That was ours, a Narcissist Riesling from the wine collection Megalomaniac which we of course bought because we really liked the label, not because of our inflated sense of self-esteem and the overestimation of our powers and beliefs… or was that the reason why we liked it?! Who knows! In any case, . . . → Read More: What was your Christmas day wine?]]>

That was ours, a Narcissist Riesling from the wine collection Megalomaniac which we of course bought because we really liked the label, not because of our inflated sense of self-esteem and the overestimation of our powers and beliefs… or was that the reason why we liked it?! Who knows! In any case, here’s a little unpretentious review of both the designers and wine lovers’ perspectives:

THE DESIGNERS’ PERSPECTIVE:

The label comprises many of our favourite design elements: an embossed name (for a subtle 3D effect), minimal colours that are used intelligently to highlight a few details (tie + corsage), fancy metallic ink (our photo isn’t of the best quality, check out the LCBO website to see a studio picture that shows the reflection better),  it’s printed on a thick, off-white, cool died-cut paper, it uses a black, sans-serif font in various weights for the hierarchy of text… In other words, it’s simple, minimalist and it works. More importantly, it really communicates the idea behind the product’s name. After all, megalomania is all about one’s self-absorbency, and what’s better to illustrate that than a mirror!? And that’s exactly the effect produced by the metallic ink; it sorts of lets you see your own reflection in the label. We wonder if the metallic ink could have been used in a way that it’s located at the place where the head should be, so that when you hold the bottle your own face appears on it? That would have certainly been top megalomaniac! It might even have been a bit creepy, so another way the designers conveyed the mirror idea is by playing with the typography so that “2009 Narcissist Riesling” is reflected on the label, as if we were reading it in a mirror. Very cool.

In regards to the wine’s name, a quote from the maker on the back of the bottle explains it:

What’s with the name? I originally wanted to christen these wines in my name, John Howard, …and then my good friends accused me of being yet another “[profanity withheld] megalomaniac”. Regrettably, the name stuck.

For the rest, design-wise the bottle is pretty plain – in a good way of course. It has a nice smooth shape and shade of green. It’s a screw-top (silver; it goes well with the label) so no fancy cork to describe, and no difficulty to open the bottle, which takes us to…

THE WINE LOVERS’ PERSPECTIVE:

Okay, so let’s make something clear: we are not wine connoisseurs, and we are far from pretending to be. Having both worked at Starbucks when we were students and being put through “coffee tastings” way too many times, we have a very cynical view of all “tastings”. Back then, we knew than describing Espresso roast using the terms “earthy mushrooms”, “burned sundried tomatoes”, and Marc’s all-times favourite “tastes like a forest after the rain” was just an easy way to make our manager happy and that happy manager = easy work shift. So when we read the wine’s reviews on the LCBO website that says: Juicy-terrific! Lovely melon and peach fruit unfold in waves of flavour. Love this style. Slightly off-dry so it is incredibly food-friendly and light-bodied - well we take it with a pinch of salt. Did we taste melon and peach fruit? Not really. Was it good? YES! It was really delicious! Did we pair it with chicken salad, crab salad, shellfish like recommended? Nope, we had it with chicken madras curry, our Christmas dinner. Did it work? Yep. It was a very good match – we think – as the sweetness of the wine soothed the spiciness of the curry. It’s a light and refreshing wine for sure, a wine that would also have been great on its own during a warm summer afternoon. Versatile, but far from bland. We recommend it for sure. It’s an VQA Ontario wine from the Niagara peninsula, region known for the quality of the Riesling wine it produces. It’s reasonably-priced ($17.95) and can be found in the Vintage section of certain LCBO locations. It would make a perfect gift – especially if you’re trying to get a message through to that big-headed friend of yours. You can even order a custom gift box from their [profanity withheld] flash website (it’s a nice, interesting site, but we just can’t stand flash – it wouldn’t even open in Firefox so we had to use Safari. Effort.). Anyways, make sure your Flash is up-to-date and visit their site at http://www.megalomaniacwine.com

Once you’ve tried Narcissist Riesling let’s compare tasting notes!

