Perfumes in the USSR - great samples of good packaging

What makes you buy this or that perfume? Not only the smell as it is, but also a package. If you see the seductive, well-designed, interesting and attractive picture you'll probably want to try this perfume on. The package will make your bedroom table or bathroom shelf look great. Some packages are so beautiful that it's a real pity to throw them away after your perfume is run out. As for me, I remember the great perfume "Zen" made by Shiseido, and even greater cubicle form of its flask  I wasn't able to get rid of when no drop of the aromatic liquid remained inside...

Many people today are interested in vintage products, especially perfumes and make-up items. They have become rare, because they are no longer produced. With a perfume, it's sometimes impossible to find "that very" flask our Moms and Grannies used and even if it's stored somewhere in the antique shop or in your attic, the smell is not as it was to be. So, all what you can is only to enjoy the flask's appearance. And the design of perfumes' packages was great. Even in the USSR - this country, as you know, wasn't famous for its cosmetics and perfumes. Soviet women appreciated French and different other "foreign" perfumes. But the design of the Soviet products is stunning - just have a look!

"Rovesnitza"/'The Mate".

This perfume has a laconic, but a little bit art-deco form of the flask. Black-and-gray design of the package, with floral, also art-deco ornament and the romantic portrait of a girl in a medallion-shaped frame makes it a real rarity and a great purchase for all lovers of the antique romance. It's interesting to see the image of a "young beauty' on the package - it's not a sexy blonde chic, but a romantic, mysterious girl wearing the white blouse of the "belle epoch" period. 

"Dymok"/"Smoky"

Many Soviet perfumes came in sets packed in nice boxes with white silky filling inside. So, it made them a great present. "Mist" is a strange name for a perfume (especially when it comes on Russian, I associate the word "Dymok" with cigarette smoke), but the flask's design can be praised. A round shape is very convenient and nice-looking. This prolonged flask is a kind of prototype for pen-shaped perfume flasks which were very popular several years ago (and they still are, because it's very convenient to carry your favorite perfume along in your bag). 

"Chipre" Eau-De-Cologne

A classic Soviet men's perfume especially popular in the 1930s. It had a very "green", "woody" notes in its composition, so it was quite nice-smelling, if one can imagine. But due to mass production, the perfume grew worse and was associated with something cheap and non-pretencious. Here we see two flasks of Chipre. Design of the left one is more practical. It would soon become traditional for all other eau-de-colognes. Protruded "grind" on the flask's surface and the laconic label made in gold-white color combination are quite characteristic. The right flask is somehow more sophisticated and elegant. The form is smooth and the label was made with more designer's effort. Green and gold color combination is the recognizable elements of the Chipre brand. Notice, that the author of this photography appreciated this color scheme and encircled flasks by emerald green beads which color accentuates green coloring of the Chipre label. 

"Karpaty". Eau-de-Cologne

I really like wooden and "natural" motifs in the product and interior design so I really love this package.  It's a great design solution, minimalistic and simple, but also sophisticated and trendy. Just take a wooden texture, greatly designed letters reminding us of the engraving craft, and a stylized geometrical  silhouette of a pine-tree made in the golden color - and you'll get a great package for the perfume of the "natural" series. 

"May Be..." Perfume

This perfume with a "promising" name was actually made in Poland but exported to the USSR. I like this smooth pear-shaped flask with some sexy appeal in it (reminding the female figure), a round golden label and a minimalistic package with the wide contrast square in the middle. I think, the small size expressed some idea of sophistication and prestige. 

"To The Flight" Eau-de-Cologne

I really enjoyed both the flask and the package. These somehow psychedelic white-blue-black-gold circular shapes, crossed by the line of a airplane getting up are fantastic. The streamlined form of the flask is especially convenient and transmits the message of novelty and speed. Lettering is smooth and elegant. The new design expressing the rapidity and freshness is combined with the reminding that the perfume is somehow an elite product (golden ornaments and elegant cursive letters). 

"Real Persian Lilac" Perfume. Nouvelle Etoile, Moscow

It's the essence, a "pure lilac essence" and Nouvelle Etoile (Novaya Zarya) is a perfume and make-up monopolist in the Soviet Russia. Floral aromas were very popular among Soviet women, even the "pure" ones, like this lilac. Package designers made something glamorous, but elegant - this "Barbie" pink combined with golden letters and beige geometrical details is really smart. The form of this flask with "spiral" surface is great too. 

