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Product
Overview
Corel Painter 6, the graphics software, comes packaged
in a paint-can. The unusual design effectively functions as a marketing
tool as it sets itself apart from other software packages, especially
those that come in rectangular boxes. The design choice to use a paint-can
as packaging adds ethos to Corel as the company shows its audience
its creative side to which a graphic product should indeed reflect.
Layout
Although information is arranged on the exterior of
a paint-can, the layout of information is similar to a layout of a
boxed software product. The front side of a boxed software product
contains the title information, whereas the backside contains a short introduction
to capture the audience's attention. Furthermore, there are side panels that
describe other related info (e.g. technical specifications). Similarly,
one side of the paint-can functions as the "cover", whereas the opposite
side operates as the "back". Furthermore, images are aligned to an
"imagined" edge of the paint-can label, which allows room for two
side "panels" for technical specifications, the UPS barcode, and highlights
of key features.
Typography
Corel plays with the design principles of using san-serif
and serif fonts in the text. Conventionally, headers use san-serif
fonts, whereas body text use serif fonts. However, Painter 6 does
the opposite: the titles use serif fonts, which portray a sense of
absoluteness and authority, whereas the body text gives a friendlier
tone. Additionally, the titles are all in uppercase, which draw attention
to it and is clearly visible from quite a distance. Consistency of
font face is evident through both titles; however, the font style
is slightly different. The shadowed versus the normal style and font
size of "Painter 6" differentiates the importance of each title, which
tells the user that the shadowed font style and bigger font size is
a part of the "front" cover.
Lists
Corel effectively uses consistent bullets for its unordered
lists to depict key features and the system requirements for the Painter
6 software. One issue that was raised in lecture recently is that
designers often leave a wide space between the bullet and the text,
which interrupts related information. Unfortunately, Corel makes a
similar design choice (although I probably would have not noticed
the professor had not brought it to my attention).
Vectors
In the Rhetoric of Text and Image design course,
we learned that vectors play a large part in directing the audience's
focus to a particular part of a product. The paintbrushes act as a
vertical vector, creating a slimmer vertical height of the can and
also directing the eye to the title, "Painter 6". The backside of
the paint-can has a similar effect. The paintbrush that the soldier
is holding almost seems to point to the body text, and thus effectively calling
attention away from the images.
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