]]> http://yellowcardesign.com/blog/2012/01/04/what-was-your-christmas-day-wine/feed/ 0 http://yellowcardesign.com/blog/2011/11/28/extra-long-so-you-never-make-unwanted-contact/ http://yellowcardesign.com/blog/2011/11/28/extra-long-so-you-never-make-unwanted-contact/#comments Mon, 28 Nov 2011 13:37:48 +0000 ycd http://yellowcardesign.com/blog/?p=1840

The title of this post refers to the latest bags we bought to, well… to pick up our dog, Desmond’s poo! We normally buy the Dollars Store’s own version of biodegradable poop bags, but last time we were at Costco we saw these and fell in love with the packaging (if you’re a regular on this . . . → Read More: “Extra-long so you never make unwanted contact.”]]>

The title of this post refers to the latest bags we bought to, well… to pick up our dog, Desmond’s poo! We normally buy the Dollars Store’s own version of biodegradable poop bags, but last time we were at Costco we saw these and fell in love with the packaging (if you’re a regular on this blog you’ll know that we often choose to buy stuff simply for the way they look, like it was the case for this or that – we justify the few extra dollars paid on nicely designed stuff by featuring them here ). So here’s our review of  “The World’s Best PoopBags” (that’s how they’re called) in comparison with the Dollars Stores brand from both a designer and a dog-owner perspective.

THE DESIGNER’S PERSPECTIVE:

What’s not to love about the design of the World’s Best PoopBags!? The dog illustrations are simply irresistible. We love their simplicity and how easily they communicate what the product is about: taking care of your dog’s “needs” in an ecological manner. The bags are biodegradable (in 18-months) and their “greenest” is well shown by the choice of 100% post-consumer recycled paper for the box (which, with the 2 tones of green printing, looks great from a design perspective!). The use of the leaves and of the colour green for the illustrations also emphasize the eco-friendliness. Inside, the packaging is minimal: 25 rolls of 15 bags, held together by a little round sticker of the friendly dog. A clear window on the top of the box let us see the rolls inside, which is an appreciated feature. The quirky text on the box (including the mention “Big enough for a Great Dane’s pile.”) is written in a Serif-but-not-too-serious font which goes very well with the illustrations and humoristic tone. The bags themselves are very attractive too: again they feature the friendly dog and the company’s branding. Under the box, along with the bar code, is an invitation to “like” the company on Facebook. We personally would have put this on the back with the other text – we doubt that every person buying the box will look at it under every angles like we did for the purpose of this post. Many people might therefore miss the Facebook icon. Overall though, it’s a very nice design that respect perfectly the company’s branding throughout all the elements: from the box to the actual bags, via the little stickers used to hold the roll together. A visit to the company’s website shows that they are consistent with their branding online as well, which makes us appreciate them even more!

In case you want to see what the Dollar Store poo bags look like, here’s a picture (okay, it doesn’t help that the box got somehow destroyed by our cats before the picture was taken, but still, you can see that, design-wise, it’s really not a winner). Who thought that putting the head of the little girl hugging the dog on the detachable flap was a good idea?! Once the box is open we’re left with an headless dog hugger. Poor, poor design choice – but what do you expect from something bought at the Dollars Store?! We won’t elongate on this design other than to say that it’s very basic and unremarkable.

Now, on to…

THE DOG OWNER’S PERSPECTIVE:

Shame there isn’t a scratch-and-sniff function on this blog: you do want to smell the great scent of lavender emanating from these bags! Indeed, the cupboard where we store Desmond’s stuff now has a nice smell of lavender thanks to the box of PoopBags that have been stored in there for a few days. Good to know is the fact that the lavender scent really covers the “other” smell, making your journey from the pick-up place to the rubbish can a little bit nicer. The Dollars Store bags are also scented: with a weird coconutty-vanilla-very-sweet perfume…however they certainly don’t smell strong enough to perfume your cupboard.

