Above: A hat box with a wonderfully illustrated label. Click on the image to view an enlargement.
Just about the only thing I like better than "antique" typography is an "illustrated" typographical treatment. The line work in this beaver illustration is a mini masterpiece, right down to the scales on his plump yet flat tail.
Beaver Brand Hats is still in business. If you look at the photo at this link you'll see a box with their new stylized logo. I understand the need to update things, and to have your company graphics fit with the current taste (or to set a new taste). There's no getting around that in graphic design, I've been asked to do it myself with logo design.
But the new design went so far in its stylization that the lovely atmospheric quality around the moon and throughout the landscape is lost—flattened. The distant bank of trees takes on too much importance in the new version. The delicate and sensitive rendering of the beaver from the original is now only a mass of awkward shading. In short the notan is off. And notan matters in labels when you have one brief moment to attract the eye, and seduce and convince the shopper.
Maybe the next iteration will bounce back and recapture some of its lost glory. Maybe more modern eyes than mine perfer these changes.
Compare the two labels. Which era does your eye appreciate? It's useful information to have about what appeals to your eye.
