First I spend $75 on a limited edition Helvetica DVD and now I’m considering spending $125 on yet another limited edition Helvetica DVD.

I’m going to go broke but it just seems so worth it for this.

Comment by Joey — March 12, 2008 @ 4:26 pm

wahoo! i just bought the hd dvd version of helvetica!

Comment by eben — March 12, 2008 @ 4:35 pm

but it was 10% off!

Comment by eben — March 12, 2008 @ 4:40 pm

I saw this today as well. Although I want it oh oh so badly, I doubt I will be ordering. The price is a bit steep for me. I fought to get one of the original limited edition sets (I was one of the few and proud that got one of the extra 50 in the 2 minutes it took to sell out).

I know eventually i’ll upgrade to blu-ray, but i think the price tag is just a tad high for me. Along with that fact, I don’t “need” it, but still…

Comment by josh — March 12, 2008 @ 9:02 pm

holy s**t

Comment by David — March 12, 2008 @ 9:58 pm

Conceptually similar to Peter Megert’s famous Westinghouse cover: http://www.flickr.com/photos/20745656@N00/413975598/

Comment by Jesse — March 12, 2008 @ 11:30 pm

Resisting the urge to get a Blue Ray player to have an excuse to get this.

Comment by Reinier Meenhorst — March 13, 2008 @ 4:04 am

Jesse, that Westinghouse brochure is amazingly beautiful! And we admit, the similarity to our sleeve is eery. But honestly, this is the first time we’ve seen it. We had no previous knowledge of this brochure. You just have to take our word for it.
Our starting point was the gramophone record. We divided that record into different ‘tracks’. In our first sketches, these tracks were still irregular. It was only later that we decided to make all the tracks the same length. The idea to rotate the type had to do with the idea of a spinning disc. So we do think the concept is different.
We also wanted to make the type unrecognizable; something that doesn’t happen in the Westinghouse brochure.
What makes it strangely similar are those white circle outlines. But that decision, to make the outlines white, was very logical. Without the white lines, it just becomes a mess.

So yeah, what to say?
If we had seen this Westinghouse thing before, we would have certainly changed our design for the sleeve. This really ruined our day. But thanks for pointing us to the link anyway!

Experimental Jetset.

Comment by experimental jetset — March 13, 2008 @ 4:16 am

EJ,

Of course, I never meant to accuse, there are obvious (inherent) differences in your design. It is a very sound concept following the content, sorry to dampen the day, Jesse

Comment by Jesse — March 13, 2008 @ 9:15 am

Hey Jesse, no need to excuse, it’s good to know the existence of the brochure, so that we are prepared when people ask us about it. It’s a good Flickr page, actually. All the best, EJ.

Comment by Experimental Jetset — March 13, 2008 @ 9:48 am

yeah, I’m still here staring at it.

Every time time I see it, I want it more.

Comment by josh — March 13, 2008 @ 12:25 pm

It is a really really nice design but it is packaging for a small disc? to me it seems totally over the top. is this really setting a good example of sustainable design?

Comment by Jim — March 14, 2008 @ 8:23 am

Earlier on this blog, there is a link to MultiAdaptor. Their identity for Michael Bodiam Photography is also executed in a similar way, but is conceptually very different.

Comment by Steve — March 14, 2008 @ 11:02 am

Antonio,. I think you misunderstood my point, I understand why it is made up like a record sleeve. My problem wasn’t that i wanted a case to fit on my DVD shelf, I’m just questioning the amount of packaging, relative to the product it’s housing, from a purely enviromental viewpoint. I was just throwing it out there, just becasue EJ are amazing designers doesn’t mean we can’t question the ethical nature of such a production.

Comment by Jim — March 17, 2008 @ 10:22 am

Yeh I agree this single piece won’t have a big effect on the environment of course, but when you multiply it by 1000’s of limited edition packages being created across the world all using extragent amounts of packaging then it does have an effect. However, in these case as they are bought to be kept and cherished its not such a big deal i agree, but i think the principle is important. Anyway I realise this is straying from the focus of your blog which is brilliant so thanks!

Comment by Jim — March 17, 2008 @ 11:32 am