The nutritional label printed on most packaged foods in the United States is one of the more iconic bits of government-mandated design out there. With the news that the FDA is, after years of demands from nutritional experts, redesigning the label , we were curious about how professional designers would react to the proposed new look. The new design simplifies and magnifies the calorie count, moves the percent daily value to the left side of the column, and includes a space for “added sugar.” Here’s who we asked about the changes:

Tobias Frere-Jones is one of the world’s leading type designers. He teaches at Yale and lives in Brooklyn. Stefan Sagmeister has created album covers for the Talking Heads, Brian Eno, and The Rolling Stones, and was a frequent artistic collaborator with Lou Reed. Bonnie Siegler is a founder of design studio Eight and a Half, which has worked with everyone from the Criterion Collection to the Brooklyn Public Library to Late Night With Seth Meyers.

Left to Right: Tobias Frere-Jones, Stefan Sagmeister, Bonnie Siegler

Co.Design: What are your overall impressions? Is this an improvement?

Tobias Frere-Jones: It’s as stark and as dowdy as before, but that’s actually a good thing. It creates a blunt contrast with the surrounding package, so consumers can locate this label no matter what. That was a remarkable achievement the first time around, and this proposal does well to preserve it.

The FDA never specified Helvetica, using it only as an example, but it was a good choice and it still is. Helvetica tastes like authority, like confirmed fact. We need to feel trust when we get a second opinion on our food.





Stefan Sagmeister: I always thought of the existing label as one of the best pieces of government communication. The new one is even better.

Bonnie Siegler: This is a nice big baby step in the right direction. The original label was not designed for consumers, but rather as compliance with the FDA. Now, consumers reference the sticker all the time, but it is still following the same “not for consumer” model.