Bottles, bags, crazy foil envelopes – there are a million types of packages and even more reasons to love their niche of design. Now more than ever, companies and designers are using minimal packaging so how do you get your brand across in an impactful and creative way? I wrote an article for Rena Tom’s site on that very topic so please take a look if you are interested. There are plenty of inspiring images if you are looking to brand your product or yourself!

(image via miss design and retail design blog)

behind the scenes

A second Kate Spade post this week because their holiday collection is just that good. I love “Give Colourfully”, the Holiday 2011 campaign video. It is bursting with bright colour, pattern, design supplies, paper and all things devoted to the season of festive wrap. It’s quite impressive how much Christmas comes across without relying on traditional colours, snow scenes, winter clichés, etc. Continuing with the theme, the front page of their website animates colourful presents you can “unwrap”. A larger Kate Spade post will pop up one of these days as their design team and brand as a whole is one of my true ‘colour heros’. Check out the behind-the-scenes video too. The team used 1,000 yards of coloured tape, 15,000 square feet of tissue paper and 400 yards of paper ribbon to create the mini-film (including wrap a 1965 VW beetle!)

I am completely and utterly smitten by the packaging for these Holiday Barrettes by Kate Spade. The vibrant orange card, the mix of typography, the integration of the barrettes into the whimsical sentence – I love it all. Simple and pitch perfect design. I’m pretty sure every holiday outfit would be enhanced by a hairdo featuring words like “pop fizz clink”!

(images via kate spade where the barrettes can be purchased)

Oribbon, a mixture of origami and ribbon, is a sticky strip of paper scored in a multitude of directions so it can folded into different shapes including the origami bows above. Talk about turning a regular present into a work of art. What a ridiculously clever design by Azumi Mitsuboshi.

(images via upon a fold where oribbon can be purchased)

Like geometric patterns, I have always had a love affair with facets. The handsome flat faces of geometric shapes are gorgeous in nature’s sparkling gems and as forms used in design. Throw in some paper art and I can barely contain myself. Case in point? This beautiful photo backdrop by Matthew Parker Events created for the Design*Sponge book tour party at Anthropologie in Seattle. Hundreds of faceted white shapes were careful folded and artistically hung from the wood frame. It feels like a sublime drift of peacefully geometric snow…

(images via matthew parker events)

Pattern, colour, type, slipcase, booklets, print. All good words alone but even better when they come together. Case in point? This limited edition box-set by Fontsmith for the 10th anniversary of their typeface library launch. Designed by Thompson Brand Partners, each of the ten booklets is written by a typeface designer and explores the creative process behind type design. Such a beautiful piece of print with fantastic colours and patterns. The photo of the booklet spines in a stack or spilling out of the bespoke slipcase just makes me plain happy…

(spotted on collate)

Continuing my affair with papercraft posts this week, I love this editorial for Madame magazine art directed by Matthew Brodie and Hattie Newman and photographed by Matthew Brodie. The theme was dresses in an environment of design supplies and the results are beautiful. How fabulous is that pencil shavings dress? And the top of billowing ticker tape? What about that bubble of individually handcrafted paper tabs glued together? I love the curls of origami-like paper in the background too. See the full credits and awesome behind-the-scenes photos and sketches here.

(images via matthew brodie)

I love these meticulously and artistically crafted paper flowers by Thuss+Farrell, a married Brooklyn-based design and photography duo bursting with insane talent. What a fantastic mix of bright colour, pastels, patterned detail and texture. The pops of black make the flowers feel artful and modern rather than simply pretty. I wouldn’t mind a vase full of these beautiful examples of papercraft….

(spotted on simplesong)

One of the things that amazes me the most about colour is how easily it can convey a message or emotion without any words required. This horrifyingly clever Preparation H advertisement by Shawn Couzens and Gary Ennis is the epitome of that quality. The brilliant placement of glowing red doesn’t need a single world to get the (rather painful looking) point across.

