FAMILY OF FISH
FALL 2022
TYLER SCHOOL OF ART
TYLER SCHOOL OF ART
KELLY THORN
Tinned fish is undeniably a packaging icon. With long traditions of beautifully designed cans in Spain, France, and Portugal, the fish tin has carried a sense of elegance for over a century.
With my sardines, I wanted to capture that same elegance and structure—a nod to its roots through typography—while introducing a contemporary surprise that sets the can apart from its more restrained neighbors on the shelf. That surprise comes in the form of a Sharpie-drawn, graffiti-style sardine, stamped right in the center of the tin. It’s paired with an additional hand-drawn graphic along the side to highlight each flavor or pairing. While some information is sacrificed from a single viewpoint, it reappears more clearly on another face of the can, creating a system that rewards interaction. Though slightly avant-garde, Family of Fish isn’t out of place among other specialty tinned fish brands. The contrast between refined, minimalist tins and more expressive, illustration-forward (almost craft beer–like) packaging is especially clear when browsing a boutique market—or, dare I say, a freaking Whole Foods.
That tension between tradition and experimentation, restraint and expression, is what turns packaging into art. It’s exactly what makes the tin such an exciting canvas. Family of Fish relies on taking a visual risk in order to attract an audience and pay off.