Comments on: Limited Edition Helvetica Blu-ray Designed By Experimental Jetset

By: Jim

Jim — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 15:32:47 +0000

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!

By: Antonio

Antonio — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 15:00:11 +0000

Jim, I didn’t mean for my post to be an attack on you. Sorry if it came off that way. If EJ didn’t have a reason or purpose for the size of the piece then one might agree. I also think that the effects this packaging will have on the environment will be very very minimal.

By: Jim

Jim — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 14:22:14 +0000

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.

By: Steve

Steve — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 15:02:10 +0000

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.

By: Antonio

Antonio — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 14:10:03 +0000

Jim if you check out the link you can read an explination by EJ on why they used a record size. This is a limited edition piece. If you need it to fit in your DVD shelf then just get the standard version.

By: Jim

Jim — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 12:23:31 +0000

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?

By: josh

josh — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 16:25:07 +0000

yeah, I’m still here staring at it.

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

By: Antonio

Antonio — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 14:55:45 +0000

I can see how the Westinghouse brochure is similar but I think the two executions are very different in my opinion. The Westinghouse brochure is easy to read and the sectioned aren’t as rotated.

The EJ version creates a lot of beautiful shapes and it becomes an nice abstract piece instead of a block of copy.

By: Experimental Jetset

Experimental Jetset — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 13:48:38 +0000

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.

By: Jesse

Jesse — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 13:15:11 +0000

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

By: experimental jetset

experimental jetset — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 08:16:53 +0000

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.

By: Reinier Meenhorst

Reinier Meenhorst — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 08:04:42 +0000

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

By: Jesse

Jesse — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 03:30:01 +0000

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

By: David

David — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 01:58:10 +0000

holy s**t

By: Antonio

Antonio — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 01:13:09 +0000

Josh, I hear ya man. I don’t even own a Blu-ray player yet. I really only want it cause it’s a piece designed by my favorite studio.

By: josh

josh — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 01:02:24 +0000

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…

By: eben

eben — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 20:40:12 +0000

but it was 10% off!

By: Antonio

Antonio — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 20:37:29 +0000

Sucka!

By: eben

eben — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 20:35:55 +0000

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

By: Joey

Joey — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 20:26:35 +0000

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.