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: 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 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 3: Completed Sketches and WIP

The sketches are complete! The background image is the killjoys, and the overlay is the masks. I'm still not sure if I'm going to do just a silhouette of the masks or the entire thing.

 This is currently the WIP. It's going slowly, and I'm getting frustrated, but I'm keeping hope that I can finish this by Sunday night. 

Project 1 Final: Personal Logos

Illustrative Logo:

Typographic Logo:

Overall, I'm pleased with my first project. Already, through working on these logos, I've learned so much. It's not to say, however, that Illustrator and I don't have our problems. Especially copying problems. But still, I think I'm starting to like Illustrator. 

Out of these two logos, I really like the illustrative one. I generally like images that have a more pictorial quality to them, anyway, but it's a little mind-blowing to see what started off as a sketch got transferred to a computer and became an actual logo. I'm very excited to use this in the future as my brand, as something that stands for me.  

Project 1: Typographic Initials

Currently, I am trying to find the right colour scheme for my initials. I really like the various purples, and the way it looks like stained glass, but there's something that isn't quite right. Also, the colours don't translate as well onto blog. For example. in Illustrator, the top right set is violet. Here, it looks blue. 

I feel like I'm closer to what I want with the grey, red, black combination. I think I'm going to explore more greys and see what other combinations go together.

Project 1: Illustrative Initials

For my illustrative initials, I decided to take the key concept further and use bone characteristics for the "skeleton key".

After some sketches, I really liked where I was going with it, but I felt like something was off about the positioning of the initials. After a group discussion, we realised that the "B" and "F" were being read in two different directions, which throws the viewer off.So, I decided to rework it.

I ended up modeling the "key" after an arm bone. Even though the "B" is read backwards, all of the letters are read in a swooping up and down fashion, rather than the previous up and side way. 

I've now traced the outline onto Illustrator and will be working with it digitally.

Project 1: Thumbnail Final Decisions

In the end, I decided to work off of these two concepts. The typographic [left] has remained pretty much the same, but the illustrative [right] has a lot more edginess and bone-like appearance incorporated into it. 

Currently, I haven't really worked on the illustrative, and have been focusing more on the typographic since it seemed easier. But even in its "easiness", I've been having difficulties. I find Illustrator so finicky, especially if you don't know what you're doing and aren't sure what all the commands do. I'll do a set of commands on one variation and it works, but if I decide to adjust the colours in another one, it gives me lip and I have to work my way around it.

Difficulties of a Beginner

I have very little background knowledge in the the category of graphic design. Really, the extent of said knowledge lies in Photoshop, and even there, I only really know how to adjust the lighting and colour in a photo, maybe get rid of a blemish or two.

I didn't have time this weekend to work on my initials due to a thoroughly and previously planned engagement, and I was pretty bummed to have to wait until I got back. A battle was in store, for sure.

I tackled Illustrator for a ridiculous amount of hours just so it could do the simplest things. On the bright side, because of my repeated effort, I'm learning, and I'm already working on it a little bit faster. This week, I just gotta buckle down and give it all of my attention.