Good morning from Dieline’s editor-in-chief, Bill McCool. Here’s your daily side serving of design news, short musings, brand stuff, and forgotten ephemera.
Guys! It’s officially Student Week. Over the next four days, we’ll share plenty of student projects. Today, I was really into the illustrations featured on the secondary packaging for this perfume brand by Katerina Milatova. Fun stuff.
I have no beef with the Timothy Taylor Landlord redesign, maybe because the brand was completely unknown to me. But you know, shame on me; the UK brewery is over 150 years old. That could explain some of the hand-wringing over this one. Personally, I think the modern look is A-OK, but I do find it hilarious that the entire evolution of the brand can be boiled down to “pub owner gets hair plugs and grows beard.” Anyway, here’s another redesign for the heritage folks to get all worked up over.
If you are into FOOD FONTS, definitely check out Charlotte Beach’s latest Tour de Type column, as she interviews type designer Valeria Kokur.
Is green the new GLP-1 and/or protein bat signal? Because Campbell’s protein soups ditched the red for green, which looks all kinds of wrong to me.
Dudes remain the easiest marks on the planet. Also, this ad wasn’t even remotely necessary, other than courting controversy (which I suppose is the point when you bring in a Sweeney..and her defense of invoking the ESPN Body Issue completely misses the point) and presenting another opportunity for women in sports to be sexualized. Incidentally, all adverts for sports betting apps should be illegal. I don’t know if there will ever be any meaningful regulatory push against the likes of DraftKings, but every celebrity who has endorsed them should be shamed and ridiculed.
10-bedazzled-gun salute to Bob Mackie, one of the best to ever do it. Actually saw the Elton John Dodger Stadium get-up at an exhibit on baseball jersey design, and it’s just as sequined and silly and wonderful as you would think it is in person.
Shocker: the NOT Dr Pepper that prefers the Mr honorific is the fastest-growing in 2026.
-Bill