Hardened hack I may be, but even I was blushing this week when a Design Bridge trip to Sainsbury's backfired. Designers Peter and David had come up with arty two-tone judging cards to help a group of 12 elderly shoppers pick out examples of good and bad packaging in the store ­ all part of an exercise organised by Research into Aging on the problems caused to old people by ill-thought-out packaging. The two experts painstakingly explained that packaging must be "attractive", "functional" and "appropriate". I noted that legibility was a watchword in the "appropriate" section. But as the presentation went on I heard a chorus of voices say that the blue, lime, lilac, orange, yellow and white cards were impossible to read. Peter and David "Pikey" suddenly grew tired of the sound of their own voices and the pensioners swept off into the store to spend the £20 they'd each been given. It must be some consolation to the design boys that a sachet of Colman's Bake and Crunch which they had designed was selected from the plethora of identikit products and put in the top five examples of packaging back at their Clerkenwell offices. On to Planet Hollywood in London on Wednesday to the launch of Grocer TV where independent grocery's great and good rubbed shoulders with the PR luvvies. Funny how these media bashes bring out the worst in people. Wild horses wouldn't make me name the tired and emotional fmcg PR exec seen later near Leicester Square, briefcase open, papers flying into the West End wind, trying vainly to convince an innocent tourist that he should share his black cab to Holborn! {{COUNTERPOINT }}

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