"Charming Naughty Girl"

Designers worked hard in order to express the image of a young coquette with all these ribbons, yellow-black dotted ornament and smooth flask. And they managed to do it! Lettering is also very interesting - some earliest prototype of Comic Sans MS. As you see, almost all Soviet perfumes have gilded elements on their packages. It's not an exception. This outstanding yellow color scheme combined with strikingly black dots and with this ribbon make it really attractive. 

"Bars" Eau-de-Cologne

The real perfume for real man - this can be said of it. Laconic details, black and white color scheme and masculine name are great for expressing the idea of manliness. 

So, as we see, packages and flasks are great but we can only guess what kind of perfumes they contained. And that's pity! But what to do - any smell is quite short-living. What remains from it is designer's ideas expressed in the perfumes' packages. 

Quirky packaging for good purchases

What do you think of plastic or paper bags which go free with your purchases? Many of them are just made to be thrown away, so designers don't think a lot of their looks. But advertisers do know that the package which is decorated in the certain way can be the really powerful medium for advertising. If you design a humble plastic bag or a paper box in appealing way, it won't end its life in the waste bin but rather will be used more often and its originality will help you to achieve advertising aims. Moreover, this method can help to raise sales - so, more people will desire to buy something in your store if, instead of dull bags you give them quirky, original and fascinating packages.

There are some vivid and interesting examples of good packaging which I've liked most:

This is an interesting textile bag which promotes the medicine for weight loss. When the bag isn't tightened it depicts the wide waist, but when you tighten the lace you'll see the effect of taking this medicine. The concept is called "The Burn Bag". 

This bag is the visual demonstration of the buyer's virility, especially when you hold it in the certain position - in front of your body, below the waist line. 

This bag advertises the gym. Its hands have the function of a jumping rod - they're up when you grip them. I like the elegant black-and-white photos of athletes on the white background. 

This designer's solution seems to be a bit cruel. They have placed the photo of a man on the bag and have cut the hands in his head, so, when you carry this bag your hand is penetrating the man's head, and his facial expression says a lot of his feelings...

Another illusion of "holding" something - in this case, a gun. The designer's solution is again quite simple - just put the photo of a gun on the bag and cut the hands where the trigger should be. 

This bag clearly promotes Lipton tea. Advertisers haven't had to do much brainstorming - they've just made a tea bag oversized and have done it in plastic. 

This bag gives the whole illusion of driving a car - like you are sitting in it and someone sees you in the car's window. 

I like this solution for the bookstore's bag. Transparent bags bear images of people who hug something - and when you place your purchase in it you'll see what they hug. 

This bag gives people around you the illusion that you're carrying the big crate of beer, but in a strange way. When I see photos of people with such bags I start to worry how they'll manage to carry the crate safe and sound to home. But it's not the crate of all!

So, packages like these will never be thrown away immediately after purchases are unpacked. They are advertising masterpieces - and original accessories too! 

Hand-made movie posters

Great cinemas with all novelties one can imagine haven't reached small towns and far-away city districts. In Russia, there are still a great number of small cinemas with very cheap tickets, screeching chairs and unheated halls where you can watch the movie which was on top-charts 2 or 3 years ago. Some of such cinemas are on the verge of extinction, since almost nobody visits them despite of their cheap prices - who wants to see the old movie having Internet to download it or a DVD to watch it at home? So, many of these small oldtimer cinemas have already closed their doors, having been turned into nightclubs or more modern cinemas, but a part of them still works, especially those located in far-away towns. The administration of such leisure facilities often has no money to renew their repertoire regularly and to cope with the speed new movies are shot, so they offer movies with great delays. And I must admit, it's very good if you wasn't able to see the movie when it was shown in a duplex, but still want to see it on the "big screen" of the cinema, not just on a small screen of your computer or TV set. Moreover, they often don't have opportunities to buy official movie posters, so they employ artists and painters which redraw images from photos or even invent something new.

Handmade movie posters painted by a decorator on large boards and displayed outside the cinema are well-known to many people lived in the USSR. Since there weren't any uniform "official" posters, presented by a film-maker, as it is now, an artist made any images he or she liked to.  Now things are not the same and every cinema displays "official" uniform posters, but small cinemas with old repertoire cling to the tradition to draw movie posters by their own means. Artists who create such "masterpieces" have different level of skill and talent - some are really good and others draw something only remotely reminding us of actual movie settings. But there is certainly something nostalgic to see these "homegrown", often awry posters displayed on the facades of old cinemas in the city suburbs or in small sleepy towns.

