A friend linked me to TheDieline.com a week or so ago, and I am really impressed with the site. Spotlighting interesting packaging design, The Dieline gives recognition to packaging that is innovative, attractive, or even just plain funny.

One recent post that caught my eye highlighted the work that the San Francisco-based firm office did for the new product line at the Pirate Supply store at 826 Valencia in San Francisco. 826 Valencia is a nonprofit writing tutoring center in the Mission District that Dave Eggers (of McSweeney’s) founded in 2002. Required by zoning to have a storefront, they opened a Pirate Supply Store as a kind of joke and were surprised to find that it actually started making money. The new packaging is quite piratical, and I hope it brings further success to the store (all proceeds go to support the tutoring center).

TheDieline has showcased a lot of great packaging lately, but this work was particularly notable for me because Dave Eggers gave our Baccalaureate address when I graduated from Brown. I really admire what he has done, both with McSweeney’s and with 826 Valencia and its offshoots. He has given a TED Talk on his initiative, which covers some of the same ground as his Baccalaureate address with only half of the nervousness—check it out!