I wonder if Sideshow has to use this new Red-on-White scheme. The article says it will be used "across all Star Wars merchandise".
Eh:
Maybe it's for everything except the high-end stuff, but I do hope they move away from the bland 30th Anniversary scheme there.
Eh:
Red, White and Cool
January 12, 2009
By Pete Vilmur
Fans and collectors will soon see a new packaging design across all Star Wars merchandise, courtesy of design agency Pilot as well as Lucasfilm's own Licensing team.
The timing of the new packaging design is intended to correspond roughly with the second season of The Clone Wars on Cartoon Network and to celebrate the launch of all new episodes. "We collaborated with Pilot just like we have in the past," says Lucas Licensing Director of Global Product Development Stacy Cheregotis. "We look to them for cutting edge design and creativity, and they look to us for direction about what we want to accomplish with the packaging."
Cheregotis says that there are several questions raised when approaching a new design: "Do we want the change to be revolutionary or evolutionary? Are there particular color palettes we want to work with? Are there elements of the new shows that should be reflected in the design? Are there lessons we learned from the last round of packaging?"
From these questions, Pilot is able to produce several design concepts for consideration by the Licensing team, which they review together. "We'll discuss our likes and dislikes, and that usually leads to a second round of design that is much more narrowed down," says Cheregotis. "And then it is a process of fine-tuning to arrive at the final designs."
We asked Pilot's Bill Concannon some questions about the new packaging design:
Regarding the action figure packaging specifically, what requirements are you looking to satisfy when creating a new design?
The most significant requirement is that we create a pack that accurately projects the creative work of George Lucas and his production teams down to every last detail. The integrity of the Star Wars property is paramount.
Parallel to all requirements are the collectors, you have to balance your love for Star Wars as a fan with the realities of your job working with the best Marketing and Brand Managers. From there you have the many retail challenges to meet and business partners, like Hasbro and Lego to coordinate with to meet their many challenges.
What do you think makes this new line look a cut above previous versions?
We faced the biggest challenge this year topping last years Clone Trooper pack. Nothing can be more Clone Wars and iconic as that trooper helmet. Seeing them all lined up at retail was like looking at a clone army in rank. Normally we would have a different theme or movie episode to give us a fresh backdrop to work with. With the theme continuing to be The Clone Wars, we knew we may have designed ourselves into a corner. We potentially designed the best one first!
There was the idea that we would stay with the helmet and simply make modifications each season. Instead, we took a fresh approach and focused more of our attention to good packaging design. This year's pack is probably the best designed pack ever. It uses every inch of the packaging real estate properly. It's a very functional pack in that it packs off well for shipping, displays the figure clearly and gives a priority to character art. Again, the characters in the Lucas universe deserve front stage. We love this pack!
Discuss the choice of red as the dominant color for the new packaging.
The red colorway for this year honors ARC-77, an Advanced Recon Commando Captain. His name is Captain Fordo. Besides being a hero, his distinct red color was a great choice as an episode break from the previous blue.
The new look does share some similarities with the first Clone Wars and Legacy Series looks -- was this intentional?
There are details in architecture and color to Clone Wars that will inevitabley run through designs. It's more coincidental. This year's primary intention was to come back with a design that featured the new episodes with a fresh approach. In addition, there was a major focus on creating a design that would work best as a style guide. With thousands of different consumer products to serve, it was our intention to create the best packaging style guide for Lucasfilm and it's licensees.
Will this consistency translate into the next iteration of line looks?
Pilot designs in a way in which multiple directions are always explored. There surely will be designs on the table that are extensions of what is currently out there. There will be just as many that bring the latest packaging techniques and fresh ideas that will treat Star Wars and the next season as if it was our first year on the project.
Maybe it's for everything except the high-end stuff, but I do hope they move away from the bland 30th Anniversary scheme there.