(image via ads of the world)

I love this cover for Domenica, the Sunday magazine of national Italian newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore. Verona studio Happycentro were asked to create a piece focused on food without actually using food as a material. The studio chose paper as their muse and designed some truly handsome shelves of modern papercraft food. I love that faceted red apple, striped pink onion and fabulously patterned banana. If only milk came in such sleek cartons…

(spotted on el jardín rojo)

I’ll admit it, I laughed over these Dear Cab Driver Napkins for far too long this morning. I blame Monday? With those notes your mother used to pin to your mittens in mind, you can now enjoy some festive beverages with no worries of pesky details like your address and money location. These cocktail squares are sure to be the hit of your next party (as long as your party can live up to their wild expectations!)

(more information via heliotrope)

How spectacular is this cover for Novum Magazine by German design studio Paperlux? The colourful triangle pattern is beautiful in its own right but the ingenious printing technique that creates moldable facets and insane texture is extraordinary. The ‘making of’ video shows the sculptural paper piece in motion as well as a glimpse into the technology and methodical design required to create the cover. Colour, texture, pattern, printing brilliance and paper sculpture? Not sure it gets better than that.

(spotted on/images via graphic exchange and paperlux)

Designed by Proud Creative, I love this branding for luxury jewellery firm Guy & Max. Most jewellery companies seem to go down that “pretty proposal” route but Guy & Max feels bold, masculine and fiercely modern with a high fashion edge. Oh and I think their shop has the most beautiful awning I have ever seen. By using just the right shades of black in just the right geometric pattern, the piece feels like a sculptural work of facets. Same goes for the business card as it feels like a paper sculpture rather than a flat piece of paper. Throw in some sublime macro photographs of diamonds and this branding is officially gorgeous. With such a great look, I can only imagine the stunning jewellery being created by Guy & Max.

(spotted on september industry)

When it comes down to it, make up is just pot and tube colour swatches. Perhaps that is the main reason that the displays, design and styling of cosmetics is always inspiring to me. I just love the whimsy and handmade-feeling design of Topshop’s make up line created by designer Sarah Thorne. Their main line is a chic mix of matte greys, uncoated paper, black patterns and hand drawn illustrations. In addition, each fashion season sees the launch of trend led make up range with inspirations such as ‘sand storm’, ‘festival’, ‘heavy duty’ and ‘smoke and mirrors’. I love how detailed and just plain artistic the packaging is. How stunning is the sandstorm mountain range packaging with dashes of colour and pencil lines of gold? The illustrations look like there were drawn with make up and the pieces feel like art. From metallic foils to scalloped box edges to the hand drawn type that unites all the products in every range, Topshop makeup are worth buying simply as examples of beautifully crafted design.

(images via sarah thorne, unity and form and the dieline)

I’m intrigued by the idea behind Australian artist Lizzie Buckmaster Dove’s ‘Tide Project’. For one lunar month in 2010, an art project was created between London, Barcelona and Coledale using found objects in the tides that connect the three places. The result is graphic and vibrant hand cut paper art that uses unique colour palettes to represent the very different cities (you can view all the pieces here by scrolling to the far right). Of the series, my favourites are ‘Tide Project, Things to be Forgotten, Moon and Moon ii’ with their geometric cuts, absolutely gorgeous colour palettes and dreamy lunar inspiration. It still amazes me what can be created with a common paint chip…

I just discovered, via a home construction project, that lumber crayons exist. Until last week, I used pencil when working with wood for a project. Little did I know a world of colourful lumber crayons was living in the local hardware store. Available in a wide range of colours, lumber crayons last 10 times longer than ordinary crayons and are water, fade and smear proof on wet or dry wood, metal, concrete and most other surfaces. Colourful and technically amazing? What a schmuck I was with that silly pencil. I am quite partial to the hexagon shaped and florescent lumber crayons. Maybe it is time to go to the hardware store on a colour-finding mission?

(images via prang, tanjant and lainey bugger)