Project 5: Final Presentation

Project Brief: 

This project is a redesigning of a Thai snack called Golden Flute Wafers. Usually, Asian snack boxes are known to be cute and interactive. The shapes tend to be interesting and go beyond the generic solid four-sided box. This box, however seemed so bland as compared to the rest. I feel the packaging did not do the product justice as it did not advertise what it was selling in a comprehensive and appealing manner. The mascot was vaguely representative of a boy, and he swung on a random rope. In my design, I kept the focus on the box on the boy, but redesigned him in a more traditional “kawaii”, or “cute”,  style.

The product is reminiscent of a take-out box that we associate with Asian food. The shape is interactive and has a Velcro flap at the top. The original package does not provide the ability to save its product for later consumption. I like it when boxes allow you to do that, so with the combination of the flap and Velcro, you can carry your wafers around and save them for later. The handle at the top also allows you to transport your snack with ease. If you have your hands full, but a few fingers available, you can hook your finger through the handle and carry it with you.

The original box was made in a way where it was hard to read the product company and name. I took the distracting wafers down by scale and moved them towards the bottom of the box in a way that it can be read as the background, and left enough breathing room for the font to be read. I thought it was vital to keep both the Thai and English labels for the box, and so I redesigned them in a more subtle and appealing way with different fonts for the different languages.

The color scheme was also changed. Originally, the box is bright green with yellow and brown accents. Thailand’s flag colors are blue, white, and red. With this thought in mind, I changed the scheme to have a dominant blue color with accents of red and white, as well as yellow, black, and brown. Another factor that influenced my color choice was the association of blue, white, and brown to the flavor of coconut. I looked through other packages that have coconut flavored items (Almond Joy, Mounds, Oikos), and followed the pattern.

Project Board:

Project in 3D: 

Project 5: Prototype

Gonna head off to the digital aquarium and see if they can print this full size!

Also might buy some velcro. To keep the lid down.

Project 5: WIP Progress

Progress of the package. It's a little hard to align the text and images properly since the box tapers. I'm probably going to do a few test runs before going to the lab or digital aquarium. 

I have a few sheets of bristol board with 100 pound weight that I think I'm going to print on. 

Project 5: WIP

I still have a while to go, but I'm liking where it's going! The shape is interactive, much like the Asian snack boxes are, and the mascot is so much cuter [in my opinion]. Much better to the eye.

Back to work!

Project 5: Sketches

I've been trying to draw different versions and poses of the Golden Time mascot. The original pose on the left seems so awkward both on the box and drawn, that I decided to change it. I also think I like the face of the standing mascot.

This is what I have so far as the design for the new package. I'm going to work on it later today and see how the layout will accept the designs.

I'm not sure what fonts I'm going to be using but I do know I have to trace the Taiwanese characters in Illustrator.

Now, I feel like I'm getting somewhere!

Project 5: Boxes Continued

The good news is I found an alternative template and it works! The annoying news is I can't figure out how to fold or glue the bottom, so I'm going to have to experiment.

Now I need to blow this up on bigger paper and try to make a bigger version! 

Next up, WIPs of the design.

Project 5: Boxes

So, the impossible box tutorial is a flop. It works fine if you want the box to be in a cube, as such:

But when I changed the measurements to be the size of the original box, it just wouldn't fold. I had a feeling it wouldn't, but I wanted to make sure. This was the result:

Back to the drawing board. I have another template I found that I'm going to try. If it doesn't work either, then I just might change the packaging to be in the shape of a cube.

Project 5: Update

I am so sorry! I thought this Thanksgiving break would be great for me to tackle this project, but then I had other assignments that were due sooner, so I put them ahead on the priority list and finished them first!

This last week is going to be overwhelming, but now that I've got some of the due dates out of the way, I AM PREPARED!!!!

I was doing a mock up of the impossible box last time, and it worked in a perfect cube fashion. Right now, I'm trying to see if it will work as a rectangle. If it doesn't, I think I'm just going to make the package a cube then. I've seen snacks sold in cubes! I have one in my room right now, so I think it will be appropriate. 

Tomorrow I am going to do sketches of the mascot, because, boy does he need to be changed. Hopefully I'll pull up a WIP tomorrow.

Until then!

Project 5: Package and Packaging

After this weekend, I decided to go with a snack box I found in H-mart [it's very similar to an Asian version of Wal-mart]. While Asian packaging is usually known for it's cuteness and craftiness, this package seemed to avoid those qualities:

The packaging isn't so bad, but it's not creative, either, so I want to work on that, if I can. I actually browsed through quite a few packaging templates, and found two that I like. I haven't really gone through the tutorials, yet, so that's my next step in trying to figure out if this will be an actual thing I can do.

Here's one of the packages, called "the impossible box":

And another is one I found from Christmas-themed tag:

Tomorrow, I plan to bring paper, scissors, and glue, and it's gonna be a craft day!

Meanwhile, for the digital design aspect of the box, I haven't really thought of, yet. I know that I want to redo the mascot entirely, and give the English text a different font. The stripe across the box might be kept, however, as well as the original Thai characters.

Project 5: The Final Stretch

I must say, I'm feeling a little intimidated for this last project. I went over the project brief, and I'm about to go to the grocery store and look through some packages! Hopefully it'll give me some ideas about what I want to do...

