Sugar Specs, 1958

This 12-ounce, 29-cent box of crystal sprinkles is interesting in its own right, from the messaging (“Kids love ’em on cereals! Unique in the sugar bowl!”) to the packaging (the cellophane glasses would’ve revealed a colorful mix of sprinkles inside the box). But what makes this box of Sugar Specs particularly notable is that it ties in with some significant design history.

The packaging comes from the firm of Brooks Stevens, one of the giants of twentieth-century industrial design. Brooks Stevens designed more than 3,000 products in his lifetime, ranging from automobiles to household appliances to corporate logos, and left “an indelible mark on the everyday gadgetry of American life” (source). His work includes the logo for Miller beer, the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile, and the Harley Davidson Hydra-glide motorcycle.

A similar box of Sugar Specs is part of the Brooks Stevens collection at the Milwaukee Art Museum. The design is dated 1958, so I think we can reasonably put a similar date of origin on this box.