Product Design Gets Wilder, Faster

Commercial product design is being overhauled faster and faster as brands compete in a fragmented market. The Internet and cable TV have diluted the effectiveness of advertising campaigns, and companies are spending more money on engaging design to win customers: Pepsi, for one, is rolling out a new can every few weeks this year. The Times takes a look.

Products that have struggled to gain traction in the expanded media marketplace are asserting themselves on the shelves more loudly, not to say obnoxiously. In the pipeline from designers are new talking packages, which hold implanted speakers will that harangue shoppers with advertising as they navigate the aisles. (More advertising stories.)