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Shameful package design

two pill bottles - one empty and one full

Glucosamine is a health supplement that supposedly helps with range of motion and joint pain. So I’ve used it for years.

The problem is that it’s expensive. So I usually wait for BOGO deals (buy one, get one free).

I recently got that deal with two bottles of Osteo Bi-Flex.

After I got home, I discovered that both bottles were less than half full! So I combined them and still had room left in the bottle.

Shameful…

  1. The consumer thinks they’re getting more than they actually are.
  2. The product takes twice as much shelf space.
  3. The product takes twice as much space in a truck on its way to the store.
  4. The consumer pays for twice as much packaging.
  5. Twice as much plastic is being manufactured from crude oil.
  6. Twice as many bottles are likely thrown away or possibly recycled – and trucked to the dump or recycling center.

Come on, companies – wake up and stop wasting our resources!

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Sloppy is not OK

Snippet from an Acura TLX ad
Acura TLX ad: original version

Acura spent a lot of money on a print ad for their new TLX. And it was very poorly done.

The basic design is OK, but the details are super sloppy.

I was compelled to dissect the ad and reassemble it. If you look closely, you will see the differences. The original ad is at the top, and the fixed version is at the end of this post.

  1. The worst design element is the poorly spaced TLX logo. There’s a typographic principle of visual spacing vs. linear spacing. The original ad has the same distance between the bottom line of each letter. I moved the letters where they are in good visual relationship to each other, instead.
  2. Repeating “Type S” three times did nothing but make the page full to the brim with visual elements. White space is a design principle that when used correctly lets each element “breathe.” An analogy is sand on a beach vs. a grain of sand on a black countertop… you’ll never see an individual grain of sand on a beach.
  3. The little arrow with Japanese characters? Meaningless. They add nothing.
  4. The little arrow at the bottom of the page? Meaningless. It adds nothing.
  5. The fine print at the bottom on the original makes the page unbalanced. I moved it over to the right to balance out “precision crafted performance.”

I wish the ad had been precision crafted.

Acura TLX ad: fixed version

(By the way, sloppy IS OK when it’s it’s on purpose, like riding your mountain bike through the mud.)

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Those coveted sneakers

When I was six years old, Red Ball Jets came out with the coolest sneakers ever. They were totally black except for the little red ball on the heel label.

I wanted some so bad that even though the store didn’t have my size, I was willing to get a pair that was way too big – just so that I could be cool.

That sense of cool was internal. I don’t remember any of my friends having a pair.

Many years later, I finally got my all-black sneakers.

This pair is even cooler. They are made from almost 100% recycled materials. It’s surprising how much they look like my childhood favorite shoes.

Rewards (sometimes) come to those who wait.

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Musicians are strong

James Taylor's album cover

In 1985, James Taylor wrote a song about being a star in the music business. One part always struck me: “Perfect strangers … pay good money to hear Fire and Rain again … And again and again.”

It’s 26 years later. He has sung Fire and Rain countless times since.

I can’t imagine the pain of singing a hit song over and over. And over and over.

I guess you just numb yourself to the experience.

Two months ago, I saw one of my recent favorite bands live. A few of their songs stuck in my head since then. I played them enough times that I had to stop.

I followed their tour on Instagram. Compared to pre-Covid times, it was a short tour – about fifty performances over a few months. But they must have gotten tired of singing their songs every night. Forty years from now? I can’t imagine…

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Gotta love those algorithms

A message from Alexa on a Kindle screen: "Alexa, what should I read next?"

My Kindle served up this message last week: “Alexa, what should I read next?”

For some reason, that offended me. Why should I listen to what Alexa tells me about what I should be reading? Won’t I just be playing into the hands of Alexa’s father, Amazon?

But then I stepped back.

Spotify’s algorithms have done a fine job of serving up fresh music to me for a few years now. I’m a devoted fan of their “Discover Weekly” playlist, which provides new music to me based on the tunes I like. They don’t always get on-target… some of the bands and tunes have been a little too weird. And lately, they are serving up too much of the kind of music I enjoy. I like to find music that stretches my boundaries … but not too far.

So let’s ride those algorithms… but let go when it gets too choppy.

