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)

Every year the residents of Inakadate, Aomori prefecture Japan work together to create giant figurative pictures by planting different varieties of rice. Folksy yet sophisticated, the many designs reproduce images from famous Ukiyo-e prints to The Mona Lisa! Make sure you see these – if you’re in any doubt of their legitimacy, here are some more images…

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