Fenway Boots! LL Bean Gives Away 50 Made-To-Order Boots Created With Fenway Park Rain Tarp.

Outdoor retailer L.L.Bean has revealed the most innovative version of its signature product: the Fenway Bean Boot. Made of upcycled Fenway Park tarp from the 2012 season, the one-of-a-kind boots will be made-to-order for a select number of lucky Red Sox fans who engage with L.L.Bean on Facebook and other channels.




The opportunity to win has already begun. When fans can visit Facebook.com/llbean to share their favorite Red Sox moment, they are entered for a chance to own a piece of baseball history. Submissions will be received through Sunday, October 20, 2013.



Company founder Leon Leonwood (“L.L.”) Bean believed in the reuse of materials long before the concept of “upcycling” came into vogue. The one-of-a-kind Bean Boots put the rain delay tarp that covered the Fenway Park infield in 2012 – the 100th anniversary year for both Fenway Park and L.L.Bean – to great use as the upper material of the weatherproof rubber soled boots.



“This project brings together two of L.L.’s favorite things: Bean Boots and baseball,” said Steve Fuller, Chief Marketing Officer for L.L.Bean. “As a season ticket holder, L.L. loved the Red Sox and he would be delighted to see the Fenway tarp put to use in a way that fans can enjoy.”


above: The LL Bean logo is at the center of the tarp that protects the field at Fenway Park during its 100th season.


above: The 100th anniversary L.L.Bean rain tarp photo via @mdanubio4 on Twitter.

Originally named the Maine Hunting Shoe, the popular Bean Boot has seen a variety of style changes since its introduction in 1912, all remaining true to the original and still handcrafted in Maine. Early versions had a red brick sole, reintroduced for the 100th anniversary of L.L.Bean, and today’s collection includes an assortment of styles for women and men such as waxed canvas and shearling-lined leather.

Each of the 100 limited-edition Fenway Bean Boots will be custom made for lucky recipients at L.L.Bean’s manufacturing facility in Brunswick, ME.

“These unique boots are just one of the many ways L.L.Bean has demonstrated their innovative spirit throughout our partnership,” said Troup Parkinson, Red Sox Senior Vice President. “From the 100th anniversary tote bags, to The One Fund Boston Tote, to these Fenway Bean Boots, they continue to highlight new ways of bringing our two New England brands closer.”



Last month, L.L.Bean announced a contribution of $114,000 to The One Fund Boston following the sale of 3,500 limited edition totes also made from the 2012 Fenway Park tarp (shown above). The One Fund Boston totes sold out in just over a day with 100% percent of profits benefitting the cause.

Share your favorite Fenway Park moment with L.L. Bean to enter to win one of 50 pairs of made-to-order Fenway Bean Boots, handcrafted from the 2012 100th anniversary Fenway rain tarp.



Find out more about the contest and learn how L.L.Bean upcycled the Fenway Park infield rain tarp here

Fifty winners will be selected at random and notified on October 21. Additional ways to win – including on campus at select Northeast colleges – will be announced. Follow @LLBean for more details.

*All contest entries are moderated and will appear in the gallery within 24 hours of submission*

Absolut Redesigns Their Vodka Bottles To Communicate The Energy Behind The Flavors.

The Absolut Company has given many of their flavored range of vodkas a design overhaul. The re-designed bottles include Absolut Apeach, Absolut Pears, Absolut Raspberri, Absolut Vanilia, Absolut Mango, Absolut Ruby Red, Absolut Berri Açaí, Absolut Äpple, Absolut Cherrys, Absolut Gräpe, and Absolut Wild Tea. Last year, Absolut re-designed its classic flavours Absolut Peppar, Absolut Citron, Absolut Kurant and Absolut Mandrin.

Their press release does not mention re-designing the following flavored vodkas, some of which were just launched this year: Absolut Hibiskus, Absolut Cilantro, Absolut Orient Apple, Absolut Grapevine, Absolut Cherrykran whose present bottles are shown below:


The press release:
Absolut is proud to announce striking new designs for its entire range of flavoured vodkas. True to the brand’s creative heritage, the vibrant new designs bypass design conventions to artistically express the core essence of the flavours in the Absolut Vodka range.




“This is one of the most dramatic changes we’ve ever made, and our biggest and most transformative design project ever. Our goal was to give our customers distinctive designs that are unlike anything one has ever seen. Vibrant, captivating bottles that bring energy to any occasion and celebrate the fact that every flavour in the Absolut Vodka range is something extraordinary,” says Anna Kamjou, Global Design Director at Absolut. “The standard thinking says a fruit-flavoured vodka requires a picture of the fruit on the bottle. We wanted to break that convention. We asked our design team to reach into the symbolism and myths tied to the ingredients to find each flavour’s core essence -- and then amplify that essence through art.”



