Art + Design // Handmade Packaging

I attended an AIGA event recently entitled “Handmade Packaging: Incorporating Artisanal Elements into your Design Work” given by Andy Kurtts. He is one of a few on the design team for the Fresh Market grocery store. One of his passions in design is to incorporate handmade aspects into a digital design. For the following four reasons, he explains why we, as humans, love the handmade:

·     We can see the artist’ hand.

·     It speaks to us.

·     It is warm and inviting.

·     Nostalgia.

All of these reasons point to the fact that the handmade allows us to participate in the design on a more mental and emotional level.

He believes, as I do, that even though design is trending toward flat graphics, there is still a place for the handmade. He also encourages us as artists and designers to create by hand as much as possible—not solely rely on digital tools.

The most fascinating part of the presentation, though, was his demonstration of applying this principle to his design work on a professional level. I won’t go into this in too much detail but essentially he showed six different products for which the packaging had elements of the handmade in them: (I included pictures for the couple I could find...)

·      hand-marbled sheets and hand drawings used for Italian chocolate bars

The top drawing was handdrawn and the bottom marbling pattern was done by hand.

·      watercolor painted fruit and hand-lettering for organic jams and jellies

Not the Chobani--the other jar (on the right) has the hand lettering and watercolor strawberry.

·      hand-carved potato stamps for dry salad dressings

·      ombre fabric dying for organic dry oats

·      painted paper strips that were cut down and layered as illustration for fruit on the bottom yogurt

·      Letterpress letters on boxes of pizza instead of using food photography

The entire presentation was so inspiring to me because even though, I am already a believer in the handmade philosophy, I had never seen it demonstrated like this.

If you’re interested in reaching out to Andy, his Twitter is @apkdesign.

If you’d like to see pictures and get more detail from his presentation, visit the Recap post on the AIGA Raleigh website.