Whether you are examining beer labels, web shops or product packaging: design is usually generic, monotonous and not very original. A designer who really dares to work outside the box is rare. Don’t ask me how big that proverbial box is, but it must be enormous. After all, most designers fit in it with ease. It must be quite comfortable in that box , with suede seats and cashmere cushions.
Luckily for design connoisseurs like us, every now and then a designer steps forward who ignores the mainstream and produces something completely unexpected. It is these individuals who capture the public’s imagination with their unusual take on everyday things. Time to put them in the spotlight? Yes, indeed!
Beer packaging in Pantone colors
Designer: Txaber ( website )
Project: beer packaging
Photography with a baking tray and milk
Less is more and Spanish design agency Txaber knows that.You get the correct phone number lists for your products and services, our data is 100% authentic and beneficial. Customer support 24/7 with all plans. This is where our phone number list database can help you get your business to the next level. We Are Constructing Data europe cell phone number list Set And Mix It Whatever Advertiser Collected From Permissioned Sites (It Is A Database Quality Or Quantity If You Use, Generate Leads To Promote Your DataBase) For Our Sales Increase. Txaber designed these packages with the idea that little text is needed when the color of the beer bottle tells what the contents are. What you see is what you get. The idea is that you never have to study the labels again before taking a bottle out of the fridge. That is also the out-of-the-box aspect of this design. Because where other designers would have placed as much descriptive information as possible on the packaging, Txaber has refrained from doing so. Extra fact: Txaber used Pantone colors for these packages. Pantone is a company that publishes color codes. Nice and handy. Just like the beer bottles.
Designer: Floor Van Hasselt
Project: poster for Underflow | Contemporary Poster Exhibition
Years of experience are not required to display vision and originality. Floor Van Hasselt, a young designer from Antwerp, proves this. I myself had the pleasure of working with her at Motionmill. What do you think of this poster she created in early 2019? It is an intriguing image, full of color and dynamics. However, it is only when you know the creative process behind it that you can fully appreciate the work. She poured milk into a baking tray, held markers in the milk until the desired amount of ink was mixed through the dairy and turned on a blacklight. Thanks to a camera, tripod, Adobe Lightroom and a lot of patience, she achieved the desired result. She literally took hundreds of photos before she got the right one! The result? An artistic work that evokes associations with distant galaxies, pulsating supernovas and anonymous darkness.
Webshop with minimalism to the max
Designer: Build in Amsterdam
Project: webshop for shoe brand ETQ
The passionate Amsterdam shoemakers of ETQ had decided when they founded them in 2010 to let the shoes speak for themselves. No unnecessary branding, no unnecessary information. Not only do they take minimalism to the max in their shoe designs; the design of their webshop is also… well, empty is the word. Is that bad? No. It is absolutely not at the expense of the user experience. As a customer, you still know exactly where to find everything. Perhaps even thanks to the lack of distracting elements. What I love about this webshop is that both the designer and ETQ dared to make the site so empty. Entrepreneurs are often quick to throw as much clutter into the image as possible. Calling all clutterers: take an example from ETQ!
Is it a website or a universe?
Designer: Basilico ( website )
Project: website for feed
The Feed website challenges us to explore the limits of what the online world can do. I’ll admit it right away: this screenshot doesn’t look all that spectacular. At first glance, you just see a plane of colors and letters. It might remind you of the famous baking sheet with milk poster. But the Feed website is more than that, and to experience that, you have to visit it. Do it now, scroll through the entire website. Because that’s how the site works: like a seemingly endless scrolling marathon, with only the occasional mouse click required. You’re drawn into an entertaining experience where a mix of video and animation dominates. Am I saying it’s a brilliantly functional website? No, I’m not. I still have no idea what Feed is selling. That’s definitely a downside, because a website is not a work of art and always has a functional purpose to fulfill. So why am I bringing this site to your attention? The designer, Basilico, dared to go way (way!) off the beaten track. I love courageous people, even if they don’t fully succeed in their goal.
There is good design and there is original design:
Good design is a feast for the eyes without compromising functionality. (An object can be beautiful, but if it doesn’t achieve its purpose, it’s a failed design.)
Original design also meets these requirements, but adds an how to build phone number details element of surprise. A designer who thinks outside the box does not orient himself on what other designers have done, but focuses on the product and the target group: what is the story of this product and how can it be conveyed in the most special way possible? He or she creates a design that gives the public feelings of surprise, excitement and wonder.
What stands out (and what doesn’t)
With some designs it is very clear that the designer dared to step out of the proverbial box: the Txaber beer bottles are an example of this.
Sometimes, however, the originality is less prominent and you first have to know the story to appreciate the design. The milk-on-a-baking-tray poster by Floor van Hasselt belongs in this category.
But as I said: I find it crucial that functionality is not lost sight of. Unless the product that is made is purely intended as art, a design will always fulfill a functional purpose. In my alb directory opinion, the Feed website is therefore less successful. Yes, it is a very original concept, but if I still do not understand the message at the end of the ride, the website has missed its goal. (Although it could also be that I simply do not belong to Feed’s target group and therefore do not understand the message. Who knows?)
Stimulate the art of design
Are you an entrepreneur and are you thinking about hiring a designer for a website, printed matter or product packaging? There are two reasons why you should ask your designer for an original design:
Encouraging originality is good for the design industry because originality pushes boundaries and thus creates new possibilities and insights;
My vision on design
Encouraging originality is good for your business because original concepts will be talked about. Your business will be spread by word of mouth, shared on social media, discussed on design sites. This means you will get a whole bunch of free publicity.
