Tag: orange

Sunset Marmalade

Sunset Marmalade

Why are some brands killing the obvious in packaging design?

If anything is better than the taste of orange marmalade in the morning, it is the sight of it in the jar. Like a beautiful sunset. With strands of peel as if in suspended animation.

However, some leading Indian brands, and probably many others too in India and abroad, tend to put an ugly plastic label all around the jar, with the pictures of oranges and probably some marmalade too on it. Why not just let the product you’ve created, speak for itself?

A beautiful looking product like that, in a transparent jar, would sell itself. So why take the trouble to cover it up completely? Not like it is an excuse for the design, marketing and packaging folk to justify their jobs and salaries. It’s like those people who order an exceptionally tasty dish at a restaurant, and instead of diving right in, spend the next few minutes getting a perfect snap of the food. And then eat the food while distracted by the editing of the picture for social media.

Look at the bottom of the bottle, at the marmalade below the label. That’s what I’m talking about.

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A Design Question: Turn Indicators on Cars

Image: source

A Design Question: Turn Indicators on Cars

As cars get sleeker, so do its lights. But I’ve noticed that the entire rear light cluster has been shrinking in size on some cars. And in some, the turn indicators are designed or placed in a way that possibly defeats its purpose.

A car’s rear lights cluster includes reversing lights (white), brake warning lights (red) and turn indicator lights (orange or red).

When brakes are applied in a car in front, we notice two things. The red brake lights themselves, and a visual perception of the car slowing down (or increasing in size). Even in the absence of brake lights, we would, albeit not always as fast, realize the car in front of us is slowing down or has stopped, based on visual information processed by our brain. So with the brake lights, that’s two cues for us to slow down.

On the other hand, when a driver plans to turn (especially in developing countries, where there often aren’t demarcated/dedicated lanes for turns (including for u-turns), the only cue we have, is the light. If the driver were to make the turn without using the indicator (which often is the case), there is a higher risk of accidents, especially if the car doesn’t slow down enough before making the turn.

Therefore, could turn lights be more important compared to brake lights, as there are no other cues to alert vehicles behind that a car is going to turn?

So here are some design questions for you.

So should you design turn lights bigger than, equal to, or smaller than brake warning lights? And should they be placed distinctly separate from the red brake lights to make them easier to spot, especially around sunrise and twilight?

Image: source

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