In the works: 200 Best: Packaging Design 17/18

Michael Weinzettl provides a glimpse into our upcoming Packaging Design book.

Apart from the Sao Paulo Creativity Special I told you about last week, we at Lürzer's Archive are currently working on the new issue of 200 Best: Packaging Design, which will be out later this year. We started this series back in 2000, then simply called Packaging Design, followed it up a couple of years later with a second volume, then discontinued the series until 2009 and the latest issue came out in 2015. As for the new book, submissions are still coming in and we have some 2,000 to select from at the moment. So, if you happen to know any packaging designers/firms doing interesting work, perhaps you can forward this blog to them. Since our publications are targeted at creatives at ad agencies as well as freelancers, so are our special issues, whether they deal with photography, illustration or digital imaging. In other words, our aim is to provide ad creatives with the knowledge of the best talent in the various areas we devote our 200 Best books to. In the case of packaging design, the point is to inform ad creatives (art directors, creative directors, etc.) about the best work that has been done in this area in the past couple of years.

There are, of course, advertising agencies that handle the packaging design part for their clients themselves but more frequently this task goes to design agencies that specialize in producing more or less appealing packaging for their clients’ products. And ad agencies sometimes only play an intermediary role in this process. But be that as it may, it's important that the agency creatives are in the know about the state of packaging design and can distinguish between run-of-the-mill work and packaging design excellence. Which is exactly why we're continuing the series with Vol. 17/18, to be published this summer.

As usual with the 200 Best series, we have enlisted the help of some experts in the field, among them Bruce Duckworth of well-known CI company Turner Duckworth, who design iconic visual identities and packaging for consumer brands and have studios in San Francisco and London. Another one who assured us of his cooperation is Christoph Häberle, Professor at the Hochschule der Medien (Media Academy) in Stuttgart, who teaches design and communication with a special focus on packaging design and marketing. He was also in the jury of our previous 200 Best:Packaging Design back in 2010 and 2015/16.

Here some examples of packaging design from the past two years that will feature in our 200 Best book:

Client: Imayotsukasa Sake Brewery - Imayotsukasa. Design: Bullet, Tokyo. Art Director & Designer: Aya Codama. Director: Masayuki Habuki. Typographer: Kasetsu (Platinum Pentaward 2016: Best of the category Beverages.

Client: Cafe Pele. Agency: Lew'Lara\TBWA, Sao Paulo.

Client: LNL Music. Agency: Studio5 kommunikations Design & Werbeagentur, Baden, Austria. Creative Director: Hannes Glantschnig. Art Director: Hannes Glantschnig. Packaging Designer: Hannes Glantschnig

Client: Burger King. Agency: Turner Duckworth, London. Creative Director: Clem Halpin. Packaging Designer: David Blakemore