Side Salad: In Defense of the Pirate’s Booty Redesign
June 10, 2026
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.
Do I like the Pirate’s Booty redesign? I could give it the ol’ college try and put down a few hundred words on what works and what doesn’t, but ultimately, I’m not the intended audience. Here’s what I mean by that: I see the Pixarification of animation and illustration. It stands to reason that if your brand was founded in 1987, as Pirate’s Booty was, and you make a lunchbox staple for kids, you’re going to have an illustrated mascot that’s of its era. Think Toucan Sam and every other cereal mascot you’ve ever seen. Captain Bob had a MAD Magazine/Sergio Aragonés style, which made sense at the time. But if modernity is top of mind for the brand, then yes, you will try to match current animation styles to win over today’s kids. So while you might dislike the heritage-busting approach, it might actually make enormous sense for the market. It’s easy to dunk on this one, and I get that, but you’re not 7 years old either. This is likely fine, though I haven't checked LinkedIn in a few days for the DISCOURSE. That said, it does look like the eye patch switched sides in a side-by-side comp, and it feels worth pointing out. This is wildly offensive to the eyepatch community!
Beautifully designed box set from Penguin Random House compiling Ursula K. Le Guin’s Earthsea series. Worth remembering that JK, awful human being that she is, never had shit on Ursula and HER wizarding school...
Papa loves a good Iron Maiden-themed beer.
Good Nut is not a good brand name. But if it were anyone other than Tom Brady, I would probably give it a thumbs up. Such is life!
Hello Kitty SPAM coming in hot.
Noah Kahan isn’t really one of my guys, but his patch game is on point.
I genuinely don’t have much to say about the Barron Trump-backed yerba mate brand, Sollos, other than that I strongly disagree with the contention that there was no single beverage that really synthesized the “Florida lifestyle.” Young man, Four Loko exists. And have you ever danced to the Doobies with a Jack + Tab in hand? Your shocking lack of curiosity about the world around you is matched only by your father’s.
That’s all for today, kids. Have a DAY.
-Bill
The thing I never understand about brands that redesign after decades is that kids don't buy the products. Their moms do. The biggest goof besides switching the eye patch (why do that?) is getting rid of the signpost in favor of circles.