Favourite Packaging Round Up

As per usual I like to look at some of my favourite packaging designs that have materialised over the last couple of weeks. The first is the new Ikea food packaging. Nothing flashy here but it carries on the theme of plain and simple but still quality. I can confirm that the crab paste is quite nice but we all liked the moose head shaped pasta which is so much more interesting than boring spirals or bows.

When it comes to sustainable or recycled packaging, this has to be one of my favourites at the moment. Ajiri Tea is a Kenyan black tea which is handpicked by small farms in Western Kenya. The word Ajiri in Swahilli means "to employ". Each of the boxes has a handmade label made from dried bark from banana trees and these are also made by Kenyan women.

Even the cellophane bag inside is decorated with twine made from dried banana bark and beads made from recycled magazines. Also the box itself is made from 100% recycled stock. Not only is it a great design but the company donates 100% of its net profits to the Ajiri Foundation which are used to pay for school fees for orphans. Shame a lot more companies do not do the same!

I have included the next one not because its a good design but because of a television programme I saw recently. There was a special edition of Panorama last week which looked at sports energy drinks which are basically no good at all and have no extra benefits. One particular brand called Powerade which is owned by Coca Cola tried to get around this issue by bringing out a no sugar variety. The problem with that is, how can it still be classed as a sport drink with no sugar in it? But they still claim that it is a great way to stay hydrated which is of course like good old water straight from the tap. So it made me smile when I saw that Pepsi have now brought out Pepsi Kick as a new energy cola with no sugar but extra caffeine. Again, it's not really an energy drink and in fact contains too many other additives to be treated as nothing more than an unhealthy alternative to water.

Briefly, a concept design for a Californian wine which is based around the phrase, looking at the world through rose tinted glasses......

Kaleidoscope who are based in Yorkshire recently designed the new packaging for Jaali Bean. A range of curry sauces and kits which have a great rich colour palette to them as well as a thoughtful type treatment. I also like the jar itself as it makes is so much easier to spoon the product out instead of having to bang the bottom of the jar trying to get the sauce to fall out. Plus it makes it more cost effective as you would tend to not use it all in one serving. I also like how it still has that traditional Indian style but also there is a hint of the latest designs for Waitrose, which have a similar treatment on their tinned vegetables.