Typographic Content Review (Packaged Goods)

Last time, I layed out some of the things that need to be considered when it comes to Typography. I'll be using that as an evaluation standard for this, and future reviews.

The subject for this review will be Packaged goods. I'd been saving some imported candies anyway, so I figure now is as good a time as any to bring them out. First up, Meiji's 'Gummy Choco' candy.

These are basically like glosettes raisins, only the filling is more like a fruit flavored jujube. They sell for about 3 dollars at Pacific Mall, and the T&T market at the Promenade Mall in my area. The tubular case opens at the top (the hot pink section) so you can pour the candies into your hand, and reseal it for later. The Meiji logo is also printed on the lid.

Legibility:


The letters are large and blobbish, to look like the centre of the candies. But they're still spaced far enough apart that there was no question about what the label was saying.


Spelling and Punctuation:

'Chocolate' was shortened to 'Choco'. This saves space on the package so as not to cover over too much of the imagery, but I think they were also trying to make the name more fun for the kids. You wouldn't do this with After Eight, or Quality Street chocolates.


Grammar:

You can find Japanese food products with both English and Japanese text on the label, or labels that are written entirely in Japanese. When you're importing your product to a country where English is the native language, you have to be careful of grammatical structure. Yan Yan, is an example of this. Each biscuit has some text written on the side, such as "Whale - Biggesy Mammal". Sometimes however, the mistakes are rather comical.


Context:

Not too much of a problem here. The label clearly communicates that the contained product is strawberry flavored Gummy Chocolates.


Colors:

Fairly straightforward, each flavor has color variation in the design to indicate the flavor. Even with the Japanese text, you could match it to the colors and illustrations and know that it's strawberry.

1. Contrast:With all of the flavors, colors are set on a white background.
   
   
2. Saturation:
   Bright, happy colors are used. There's no grey-ish tones.
   
   
3. Frequency of Use:In the case of strawberry flavor, the lid, text, and illustrations (strawberries) are mostly pink. On other packages, the colors would be the same as the fruit, and the illustrations would change accordingly (grapes for a grape package, peach for a peach package, green apple for an apple package).

Language:

Both English and Japanese text are used here, but the English text is dominant. This one was well suited to be exported to the US and Canada.