Want Some Gum?…..

CHEW MY RUBBER BUM……COMICS!

I just had to do this considering how I am always trying to to package my art in some novel way suggesting candy and a visual chew. They are the size of a Double Bubble or Bazooka Joe and the comics page is one half of 8.5 x 11 in. To encourage the opening of this novelty (so many people like to keep my work in tact unopened which is understandable but then they are not enjoying the chew) I did not want to glue the sides of the wrapper to keep it closed so the idea of using the rubber band fits in well with the concept.

Time To Blossom, Hershey

This package is way overdue for a redesign, or, go back to the old one. It probably changed to this ugly thing when Hershey took over this confection from Lowney. The photo of the chocolate looks awful even though they used the same image as the previous package. It’s a bad colour reproduction. And the yellow colour of the box looks weird too as if it’s a miss-tint of yellow, more on the green side than orange which unfortunately does not show in this photo below.

I don’t know how the sales are of these things. They must be alright because they are still making them. I love them (even though hey are terribly sweet) and have been eating them for over 40 years. I am really glad they, in this day and age where food stuff packaging is all plastic or foil-sealed, that they have remained wrapped in the old fashioned chocolate bar foil, and are in a box that you don’t have to rip open.

https://youtu.be/xgawtIMv39s

Here is a link to a great commercial for Cherry Blossom from the 70’s

This is what it feels like to eat these things!

I Could not resist....So Happy!

 

After my previous post with my Oh Henry / So Happy design, I could not resist making a full mock-up of the bar. It looks fabulous! Though, I do need to find a smaller ‘pinking shears’ for the zig zag cuts.

This past Friday I shared my idea with the Hershey Company. I really wish the internet didn’t make it impossible to actually talk to somebody at large companies. They did have a ‘share your ideas with us’ button to click on, which I used to submit my idea, but by doing so, I may have given up all rights to my fantastic idea, by having to agree with their 10 terms, which by the way I don’t agree to. It’s very unfair. I  don’t mind or care so much If I don’t get paid ( I have zillions of ideas per minute coming out of my cranium), as long as I get a years’ worth of Oh Henry! bars. And that’s a lot. It might be cheaper to pay me. 

OH! I would be So Happy!

I was sitting at a coffee shop before work and In the corner of my eye I saw the chocolate bar stand and the side of a box of Oh Henry chocolate bars. But I couldn’t believe my eyes as I saw the words SO Happy instead of Oh Henry. Brilliant I thought, what a great idea for them to do that. But when I actually looked, I saw it really ‘only’ said Oh Henry. 

And this got me thinking. It’s a great Idea. Now to sell them on it. (Hershey). Let’s make this happen!

So this is what I came up with by mimicking the current Oh Henry wrapper design.

Around the Block..... COMICS!

How does one get from here to there?

I love it when things smash together like chocolate and peanut butter. I certainly wasn’t looking for this idea but if you give me a few items I’ll find some way to link them together. It’s nice to know that even though Bubblicious gum does not have any comics they can still be inspiring, as well as pretty tasty too.

Caramilk Wrapper Evolution

This to me is the classic Caramilk wrapper. Maybe it's when I started to pay attention in the late 80's.
And the whole advertising campaign they had with the Caramilk secret, even in the seventies and using the Mona Lisa and her smile....all of it quite brilliant. I love how the 'wave' graphic starts to change through the years and also you get to see the Cadbury logo change. As a personal note, I do not like the  foil wrappers that are used now as they are so much harder to open without tearing.

Smarties Evolution - Packaging

In the late eighties Nestle bought Rowntree. I suppose, as a transitional package, Nestle didn't want to put their logo on the front. (The same thing happened with the Kit Kat wrappers.) In the scanned boxes below you will see various changes they made over the years, from their Nestle logo design to even the grams they offered, taking more and more away. Scaries came out a six years ago and they have been offering it every Halloween time since. The bottom one is the most recent as of Fall 2018 and is made up of 3 separate compartments, each with their own opening.

