Design in the Everyday

Not too long ago, I came across several very well designed cans of vegetables. Vegetable cans seem like a somewhat...unique...place to find excellent design, but pretty much anything can be designed well, including canned goods. So I thought I'd share some pictures and thoughts on them.

First up, green beans. It came from Trader Joe's, and many of their packaging designs are quite excellent.

I really like the typography and color choices on this. The can is green, and appropriately so - but the lime green is a more trendy tone that is really fun. The typefaces themselves are both strong choices, and I like how the type is fully justified to make a rectangle, with the additions of the swirly things. The rectangle style looks a lot like a poster to me.

And there's another green bean can from another store that I thought was neat, as well. I like the vintage, country feeling of the design.

The type is great - I like how the typefaces are so old-fashioned looking. The whole design of the can is reminiscent of what old time packaging must have looked like. Even the drawing of the beans themselves seems very vintage. I think this is a really interesting take on the design of something than can be really boring.

And here's a can of corn that matches the green bean can design. It has a very similar feeling, but the yellow colors make it feel more sunshiney.

This whole design seems to look very "harvest time" to me. The warm, fall colors are quite pleasing. And this design has all the vintage-ness going for it as well, of course.

And one more thing before I go... a can of kidney beans. I thought this design was so creative!

The dictionary definition style is something I've seen other places, but never on a can of veggies. It really makes this can stand out. I like the serif font and how classic and old-school it looks - very nice! The drawing of the kidney bean also really matches the feeling that the type has: classic and old fashioned. I like how, even though this has a somewhat rustic feel, it also has a modern, organic kind of feel because it's such a creative design.

What do you all think of these designs? I'd love to hear your thoughts about them... or hear if you run across any other well-designed everyday items.