Price-wise, we calculated that, at a cost of $9.99 for a box of 375 bags at Costco, each bag costs 3 cents before taxes. Comparatively, the Dollars Store ones are $1.00 for a box of 60 bags, so they come up to 2 cents per bag before taxes. The World’s Best PoopBags are therefore slightly more expensive than the Dollars Store ones… They are, however, a few inches longer which, as mentioned on the box and on this blog’s title, makes avoiding unwanted contact between your hand and the “pile” you’ve just picked up easier and allows for an easy knotting of the bag before you dump it in the bin.

Biodegradability-wise, both the World’s Best PoopBags and the Dollar Store one have the EPI certification and have been certified by the American Society for Testing and Materials. We’re not scientists, but we think that it can be assumed that both products are safe for the environment and will degrade much quicker than regular plastic bags. So on that note, both brands win.

Finally, the Dollar Store bags are Made in Thailand, imported by some company and distributed in Dolloramas across the country. The World’s Best PoopBags, on the other hand, are Made in Canada by what seems to be a real company with real people behind it (they even have a blog!), and are available online and in more than 175 stores in the country (including Costco, where we bought our big box of 375 bags).

CONCLUSION:

Since the 2 brands’ functionality is pretty much the same, when it comes to choosing between the Dollar Store poo bags and The World’s Best PoopBags, we guess it all depends on if you’re willing to spend a few more pennies to encourage a “local” company instead of giving your money to some nameless corporation. And of course, it also depends on how trendy you want to be while picking up your dog’s poo…

If you’re also a dog owner and belong to the 53% of dog owners that ALWAYS pick-up their dog’s poop when it occurs in public place (crazy I know – only half of us are responsible dog-owners according to the statistic we found here!) please feel free to share your own reviews of poop bags below in the comment section. And please, please, please: no matters what type of bags you use, always pick up after your dog! Otherwise it makes us, responsible dog-owners, look bad.

These are pictures from one of our latest projects for Groupe Serdy, the Quebec production company who owns the TV channels Évasion (showing travel & escape-related shows) and Zeste (Quebec’s very own food network). Our work consisted in designing a kit for each channel to unveil their autumn 2011 programming and showcase . . . → Read More: Zeste/Évasion : One of our latest projects – L’un de nos projets récents]]>

These are pictures from one of our latest projects for Groupe Serdy, the Quebec production company who owns the TV channels Évasion (showing travel & escape-related shows) and Zeste (Quebec’s very own food network). Our work consisted in designing a kit for each channel to unveil their autumn 2011 programming and showcase their new TV shows. Those were to be distributed to journalists last week at Évasion & Zeste’s launching party (taking place at nothing less than Gordon Ramsay’s new Montreal restaurant – thankfully before the sprinkler incident that forced the restaurant to be evacuated on the same evening!).

Back to the project, we had less than 2 weeks to come up with a concept and design the folders, 8-pages booklets, DVDs and DVD menus. The designs had to be done in a style that would link the 2 channels together as part of the Groupe Serdy company, while being unique to each one’s own branding and colours. After many long hours of work and print-related stress, we were very excited to open the FedEx envelope containing our very own copies of the kits and very proud to see the result!

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Voici les photos de l’un de nos derniers projets pour le Groupe Serdy, l’entreprise québécoise et maison de production regroupant les chaînes de télévision spécialisées Évasion et Zeste. Notre travail consistait à créer un cahier de presse pour présenter les nouvelles émissions et la programmation automnale de chaque chaîne. Les cahiers de presse allaient par la suite être distribués aux journalistes la semaine dernière lors d’un lancement officiel (ayant lieu au nouveau restaurant montréalais du populaire chef britannique Gordon Ramsay - fort heureusement avant l’incident des gicleurs qui a forcé le restaurant à être évacué le soir même!).

