An introduction to North Korean graphic design

Good question! Perhaps those products are made for foreign markets too.

I also found it strange and surprising, especially with how prominent the English is on the labels. If it is due to being sold in foreign markets, which most likely have competition, then the point of the labeling not being used to promote the product due to lack of competition seems to be somewhat contradictory. Although the point about the labeling supporting North Korea being the best Korea still stands. I wonder if designers or approvers consider and balance the domestic and foreign labeling goals.

I also wonder how many North Korean's know English and what they think about the English being on the labels.

Most of the products you see in this book are specifically manufactured to be sold in shops where foreign tourists are taken. Tourists have virtually no access to the shops ordinary Koreans would go, and the opposite is also true: ordinary Koreans in most cases would simply not be allowed entry to the shop for foreigners, and they would have no Western currency to use in those stores anyways. So the English on all labels is easy to explain: people making that book mostly had access to a specially prepared versions of any product.

"Muji is a successful Japanese brandless shop where I get my clothes. We have generics drugs that are less expensive. I think a brandless Walmart would be successful too, for those who refuse to be brainwashed."

This is one of the appeals of Marks & Spencer, who are one of the last survivors of the old British department stores. They sell clothes and food, all almost entirely their own-brand products, which are not cheap but are good quality. You can go into an M&S and buy essentials just by collecting the things on your list, without ever having to choose between brands.

I don't know if it's the case in other countries, but in France, most supermarket chains have their own "budget" brand which are generally quite explicit/generic in term of packaging.

Here is the label of the tin I ate yesterday for example:

https://image.ibb.co/kCxA0b/IMG_20171008_094309.jpg

no product name, just the composition of it.

Even the color are meant to associate to the composition (green -> little peas, pink/red -> bacon, white -> onions, orange -> carrots).

And a realistic photo of what to expect.

The ironic thing about Muji is everything I come across there costs 50-100% more than branded products I see elsewhere. Single serving packets of curry for 800 yen? Basic shirts for 3000 yen? No thanks.

In the US in the 70s-80s this used to be a thing:

http://gbnfgroceries.blogspot.com/2014/01/from-misc-foods-ai...

There were actually a few no-brand brands from supermarket chains like this that I can recall.

> brandless packaging

I stayed in Yanggakdo International Hotel on Yanggak Island in the river Taedong in Pyongyang on a tour, and there were two restaurants, and they were called "Restaurant 1" and "Restaurant 2". I found that quite refreshing.

Canada has this, with amazing stark-yellow packaging and big black Helvetica nouns:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_Name_(brand)

This is still a thing in U.S. grocery stores, it's just that they have "store brand" generic products. For instance in Costco they sell "Kirkland brand". These generics are usually a good deal in terms of quality for price.

NK seems like a living time capsule of that era.

It’s hard to find good reproductions of art sometimes because they want you to buy the book :-)

I agree. I find them better than many modern American designs.

Compare the North Korean peas to a modern American label

NK: https://s3-eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/centaur-wp/creativerev...

American: https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSnVKbi...