Comments on: Controversial Packaging

By: SPS

SPS — Sat, 29 May 2010 07:39:53 +0000

You are so very right. But sadly that’s not the world we live in today. If you show a poster you did for a Pro-Choice group, you may seriously offend someone. That person may be an amazing boss who is very kind and talented — but is 100% Pro-Life. If you are as equally qualified as the person you are up against for the job, who do you think they are gonna pick? Your subconscious comes into play more then you know. So it’s better to be aware of these things and not let emotion get in the way. Thanks for the comment!

By: aj

aj — Tue, 18 May 2010 16:59:18 +0000

Hmm. I can see both sides of this actually.

On one hand maybe you don’t necessarily agree with the product or service you designed for, but you were able to come up with a portfolio-worthy piece from it. If you sense that it’s a controversial piece, why not bring it up in the in-person interview, then you can explain your choice.

On the other hand, I can see where the people in the conversation were coming from. I too am politically polar opposite from a number of people I work with and well… there are just some conversations we can’t have. it can be uncomfortable!

By: Steve

Steve — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 05:16:16 +0000

Controversial packaging is most often a good thing in that it got attention. With such a short window of opportunity to grab someones attention in a retail enviroment, goal achieved. Good Design is good Design, whether you agree with the topic, product at hand, oh well.

By: Hal

Hal — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 22:52:58 +0000

I’d actually take this one step further and would like to encourage people to be a little more fearless.

To use your example if you’re interviewing for a package design gig and your portfolio contains a cigarette package design that is well executed, then you should absolutely include it in your portfolio because it’s relevant to the task at hand.

Any potential employer who would not hire you because they don’t like the product or service in your portfolio (rather than based on an evaluation of how well you executed the design) THEN YOU DON’T WANT TO WORK THERE and you’ve saved yourself months or years of misery!