Helvetica

I have to confess, I have a love/hate relationship with this typeface. On one hand it is gorgeous, efficient and just looks incredible on 95% of the design it is used within. On the other, it occasionally makes the job of a graphic designer too easy and is therefore just a pain in the arse. A dog could probably use this typeface and make something look pretty decent.

At this moment in time however, I love it.




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Tip Top

His and hers, quite interesting on a multitude of levels.


His: Bold, sans serif typeface. Upper case, direct and regimented. Printed in black. Rough textured paper carrier that is simple and square. Plain, straight forward white that is without any unnecessary curves or type.


Hers: Light, sans serif typeface. Upper case, direct but slightly less harsh. Printed in a light orange. Plastic carrier with curved upper edges. Plain, straight forward white without any unnecessary type.

Need I say more?

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Heart Attack

Yum...




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Supermarkets Revisited

I was thinking last night about the sustainability issue(s) surrounding supermarket carrier bags and reminded myself about all of the 'bag for life' carriers that were being produced and sold in stores these days. I was compelled to go and get some...

With this one from Asda I wasn't at all surprised. Not in the slightest. The bag itself was green, the type was green and there were even two green love hearts toward the bottom of the composition. It definitely ticked all the right boxes for a 'greener future'. I had to laugh though, it's still plastic at the end of the day; there's just a lot more of it!

From a typographical aspect however, the bag contrasts to the common Asda carrier through the use of a serifed font which is presented in near enough all lower case. This definitely connotes a more 'homely' and endearing feel. A success on some level I guess?


In opposition, I was pleasantly greeted by this carrier upon making a trip to Marks and Spencer. Although it is made of a similar plastic substance, the graphic composition is definitely more interesting to the eye of a graphic designer. The range of corporate identity designs have a strong aesthetic appeal to me personally and are aimed to celebrate 125 years of the stores existence. I think I have a soft spot for this particular bag though as the logos also give a nostalgic feel. I'm not sure if they were all commissioned recently or represent the growth of Marks and Spencer over the years?

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Birthday Boy

On the topic of my little brother again, it is conveniently his birthday today. This provided me with the perfect opportunity to obtain a bag from Clinton Cards without having to use any made up excuses as to why I should just be given one for free.


On a personal level I am not a fan of the logo design for this company, it looks too effortless and 'scribbled'. They have used a nice shade of orange though to be fair.

The type along the bottom is aligned effectively...

www.clintoncards.com looks like another stretched Helvetica offender. This typeface truly gets everywhere!

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Plates of Meat

Feet. Had to pop into the town centre today to sort out my little brother with some new shoes for school. Naturally as any self -respecting graphic design student would, I grabbed a few bags along the way.


With this Sole Trader carrier I find the colour combination slightly odd, but as you would expect - it just works. The plastic colouring itself is what sets it off in my opinion and this is something that I intend to look at within my Design Production for Print brief. I did touch on printing with gold ink last year so ideally this would be something I build upon over the coming months.

In regards to the type, again it is all in upper case and uses a bold, sans serif typeface. No imagery however. Surprising?


The one thing I like about this Shoe Zone carrier is the thought process behind the lettering. Although aesthetically it comes across as a bit of a disaster, the use of two different typefaces to produce a corporate identity is a clever technique that could be highly successful with a talented designer behind the steering wheel.

Also got a coke from Boots, thought that was quite fitting...


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Philip Browne and the Ambitious Bag Hunt

Philly B's and co.





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A Southwold Special

Forgot my camera. Raging. I did snap up one of these carriers though. I think that it's quite effective how the subtle imagery alongside the type gives the impression that the type itself is actually image. Did that sentence even make sense? It's been a long day.


Onto the geeky side of things, the type appears to be a slightly stretched Helvetica with a bold weighting. Upper case has been used throughout the design and Bob's your Mother's brother.

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Supermarket Sweep

Looking back to the planning stages this project, I was originally going to omit researching into supermarket carrier bags for no legitimate reason what so ever; something that I thankfully realised not long after. I think it was primarily due to the fact that in today's current culture the supermarket shopping bag is such a throw away and insignificant object, no-one really cares to pay any attention to it at all. It seems that it only gets moaned about on the evening news for the damage that it is doing to the environment? This in my opinion however, is why I think they can be rather interesting when you pay a closer attention to detail (at least from the perspective of a graphic designer). So, approximately 4 hours ago I made a nice round trip to visit all of the supermarkets situated around my local area to acquire some of the offending items... This is where I confess that the Sainsburys bag was already in my possession as there isn't actually a store near me for least 30 something miles.

Catfish

Nipped into the city yesterday where I managed to charm myself a free Catfish carrier without having to actually purchase anything. It was really niggling at me for some reason so I just had to make a special visit to get one.


As with the Dogfish carrier the illustrative aspect of this bag appeals to me quite a lot, despite the typographic side conflicting with my personal taste again. I also find it quite interesting how the company have opted for a Magenta as the primary colour - obviously due to the fact that the store is aimed specifically at women. Furthermore, the stock itself is plastic as opposed to the paper used for the Dogfish equivalent. I'm not too sure if this has been done for a reason or just for the sake of making the two stores distinguishably different? I would ask personally but I'm sure the counter assistants wouldn't have a clue!

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Dogfish

So today I officially started my documentation of bags and their tags, although I have to confess it was due to my desperate need for a new pair of jeans and a belt... Ok the belt was more of an impulse buy!

Never-the-less I began where I have always intended to begin - Dogfish. A small menswear store that only has two stores to my knowledge (Norwich and Cambridge). The shop offers a lovely selection of mens clothing, all be it with a price tag! And is furthermore a partnership with Catfish (the place to be for the ladies!).

The consolation in shopping here however, is that you get your purchases in a rather nicely illustrated bag.


The quirky style of illustration is something that has always appealed to me from this shop, even if the typographic aspect is a little bit on the weak side. It's simple and effective and actually make me chuckle a little bit the first time I came into contact with it.

As you can predict the carriers for Catfish are just as quirky and hopefully I will be in possession of one those soon as well.

Let the games begin.

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