JKR

Could Aristide Bruant be the father of shelf-blocking? He was a just another chansonnier in a crowded market, but he obviously had an eye for design. It was he who personally insisted on having his poster for a residence at the Ambassadeurs designed by Toulouse Lautrec (one of the artist’s first poster commissions). Lautrec stripped things to their essentials, and played up the singer’s dramatic red scarf. When the posters went up on the theatre, the less visionary owner described them as “pigwash” and ordered their removal. In a lovely piece of client/designer solidarity, Bruant countered “You leave it there. What’s more, stick it up on the stage on both sides. And if it’s not done by quarter-to-eight – eight’s no good  – I’ll chuck in my number and disappear”. Surrounded by his image, the reaction to his performance was an overwhelming success. The poster went up all over Paris, making his name and that of the poster designer.

Now, keeping things simple and striking might sound obvious. And that such an approach lends itself to fantastic results when shown in multiples equally obvious. But sometimes the obvious is easy to forget. The new design for Coco Pops might not be hanging in the Louvre in a century, but it has benefited from following this approach. While the old design was OK, its even arrangement of key elements did not add up to the power of the new one. The design focusses full bloodedly on the monkey, and so catches the eye brilliantly when blocked on shelf. The monkey might be no chansonnier, but a simple design gives him the room to be the star.