Old news but still fun… Barcodes or UPC symbols are icons of our consumer civilisation have received a radical makeover by a Japanese firm D-Barcode in 2008. Their ideas ended up on grocery products all over Japan. Now, you might not notice anything new when picking up an item in your local 7/11 or Cirlce K Sunkus, but on closer inspection the charmingly designed UPC masterpieces will amuse you, make you smile, and might even cause you to go hunting for other products, to start your collection – such is the Japanese way. Trust the Japanese to glorify every single mundane detail, to cheerfully enhance consumer experience – by adding a little something extra, something so easy to miss. I first fell in love with Japanese packaging, and their cheeky secrets when I discovered the odd-one-out from the marching penguins on Lotte Cool Mint Gum packaging designed by a hero of contemporary Japanese design, Taku Satoh.
I also recently found a Sloth hanging off a washing line on a packet of Japanese ‘Spash’ Gum…
I kid you not.

Sources: darkroastedblend.

(Opinion: Jon Price – Designer)