If you’re a marketing director, there are two reasons you should be interested creative and design inspiration.

First, because it’s your job to tell whether the art direction from your ad agency or web design firm is “Wacky-Good” or “Wacky-Bad.” It’s not always easy to tell the difference.

When design kills: People have been known to keel over just by looking at this car. Don't stare.

The second is because when you surround yourself with good design, you’ll be inspired towards creative excellence. Better still, you won’t make mistakes like the horribly expensive one Pontiac made with the Aztec, the World’s Ugliest Car. (How do we know it’s the World’s Ugliest Car? Well, just look at it.)

There are plenty of places to find great design. One of the best places is at the grocery store, where you’ll see plenty of bad design, but plenty of good design, too.

One absolutely fabulous design we came across recently was for Root: 1 Wine. It’s got two good things going for it — first of all, the design of their bottle is spectacular. Secondly, it’s actually very good wine, especially for the price.

If you start to feel ill while looking at the car, just look at this bottle for a minute and you'll feel better. Seriously. We're not kidding.

If you get the chance, take a spin through the Root: 1 Wine website. It’s as well-designed as their packaging. Fabulous job, gang. Hats off to whoever handles your design work.

The grocery store isn’t the only place you can find great design. Not long ago, I was flipping through Guitar World magazine and came across guitars designed by J. Backlund Designs. Man, these things ROCK. They sound great just looking at them! (For those of you who are non-guitarists, there are two guitar designs that get churned out over and over and over again — the Gibson Les Paul and the Fender Stratocaster. They both sound great, but gosh, it gets boring seeing the same guitars over and over again.)

Annnnnnyway, our point is this — if you’re a marketing director, you should keep your eye out for great design. It’ll help you keep tabs on your ad agency and design firms, plus it’ll inspire you towards greatness.

What too look for in package design:

Good design, like this one, creates an emotional response. Just look at this guitar, will you? Inspired.

• The raw, unadorned package: Is it stylistically interesting? Or is it mundane?

• The typefaces: Are they inspired? What subconscious message are they sending?

• The textures: What does the package feel like? Organic? Modern?

• The colors: Earth tones say one thing, bright colors say another.

• The copy: How is the copy on the package laid out? Is it incorporated properly?

• A million other things: There are a million details that go into inspired design (just ask Steve Jobs and the Apple design team). But in the end, good design isn’t a logical thing — it just feels right.

Help other members of the 60 Second Marketer community: Where do you look for creative and design inspiration? Share your secrets with other members of the 60 Second Marketer community.

Friday, July 24th, 2009, 11:29 pm   |   Design  |  RSS feed |  Respond  |  Trackback