Pour en revenir au projet, nous avions moins de deux semaines pour trouver un concept et pour réaliser les pochettes, les livrets de huit pages, les étiquettes et les menus de DVD. Les cahiers devaient être semblables pour souligner le fait que les deux chaînes appartiennent au même groupe, tout en étant cependant propre aux couleurs et au style de chacune. Après de longues heures de travail et de stress relié à l’impression, nous avions très hâte d’ouvrir l’enveloppe FedEx pour voir les copies finales des cahiers donc nous sommes, finalement, très très fiers!

I am a bit ashamed of posting this blog entry since just last week we posted one about ice-cream… You’ll think we’re eating only sugar-loaded stuff here at YCD, and believe me, we’re actually eating very healthy food and certainly having our daily rations of fruit & veg! We do have a sweet tooth . . . → Read More: Buttons Bags]]>

Cadbury Buttons

I am a bit ashamed of posting this blog entry since just last week we posted one about ice-cream… You’ll think we’re eating only sugar-loaded stuff here at YCD, and believe me, we’re actually eating very healthy food and certainly having our daily rations of fruit & veg! We do have a sweet tooth though, and when we see great packaging like the one above we can simply not resist a little indulgence (telling ourselves that we NEED to buy it for the blog’s sake!!).

Back to the Buttons…

Pearlfisher, a London/New York-based (lucky them!) agency specialized in packaging design came up with the design back in 2009 (however, I’ve only started seeing it on shelves in Canada recently…so I don’t know when it was actually launched here). Pearlfisher are known for having created great work for Absolut Vodka and Innocent (tasty little smoothies we used to drink all the time in England). For Dairy Milk Buttons, they went with cool-and-funky-but-not-too-cute illustrations that certainly grab your attention when you see them on the grocery store shelf. I myself felt like a little kid when deciding which one to choose (I finally went for the cat – for obvious reasons). The designs certainly illustrate the brand’s “playfulness” and adds a little uniqueness to its classic purple packaging. It is guaranteed to bring a smile on every Cadbury’s lovers’ face!

Fair-traded, delicious & coming in great packaging… 3 great reasons to indulge yourself!

Marc, Desmond-the-puppy and I were doing our weekly shopping at PetSmart last weekend when Marc spotted that very nice bag of cat treats. Before even reading the ingredients to make sure that our cats Steve and Bobo would like them, we knew we had to buy a pack in order . . . → Read More: Packaging Design for Mighty Lions & Wolves]]>

My Mighty Lion - Cat treats

Marc, Desmond-the-puppy and I were doing our weekly shopping at PetSmart last weekend when Marc spotted that very nice bag of cat treats. Before even reading the ingredients to make sure that our cats Steve and Bobo would like them, we knew we had to buy a pack in order to feature it on our blog as an example of great packaging design. Indeed, how nice is the illustration on it and in fact, how nice is its whole design! We love the logo which totally represents how spoiled pets are by their owners, and we think that the little clear window allowing to see the actual bites is a very good idea. Also, the colours, bold and matte, appeals to us, more let’s say than the glossy purple/pink/yellow used on other cat treats packaging. Many people probably couldn’t care less about the look of their pet’s treats packages, but in our case, let’s call it professional bias; we simply can’t help making design a priority!

That being said, we of course make sure that the ingredients are suitable for our lions before feeding them the treats – it’s not completely all about design… In this case, it’s all natural, grain free and full of chicken and salmon proteins. Steve and Bobo are bound to find them the most delightful snack! Also, good news for Desmond and other dogs out there: there’s a canine version – My Mighty Wolf – with an equally exquisite packaging:

My Mighty Wolf - Dog treats

For more info and to find a retailer, check out the company’s website.

by Vicky @ Yellow Car Design

Just as we often buy books for their covers, we usually choose our wines according to their bottles. We chose this 2009 Y Series Viognier because we liked the texture, embossing and overall look of its label. The illustration shows vine shoots found in a vineyard . . . → Read More: The Y Series – wine bottle label]]>

