Good Design and Bad Design

Over the weekend I visited ULTA, (a beauty and cosmetics store) and I caught myself laughing at some of the perfume bottles on display right as you walk in the store. Because of this, I decided to use perfume bottles for my good and bad design comparison. 

Vera Wang Princess

and

Nicki Minaj Minajesty

Both of these perfumes are priced at $50 or more, and were actually found very near each other on the women's perfume display at ULTA. Which indicates that each perfume is trying to target the same demographic, women shopping at ULTA who are willing to fork out at least $50 for 1.7 ounces of perfume. Generally when they group perfume in a store like this, they group perfumes that have the same "notes" together. So that women will pick up multiple perfume in a given section because they all have similar notes but each one is different. These perfumes are also supposed to be, "fun and flirty." 

For these two perfumes, I am going to analyze the light, shape, color, balance and law of simplicity.

Light: 

Princess is in a transparent bottle, and it's kind of hard to see in the picture, but the bottle is actually faceted (like diamonds are) to reflect light and make the bottle look prettier. Minajesty used a mixture of shiny plastic and metallic paint to make it reflective. (and if the sun hits it just right, it might blind you.) 

Shape: 

The Princess bottle is heart-shaped, and fits perfectly in your hand when you go to spray it. The Minajesty bottle is awkward, because you have to take Nicki Minaj's head off to spray it, and the bottle doesn't feel like it naturally belongs in your hand when you hold it. Rarely do I buy a perfume bottle that is really awkward to use. 

Color: 

The Princess bottle's glass is clear, but the perfume itself is purple. The purple with the gold on the crown-shaped lid topper go together nicely and looks sophisticated. Minajesty is a different story, we have gold metallic, pink, black, red, a second gold, as well as silver going on here. In my opinion it's a bit busy when you first look at it. 

Balance: 

Despite the many differences between these two perfume bottles, I believe they are both pretty symmetrical as far as the bottle shape and artwork goes.

Law of Simplicity: 

The overall design of Princess is simple, and it's heart shape, curved lines and facets make it look feminine and sophisticated. While Minajesty is balanced as far as symmetry goes, with all of the different colors and shiny-ness, it makes it look busy and complicated. This makes it look childish and not sophisticated at all.