We all want to believe our food is raised on a little farm and hand picked at the peak of ripeness. Well, your label communicates this theme. My only suggestion is to make the Strawberry Preserves type more readable…the thin script just doesn’t have enough contrast with the checkerboard pattern. The added product info and upc look great!

Katrina-Whiskas was popular with this class. We must have some serious cat lovers! Your packaging and label project is very complete…thanks for putting extra effort into the 3D view.

I also appreciate your comments, which make the redo more meaningful. Your package is very playful and attractive with the illustration of the rather refined and probably “snobbish” kitty that’s very particular. The perspective of Whiskas in the 3D view is a little off. I recommend using the filter>distort>perspective on type to adjust to make it fit a package like this. Your right side of the package with ingredients looks great. Again..very complete effort.

Robert- Wow..your throwback redo of the Pepsi can is very impressive! I like everything about it and think it would be a big hit although they would probably be sued for selling their Pepsi for $1 when it says 5 cents. You’ve done an especially good job styling the Pepsi Cola logo and adding gradients to it. Nutrition, product and upc are excellent too. All around you’ve created very strong design effort that demonstrates skill with Illustrator! I like it a lot!!

Greg-I wish you had included your rational for the design which basically describes how this packaging is for some of your original software. Learning Illustrator is a great way to help create professional marketing material and labels. Now..I’m not quite sure where Photoshop and Illustrator begin and end but in all designs like this you must use Illustrator for type because it’s much more precise as a layout tool and the vector type is much more crisp for printing. Of all the views, the cover of the box in the 3D model is the most interesting and effective. There’s typically a lot of type required in a product like software to inform and sell to clients. Screenshots and diagrams are also needed. Overall, your design looks very complete and demonstrates good merging of the design tools. I especially like the fact that this is potentially a real-world product and you’re seeing how Illustrator can help you market it.

Frazier Group

Armin-I appreciate your creative approach to the label redesign. You’ve taken this very traditional design and made it much more interesting. I do think the vines are a little creepy as they wind around the border and letters and that’s definitely blood dripping from the spoon. Maybe this is a Halloween version of the product. OK…the label may not be mainstream enough for Heinz but it would definitely be eye-catching and have a cult following. It would have helped me understand if you had included your rational for the design. Product information and upc look very good!

Justin-It looks like you had fun with this redesign of the Whiskas label. The addition of the half-kitty and grill certainly is eye-catching. My only concern is that to me the kitty looks pretty sad. I think since we are only seeing the downturn of his mouth. He actually looks a little worried that he might be next for the grill (oh dear-what am I saying?) Anyway, my point is that you may be communicating a different message than you intend to some viewers. I do appreciate your skill with the drawing tools. You’ve done a great job of reproducing the elements on the back..especially those little instructions. I didn’t think that people needed to be shown that but hey, they might make a sandwich out of this stuff. Highlight of the packaging is your artwork and color palette…well thought out and fun to view and comment on.