Got a new project this one we were prompted to design packaging. Our package had to follow certain parameters for example it could not have been done before, it has to be sustainable, and it also needed to have more than one life cycle… not sure how this is going to be possible as there have been so many packages designed it’s going to be hard to find something that has never existed.
thinking about a few different packaging designs, seen a couple good ones that I don’t think have been done yet like a box that you would purchase a collectable item in which I could then turn it into a display box, but something like that is very similar to just displaying an item in the box it already came in. Another idea is a triangular package which I could turn into a hanging picture ornament. Or I could make a drawer style box and turn it into a tie/jewelry organizer and the last idea I had was making Tetris boxes but I don’t know exactly how or what I could with them…
Think I am going to go with the Tetris boxes, I had this cool idea of turning them into an advent calendar which could be used afterwards as just a brain game or essentially a giant fidget toy.
Discussed my brief today and it seemed like it was a good idea, but I was prompted with the thought of what if I went beyond just a Xmas countdown calendar. Could I expand it where you could use it to count down any holiday or maybe even a retirement? This question got me thinking, and the answer was a definite yes, little nervous though I mean these boxes don’t look difficult to build but I am going to need at least 30 or more of them and I don’t know if I have the time to make that many. But I think it is a really good idea and even if it just turns into a calendar that doubles as a brain game it’s still fulfilling its dual life cycle.
So I have done some research and of course advent calendars exist, they are mostly seen around xmas, some are cheep which these ones are single use, other u can reuse but are actually kind of expensive. I kind of want to target people who are lower to middle class which means that material would have to be fairly inexpensive (not that I have figured that out yet.)
So paper is out of the question for a stand alone material, it does not have the rigidity that is needed to make these boxes last a year or even a couple but this was a good test to kind of see how I could put them all together
Another question that arises with a different material is how am I going to make the opening to these boxes? Cause I mean with paper it’s easy just leave the flap but with a sturdier material it may pose a problem
I think I am going to make my packages out of foam board and then wrap them in paper. I know foam isn’t exactly recyclable but it is a prototype package and if I were to make this as a real thing I would 100% use a cheaper wood maybe or source out other materials that are inexpensive and biodegradable. But all the other materials thus far can be recycled or are biodegradable so that is a bonus.
Started making the boxes today, what a nightmare that is… turns out the simplest looking thing is definitely not the easiest, I have probably made 30 mistakes in 3 hours where measurements are concerned and one box that was aggressively squashed and thrown due to it not aligning right. Think I am gonna stop and take a break and come back to it later or I’m probably not going to get very far.
Ok so coming back to this I realized how utterly simple my mistake was, turns out I did not account for the width of the foam board which threw off all my measurements. But I am on a roll now and have gotten 5 of them built now it’s just figuring out the lid part and of course getting the rest of them made.
spent another three hours building these boxes today does not feel like I have accomplished much but I got about half of them measured and drawn out onto my foam board. still haven’t come up with an idea for lids or a name for that matter.
Finished measuring and drawing them all out today now it’s time for cutting, building and wrapping all 30. I am going to be so sick of making boxes by the end of this project but at least it will be a unique addition and maybe even a potential future project to take it from a prototype to an actual calendar.
Built most of the boxes though I did realize that I don’t have enough facing pieces so I will have to cut more of those for the lids. Speaking of lids I think I have come up with a solution for that. Originally I was going to use just a small piece of paper that would connect them the lid to box but came to realize that with consistent use this would not be a long term this as the paper would rip or tear. While I was in my kitchen getting something out of my cupboards the idea hit me what if I used magenta like the ones on my cupboard doors. This element is not exactly environmentally friendly though so this packaging design does have some downsides.
I have finally finished building all the boxes now I just have to wrap all 30 in four days so this should be a test of my determination.
Very slowly making my way though all of these boxes though doing the same thing over and over over again Dow not really give me much to talk about
Starting the wrapping process now I really hope this goes quickly but with how things have gone so far I am not going to hold my breath.
Stayed up late last night in hopes to get all these boxes wrapped so that I could work on the smaller details like putting the magnets in or painting the numbers on and got all of them done but I am very tired it has been a lot of late nights this weekend so I am happy I am nearing the end of this. So far it has been tedious task but here’s how it is looking so far
Well it is another late night and I have finally completed all 30 boxes, complete with lids and numbers though I am not super happy with the numbers as I messed one up and they are not super pretty. I did make a box to hold them in and thought maybe it could also be hung on the wall but I would have to test that out at a later time. I decided to do the main box black as I think black goes with any color and is a staple color in most households as it is a grounding color. The multicolored lids are ment to lean more toward the actual game of Tetris as each block is a different color. I wanted this advent calendar to be universal, where everybody could find some joy, amusement or use out of it. I also tried to say as environmentally aware as possible. It’s multi use function as a full on calendar as well as a game helps keep waste down and the fact that at least half of it at this stage is recyclable or biodegradable is a step in the right direction. I have also finally come up with a name, it was after another prompt in which I was asked do you think that you could use the blocks to make the name and it turns out that was just what I need. The name for this package is Tetromino day Tracker or TdT for short. I enjoyed and did not enjoy working this project, the only reason I did not enjoy was simply because it became redundant making building and wrapping the same five shaped boxes 30 times.
