Starbucks is keeping up with the sense of pace that they create and manage for its ubiquitous brand.

They’ve updated their logo once again and this time with a decidedly minimalist presentation. They’ve put away the copy  “Starbucks Coffee” and the  palette is now one color.

All versions of the Starbucks logo applied to paper cups

Here’s a bit  of  what MSNBC had to say:

Starbucks says the changes amount to more than nips and tucks to its favorite lady. The fresh look goes with a new direction for the company as it makes its way back from its toughest times in its 40-year history.

The Starbucks logo through the years

And yes, we’re al familiar with the logo’s colorful controversy. A reminder courtesy of Adfreak for those who forget:

The inspiration for the siren logo—early versions of which have been called obscene by some—goes back to a 16th century Norse woodcut found by Seattle graphic designer Terry Heckler.

(pics and more via Starbucks)

Selfridges House brand packaging

High-end British store Selfridges & Co. re-launched their house brand packaging system that covers over 100 products. Their house brand did not set itself apart much on the shelves. Now it is eye catching, forward thinking, clear, concise, and decidedly modern. It has a hip new attitude that inspires confidence in their product line.

Black is the base for all their new packaging, and type does its job letting the visitor know what’s inside. The type is even used in the same point size whenever possible to strengthen the brand consistency. Black with colored text is not new, but it is certainly not what comes to mind when thinking about store packages. This is bold and refreshing and I suspect it will go over very well. London-based R-Design deisgned the new packaging. Good job to both.

www.r-design.co.uk

www.selfridges.com

Story via Communication Arts.

Typography Daily

If you like Type–and who doesn’t? Check out the new Typography Daily site from the folks at Designer Daily. Full of inspiration, links to free typefaces, typographic experiments, and very good reading material, the site doesn’t disappoint so far.

The focus seems to be on visually sophisticated typefaces, avant-garde typographic treatments, packaging with exceptional type, and the like. A very favorable move considering the existing ocean of free typefaces that leaves much to be desired, horrible web design, and general disregards for the principles of design. Good job–and keep up the good work. I’ll be visiting it regularly.

AIGA Design Archives Online

Love to look at what others are doing? Looking for inspiration? Love to look at excellent design? Head on over to the AIGA Design Archives, which feature selection from AIGA’s Annual Design Competitions. Covering everything from Brand and Identity Systems Design to Book Design, you’ll find a wealth of resources. With a sleek interface that’s easy to figure out and navigate, it’s a pleasure to browse through. Excellent design? Check. Inspiring? Check.

Works on the archive are selected from these AIGA competitions:

• About 365: AIGA Annual Design Competition
• About 50 Books/50 Covers competition
• Winterhouse Awards for Design Writing & Criticism
• Worldstudio AIGA Scholarships
• INDEX: | AIGA Aspen Design Challenge
• Regional AIGA competitions

I flip through these when I get them in print form every year as part of my AIGA membership, and it’s always a celebration of good design. Not just good looking, but good design. Good design looks good most of the time, but really isn’t it just doing it’s job? It makes us comfortable looking at the information, even inviting us sometimes. Making us feel comfortable (or uncomfortable) with the message. One of my professors told us once that Design is a logical sequence of events. And I agree with him. There’s an audience, a context, and a purpose. These are considered and evaluated, research has focuses our options, and execution and refinement have polish the project to a degree which makes the design exceptional.

Of course, good design often looks easy, and that’s part of the appeal. It looks easy because it’s relating to the viewer. The viewer feels almost like they could have thought of it themselves. And that’s a very good thing if you want to get your message across.

Charitea package design

LemonAid package design

LemonAid Beverages GmbH is launching these beverages with a subtle minimalist design in Germany now and later this Fall throughout Europe. Swedish design firm BVD designed the packages. Not only are these very nicely designed, but most of the proceeds will go toward social purposes managed by the manufacturer.

ChariTea is freshly brewed with natural fruit juice added, as opposed to ice teas that are made from extracts. It will launched in three flavors initially, and all are labeled totally ecological and fair trade. LemonAid, is aimed to be served in bars, and can be used either as a mixer or on its by itself.

Package design is unique in the way that it is difficult to keep the materials to a minimum while keeping a sense of completeness. Today’s marketplace is crowded with products bloated with unnecessary packaging extras like boxes, wrappers, boxes within boxes, and the like. I think these extras do nothing except give the consumer the sense that the product really is worth the price.

This package of these beverages is minimalist yet definitely unique. They have message clarity. The product itself is part of the design in the case of ChariTea. The color of the tea is serving as a background for the white text and graphics on the bottle.

The design is nice, the proceeds go to a good cause, which is nice, and the bottles are easily recycled. Nice. The teas are acquired from fair-trade sources. Nice again. And, less packaging means less is used and therefore less to recycle.