Merchant & Mills – Branding, packaging, and beautiful old-era draper products

I’ve seen images of the Rye, East Sussex based Merchant & Mill’s beautiful branding and packaging floating around the internet for a few months now, always mentally marking in my head to swing back around at take a closer look at their 1900s inspired line of sewing and tailoring wares. The products hark back to time when quality was paramount, design was more about function and less about form, and you knew the person you were buying from.

The branding and package design for the products is impeccable, even down to the detail of the lower-res printing methods of the time. The stark black on white and craft colors remind you that what you are buying is a quality made product and not a piece of crap wrapped up in a the pretty boxes of our superstores. The team of Carolyn Denham and Roderick Field have done an amazing job.

How to deliver a Proof in style, Gavin Martin Colournet packaging by Magpie Studio

These proof portfolios & tubes for Gavin Martin Colournet, a London based printer, by Magpie Studios are really quite brilliant. The single color on craft cardboard proof carriers are designed to bring a smile to anyone who sees them, making the brand more memorable as well as adding value to the carriers in hopes that the clients will keep them around.

— Via Dieline

Lucky Bucket Brewing Branding by Archrival

Beautiful branding & collateral by Lincoln, NE based marketing firm Archrival for the Lucky Bucket Brewing. The warm colors and timeless design present the quality, craft and good times the Lucky Bucket is all about. Archrival extended the branding to the packaging of Lucky Bucket’s product as well, creating an entire image for the company. I think I need to test this design myself and figure out where I can get a 6-pack or two.

Proper BBQ packaging by Thomas Hayes

Awesome packaging project by the talented Thomas Hayes. The Proper BBQ features super bold typography and an all black colorway that fits in perfectly with this projects subject.

From Thomas:

Proper BBQ, enabling fine gentlemen to get messy. The range of products are essentials for the BBQ mad gentleman or the lavish messy hungry man, they were designed with a big bold punchy flavor in mind. Each product allows the user to get crazy and splash some charisma into their food, allowing each item to be generously applied.

— Via Campsite

Student Redesign: Seventh Generation Packaging by Johnny Chang

Really sweet packaging redesign by recent grad, Johnny Chang, for Seventh Generation. This is one killer student project, incorporating recycled materials, material reduction, and a strong brand enhancement focusing on the eco-conscience of Seventh Generations customer base.

From Johnny:

Seventh Generation’s redesign [has] a purposeful and sincere approach to sustainability by making the packaging more functional and practical while using less material. In this way, Seventh Generation and its customers [can] make a positive impact on our environment, creating a more harmonious world.

Knoll Architectural Paint packaging by Kristín Agnarsdóttir

Really simple & bold packaging design for Knoll Architectural Paint by recent Academy of Art University, San Francisco, graduate Kristín Agnarsdóttir. The class assignment was to either redesign an existing paint line’s packaging or invent a new line for a brand or designer.

Kristín choose to create a line for Knoll “based on my love for strong simple mid century designs.” She goes on to explain her inspiration for the design, “the name [Lumiere] is french and means “light.” The idea is that they only make a very selected line of colors inspired by their textiles and color choices through the decades.”

I for one would buy this paint just have it to sit on my shelf, let alone to paint with. Her design all around, both in the graphics and the physical object, follow the core image of the Knoll brand perfectly and the final product is one that Knoll itself would be proud to carry.

— Via AisleOne

Sumptown Coffee’s new bags By The Official Mfg. Co.

I’m a big fan of Sumptown Coffee Roasters and their business practices, and while the old bags were still nice, they didn’t quite fit with a company that does things differently. Sumptown Coffee Roaster’s new bags, designed by The Official Mfg. Co. are truly the perfect fit for the company. They ditched the old way of doing things, slapping a sticker on a stock bag, in favor of a new approach. The new bags have a pocket built in to hold a simple and beautiful info card. The cards are color coded by coffee region and hold all of the information about the coffee inside, as well as some fun and interesting facts about the farms who grew it.

Whats cool about these new bags, other than how nice they look and feel, is that Sumptown prints one bag that works for all its coffee. No need to stock and print bags and stickers for coffees that may not be around 6 months down the line.Since the info cards are paper, if they discontinue a coffee line they can just recycle the cards into new ones, try and do that with stickers.

You can go to Sumptown’s website to learn more about the company, the coffee, and the growers or to sign up and get coffee delivered to your door.