The Design Matters

Clean, clear designs are appealing whether they were made in the early part of the century or just last year. We are drawn to a brand new retro looking design as if it were an old book unearthed in a antiquarian bookshop. The graphics, lettering and design affect our emotions before we may even have time to read the title and digest the subject. Our highly developed sense of aesthetics guide us to pick up that book with the beautiful cover or that product with the striking label. Great design makes the identity of a product enticing.

The work of Louise Fili, whose cover art appears above, takes her viewers into a world of exquisite design with references to typography and layout evoking a different place and time while creating a strikingly clean, clear and modern identity. She makes her products so appealing, it's hard to imagine living without them.

Here are a few inspiring examples from her recent work.









Images courtesy of Louise Fili Ltd.

Seal of Approval

One hundred years ago, the Good Housekeeping magazine first published research on approved products for the modern homemaker. They went on to create an Experiment Station in 1900 to study food and household products against false advertising claims. The approved products were listed on an honor role. In 1909 a new testing facility with a model kitchen and domestic science laboratory was built as the Good Housekeeping Institute. The list of tested and approved products and machinery was published in December 1909 with the first seal of approval.
A version of the first seal design was in use until 1941, when the magazine added the guarantee that if a product was not as advertised, a replacement or a refund would be provided to the consumer. The appearance of the seal changed several times over the next six decades of consumer protection as the wording of the promise evolved.

To celebrate the big anniversary and the 1911 purchase by the Hearst Company, Louise Fili, the very talented and prolific graphic artist, book cover designer, food product designer and restaurant and logo designer, was brought in to update the Good Housekeeping seal.

A recent New York Times article quoted the designer on this project. "The thing about doing any kind of redesign of something that well known,” Ms. Fili said, “is that you have to keep at least one element so people can make the leap. In this case it was the oval and the star, so not just the baby boomers would be able to recognize it.”

Her redesign was so convincingly timeless that there was a little confusion on the Today show where the blue and red 1990s seal was mixed up as the newer one and her design referred to as the old design. Fortunately, she took it as a compliment.

Images courtesy of Good Housekeeping and the New York Times.