During a recent trip to Boston, I had the pleasure of seeing a small gem of an exhibition at the Boston Public Library called Away We Go, featuring travel posters from the 1920’s-1940’s. At that time, these works must have been extremely enticing to viewers with their scenic views of far-off places and new modes of transportation: cars, airplanes, and luxury ocean liners.

Today the posters are still as bright and adventurous as they once were (at least in my opinion). So, if you are a lover of travel, transportation and/or mid twentieth century nostalgia, it is a must see if you are in town. If you can’t, don’t worry, the library allows you to browse their entire poster collection online at Flickr! Read more to view some more of my favorites.

Ever feel like you have problems that no one has any solutions to? Help Remedies may have an answer for you.

Don’t know what to wear?

Never been kissed?

Or maybe you just have a song stuck in your head?

Help Remedies have collected humorous (yet helpful) answers to all these questions and lots more. The brand is known for its elegant, minimal design and eco-friendly packaging, but they’ve also come up with great ways to get their customers involved in the brand.  The Help I’m Bored page is amusing and a great way to start a Monday morning.  It also gives a good idea of what the brand stands for: making it simple to solve simple health issues.

This weekend I finally got a closer look at Target’s relaunched private label brand, Up & Up. Private brands have a tricky task in distinguishing themselves from the national brand competition. One common approach is to design packaging that works cross-catagory, so the brand has a consistent look from the electronics section to the frozen food aisle. The downside to this approach is the design often appears generic. And while I like the look of Up & Up, it is admittedly generic. They’ve combatted this with smart copy lines on the front of each package. Boring paper towels become “puddle busters,” standard aloe vera gel is “after sun aaaaah,” and just like that the cheaper brand becomes the smarter brand.

While designers tend to focus on the look of the brand, the voice is just as important. It can elevate everyday brands and help clearly define a brand’s position in the market.

On July 25th the Tru Beverage Company announced that they will be bringing the fictitious beverage Tru Blood to a store near you. The beverage has been made popular by HBO’s vampire soap opera “True Blood.” On the television series, vampires have been able to “come out of the closet” and assimilate with humans because they no longer need to feed on them as their source of sustenance; they can drink the synthetic blood alternative, Tru Blood.

The carbonated blood orange based beverage promises to feature the same intensely red-colored product fans see on the show; however, I can’t imagine the consistency will be nearly as thick! Either way it’s a great way for fans to take home a piece of the brand aura.

These days, it seems people have gotten really creative with their beer drinking. The Go Plate, much like The Ashhole, (which MSLK designed the packaging for) can transform your empty beer bottle, can or cup into an instant commodity.

While The Ashhole fits on top of empty bottles and converts them into an ashtray, The Go Plate fits around your beverage receptacle of choice and as a result, allows you to carry your food and drink in one hand. It’s pretty clever and pretty practical; however, I don’t suppose it will help get rid of any beer bellies any time soon.

-Mariana G.

As Reactions continues to evolve, we are pleased to announce the addition of guest bloggers to our blog. This post features Mariana Gorn, our trend-spotting, beer-swilling, intern. 

I’ve become HD-obsessed. I refuse to watch anything on television unless it’s at full 1080 resolution. I’ve also recently purchased a digital camera which shoots HD movies and have become so enamored with all the detail it captures, that can barely care what it is that I am shooting. (So much so, my hard drive is petitioning for an upgrade).

The flip side to seeing everything in crisp resolution is that you see, well, everything… especially the flaws. I’ve heard stories about famous actresses who cannot be cast because their bad acne now shows up clear as day on everyone’s living rooms due to the HD Revolution.

Naturally, there is a line of  make up to capitalize on this new reality and try to remedy it…

Since 1876 Anheuser-Busch products have been conceived and manufactured in my hometown of St. Louis, Missouri. Recently after feeling pressure that sales were not growing enough or that commanding 50% of the US beer market wasn’t good enough, the Busch family turned over the reigns to the Belgium based company, InBev. The sale was intended to increase A-B’s foothold in stronger and emerging beer markets such as Argentina, Brazil, Russia and Eastern Europe.

With all this in mind, I’ve become increasingly more and more upset that A-B — now after 133 years of American ownership — has decided to market their American Heritage first with the switch of  Budweiser’s tagline from “The King of Beers” to “The Great American Lager,” and more recently with the introduction of the new product, “Budweiser American Ale.”

Having a cold in the summer should be a crime, however seasonal allergies get the best of everyone and if you’ve got to curl up with a tissue box this June, I highly reccomend the new “Perfect Slice of Summer” Kleenex packaging for Target, illustrated by Hiroko Sanders. Talk about an affordable luxury, nothing brightens my day more than a fruity, clever, and beautiful Kleenex box.  I even love the dynamic shape, blended perfectly with the visual. Especially when my alternative options are packaged in blue grey swirls and “cottony soft” patterns. Egad! I personally hate tissues boxes so much we are toilet paper only household, but I will buy these—simply for the packaging.

I realize that picking on Tropicana’s ill-fated new branding has become as common as picking on AIG’s improperly compensated managers. However, I’m choosing to lambaste Tropicana here not because of aesthetics, but because of their incredibly poor and inconsistent graphic system.

A few weeks ago, Tropicana announced that they are pulling their controversial new packaging that hit the stores earlier this year. When we first saw the redesign, we had the same reaction much of the public did: yikes. The rebranding seemed to strip Tropicana from its identity and positioning in the market and leave us with a product that felt very generic, lacking an emotional connection.

As a designer, I’m interested in how the brand ended up in this spot. I stumbled across a video of Creative Director Peter Arnell, from the Arnell Group, defending his design to the press. In my opinion, he gets a bit too cerebral about what the design elements represent and loses site of the big picture (a very common design error). Click here to see how he defends his design (a.k.a. a designer’s worst nightmare).