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TGIF Packaging Decadence?…. A Nigella Lawson Student Spotlight

I’m a huge Nigella Lawson fan. Part of it is that I love to bake and her cookbooks are filled with simple from scratch baking recipes that turn out fabulously tasty treats. They’re the types of cookies, cakes and other goodies that you can actually spontaneously decide to make and then eat in an hour without a lot of grief. 

The other part is that she exhibits no food shaming. In a culture that obsesses over calorie counts and eating healthy while alternately stuffing themselves with not so tasty fast-food, it’s nice to see someone who cooks good tasting food from scratch. Sure many of the recipes are unashamedly a little on the decadent side (without Paula Deen’s seeming complete disregard for basic health), but it’s not that hard to pair them with some healthy sides for a great weekday meal. You see, I agree with Michael Pollan in that if you make your treats from scratch (cookies, cakes, french fries, whatever your favorite treat is) you’ll eat it about as often as you should because of the time involved in making it. 

So with that Nigella Lawson love-a-thon ramp-up, you can guess why I wanted to post this. I really, really wanted to love this packaging design by Beatrice Menis, a student of ELISAVA, Barcelona. (If only so that maybe Nigella would see it and be inspired to role out a food product line… fingers crossed). 

But, I just can’t help thinking IKEA every time I see the food packaging.

I’m pretty certain it’s all of the white negative space coupled with simple food images and the general emphasis on typography, which was intentional according to the designer:

All of the designs are mainly based on one common element: typography, I chose typography because I wanted to give an elegant and traditional look to the line. 

So while I do appreciate IKEA’s food (Swedish meatballs, almond cake and lingonberry jam…oh my) and their food packaging design aesthetic, see previous post, no brand wants their packaging to remind a consumer of a competitor instead of luring them into buying their product. 

What do you think? Is this just me? 

Clever Camper is sadly just a student spotlight. Someone in the Pacific Northwest, REI perhaps, needs to get jumping on manufacturing something like this. It’s a cute, completely biodegradable camping travel toilet paper, including the packaging. No plastics involved? Bravo!

“We created a brand called Clever Camper that focuses on personal hygiene necessities outside the house. The packaging aims to streamline the bathroom process and is made of 100% biodegradable paper pulp, so it dissolves in the elements in 21 days and leaves no trace. The package is crunch proof with expandable sides, so it won’t fall apart in the bottom of your backpack or bag. With a perforated clip on the back and a tissue box style dispense system, the packaging is easily accessible.”