Spotlight: Resource

Publisher Adds to Design Library With 'Packaging Makeovers' Title

Every packaging redesign project presents a unique set of artistic and business goals. Successful package makeovers are a testament to the incredibly creative minds in this industry. Hoping to tap into these creative minds by examining redesign projects in progress, Packaging Makeovers: Graphic Redesign for Market Change recreates the design decision-making processes behind some striking redesigns of recent years.

The book deconstructs package redesign as a business strategy, breaking down how important decisions are made when major redesigns are afoot. Most of these examples move so far from the original brand that they are essentially new design projects. The Clearly Canadian bottles shown here, for example, have no association with the previous bottle design. However, the book also covers the careful and less drastic updating of the packages for Barbie dolls and accessories and Aveeno lotions and bath treatments.

Many of the case studies are good examples of focusing in on the needs and desires of a specific audience, and a few result in category-defying designs. A case study may illustrate the path the designers took to get to the finished package, but it may also show equally interesting variations on ideas that never saw the light of day. There may be just as much to learn from examining the 12 attractive Epson printer box options that were not used as examining the one that was.

The book is visually appealing and efficiently written by Stacey King Gordon, a writer who helped found Professional Jeweler magazine, wrote Magazine Design That Works, and is also a frequent contributor to HOW and I.D. magazines. The publishing imprint of Packaging Makeover is Rockport, which offers many beautifully illustrated source books for professional designers and artisans of all types. The books try to take you inside the world's most talented design and art studios to share in the inspiration behind successful projects.

Another recent book from Rockport is Design Secrets: Packaging, which examines a wide spectrum of 50 projects to glean insight into the methods of creative thinkers and designers. Like Makeovers, Secrets takes the reader through the processes and techniques as the packages are refined, and offers inspiration and professional tips along the way. Author Catharine Fishel runs Catharine & Sons and has also published Minimal Graphics, Redesigning Identity, The Perfect Package, and Designing for Children.

A sister imprint to Rockport (www.rockpub.com) is Rotovision (www.rotovision.com), which published Eat Me by Ben Hargreaves last year. Eat Me features insights from professionals working within food packaging graphics design and explores the practical and psychological issues governing successful work. Other titles in the Rockport collection are Packaging Graphics and Design by Renée Phillips, which trains an analytical eye on 250 successful package and label designs, and 50 Trade Secrets of Great Design: Packaging by Stafford Cliff, which profiles 50 contemporary projects from conception to completion, including problems that arose and their innovative solutions.