A designer's take on the progression of brand name products towards minimalist packaging design.
Reading Goal: Find and analyze a visual text that lacks a specific claim.
Writing Goal: Develop a purpose for the text based on my perception of it.
When it comes to aesthetics, people of all cultures tend to appreciate the succinct and simple over the cluttered and complex. However, when the need comes to disseminate information for whatever purpose arises, complex design holds its educational property over simple design's aesthetic appeal. Thus, a compromise must be made; a creative mind has to balance descriptive complexity and beautiful simplicity. This dichotomous truth is applied to the art of product packaging design by Pawel Kozera in his blog post "Minimalist effect in the maximalist market". Kozera, a web designer, illustrator, and musician, tries "to find alternate simple versions for some package samples of the international brands" in this collection of comparison shots of actual product packages and his progressively simple designs. Seeming to have done this exercise for nobody but himself, Kozera leaves no implication to help us understand his work. Still, it proves a powerful point thanks to its layout and professional execution: popular products no longer need to have packaging as complex as it is; these brand names are so ingrained in our minds that they need no advertisement more than what a wartime package of rations gets: HAM SANDWICH or PEANUTS.
As Kozera designed these re-imaginings of international franchise packaging, it was surely a conscious decision of his to show the progression of design from complex to simple. The effect of this, however accidental, is that a logical scenario comes to mind in which a corporation may undergo major simplification of branding. Kozera's work reveals that, while a brand may need complex, cluttered, and informational packaging initially in order to effectively describe its product, it no longer needs that clutter as it becomes more and more famous. Thus, once a brand is so well-known and ubiquitous that it needs no descriptive graphics, it may enter the realm of simplicity, one of raw information and minimalist aesthetic. At this point, the brand has a name equivalent to a fruit or vegetable; COKE is a word used as MILK or WINE is, and sales boost further as the product connotation transitions into staple connotation.
The beauty of this visual text is that it seems unconscious of this lesson; for all we know, Kozera simply wanted some design practice with his favorite supermarket brands. Nevertheless, he provides convincing evidence for an important dichotomy: when information is required, complexity is required; when information is assumed, simplicity is desired. We, as humans, desire escape from the inefficiencies of overstimulus; a simple, single word is often all we need to make our choice.
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