Package Design

My last and final project for Art 322 is creating my own package design. I'm excited for this project because package design can be a fun and engaging way to promote a product. 

So for this stage that I'm in for the design process I've been doing a lot of researching and brainstorming since we can either create a whole new product or choose an existing product. The main focus on this project is that we need to have a product with a sustainable or environmentally friendly package design. 

The research I've been doing is simply googling "sustainable package design" and seeing all the different products that pop up to get ideas on what's all out there. I've also read some tips on sustainable package design from Packaging World's website. It was a lot of fun looking at the Dieline's package design directory and discovering the companies who are responsible for certain product designs. 

The idea I came up with for the product I want to create a design for is homemade body care products. The concept behind this product is that since it won't be factory produced and made it small batches, it will be sustainable to our environment and to ourselves since there won't be any chemicals in the product that you have no idea what they are! I will be creating products like body scrubs, bath bombs, shower steamers, and lip balms thanks to the recipes of Rustic Escentuals! The packaging will be made out of recycled paper materials but the way the packaging will be executed is still yet to be determined. 

I will post pictures of my sketches and more ideas to come! 

Handmade Calligraphy Book

For the next handmade book the theme is about early typography with calligraphy. My idea is to focus on the concept of illuminated letters and to learn more about it. 

     I decided on creating my own illuminated designs around each of the letters and the typeface I chose is Zenda, downloaded from Font Squirrel. 

     Here is my process so far: 

Zenda Typeface

                      

Inspiration for the material and cover design for my book.

Paper used is a heavy weight paper with torn edging. 

I traced the outline of letters with graphite tracing paper.

After tracing, I filled in the letter outlines with ink. 

I then painted a red border outside the letter, filling in the space with gold ink, and creating a floral design along the left border. The border and floral design are done in water color. 

Water color process of the two middle pages. 

Finished the last page. Wanted it to correspond with the first page.

I decided to do a 3 stitch binding for the book with embroidery thread. I used a "leather" like paper material for the cover I bought from Craft's Direct. I also stained the cover with tea to make it darker.  

Inside pages with binding. 

         

The finished book! I painted the front cover design with gold ink.

Through creating this book I learned that illuminated letters usually are ornately decorated. They are contained in borders with miniature illustrations and are decorated with gold or silver. 
     So through research I found images of illuminated letters I found floral designs that inspired me to create my own floral designs throughout the book. I wanted to keep a consistent design throughout the book with swirling vines, leaves, and flowers with gold ink illuminating the letters. 

Handmade Typography Book

This fall semester I'm enrolled in Julie Baugnet's Art 322 at St. Cloud State University. For our first project we are designing our own handmade books based on hand drawn typography. The concept of my book is exploring handmade type through finding typefaces I enjoyed and tracing them to learn more about the anatomy of the letters themselves. My idea was to have quotes about typography and to have words that I thought described the typeface. Here is my process:

This is the size of my book I chose.

                                       

Types of paper I chose. 

                                        

Styles of typefaces used and background paper choice.

Tracing typeface with graphite tracing paper.

Result after tracing typeface.

Tracing letters with embossing pens to have a raised look to relate to quote 
"Embossed letters represent the topography of typography" by Jarod Kintz

Applying embossing powder over wet ink from embossing pen.

After removing excess embossing powder I applied heat to try to create

a raised texture. 

The embossing result. Didn't really work like it was supposed to, 

but added an interesting texture. 

My favorite page to make! Mustache theme to represent the

"Mustachio" typeface. 

Tracing the "Mustachio" typeface on printed paper. 
Wanted a rustic and vibrant style choice of paper to contrast each other.

"Mustachio" page completed. 

Page for "Wireframe" typeface. 

The typeface reminds me of the skeleton of a building so the word

that came to mind was "structural." The lines connecting the letters together

and going off the page remind me of their own structured system. 

Anatomy showing the specific parts of letters. 

I binded my book with the 3 hole binding method 

using thread. 

Inside view of 3 hole binding. 

Here is the introduction page explaining the concept of my book. 

First page of the cover. Kept the typeface simple and used a 

textured paper that was somewhat transparent.

Second page of the cover. I used vellum as the material

since it's also transparent. 

Third page of the cover. The idea is to flip through the cover pages reading, 

"Exploring Handmade Type."

The finished product on display.