People over here in Europe are getting ready to change their light bulbs at home due to a decision taken in the European Union a couple of years ago. This has triggered an earthquake of ideas on how to repackaging this old product that haven’t really seen inside of a designers room the last 50 years (or at least it feels that way).
This is more or less what the industry has offered us the last 50 years
Sometime last year I noticed that this business is on the move. As I was shopping bulbs it struck me that good shit is happening inside the hardware store on the light bulb shelf. What the light bulb industry is going through is a great inspiration for any business lost in history and it shows that once you get that ball rolling things will happen fast.
Here are 10 light bulb packaging concepts that leads this industry forward
Sweet and Informative from Greenlite found on Aaron Skippers blog.
Last summer I got on a train leaving Stockholm for Gothenburg. Together with freelancing project manager, planner and colleague Caroline Karlström I had a meeting set up with diving brand Poseidon. This was the start of a project where I truly had the opportunity to work with all aspects of branding and creative communication.
A dream project.
Ingvar Elfström, the founder of Poseidon back in 1958.
The Background
Back in 1958 this brand was founded by a young Swedish diver, Ingvar Elfström. Since then the brand has become famous for unique, different and great products. However over the last couple of years they’ve lost speed when it comes to innovation and marketing initiatives.
But then something happened. The company was bought by a small group of investors three years back. Headed by visionaire Kurt Sjöblom they set out on a journey – to develop the first ever automated rebreather for recreational divers.
This was why we were there. About a year from launch Kurt and his team felt they needed to do something about the brand. And after a successful meeting that actually started with me diving [click to continue…]
I‘ve spent some time this evening browsing my favorite packaging site The Dieline. That’s when I suddenly realized I should blog about packaging today.
When I speak about creativity and innovation and how it must be a part of every interaction (especially packaging) you have with your customers one of the most common replies I get is: “How can I make use of what you say in my business. We don’t have a sexy product”. Wrong question!
Today no one, no matter what kind of product you market, can overlook the fact that your customers lead a stressed life. People want to be entertained. We want drama. We want smiles. We want to feel. Everything is about entertainment and drama! Brand owners – inject emotion into your products or eject yourselves from your position!
The one question you should ask yourselves when it comes to packaging is: “Does my packaging make people smile”
Here are 10 brands that obviously have understood that you can make something out of anything.
1. Rellana Wool – Making Yarn Come Alive
This wonderful wool packaging concept called Wolly Heads was made by Ogilvy Frankfurt- It’s one of my absolute favorites. They’ve turned something very ordinary into something [click to continue…]
Today I’m browsing for mood images. My search has led me to tons of newspaper blogs. Then suddenly as I noticed this comic strip below my heart stop for a brief second.
This piece of communication is so simple yet so strong. If this would have a been an ad that ended with ‘Send Money to The Earthquake Victims in China’ I’d have my wallet turned upside down.
I can’t think of a better, stronger and more emotional way to portrait this story. Thank you Visual Journalism for bringing it too me!
Creatives all over the world do their best to visualize their ideas when pitching clients, preparing for photo shoots or simply putting their ideas on paper. Apart from sketching with Sketchbook Pro I’ve personally been using Flickr and Google Image Search combined with Photoshop for ages. Lately I’ve added Bing and iStockphoto to the list. It’s a time consuming process but it’s usually getting my message across.
Today however I’ve seen the light. A new web based application(down at the moment due to high traffic) that I found on Mashable let’s you draw your ideas and then it composes an image out of that doodle of yours. It’s made by five Chinese Computer Science and Technology students at Tsinghua University and the National University of Singapore and it’s sick!
Whatever kind of ides you’ve got in your head – it’s now easier than ever to get a matching photo. Draw and you will conquer! Here’s a video explaining what this mind-boggling thing does:
We live in the best of times. It’s all happening now!
A great site for finding inspiration is Fubiz. Their tagline ‘Daily Doze of Inspiration’ says it all. This morning when I was preparing for a speech on the ‘DNA of Creativity’ next week at an event arranged by Cap & Design, one of Swedens leading design magazine I stumbled on this wonderful video below from Microsoft.
I think the actual behavior in the video is many years ahead due to the fact that the grown up generation simply won’t learn how to use these interfaces. But it’s a real eye opener what lies ahead and I’m sure my kids won’t have a problem once they’re old enough.
Innovation is a strange thing. The best of innovations usually happens when someone takes something established from the world of culture and ads a twist or adapt it to future needs. Weiden & Kennedy’s great Honda COG pastiche on Peter Fischli & David Weiss’s art expression ‘The Way Things Go‘ is the perfect example on this.
So, when I performed my every day ‘link yoga’ this morning and did some soul stretching on Cool Hunting I suddenly found myself in love with a set of icons – Helveticons.
Max Larsson from Örebro, Sweden has created a set of icons, glyphs and symbols based on the Helvetica Bold typeface and the result is stunningly simplistic and…helveticified.
Hmm. Now I just gotta work out where I need those icons.
In Paris, France there’s a guy named Aïssa Logerot. He makes all sorts of cool industrial design objects. The thing that got me hooked though was this outstanding LED spray can called halo. The photo says it all. I want one. For what I don’t know but that’s generally how I feel about cool objects – ‘Buy first think later’.
As I was browsing the ‘best of the week 63 on the Abduzeedo.com blog (abducted by design) I fell in love with this image showcasing how the Virgin logo has been stretched into different business areas.
Isn’t it cool when someone has created a logo so simplistic that it can be put into any context without [...]
Everyone that works in communication shares a wet dream and it spells word of mouth.
Creating something that grows a life of its own without the support of mainstream media is what buzz and viral marketing is all about. But when we talk about creating buzz we seldom mention the dark side of the trade.
This visualization [...]
Here’s a little something for you people out there who forgot to put enough Redbull in your drink tonight.
1. Stare at the image for 10 seconds.
2. Look at something — your hand, a book, your friend
3. Enjoy!
One of my favorite graphical drive thru’s is FFFFound. It’s a never ending source of inspiration. Today I found this image above, originally posted by Today and Tomorrow. It’s been made by Peter Fischli & David Weiss, the same guys that made ‘The Way Things Go’ which was the inspiration for the classical Honda COG [...]
ronnestam.com was voted Sweden’s first blog on Innovation, future trends and digital communication. It’s written by Johan Ronnestam. He's widely regarded as one of Sweden’s leading speakers and authorities in the field of modern creative and conceptual thinking and skill of innovating brands and their communication.
