PACKAGING YOURSELF

Brief

In this assignment you will use vectors to create an illustration of an original product box with graphically designed packaging, such as a soap box, cornflake box, washing powder box etc, substituting your name for the product name.

You will research the context of your design before you begin the design process.

You will use a range of Adobe illustrator techniques and processes to make the image of the box in a three dimensional space, then you will rework and resave your file into other sizes and formats for various forms of output.

Research package product design and graphic design.

Research the use of flat colours and gradients in this kind of design. Choose one or two product designs and focus on the way they work. Investigate and itemise the colours of different elements in the design and their relationship to one another. Create sets of swatches which work in similar ways to the colours of the design you are looking at.

Make particular study of the typographic elements:

How are the faces arranged and separated by function in the design?

Which colours are repeated and how does the work of the coloured typefaces differ from that of the black printed text?

How is the logo strengthened in typographic and graphic design?

How many distinct font faces and weights are used?

Create a box with your name as the brand

Create a comparative brand identity to the design you have studied. Do not exactly replicate this design but generate a new one which works in a similar way and adopts similar values and formulations. You should mimic the parts and functions of the packaging designs you have researched e.g. appropriate strap line, product details, serials, bar coding etc but not exactly replicate them in their particular, unique, forms.

Build a scaled down version of the package you have researched. Create six individual faces for the six sides of the box, then create a 3D representation of your package. Create a backdrop with a blended shadow to present the 3D representation of the box.

Use a range of Illustrator techniques to create the designs for your box sides, including: blends, appearances, masking, outlining, transforming, pathfinder filters, clipping groups, filters, effects and styles

Save all versions of working files and produce a folder of six finished flat sides in .AI and PDF formats. The PDFs should be print friendly, i.e. high quality A4 PDF files.