Yalumba - The Y Series (+ Steve The Cat's nose)

Just as we often buy books for their covers, we usually choose our wines according to their bottles. We chose this 2009 Y Series Viognier because we liked the texture, embossing and overall look of its label. The illustration shows vine shoots found in a vineyard and the font is a nice and classy semi-serif similar to Century Schoolbook . Only once the bottle was empty and on its way to the recycle bin did we noticed this nice little feature: a handy tag that can be torn off and put in your wallet to remember the wine’s name next time you’re at the SAQ/LCBO/wherever you buy your wine! It’s a great example of function + design… We’ll be keeping an eye out to see if it’s used by other wineries to compare how they’ve designed the little tag to keep it in line with the rest of the label as it’s the first time that we, personally, have seen it. If you’ve seen it done before, please leave a comment below to let us know what wine it was and we’ll try get a bottle to check its design – even if it means having to drink it after!

Viognier 2009

]]> http://yellowcardesign.com/blog/2010/08/23/the-y-series-wine-bottle-label/feed/ 0 http://yellowcardesign.com/blog/2010/04/19/fresh-plantable-label-for-edmonton-tourism-promotion-piece/ http://yellowcardesign.com/blog/2010/04/19/fresh-plantable-label-for-edmonton-tourism-promotion-piece/#comments Mon, 19 Apr 2010 13:15:12 +0000 ycd http://yellowcardesign.com/blog/?p=848 Fresh: Edmonton Tourism

I came across this promotion piece for Edmonton Tourism while at work; it’s to promote their meeting and conference hosting services. The whole concept revolves around them being a ‘fresh’ alternative to group events as they offer eco-friendly options such as ECO report card, sustainable event planning guide and sustainable event planning tips . . . → Read More: Fresh: “Plantable” label for Edmonton Tourism Promotion Piece]]>

Fresh: Edmonton Tourism

I came across this promotion piece for Edmonton Tourism while at work; it’s to promote their meeting and conference hosting services. The whole concept revolves around them being a ‘fresh’ alternative to group events as they offer eco-friendly options such as ECO report card, sustainable event planning guide and sustainable event planning tips (more info can be found here). What I like from the concept is that to illustrate their eco-friendliness they didn’t simply used recycled paper for the bottle label: they used a ‘plantable’ paper. I had never seen it before (and actually didn’t know it existed: it’s a paper embedded with wildflower seeds). I did a little research and found a company in Manitoba, Canada that produce and sell plantable paper, check out their website here. I find it’s a great idea: it adds a lot of texture and meaning to a concept while being ‘green’ and totally creative… I can’t wait to plant my label and see what grows from it!

Vicky @ Yellow Car Design

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Étiquette plantable

J’ai reçu cette bouteille dans le cadre d’une campagne de promotion de Tourisme Edmonton; c’est pour promouvoir leur centre de réunions et congrès. Le concept illustre leur “fraîcheur” (FRESH) en tant qu’organisateurs d’événements grâce aux options écologiques qu’ils offrent (pour plus d’info cliquez ici). J’aime beaucoup le concept de la bouteille puisqu’au lieu d’utiliser du simple papier recyclé en guise d’étiquette, l’équipe de création a poussé l’idée un peu plus loin en utilisant du papier “plantable”. J’en avais jamais vu avant; en fait, je ne savais même pas que ça existait! C’est un papier qui contient pleins de petites graines de fleurs sauvages mélangées à ses fibres. Une petite recherche m’a permis de découvrir une compagnie au Manitoba, Canada, qui produit et vend un tel papier. C’est vraiment génial! En plus d’ajouter texture et profondeur à un projet, c’est “vert” et totalement créatif… Reste plus qu’à savoir si ça va pousser ces petites fleurs sauvages-là!

