For the last few weeks, the new packaging for President’s Choice has been making my eyes hurt. The typography feels clumsy and inconsistent, and while I’m a huge fan of whitespace, the tiny blurry photos are hardly appetizing.
I’ve never yet had to do a redesign involving so many hundreds of packages, each with its own inconsistencies, exceptions and requirements, but we know it can be done: the last wave of President’s Choice packaging was, to my mind, very successful. Easy to read, easy to differentiate from other brands, easy to tell the difference between the different PC products, while being visually appealing.
While it was certainly due for a redesign, I wasn’t expecting to see such a clumsy step backwards. My primary contention is with the choice of typefaces. The bold face in particular switches from Condensed to Expanded, depending on the package, reducing the coherency of the look. The typeface choices seemed rushed and ill-considered, especially when compared to the old look, which featured a more refined typographic look.
New design for the orange juice
Type on old juice package
My second hesitation with the new packaging is with the photography. While I appreciate that they are looking to solidify the line-look through the use of white space, the individual products suffer due to the small photos. Further, the photos themselves are not of the same calibre as the competitions. They are frequently lacking contrast, in need of retouching, and, in at least the case of the “Rich and Chewy” granola bars sitting on my desk, out of focus.
All of this suggests a rushed in-house design, in an attempt to refresh the look without spending too much money. As with the recent redesigns of Tropicana and Pepsi, we’ll see how this one affects the bottom line.
To show how the line could have looked, I have kept the same elements, but used a better photograph (courtesy of Veer.com) and a cleaner type (Avenir). Shown below is my interpretation of the granola bar packaging next to a photo of the existing packaging.
It’s easy to sit back and criticise the result while I’m unaware of the contraints in time and budget that the designers faced, just as it’s easy to redo just one box instead of a family. Nonetheless, my criticism of the President’s Choice redesign stands, and my design, while not a comprehensive look at the line, is an interesting exercise.
Existing design of PC Granola
My interpretation of the PC Granola box
President’s Choice: the redesign is typographically weak
For the last few weeks, the new packaging for President’s Choice has been making my eyes hurt. The typography feels clumsy and inconsistent, and while I’m a huge fan of whitespace, the tiny blurry photos are hardly appetizing.
I’ve never yet had to do a redesign involving so many hundreds of packages, each with its own inconsistencies, exceptions and requirements, but we know it can be done: the last wave of President’s Choice packaging was, to my mind, very successful. Easy to read, easy to differentiate from other brands, easy to tell the difference between the different PC products, while being visually appealing.
While it was certainly due for a redesign, I wasn’t expecting to see such a clumsy step backwards. My primary contention is with the choice of typefaces. The bold face in particular switches from Condensed to Expanded, depending on the package, reducing the coherency of the look. The typeface choices seemed rushed and ill-considered, especially when compared to the old look, which featured a more refined typographic look.
New design for the orange juice
Type on old juice package
My second hesitation with the new packaging is with the photography. While I appreciate that they are looking to solidify the line-look through the use of white space, the individual products suffer due to the small photos. Further, the photos themselves are not of the same calibre as the competitions. They are frequently lacking contrast, in need of retouching, and, in at least the case of the “Rich and Chewy” granola bars sitting on my desk, out of focus.
All of this suggests a rushed in-house design, in an attempt to refresh the look without spending too much money. As with the recent redesigns of Tropicana and Pepsi, we’ll see how this one affects the bottom line.
To show how the line could have looked, I have kept the same elements, but used a better photograph (courtesy of Veer.com) and a cleaner type (Avenir). Shown below is my interpretation of the granola bar packaging next to a photo of the existing packaging.
It’s easy to sit back and criticise the result while I’m unaware of the contraints in time and budget that the designers faced, just as it’s easy to redo just one box instead of a family. Nonetheless, my criticism of the President’s Choice redesign stands, and my design, while not a comprehensive look at the line, is an interesting exercise.
Existing design of PC Granola
My interpretation of the PC Granola box