Reclameboekje voor lessen in Versieringskunst door R.W.P. de Vries Jr. en een apothekersetiket voor levertraanemulsie
The pattern
This still is filed under Pack as storefront.
Define
The pack is the store. On a shelf or a thumbnail, it must stop, name, and close without a clerk.
Mechanism
Shelf rhetoric. Hierarchy, claim, and proof live on the face. The first five centimeters do the campaign's job.
Verdict
The buy happens in a glance among competitors: grocery, pharmacy, app store icon.
Why it works
The label turns the unappetising ingredient into the ornament - two cod become a symmetrical Art Deco frame, so the thing people dislike about cod liver oil is what makes the bottle handsome. Gold on black is the cheapest available route to a luxury read in two inks, and the die-cut arch gives the label a silhouette before any lettering is seen. Vertical lettering down the centre is chosen to fit the tall narrow bottle rather than the page, which is what separates label design from poster design. On both pieces the maker's name sits in a plain, clearly ruled panel at the foot with address and telephone, so the decorative half can be entirely mood while the identification half stays unambiguous.
Steal this when
Steal the fish frame whenever the product's least appealing ingredient is also its most recognisable one - make it the structural ornament instead of hiding it. Steal the two-zone label split, ornament above and a hard-edged identity panel with address at the foot, on any small package where the buyer must know exactly who stands behind it.