198. A Little Oatmeal.

I have to say that I like the packaging for Starbucks' The Perfect Oatmeal. It has a lot to do with the fact that this is a breakfast item they can do and do well - and the package is exactly as it should be. (You'd have to put a gun to my head to get me to buy a bagel at Starbucks, but I digress.) The Oatmeal comes in a sturdy little cup with a lid – think Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream cartons – and are designed with the fall in mind. I'm definitely swayed by their use of Clarendon (obviously a favorite typeface of mine) and i believe that's Mrs. Eaves being used generously, but the color palette and little details showed that somebody took a little extra time with it. The design team at Starbucks does a nice job generally, and this is no exception. And although I'm not sure that I'd call it perfect, the oatmeal wasn't bad either. (You can get it with berries or brown sugar for those interested.) Here are a few pics.

The Cup:

A Little Copy:

The Lid:

Update on Sep 24, 2008 at 08:21AM by jj

One of the millions of loyal graphicology readers - actually it was my sister - forwarded me this link about the apparent success of the oatmeal line at Starbucks. Read it here.

Comments

[Prescott Perez-Fox]

I'd like to take one step back and simply ask why Starbucks is selling Oatmeal? Considering the ongoing controversy with their new coffee blends and addition/removal of products overall, I wonder if adding breakfast foods is the solution they've been searching for.

While I agree that this is a smart little packaging design, I Starbucks should re-focus on coffee and let the other stuff stay where it belongs, the breakfast tables of households.

[jj]

Yeah, there are people arguing just that. In my opinion, all of their breakfast food stuff is awful. Bagels, muffins, scones, cake... in some locations they have gourmet breakfast sandwiches - definitely not focusing on their core product. I will say that Oatmeal makes the most sense because the only thing you need to do it well, is hot water; something that Starbucks can obviously pull off well, without sacrificing other initiatives. I agree with you, but if they are going to offer something to keep people from buying coffee there and skipping over to a breakfast place for food - this might be something that fits into their business model far better than a stale scone.