Handwriting - should it stay or should it go?
Thursday, 13 March 2008
Our new bottles are hitting the shelves at last.
And we're waiting nervously to hear what people think of what we've done to the back. or rather what we've left out... the nice little scrawls, circles and comments we used to scribble on them.
(Here's the back of a 2003 bottle, in case you missed it.)
We added the handwriting because we hoped it would make the drinks feel a bit more "friendly" and "personal" - we even signed "Harry & Marcus" on the bottles.
So what's not to like?
Firstly, handwriting has become a bit of a cliché - the moment the supermarkets start wading in with own-label drinks covered in handwriting, you begin to think it's time to move on.
Secondly, it feels a bit "false" - clearly, we don't walk round the bottling plant, scribbling on every bottle. So there's something vaguely disingenuous about it - like people who use a GIF signature on their letters. And several people we asked assumed that Harry & Marcus were probably characters invented by a big corporation. (We exist! We breathe, we eat, please believe us!)
And thirdly, whilst the scribbles really stand out and attract attention, we suspect they make the rest of the text harder to read. So is it better for everyone to just read a few scribbles, or hope that a few more people will read a bit more (even if a few then read nothing at all)?
Hmmm.
What do you think?
posted by Harry Briggs at
15:13
6 Comments:
I would like to thank you for your company's products, they are just great, awesome, today I've tasted them for the first time and I was surprised they are so wonderful and tasty! :) About bottle design I think, it just great and there is nothing I'd like to change, it is so personal, so attractive that you can not to pay attention for it. it is so personal and so emotional. Thanks :)
I posted in my blog about your products, coz I think that everybody should try to understand what is all about it :)
An empty bottle caught my eye today, and just decided to give it a go tomorrow. wish me luck:)
I think you should keep the handwriting! Although it might make one think about GIF signature, which is "artificial", it did not keep me from buying it, on the contrary...made me feel like I am buying something real and good. And personal.
I live in a country where brand and artificial represent the "bon-ton"! Well I usually go chasing all that is natural and "small". What you're doing looks great to me.
Today I bought your first product, today I navigated on your site (which I instantly loved), I looged on blog, I wanted to apply for a job, I llllove the spirit I feel on your site, I want to be you! :)
Keep up the work you are doing and congratulations!
this blog is as beautiful as the drinks (and the people who make them ;)). what nice thoughts you indulge in. i LOVED the handwriting on the bottles and i'm so sad to see it's gone now. that was such an original idea (and here in germany they don't do anything of the sort). it seemed so special that someone would come up with such a unique idea and would literally go to the effort of designing something of the sort. i'd love to experience it miraculously reappear some day. but in any case: gut gemacht und weiter so! :)
The handwriting is back!
Not quite as much before - but we agreed that the bottles looked a bit bland without the personal touch.
So it's OK, anonymous - our days of anonymity are behind us...
hoooray!! what a coup! anonymous is thrilled and will feel ever so excited when she bounces into the next bottle at the gas station (the only place up until now that sells them over here...) that has a pretty scribbling on it :D WUNDERBAR!! DANKE!!!
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