Project 4: Book Cover Final

This is the final result to my book cover! I'm fairly satisfied with it, I just had problems with the font for the synopsis. I know it isn't the best font, but when I have more time, I will try to find a more fitting one. 

Other than that, I'm happy with it.

Now, onto the final stretch!

Project 4: Creative Brief

I will put up the finished product later in the day, but for now, I present to you the creative brief!

***

Neil Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book is about a boy named Bod who grows up amongst supernatural creatures—his adoptive ghost parents, vampire caretaker, werewolf educator, and witch friend all help the toddler grow into a fine young man. Meanwhile Jack—the man who murdered his human family—is on the loose and in search of him. The readers get to witness and, in a way, simultaneously experience Bod’s life lessons as he learns them. Neil fills the pages with spooky adventures, tender moments, and rich characters.

In my cover illustration, I reference Bod’s adventures with the ghouls and their way to Ghûlheim. Throughout the book, there are many important moments that helped Bod develop a sense of self. However, it’s through the ghouls that he learns to distinguish good beings from bad. He also begins to understand the importance of memories. I find this to be a pivotal point that gets to the core of the novel and exhibits what the book is about.

Because of the macabre nature of the book I find a cut-out silhouette approach to be appropriate. The ghouls areunappealing, shriveled and ragged; I treated the ghouls with rough cuts to their clothing and enveloped them in wispiness to convey the idea that they are spirits. Bod, however, is a living boy, and so he’s represented as a solid being. The scene is the tail end of the ghoul gate (which is surrounded by a wall of graves) that leads into the desert trail to the crooked ghoul city Ghûlheim. Even though the scene is a scary moment for Bod and the readers, it still maintains wit and a child-like quality with it. With these factors, I tried to incorporate those ideas into the cover with the handwritten font and the simple details into the graves and desert.

Project 4: WIP

Currently, I'm working through the base layers, trying to decide if the graveyards will be one big silhouette or many separate ones that are layered over each other. 

We'll see what I come up with. 

Project 4: Sketches and Scan For Cover

Last week, I was collecting information for the book cover. I didn't have my book with me, so it was a little difficult to find text online. But, I managed. So, here's a page of mostly writing. I divided the scenes, the ghouls, their mannerisms, and Ghulheim.

Then, I did start sketching out vague ideas. They're very light, so I had to mess with the midtones and contrast and brightness. Apologies for the wonkiness. 

Today, I finally figured out how I want the cover to be. I think I also want the illustration to kind of be a wrap around, so the graves continue on the back cover, underneath the synopsis.

I want the illustration to be made up of mostly silhouettes, and if I figure it out, make the ghouls kind of wispy and see-through.

The description for this scene is that the ghoul gate is met with a wall of graves. eventually the wall ends and an open desert is met, scattered with bones and rocks. The sky is a sickly red and the sun is small, cold, distant. The three ghouls toss Bod back and forth and the make their way over the graves and road. 

Project 4: Update

I'm so sorry, guys! Blogging totally slipped my mind last week. I think it's just from the workload that's recently kind of been extra heavy. 

I unfortunately have anything that I'm willing to show, yet, because of said workload, but! After everything today, it just got a little lighter, so I'll be working on it diligently until critique day Thursday.

Here's what I can tell you about the book cover:

I've acquired a book with the right measurements to use for the critique. I've also figured out what I want on the cover. I've narrowed it down to Bod and the ghouls. It will either be the scene where the ghouls are flying and carrying Bod between them, or it'll be the other scene where they are all huddled around a fire, and Bod is looking up to the sky in search of night gaunts.

Here are some of the artists' renditions of the ghoul [UK and US book versions]:

Project 4: Influences and Synopsis

Synopsis:

It takes a graveyard to raise a child.

Nobody Owens, known as Bod, is a normal boy. He would be completely normal if he didn't live in a graveyard, being raised by ghosts, with a guardian who belongs to neither the world of the living nor the dead. There are adventures in the graveyard for a boy—an ancient Indigo Man, a gateway to the abandoned city of ghouls, the strange and terrible Sleer. But if Bod leaves the graveyard, he will be in danger from the man Jack—who has already killed Bod's family.

I've been poking around the internet, looking at what other people have done, and I've come across some lovely things! Photos, sketches, paper cutouts...

I'm trying to decide what scene I want to focus on as the cover art. There are so many pivotal moments that people have captured, but there are also these tiny moments in the book that I enjoy, like when Bod befriends the witch, or when Silas brings Bod food from town. So many ideas..

Project 4: Book Covers

The book I want to do for the next project is called The Graveyard Book and it's by the wonderful Neil Gaiman. I love all of his works, there isn't a single terrible one; or if there is, he's very good at hiding it.

But The Graveyard Book. It's my favourite one. This is the cover that I've always been used to: 

US version

I did some research, and there a great many of covers! Like the:

UK version

Alternative adult version

Alternative US version

And another

Special Edition version

With pages that have alternative covers in them

Yet, another alternative [I'm not sure if this one is a real cover, though]

Then, we go into international quarters.

Polish version

Italian version

French version

Another French version

Chinese version

Russian version

Lastly, there are the fan-made versions!

It seems I'm not the only one who loves The Graveyard Book. There are a lot of sources and influences for me to look through, which is awesome, and hopefully ideas will start going through my head.