Here they are:

The Fast and the Furious

The Matrix Reloaded

Avatar

The Day Watch (Russian fantastic thriller movie made in 2004 upon the novel of fantastic writer Sergey Lukianenko of the same name). 

Ice Age

(O_0, this cinema has 3D! And if you look at this hand-made poster, you don't expect such technical advance present in this cinema...)

Anaconda 2

As we see, some of these posters are just redrawn from official posters, some are made by artists who have only remote understanding of what the movie is all about and others are made upon the artist's impression. So, the old craft of public decorator arts is still preserved on the local level. And who knows, may be, photos will be out of fashion and all posters as well as advertisements will be made by the hand of an unknown artist (as it was long ago). 

Creative approach to stationery - back to school

It's September now and many young people have come back to school. They need new stationary, but what can be more dull than ordinary pens, schoolbags, notebooks and other school stuff? Designers are well aware what teenagers are fond of now, so they have developed some amazing stationery stuff which is rather fun, creative and appealing not only to Internet-wise youngsters. Here are some curious samples I've liked more (and I'd like to buy it for myself, though I'm not in school myself...)

The notebook with circles (instead of ordinary lined or checked notebook we've fed up with

A good Doodle Book for those who have to be present on boring lectures or conferences. I think many office workers who have to attend dull meetings would buy this notebook. You can draw some figures, lines and images in it, and sometimes you can create something worthy (the subtitle of this product is the notebook for occasional scraps and non-occasional insights). 

 A good set of notebooks for military-obsessed boys: 3D pictures of revolver, army knife and grenade must be very appealing for them. 

Computer Science Notebook.

The blue screen of death appearing when your computer is out can reflect one's attitude towards Computer Science as a school or university subject.  

Electrotechnics from a light bulb to vibrator. It's just obvious what it is: Notebook

The famous photo of Tesla and the quirky slogan make it an ideal notebook for Physics. 

This stuff is very useful: different kinds of balls which are to be crumbled and thrown. The ideal device for lessening the tension during the class. 

Be Patient

The traditional Russian school notebook is ideal for lazy students who'll be always reminded that they need to be patient in their sufferings during studies. 

Famous faces circulating in Internet are chosen for coverings of the school notebooks. Each face reflecting one's attitude towards a particular school subject. 

DDR design - nostalgie

What do you think about design objects made in socialist countries, when they still existed on the world map? So, now we have such extinct countries as the DDR and the USSR, but products made by their factories and developed by their designers, can still be seen and looking at them provokes some nostalgic feelings...

Food packaging in the DDR - so, it's clear what kind of food it is (rather straightforward and direct approach)

Some will remember their childhood, some will be fascinated with the look of these products, which is not glossy and glamourous but full of proclamation of long-lasting quality (something you wouldn't throw away within a couple of months because it's out of fashion, defunct and cannot be repaired). As it can be seen, these things are made in order to satisfy the need of a person in good, long-lasting, effective products to be used in their homes.

Pay attention to the font - it's nice, isn't it?

So, some designs are rather straightforward and not very crafty and glossy. But I still cannot say out of blunt that they have no style, no form, that they are dull and boring. Probably, such interiors and products seemed to be boring and dull for the people who used them and dreamt of something more glamourous and fashionable, but now they seem to be really reliable, good and nice, opposite to glossy, streamlined and poshy things "made in China" and which will be defunct very soon after you've bought them (and  cannot be repaired).

 In those days, if someone used to buy a gadget or a piece of furniture, they'd expect that it would serve their needs for decades. Now it's not the same thing. We've got used to change our clothes, our interiors very often. There are a lot of reasons why everything has changed in a couple of decades - may be, it's the growth of consumerism to be blamed for that, may be, it's just the poor quality of things we buy now (mass-production when everything is made in Asia where labour is cheap), or some other reasons. Here are some photos of things you could buy in the DDR 30 years ago. I should add that in the USSR the DDR-made products were valued and people who traveled in East Berlin or other DDR cities used to buy their sets of kitchenware, clothes, toys (especially dolls), stationery because it's considered to be much more reliable that the same things of Soviet origin (and much more attractive too).


The principal difference between Soviet and Eastern German manufacturing was that DDR paid a great attention to the design of products they made. It was centralized; "people should develop their tastes through things they buy" - so, the packaging, product and graphic design were cherished by the government. Here are some examples:
Typical DDR interior  - minimalistic and modest, but functional - works good in small apartments:

Lamp - minimalist also, but stylish and colourful (I like this yellow!):