TSmithCreative

Class Portfolio from Packaging Design, Spring 2010

Printing Methods: Color Laser, Serigraphy, Spraypaint

Design Applications: Photoshop CS4, Illustrator CS4, some InDesign CS4

Typefaces: Harlem Slang, Korean Calligraphy, Neutra Face, Interstate, Bull Inked, Disturbance, Deli Deluxe, Univers

My Packaging Design class this spring explored 6 different assignments:

1. Packaging a Pineapple in an Eco-Friendly Way – Despite my original question of how to eco-friendly package a product that is traditionally unpackaged, I ultimately decided to use a band of natural gum rubber (which is both reusable degradable) around the fruit. It was silkscreened (the color accent in the logo was added using Photoshop) inside and out. The inside has potential re-uses for pieces of various sizes and gridlines for cutting.
2. Rebrand the local Chinese dive – New Hong Kong is a favorite among my friends in that “it’ll probably cut years off our lives, absolutely delicious, greasy yet satisfying, cheap cash only” kind of way, so I was really excited when that became an assignment. Using a heavily altered stock photo of Hong Kong and setting it against a photo I took years ago at the Forbidden Gardens in Katy, Texas, it visually compares the new and the old of China and can be printed economically in two colors.
3. Self-Promo Piece – Self-promotion is terribly difficult. Knowing how crowded stacks of portfolios can become, I decided to reposition my work to the break room. I put my work on coasters where a hypothetical potential employer could protect his tables by looking at my work every time he or she sets down the coffee mug. The set comes wrapped in a colored resume (it will likely be torn like wrapping paper) and another copy of the resume inside.
4. Down Under Wine – An Australian wine imported through Crane Lake Winery in California was selected to be redesigned. Knowing that the price per bottle could likely only cover its shipping costs, I opted for an accessible, entertaining, and touristy motif using the stereotypical Kangaroo crossing sign common in that country.
5. Packaging an Emotion – Guest Artist Winston Peraza, Creative Director at Cubic Creative, visited and declared our next assignment: package an emotion. I immediately decided to explore curiosity, but that slowly morphed into that darker curiosity. The reason that idiot in the horror films goes out into the woods without a flashlight. The feeling that Lesley Ann Warren (Ms. Scarlet, Clue, 1985) had when she opened that black box and said, “A candlestick? What’s this for?” The fact that my xacto knife looks pretty scary also made it a little easier. I carved the middle pages out of a sketchbook to hide the knife and designed a book jacket to describe the product. Though as Winston and I both agreed, I could have simply left it in a black book simply marked, “You’ll need this.”
6. Package a Flash Drive for a One-Time Promotion – The “DataCap” by “Technocrat” needed packaging for a one-time promotion. To stand out from the usual, I opted for a more organic, vintage appearance, but still kept some more technical looking accents.