Bringing an artistic approach to the redesign of its flavour range makes sense for a company with deep roots in the art world. Since 1985, when the Absolut Vodka bottle appeared in the first art ad, Absolut has been making art part of its consumers’ experience. “Absolut has long challenged conventions through creativity,” says Kamjou. “This across-the-board redesign is another example of the brand’s originality and boldness.”








After interpreting each flavour’s core essence, the designers worked to bring these notions alive artistically. They followed a long tradition of Swedish design and craftsmanship, and brought a ‘by-hand’ aesthetic to the project. That is to say, they stepped away from their computers, took up paper, pens and brushes, and set out to communicate not a flavour per se, but the energy behind each flavour. With Absolut Apeach, for example, soft pastels and a light hand-drawn gesture were used to capture the fruit’s evanescent, sweet fragility and convey a sense of romance:






The design for Absolut Pears began with the fruit’s symbolic association with longevity and purity, and arrived at an abstract pear shape resembling the symbol for eternity:


For Absolut Raspberri, the emotion of love and passion is intensified through the abstract expressionist technique of throwing paint:



The same artistic process was repeated across the range.

“Already back in 1979 Absolut challenged the norm of what vodka should look like with an innovative – and today iconic – bottle design. Today we transform the design of flavoured vodka,” says Jonas Tåhlin, VP Global Marketing at The Absolut Company.”Our new bottles are modern, artistic and unlike anything else on the market. Put any one of them on the table, and it instantly becomes something to talk about.”

Credits:
Global Design Director: Anna Kamjou / The Absolut Company
Global Design Manager: Caroline Mörnås / The Absolut Company
Design Agency: The Brand Union
Creative Director: Mattias Lindstedt
Executive Strategy Director: Jonas Andersson

images courtesy of Absolut Company

Hot Design and Branding For A Cold Product: Batch Ice Cream

The Ice Creamists and Eyescream and Friends are only two of the newer ice cream companies to have unique and fun branding. Meet Boston's Batch Ice Cream.


above: Batch Ice Cream founders Veronica Janssens and Susie Parrish

Founded in 2009 and launched in 2010 by native Bostonian Susie Parrish and Netherlands-born Veronica Janssens, Batch Ice Cream is ice cream made completely from scratch, using only real ingredients. By “real”, they mean there’s nothing in there with a crazy name, like xanthan gum or carrageenan or even corn syrup. The two worked with many local and Fair Trade suppliers to find just the right ingredients for their natural, pure and unique flavors.




Now with seven delicious flavors and a mobile food truck, Batch Ice Cream has been receiving a lot of favorable press in the Boston area. Not yet available outside of New England, the simplicity and purity of the product is conveyed through their chalkboard-illustrated packaging and branding.

Packaging:




Mobile Truck:




Point of Purchase:


Info Cards:


Logo:


Website:
Their new website, created by the Boston office of Arnold Worldwide, utilizes the chalkboard typography and look in an easy-to-navigate, charming and informative fashion.

Below are examples of the website's design and interface:




Pints of Batch Ice Cream can be found in grocery stores and other shops throughout New England - look here for the list of shops that carry batch® -

Batch Ice Cream
images courtesy of Batch Ice Cream, The Boston Globe and The Dieline.

Test Your Typeface and Brand Knowledge With Two Cool Memory Games

The Quick Brown Fox Jumps Over the Lazy Dog is a Typeface Memory Game based on the classic game of matching two images.




This very attractively finished typographic memory game includes 25 variations of the letter ‘A’, each in a different letter type. Players attempt to find the matching A’s in the same letter type. The player who has the highest number of matching letters wins the game. 
Typographic information about the letter is included on the card, and a separate folder provides a general history of the typography. This is an enjoyable and instructive game for graphic designers and anyone who is fascinated by letter types.
 As you play, you increasingly recognize what are often very subtle differences between the letters and more about the details of the letter types. They become progressively easier to recognize and distinguish from one another (even Univers and Helvetica!)



Among the letter types included in the game are Akzidenz Grotesk, Baskerville, Centaur, Garamond, Helvetica Rockwell, Times New Roman, Univers and many more. 
The game was assembled and designed by the Brazilian design studio, ps.2 arquitetura + design.



Design: ps.2 arquitetura + design
Format: hardcover
Dimensions: 2 x 25 cards






The Brand Memory Gameis another addition to the successful BIS memory games series, a new game about the knowledge of brands. 
For this game, Hendrik-Jan Grievink has made a selection of 30 internationally
 well-known brands, showing neither logo nor name on the images of the matching pairs.

The challenge is to find matching pairs of a brand, based solely on their characteristic colors and style elements and a short description of the brand.




Playing this game is great fun and offers an excellent test of your brand
 knowledge. 

Hendrik-Jan Grievink is also one of the creators of the Fake for Real Memory Game, which has already gone into its fifth edition.

Design: Hendrik-Jan Grievink
Format: hardcover
Dimensions: 2 x 30 cards