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Boxed and Labelled takes a fresh look at packaging design, illustrating how it has developed it’s own graphic language in today’s over crowded shelves. A solid body of work, showing off some of the best examples of contemporary packaging design. Documenting various aspects from physical packaging solutions through to label design.

With a plethora of poorly designed predecessors, chock-full of uninteresting packaging examples, I was apprehensive that this would be the case until seeing the sharp inviting cover of Boxed and Labelled. I’m pleased to say this is anything but dull, presenting outstanding examples of packaging nothing like the over designed examples included in some other publications. Instead, the book has a much more sophisticated, personal approach that speaks to customers in an intelligent way.

The book opens with a tone-setting essay discussing the history of packaging, the need to compete on the shelf and talk to the customer, leading on to discuss the ‘green’ issues that packaging designers must consider. Boxed and Labelled then neatly groups packaging examples into seven sections. As you dig deeper into the content every example is presented with such finesse, you get a real feeling for the packaging taking on a life of it’s own and aspiring to the qualities embodied by the product inside. It is easy to see that some of the examples are design classics in their own right, an object you would want to collect.

Captivated by the quality of the content, it is interesting to see the mixture of approaches to packaging design. From illustration to photography to purely typographic treatments, each solution captures its own narrative that draws you into meticulously studying the packaging and inevitably creating that want for the product it contains. Some of the examples take this a step further to create their very own persona, as beautifully demonstrated by Sarah Dery’s carrier bag design. Common throughout the work is the designers use of wit and intelligence, which seems to be a running trend in contemporary packaging design. The content has been compiled from sources worldwide using industry professionals and prototyped designs from students which was great to see.

Credit has to be given to Hans Baltzer and Floyd Schulze for the design and layout. A clean and minimal design reflects the considered approach given to the work on show. The images are of a good size, the curation of the work is sufficient and details of the designers and clients are a welcome addition. Printed on a thick coated stock allows the often vibrant packaging to be reproduced in all its glory. Occasionally full bleed images of an entire product range help to break up the pace of the book and come as a nice surprise. Finally the cover image by Hattomonkey for Molokoshka’s milk product range, hints at the caliber of the content.

Boxed and Labelled demonstrates the panache and aspirational qualities that have made contemporary packaging design desirable and iconic in its own right—take the Dorset Cereals as perfect example. Encompassing a wide range of packaging design aspects the book is a pleasure to read presenting packaging in an inviting and engaging way. Even if this subject isn’t your choice of tipple, Boxed and Labelled is bound to bring a smile to your face and realise a new appreciation for outstanding packaging design.

Boxed and Labelled is available from Amazon and all good local book stores now.

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Words: Gil Cocker

Photography: Malcolm Menzies

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Author: Gil
Posted: 23rd November 2009
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Filed as: Books Features Packaging