Tuesday, April 15, 2014

Simple, elegant...retro...vintage. All good stuff.


What's so great about vintage or retro? This understated packaging design has a true vintage look that serves a real purpose.

This Atlas Brush Company paint brush packaging design is simple, yet beautifully elegant, using the kind of "vintage" illustration (tiny black silhouette of someone painting) and typography not unlike that of early commercial art. The three colors (a different color for each specific brush type) are soft and have a faded look to them. The decorative typeface used for the names of the brush types is gorgeous, and it definitely has the look of calligraphy from the past, but the color matches the other part of the packaging which is more modern. The other typeface used is Copperplate Gothic, designed in the early 1900s by Frederic Goudy. If this isn't beautiful vintage packaging, I don't know what is! The purpose of it is clear—the message is that the paint brushes and Atlas Brush Company are of very high quality and have been around for decades. The company is trustworthy and established; even the packaging states that it was established in 1952. The beauty of the packaging shows that they take great care in their work and craftsmanship of the brushes. It's no wonder they won a design award in the Communication Arts Design Annual (2008). 

I love it. I think it is the perfect design solution for this established company's paintbrushes. The colors, the typography, the simplicity, the illustration, and the continuity make it worthy of a design award. 

Source: Communication Arts Design Annual, 2008

Credits:
Mary Ervin, designer
Michael Stanard, creative director
One Zero Charlie, design firm
Atlas Brush Company, client

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