A software developer making tools for for other developers wanted a striking visual identity for his company and a range of packaging for his software. Tamarack Associates was creating a suite of specialty components for the Delphi environment, starting with a lightning-fast search engine called Rubicon.

I suggested branding these as “Tamarack Tools” and adopting a distinctive vintage look that would be decidedly different from other developers. We had on the software box, which read “Here’s your Tamarack Toolbox” and featured a workman with a toolbox and floppy disk (this was back when software still came on floppies).

Before downloading became the prevalent installation method, software was usually sold in boxes, either in stores or through the mail. Instead of putting a software box inside a shipping mailer, I used one box for both, with a large branded label used to close the box for mailing, and a tab locking flap to close it for permanent storage on a shelf.

Floppy labels were printed without the software name — just the company branding — so the developer could add new Tamarack Tools and laser print the name of whatever software he was shipping at the time.