Exercise: Biscuit Packaging

Exercise: Packaging

This exercise asked me to produce a series of illustrations for packaging to be used for a new range of organic biscuits. The first thing I did was use Trello to map out an action plan.

Trello really helps me to keep organised and stay on top of everything, it is even more helpful to break things down into small steps. I can then drag the smaller steps into a completed list.

The first thing I did was do some initial research on current biscuit packaging, I have to say I was left rather uninspired.

Lots of the big name brands use large images of their product or just recognisable branding for example Jaffa Cakes. Now whilst this is incredibly well developed marketing I looked to other sources for inspiration. 

I went onto behance and I found this awesome sushi packaging. I love the bright colours and how everything is just so fresh and vibrant. The biggest takeaway for me is how well they have used the space, I love how the whole packaging becomes their canvas, after looking at this I was eager to incorporate that into my own work.

This shampoo branding caught my eye because of how playful it is, It also has a series of different characters all representing different scents and products. I loved how each character had a recognisable personality whilst being consistent with the branding and art style, I wanted each of my characters to have that.

I saved this packaging for much of the same reasons, I like how the whole box is a canvas and plays out a scene.

I then made notes within my sketchbook. 

The next thing I did was to create a mindmap for the word organic, I read back through my brief and knew that organic was one of the key words, especially from my perspective. I feel like one of the biggest selling points of the product would be that it is organic so I wanted to capture that within my design.

I visited the following website. http://dcp-uk.co.uk/7-packaging-design-trends-2018/

On the website there was a section about 'Nature'.

To convey the natural ingredients and organic nature of products designers are capturing that with graphics showcasing nature and the origins of the product. I was really inspired by the vibrant botanical nature of these BeNatural cereal bars. 

I then started doing a bit of character design to come up with my 3 prehistoric illustrations. I chose a Saber Tooth Tiger, Wolly Mammoth and a Dodo. I used google to gather reference images of the animals. I went back to the research I gathered specifically the Monster Shampoo packaging to come up with some stylised versions of the animals. 

I was at work on my break when I decided to do some more sketching, instead of sketching in my sketchbook I used my ipad.

From this brief sketching session I actually came up with a lot of the ideas I used within my final piece, for a starters I wanted to steer away from conventional biscuit packaging so I opted for something square instead. I also started to consider how I was going create a scene within my packaging. My thought process was that because I had abstract animals and abstract setting would work perfectly. So I started sketching out some windy abstract trees.

Because this exercise was based around children I wanted to market towards them, going back through the brief it tells me I need to decide whether to market towards Pester Power or to both parties. Now I decided I was going to market towards both. Parents want whats best for their child and my cookies will stand apart from the rest because of the organic nature which I wanted to push however I have done it in a way where it is appealing to children with the vibrant abstract nature.

When I got home I went to my sketchbook and produced some sketches based on the sides of the box, I wanted to use all the box as my canvas as per my research and to do that I used the top of the box as the tree canopy. 

The next thing I did was to develop a colour palette, the brief states that each flavour should be represented by colour. I used adobe colour to source the botanical green colours.

I then uploaded my sketches to procreate and produced full colour illustrations. I followed the style of my editorial image by getting rid of the black inking lines and just painting in colour.

I did actually attempt to outline the Dodo illustration, I have included a screen shot. I experimented with using navy lines instead of black outlines as I have seen examples in the past of this creating a much more appealing look especially for colourful illustrations it adds a much less harsher contrast.

Overall I am happy with the direction I went in I think it was a good decision not to outline.

After creating the illustrations for my characters I then went onto creating the illustrations for my cookies, I wanted them to have personalities and identifies of their own. So I used the same visual elements just to tie in the characters to the 3 flavours more.

Because my final design is going to be quite intricate I used procreate to map out all the layers, to keep a good hierarchy I wanted to have lots of different sized elements all directing the focus of the consumer to the middle. 

Choocolate Chip

Ginger

Raisin

I then produced the front visuals for each box of biscuits in full colour. I love how consistent each one looks given the flavour and how vibrant the colours work. Overall I was so happy with the results.

I then found a mockup for a square box. 

I then experimented with fonts to use on the front of the biscuits. 

What went well?

Overall I think this exercise was a success. My favourite thing was just how colourful and consistent everything felt, in my opinion each illustrations works well together as a set. I thought my research lead me down a really interesting path and through it I was able to develop something that really fits the brief.

What did I learn?

One thing I learnt from this exercise was how important it is to develop a solid colour palette. In terms of branding it helped me ideas to look focused and well thought out.


What could I have done better?

I feel like if I did this exercise again I would spend more time planning out the overall box, I feel like it was very much a case of piecing everything together. I would've liked to have had a sketch for each box in terms where the leaves and other elements would go, it just became quite random.