Japan -

D-Barcode is a company in Japan that has found a trendy design niche that apparently, companies are paying big money for. The Barcode has become an invisible (but necessary) element in all universal packaging design. Until now, no one has dared to add any flare to this series of random lines. The results are really quite charming:

“…They’ve even begun selling their wares to anyone who wants to license them, starting at $1,500 for the design, and $200 a year for licensing. A custom or exclusive use code will run upwards of $4,000–but given that companies spend millions on designing a single package, why don’t we see more detailed thinking like this? Middle managers spend weeks arguing about kerning–it’d be better if they spent more time rethinking every inch of such highly prized real estate.”

Here is another gallery of great bar code designs.

Source: Fast Company