Purity versus pollution in pack design

Thanks to Tom Fishburne for reminding me of the spoof video from 2006 that takes the piss out of Microsoft's "cram it all in" approach to packaging. It shows how Microsoft would have screwed with the beauty and simplicity of the iPod pack.

I learnt from Tom's post that the video is was done by was done by Microsoft's own packaging department. He reports a company quote that "It was an internal-only video clip commissioned by our
packaging [team] to humorously highlight the challenges we have faced
RE: packaging and to educate marketers here about the pitfalls of
packaging/branding."

This video illustrates the real risk of "polluting" a pack design with tons of information, most or all of which doesn't get read by anyone. In contrast, the iPod packaging is so special because of the purity of its branding. There is no mistaking that this is an Apple product. But the branding is a result of identifying and amplifying the visual essence of the brand.

More on the idea of amplifying your visual essence here.