Vicky @ Yellow Car Design

Amsterdam is a locally brewed beer. It is conveniently located just around the corner from us so it’s a great alternative to the Oh-So-Stinky-And-Far-Away Beer Store. There’s definitely something special about buying beer directly at the brewery: not only are we doing something good by buying a local product, but the beer even seems . . . → Read More: Amsterdam Beer – Nice packaging (and taste!)]]>

Amsterdam Beer

Amsterdam is a locally brewed beer. It is conveniently located just around the corner from us so it’s a great alternative to the Oh-So-Stinky-And-Far-Away Beer Store. There’s definitely something special about buying beer directly at the brewery: not only are we doing something good by buying a local product, but the beer even seems fresher and tastier. The brewery shop isn’t just a plain refrigerator. It’s a cool warehouse where we can see the beer-making process and the staff, if often not overly friendly, is at least authentic and far from the corporate ‘fakeness’ that we get in other places.

Anyways, the purpose of this post is to show you that Amsterdam recently changed its packaging. It used to be a paper label glued to the bottle, but now they’ve changed it so the label is directly printed on the bottle. It gives it a nice, clean look and makes it easier for the brewery to reuse the bottle in an eco-friendly manner. We also like the box in which the 25 bottles came: it’s minimalist, a bit rough-looking and very different from the overly decorated and colourful box that other beers come in… We give it two thumbs up, and on that note, we’re off to drink a beer – it’s New Year’s Eve after all!

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Amsterdam – Bière au bel emballage (et bon goût!)

Amsterdam est une bière brassée ici, à Toronto. La brasserie est située juste au coin de notre rue, donc c’est pratique et nous permet d’éviter la puanteur du Beer Store. Il y a définitivement des avantages à acheter de la bière directement à la brasserie: non seulement encourageons-nous une entreprise locale, mais la bière semble être plus “fraîche” et semble également avoir meilleur goût. Le magasin de la brasserie n’est pas qu’un simple réfrigérateur… C’est plutôt un genre d’entrepôt qui permet de voir comment la bière est faite et les employés, même s’ils ne sont pas toujours extrêmement sympatiques, sont authentiques.

Récemment, Amsterdam a changé l’emballage de ses bouteilles de bière. Au lieu d’avoir une étiquette en papier collée sur la bouteille, l’étiquette est désormais directement imprimée sur celle-ci. En plus d’être écologique, ça modernise l’image de la marque. On aime beaucoup la simplicité de la boîte dans laquelle venaient les 25 bières…Ça fait changement des autres caisses de bières aux couleurs et designs un peu trop dynamiques! Parlant de bières…C’est l’heure d’aller en prendre une. Après-tout, c’est la veille du Nouvel An!

How happy would you be to receive that nicely crafted box of presents? Very happy I’m sure! I took that photo for fun before sending it (for fun + for the fact that with the postal services you never know if a parcel is going to reach its destination… better have a proof that yes, we did . . . → Read More: Christmas Design]]>

Gifts

How happy would you be to receive that nicely crafted box of presents? Very happy I’m sure! I took that photo for fun before sending it (for fun + for the fact that with the postal services you never know if a parcel is going to reach its destination… better have a proof that yes, we did bought presents for everyone!). Taking that picture made me realize how great baby blue and dark red go well together, and how it should officially replace green and red as the usual Christmas colours. Anyways, just a thought!

vicky

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Cadeaux de Noël

Aimeriez-vous recevoir cette belle boîte pleine de cadeaux? J’imagine que oui, elle est tellement bien décorée (ahah!). J’ai pris cette photo pour le fun (et aussi pour avoir une preuve que oui, nous avons acheté des cadeaux à tout le monde! Après tout, avec la qualité du service postale, on ne sait jamais si un colis va arriver à destination ou non…). En tout cas, cette photo m’a fait réaliser que bleu ciel et rouge foncé vont vraiment bien ensemble et que ces couleurs devraient remplacer la combinaison habituelle du rouge et vert en tant que couleurs officielles de Noël. Bonne idée non?

vicky