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Beautify our highways

a trailer with an empty back door vs. a trailer with a beautiful photo on the back door

We went on vacation – driving 2,245 miles to Idaho and back. (Some of those miles were around the state.)

Interstate Highway 80 is a major trucker’s route across the nation. As a result, we followed behind an abundance of 18-wheeler trucks/trailer combos. (We passed them when we were able.)

As I looked at the blank backsides of many a trailer, I thought what a better experience it would be to look at either beautiful photography or creative artwork.

Trucking companies – go for it! The first trucking company to hop on this idea will greatly improve their public perception.

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The Lure of Canvas

closeup of canvas fabric

The world has moved on from Canvas.

(And I do understand that Canvas is still the appropriate backing for an oil painting.)

Huckberry is a mostly-for-men retailer that often features cool retro clothing and objects of desire, targeted at males of my age and demographic.

Rarely am I willing to pay the premium for such luxury items, but it’s fun to look and sometimes dream.

This week,  Huckberry tried to sell me a $268 waxed canvas jacket. I love how the jacket changes with age to become even more desirable.

Alas, that price is not in my budget. Furthermore, Gore-Tex entered the clothing market 40-ish years ago and revolutionized outdoor clothing fabrics. A typical waterproof and breathable shell parka these days weighs about a third of what the Flint and Tender waxed canvas jacket does – and allows you to sweat less if you’re doing the required wood chopping exercises.

But there’s no Gore-Tex parka made that looks anything like a waxed canvas jacket!

The photo is courtesy of Larry George II and used under a Creative Commons license.

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I used to look forward to mail

home mailbox with one letter and junk mail

Mail these days consists of advertising and an occasional letter to our daughter who’s home from college this summer.

It used to be that our mailbox would include evidence of actual human contact. Now it’s only once every few weeks.

Oh – but I do enjoy my car magazines… but they’re dying away too.

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Our most precious resource

Apple Watch on a wrist, displaying just the time

Time.

I looked down at my Apple Watch and saw that the controls were blurred, since the designers decided to highlight the most important thing – time – instead of the many other possibilities it could have displayed.

We wear watches to measure time.

Whether it’s minutes, hours, days, weeks, months or years, we all care about time:

  • How much time until our next meeting?
  • How much time until the show begins?
  • How much time until my prison sentence is finished?
  • How much time until our baby is born?
  • How much time until our flight leaves?
  • How much time until the start of the next semester?
  • How much time until our vacation begins?

Some of us measure our stocks. Some of us measure what’s in our bank accounts. Some of us measure how much water or electricity we’re using.

But all of us measure time, by far our most precious resource.

What will you do with your next hour, day, week, month or year?

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My new Porsche

Porsche 911

The very cheapest new Porsche 911 costs $101,200.

If you add…

  • Fancy wheels: $4,030
  • Fancy seats: $5,960
  • Fancy power addition to fancy seats: $3,830
  • Fancy leather-everywhere interior: $17,110
  • Fancy gauges and clock: $3,900
  • Fancy headlights: $2,470
  • Fancy stereo: $3,980
  • Fancy remote parking system: $6,950
  • Fancy carbon fiber roof: $3,890
  • Fancy aerodynamics kit: $8,710
  • Fancy paint protection kit: $2,760
  • Fancy door mirrors: $1,630
  • Fancy black window trim: $510
  • Fancy “Porsche” on door: $560
  • Fancy “911” on rear: $350
  • Fancy lid grille slats in same color as car: $720
  • Fancy tailpipes: $3,380
  • Fancy front axle lift system: $2,770
  • Fancy rear wiper: $370
  • Fancy cruise control and lane-keeping system: $3,020
  • Fancy heated leather steering wheel: $590
  • Fancy interior trim: $1,260
  • Fancy painted keys: $540
  • Fancy seat belts: $540
  • Fancy maintenance plan: $5,035
  • Fancy customized luggage: $6,323

…The final price comes to $201,271.

First: I did not get a new Porsche! I don’t have a used Porsche, either. Maybe when I get to heaven, my wheels will be from Stuttgart.

Second: This is an exercise to show you how crazy Porsche is when it comes to upgrades.

Third: If you add the costs of the options, it may not equal the total above. Porsche uses a different calculator than some people. 

Photo by Martin Katler on Unsplash. Used by permission via a Creative Commons license.

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