Black Bart's Black Licorice

Large Box with 12 big cigar-sized pieces.

I can's seem to make candy without designing and making a package to go along with it.

Often, the idea to make something starts off as an idea for a christmas present for 

someone in particular.

 Bottom of box with Black Bart's head you can cut out. But who is gonna do that?

Aside from the large cigar sized pieces I made a variety of sizes and put them into small 

cellophane bags and designed a different package to put them in. The construction of 

which was based on an envelope.

Roca Poetry Vaisius Chew

I could not find any peppermint Roca in the city last year for a birthday gift so I had to make my own. And of course I can't make candy for gifting without designing and making my own packaging for it. I like how the single page packaging wrap works for the various shaped pieces, then a single sticker to hold it all closed and tight.
 

 My gals name is Jacque, hence the name Roca Jack.

 I know a friend named Andrew Vaisius 

who grew whiskers on his faceius.

                                                                  RP

My friend Andrew is a much better poet than I will ever be. You can chew on his word morsels for a long time. They kinda stick to your teeth though.

This is a little novelty packaging idea I came up with, perfect for a single shot of poetry when you need your next fix. No need to rush through a whole volume. Just chew on this for awhile. Then when you are ready, you can have another. Rot your mind, not your teeth.

Kit Kat Evolution

Rowntree's chocolate covered wafer bar was first introduced in England in 1935 and was renamed Kit Kat in 1937. In the 1940's Kit Kat was exported and sold in Canada.

From 1945-1947 the original red wrapper was replaced by blue due to the shortage of milk.

I love the Rowntree logo on this 10cent wrapper and I seem to enjoy the brand design a lot more here, than I did when it was reintroduced by Nestle after they bought Rowntree in 1988

It's interesting how certain design elements are are phased in or out. The chocolate bar for example or slight lettering changes. You can also see here the number of grams the bar weighs fluctuating and then it's really super to see the evolution of Nestle's continual logo change.

D-N-Aid to the Rescue!

I was remembering the old packages of Lik-m-aid from when I was a kid, you know that colored, flavored sugar powder candy in an envelope pack. There have also been many variations like Pixy Stix and then I remember these plastic fruits with the powder inside, and then there were the packages that had a candy stick in a separate attached pouch so that you didn't have to get your finger all sticky, plus with the stick you got more candy.....more sugar. What those guys didn't do was make the stick into a candy finger.

I was also thinking about Kool-aid, sugar, artificial colors and the transformative powers of these items on our body and minds, though perhaps only temporary. But what if we take it a step further and rearrange a few deeper physiological and psychological attributes of our human form? Soon we will have the option to choose the body and mind of our children through the manipulation of their DNAs.

When I was creating the design and art for my D-N-Aid packages I had a specific era of design in my memory bank. It was vague and I have seen the packages here and there since but I did not want to look at them when it came time to design mine, I just wanted to work from my vague  recollections. This way, I would have something similar (hopefully) without copying or I could get something very unique if my memories were totally out the window. I had no memories of what the backs looked liked though so I just made something which was pleasing to me.

I wanted to do a rainbow of flavors which gave me the fun assignment of drawing different characters for the packages. Yeah there should have been at least one more woman. The doctor was going to be a woman but it just wasn't happening on the drawing board. In fact I actually started this project a year ago. I had the package design all done at that time, and I started drawing one of the charicatures, but It just wasn't the right touch I wanted, so I abandoned the project for the time until this past October, and somehow, all the characters just rolled off my mouse. (yes these are computer aided drawings done in adobe illustrator using the pencil tool and a mouse)

Here are a couple packs of the real stuff that I had when I was a kid as well as the Fun Dip candy that I remembered seeing but was already an adult to want any. Then below that I've included some older era Lik-m-aid package graphics. Enjoy!