Hires Big H

I spent the holidays in my hometown. I haven't been there in over year. While somethings have stayed the same, there are alot of differences. While I was growing up the town was full of small businesses. We went to a little Ace Hardware store for all our home improvement needs. We frequented the bakery that my mom use to work at during high school called Hunk-a-Bread. My grandparetns met at The BlueBird Restaurant. Our favorite pizza place was Papa Kelseys. People buy their wedding rings at Needham Jewlers. "Middle of the block at the sign of the clock." (That last bit was their tagline.) But now the hardware store is gone. The bakery has been replaced with a Pretzel Maker and my family makes daily trips to one of the two Walmarts in a town of just over 50,000 people. When I moved out of Cache Valley, Utah we didn't have a Starbucks. We had Citrus and Sage or Cafe Ibis. There were no Jimmy Johns. We went to Logan's Heros. But now the main street nostaligia is covered with Chic-fil-A, Home Depot, Ulta, Walgreens, PetSmart, Kohls, 2 Walmarts, Noodles and Company, Michaels, Staples, and many more all too familiar names. These are the types of names I expect to see in a big city, not my little happy valley.


The BlueBird. My grandma worked as a waitress while
frequent customer, grandpa, stole her heart.

So why I am crying about the corporal rape of my home town? I need you to understand how happy I was when I saw the below image.

 While shopping with my mom at the grocery store, Macey's, which is thankfully is a Utah original, we were walking through the baking aisle. At the end of the aisle there were a few shelves full of ice cream toppings. There were the usual Hershey's, Smucker's, Keebler's, Reese's, and all the other brands that specialize in making ice cream even more delicious. But in the middle of this big brand snooze fest, there was a beacon of hope. Hires Big H  sat on a shelf about the height of my elbows. The packaging was so clean and refreshing. In a crowd of ice cream condiments that were screaming "HEY! Look at ME!!!" Hires was sitting their like a cool and sophisticated wallflower. I picked up a bottle and started reading. "For flavoring colas, rootbeer, and other sodas, lemonade, milkshakes, ice cream, and snow cones." The packaging had given shoppers the nostalgic bliss of an old timey Soda Shop. I read more about the product. Hires Big H was a Drive-In that opened in Salt Lake City in 1956. The small Drive-In has been opened ever since. I still have memories of going there a few times with my family as a kid.


So I got to thinking. There has got to be a lot of people with the same experience as me. Twenty-somethings going back home to discover all their favorite local places have been replaced with corporate industries. I bet even the parents and grandparetns feel the same way. It's kind of sad to go into a grocery store and discover that your favorite shampoo or the cereal you're brand loyal to has changed it's packaging to a hipper, more corporate feeling design.

I think people now days yearn for the feeling of nostalgia. We like the old because it reminds us of our childhood, a simpler, carefree time. Even if I didn't grow up in the 1950's, I still remember my grandparents talking about it. They talk about all the fun they had. I see pictures of my grandma cooking in the 60s in her A-line dress and her hair in a beehive. Those are times older relatives laugh about but I can never be a part of those memories and I want to be. Those were the days, according to grandma, when things were made to last. Things were made with quality. It wasn't about having the most. It was about having the best. Somewhere our ideals have changed.

I think alot of designers now days are borrowing from mid-century design because it was simple. These designs give the feeling of quality. I'm not saying that we all stick a retro soda shop man on our packaging. I'm saying that we make it simple and smart. Apple products come in probably the best packaing I have ever seen but they are just white boxes with a straight on product shot. That's all they are. Simple.

Girls Like Pretty Things

A few weeks ago I came across a student package design for Tampons. I have completely been obsessing over these for about 2 weeks now. I wish they really existed so I could rush to the store and stock up for "that time of the month." When it comes to feminine hygiene products, girls tend to be brand loyal. Well, at least I am. If I saw these babies sitting on a shelf next to my brand I would purchase this other brand without any hesitation, even if it meant shelling out a few more dollars. 

That, my friends, is called design. That it was it's all about. Taking design and applying it to the audience that will be viewing it. Why would you want to make boxes of tampons covered with frilly flowers and pinks and purples? Every other box on the shelf is doing that same thing. In a world where women are constantly changing why would an exclusively women's product keep with the same attitude and  identity that they have had for the past 40 years. Women have a say now. They want to be recognized as powerful, strong, and fashionable. Why not translate those attributes into design for the packaging on a product women will inevitably buy?

Now let me tell you why I love these designs. They look nothing like tampons. The last thing any woman wants to do is buy tampons. It's not fun. When purchasing tampons, the guy behind the register knows exactly what you're going to do with them. It's no secret. So every month women buy these embarrassing products. Not only do we have to carry them around the store but we have to carry them around in our purses, pockets, and gym bags it for a whole week. If I have to look at these puppies for a whole week and try and hide them from male coworkers, it would be much more pleasing to do so with a great pattern on the wrapper. Even if you have a mishap and your tampons come into view at least the packaging can distract viewers from your clumsiness. 

To sum it all up, girls like pretty things. Just look at our fashion choices. We change the colors we wear with every season. It seems ridiculous that tampon packaging has relatively stayed the same for the last few decades. I can bet that if tampon packaging changed colors every season women would love them and maybe even buy them.

Oh! By the way, this package design was made by a student designer named Heda Hokschirr. Take a look at her website cargocollective.com/hedahokschirr.