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Packaging Design: Projects
VISC 525 Senior Problems | Projects | Schedule | Resources



Project One:
Movie Candy Packaging 

Duration: 4 weeks (August 22nd - September 15th)

Objective:In this project, students will explore the exciting realm of packaging design by creating a candy packaging concept inspired by a chosen movie. The project aims to develop students' skills in design research, concept ideation, moodboard creation, sketching, dieline adaptation, prototype creation, and presentation.

Steps:
  • Movie research and pootential tie-ins
  • Moodboard and associative word/name list
  • Concept sketching and dieline creation/refinement
  • Moodboards for 3 potential concepts
  • Final prototype design
  • Presentation and social media photos


Students can choose any movie for inspiration, but it should be approved by the instructor to ensure it aligns with the project objectives. Students can work with analog or digital sketching methods. You are encouraged to think creatively and consider both visual and thematic aspects of the chosen movie when designing the candy packaging.

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Project Two:
POP Display (Multiples) Art Supplies for Wonderfair

Objective: Redesign a packaging experience for a art/office supply/tool  or toy with consideration to it’s sustainability. In our throw-away society, manufacturers usually specify their packaging choices based on conventional sizes/materials or perceived budget restraints. Not often enough is consideration is given to the user’s experience of it, how it leverages their brand or how it impacts the environment.

Create a package that expresses how it looks, what is does, what it is like to use it. Pay specific attention to how the package holds the object (protect), shows the object (communicates a story) and is an extension of the experience (so someone can keep the package or be able to up-cycle it).

Designers can have a power impact on all phases of the user experience. Often our involvement is limited to the duties of creating graphics and specifying materials. This project is meant to challenge your design muscles and give you an opportunity to think up and down the entire design process. Research and concept are as the form of the design.

Homework: Visit any office supply and/or art supply store and audit 2-3 different products and their display. What needs a better package design or would be interesting to re-package. While at the store(s) that sell that product and document (photos) audit what’s out there:

Audit the package and the experience opening it by asking:

1. How they are packaged (materials, pieces)
2. What do they look like? (graphics, patterns, words)
3. What was it like to open it? (steps, easy, hard, need other tools to open)
4. What are the problems? (too much, plastic, better materials, simpler, etc)
5. What’s the potential? (goals, initial ideas, inspiration, etc)


List of potential objects:

Office:
Pens
Pencils
Highlighters
Markers
Erasers
Stapler
Staples
Paperclips
Tape dispenser
Plliers
Glue stick
Whiteout tape
Screwdriver
Screws
Post-it notes
Binder clips
Scissors
Ruler
Hole punch
Rubber bands
Push pins/Tacks
Ink pads
Magnets
Label maker
Correction fluid
Magnets
String
Phone charger Tape measure

Level
Art:
Acrylic paints
Watercolor paints
Colored pencils
Oil pastels
Charcoal pencils
Graphite pencils
Small Sketchbook
Paintbrushes
Protractor
French Curves
Palette knives
Linoleum blocks
Calligraphy pens
Fountain pens
Japanese Ink brushes
Charcoal sticks
Colored markers
Fixative spray
Drawing pens
Art erasers
Linoleum carving tools
Wood Block Carving tools
Modeling clay
Apple Pencil
Clay tools
Calligraphy/India ink
Artist's tape
Charcoal holders
Blending stumps
Xacto knives


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Project Three:
Subversive Packaging for Weird Collab
(ex. Mountain Dew Hotdogs, Martha Stewart Cannabis)

or


Retro Brand Revival (Like an Alternate Jerseys in Sports)

In this project, students will have the opportunity to explore an existing packaging design and find ways to give it new purpose. With regards to its environmental impact, its history and/or its relevance...this assignment aims to develop students' skills in brand analysis, design innovation, conceptual thinking, and the practical application of packaging design principles. 

Objective: Students will pick an existing brand and either revive and old version of the brand, redesign the brand or create a weird collaborative brand to apply to the new packaging. Since you will be using only the brand’s current existing packaging you will find creative ways to re-imagine both its construction and materials and its visual language. Students will make a suite of atleast 3-5 packages (example: a tray, a bag and a sandwhich wrapper or a hang tag, a shoe box and a pants pocket tag in order to see how the new concept plays out across multiple touchpoints.