Extant Delicacies. From the shores beyond the continental US, I bring you three new pieces of Extant Design. In a gourmet grocery in the Pike Place Market, I found Celles sur Belle butter. In a Hispanic market also in the Market, I found Goya Flan. And from a British import shop somewhere in downtown-Seattle-office-complex-ville, it’s Tunnock’s Tea Cakes.

Outdated Label Design from
the Reunified Germany
(ca. 2003)

DDR-era Soda

Extant DDR. The particular circumstances of the DDR (Deutsche Demokratische Republik, or East Germany) meant little focus on marketing and little attention on design. Even before the fall of the Berlin Wall, some of this design began to be recognized. The show Design in der DDR in Stuttgart in 1988 was perhaps the first recognition of extant design. Taschen puts out two books (with nearly the same content) of some of these Wall-era products: the smaller but newer DDR Design and the larger SED: Stunning Eastern Design. If you’re looking for more instant DDR gratification, the website DDR Alltagskultur (Everyday DDR Culture) provides images for an amazingly wide (and still growing) list of East German products. The site is in German, but language skills are not necessary to enjoy the design, just scroll down in the lefthand frame. Language skills may be needed to enjoy all of the books on their Buchtip(p)s pages. I plan on purchasing one or two in the hopes that they’ll include plenty of color pictures. Finally, a key to the images: on the left is the East German Club-Cola (now available again [de] for those with Ostalgie). On the right is the modern (but still very Extant) Pepsi Schwip Schwap[de] (a German cola/orange drink, not unlike OK Soda). Poor Schwip Schwap seems to be heavily outmarketed [de] by Coca-Cola’s Mezzo Mix [de].

1957

2000

The Legacy of a Label.The image on the left is a Durkee’s Mayonnaise label in 1957. The image on the right is a Durkee’s Mayonnaise label in Japan in 2000. As you can see, very little has changed in 43 years. There are so many things to love about that label, Extant Design-wise, from the plain white space to the very odd font to the gold foil with blue grid label. The label on the right is courtesy Sue’s Mayomania (in Japanese, but once again, you can enjoy pictures even without the language — you will, however, have to click randomly). While Durkee’s Mayonnaise has long since disappeared from the US market, it was still being made for export to Japan. Sadly, the Durkee’s brand seems to have disappeared and has been replaced with Lightship instead.

A Fresh Helping of Extant Design from Seattle. Rcent grocery store explorations in Seattle have netted me a new batch of products with Extant Design. Some have come from one particular Safeway, others from corner stores. Neither, strangely, came from my local QFC, or earlier, the Safeway that I frequented. Some of these products are easily found in this area, while others are, I think, fairly unique finds. I’ve also added some explanations about Extant Design, and I’ve created thumbnails to help browse the ever-growing gallery.

Packaging.
I’ve slaved over a hot scanner for *you*. Check out old product packaging from the 50s and 60s, including some background on the classic Extant packaging, Jiffy (then|now). Also included is some sample packaging (no such product actually existed) for a daisy-themed muttarbargerine, a bit like the Nucoa below.

Seattle Sign Slides.
On August 14th, I shot some of the signs of Seattle on a roll of Kodachrome. The film was sent to the last Kodachrome processing center in the world, in Dalandzadgad, Outer Mongolia. They tell me the film makes a torturous trek by bus, mule, and bicycle to a little photomat in a mud hut on the edge of this Gobi Desert town. OK, maybe it wasn’t quite that bad, but from what I understand, Kodachrome processing is only done by a few places, one in Kansas and one in Switzerland. I was under the impression that Fuji sent film to Kansas and Kodak to Switzerland. I used Kodak, but it hardly seems like it took long enough to go to Switzerland and back.
I shot on two Seattle streets, Lake City Way and Ranier Ave. Lake City Way had a definite ‘highway town’ sort of feel and Ranier was more of an aging urban neighborhood, but both had some nice signage of similar vintage.

Plus de margarine.
At a grocery store in Greenwood, I found yet another example of Extant Design, and, quelle surprise, it’s a margarbutterine. I’m amazed at how one particular foodstuff can defy design updates for so long. Are people fiercely loyal to their margarine/butter that no amount of flashy packing could lure them away? Are people such disengaged butter/margarine consumers that they just grab the closest thing on the shelf? Has anyone on the entire planet besides me noticed this? If so, do they care?