This week, FontShop takes a trip to the supermarket in search of palatable packaging. Among the shelves cluttered with superfluous drop shadows and chaotic typography, it was easy to spot the few beautiful boxes. These packages are proof that good type can make anything look delectable — even puffed corn or sugar water.
Izze Beverage Co®. doesn't boast their nonprofit mission on their label, but the design’s simplicity hints that they are a different kind of company. Izze’s sales grew 450% per year over the first two years without any TV, print, or online advertising. Surely their success is due in part to the bottle — clearly branded with Trade Gothic™ caps and a clever use of a Caslon™ asterisk, emulating a cross-section of the fruit contained therein.
Simply Organic’s® packaging lives up to its name. The clear glass bottle is adorned only with its logo (a carefully customized ITC Giovanni™) and feel-good copy (in Sabon™), revealing the product’s natural goodness.
There are few food identities as recognizable as Tazo®. Tea wasn’t very hip until the mid-’90s when tea master Steve Smith came along with his “Marco Polo meets Merlin the Magician” concept. The foundation of this antiquarian style is the Tazo logo — based on Jonathan Barnbrook’s Exocet™. Antique types Nicolas Cochin™ and Nuptial Script™ complete the look.
Kettle® bags are graced with type as crunchy as the potato chips they contain. MVB Emmascript™ and rough serifs similar to FF Trixie®, FF Elementa®, Compendio™, MVB Celestia Antiqua™, Grit Primer™, and ITC Founder’s Caslon™ emphasize the natural, handmade appeal of the product.
Despite aficionado magazines, winery tours, and personal recommendations, a lot of folks still choose their vino merely by the look of the label. Typography is all important here. Clos Du Bois® avoids new-agey gimmicks and goes for pure elegance with classic Friz Quadrata™, Sackers Gothic™, and Bickham Script™ (currently only available offline — contact us).
To achieve an old world flavor for its all-natural goods, Fantastic® opted for a font with a pre-digital pedigree: Handle Oldstyle™. The logo is built with lettering in a style similar to Manifesto™,Gagarin™, and FF Gothic™.
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