Ernie Ball Accessory Packaging
Aligning a contemporary visual language to a vibrant 1960's iconic brand.
Ernie Ball, the world’s leading manufacturer of strings and accessories, has been making high-quality electric guitar and bass strings since 1962.
Ernie first opened a guitar store in Tarzana, CA where he also offered guitar lessons to kids. Noticing they had problems bending the heavy gauge strings at the time, he pitched the idea to other companies to produce a custom gauge string pack that would be easier for his pupils to play.
When his idea was turned down by every other string manufacturer, he decided to do it by himself, creating what it would become the most selling guitar strings worldwide, trusted by players like Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton, Slash, Jeff Beck among others.
When Ernie first launched his line of guitar strings, he decided to use Day-Glo colors on the packaging to differentiate the gauges and to make his products stand out on the shelves. No other strings were doing that at the time, and this was the beginning of the psychedelic 60’s.
Pretty soon the neon colors were associated with his brand, standing alongside his logo, designed by no other than Robert Crumb. Ernie Ball products embraced the California culture of surfers and rockers. Ernie, his products and his design vision helped spread this lifestyle worldwide.
In the process of designing the new packaging, I wanted to keep the neon green and pink as the primary colors (the most popular string gauges, regular & super), maximizing the Ernie Ball logo and product name, and cleaning all other graphic elements to give a modern looking feel while still paying homage to the brand's history.
