Good & Bad Design

After seeing this image of an Australian wine called Vinaceous I hated it, there was no design thought put into this other than an image that depicts some old time circus or freak show act. To add some frustration I was having a very hard time trying to put my thoughts together for this. There isn't much closure in this, when they are side by side they don't paint the picture of being part of anything. These bottles are interesting to look at yes, but they lack that special quality about them that makes it pop out at me, and if they were to be separate from each other I would not even notice they were part of the same collection. Unless I had some emotional connection with this brand I would probably not pick it up off the shelf any time soon.

Now here is a design that works very well. Yellowtail, another Australian wine has a great design from the logo to where the name is placed. Simplicity is one of the biggest reasons I believe this works so well. Aside from the kangaroo there is a solid background that compliments the color of the wine. The similarity of the different bottles works because when you look at the kangaroo you are going to remember that you have seen something like that and the more familiar someone is with a new product the more likely it is that you might buy it than something you don't know. 

I really believe that we are a society that judges from first looks and that the majority would choose the bottles with the kangaroo on them. I think that they carry a sense of legitimacy that the Vinaceous wine does not have. I would say that Vinaceous has a good sense of figure ground relationship because you can see the characters either standing or floating in some medium.