High-Protein Design

Understandably, you would not be enthused to be treated like a piece of meat... but have your designs be treated a nice slab of beef? It's the new craze. Weird Clothing recently packaged its Bermuda shorts brand "Human Meat" in styrofoam and plastic wrap with a sticker label. Sydney-based Salad Design created a promotional, fund-raising package for a local zoo for WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature) and the Australian clothing company, Mooks. Styrofoam, is clearly not the most green option for a mass-produced packaging concept, but the red/white marbling of the shorts really works well visually to mimick the fat-laced meat. In conceptually linking live animals to the packaging we see of dead ones, Salad Design's work is provocative and not just one-note. The steak-shaped tag makes it that much more successful. Rather than jumping on the bandwagon, I hope that other designers think twice about whether this sort of packaging would augment the meaning behind their work. If the relationship doesn't fit, the designs will reach their expiration date before they know it.