Now the ball is really rolling.

Last weekend I was sitting at my kitchen table at about midnight, and ideas just started pouring out. I decided to use small tins with windowed lids as packages for the eyelashes which will add value to the product. The tins can be used as storage for used eyelashes, becoming something you want to keep and reuse even long after the eyelashes are gone. I was greatly inspired by 1930s wallpapers and prints (since Revlon was founded in the 1930s I thought it appropriate). Each tin will be printed with a wallpaper-esque pattern, making them something to collect and hold onto for a long time. The brand logo will be printed on the plastic front of the tin (not blocking the product) and all other information will be on a paper wrapper securing the tin closed. The inside of the paper wrapper will have instructions on it, and the tin itself will be secured to a piece of cardboard as a hanger. The cardboard hanger piece will have all the copyright information and contact information as well as the barcode.

Package redesign, phase one

Have you ever bought false eyelashes? Ever notice that the entire wall of lashes is filled with identical packaging, despite being offered by countless companies?  I'm going to break the mold. Revlon is a popular-priced brand available around the world that has been building and culturing a fashion-forward cosmetics reputation since the 1940s. They are not afraid to try new things - they were the first cosmetic company to stop using animal testing, they designed the first ever cosmetic ad with an African-American model, they support numerous cancer societies and other humane societies around the globe, and the feature models ranging from age 13 to age 60. Despite all this cool stuff and innovation, their packages look exactly the same as everyone else's.

I'm interested in redesigning their packaging with a few key points in mind: 

1. Standing out from the wall of black rectangles. Seriously, every single package looks the same.  I want to explore circular packaging.

2. Reusability. I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that almost every woman who uses false eyelashes reuses them at least once or twice (if not many, many more times). The package should function as a stylish (and protective) case. 

3. Transportability. Women (and girls) usually wear falsies on big nights. Big nights require getting ready in groups. But how do you bring your lashes from last weekend? In fact, where are your lashes from last weekend? The package should be durable enough to survive in a purse or makeup bag and small enough to fit in your pocket. 

4. Storability. If you're anything like me, space is a commodity when it comes to your makeup. I do my best to keep everything sorted and organized, but I still have to hunt for my mascara every morning. By making the packages stackable and attractive, women will be able to keep better track of their lashes and display them in a way they feel proud about.

So where do I go from here? The next thing I will do is head out and find examples of suitable tins or other circular containers. Once I find that, I will start tackling stackability and merchandising display.

The Flight of the Hummingbird

This afternoon we watched a few excerpts from a film called The Clean Bin Project (

http://cleanbinproject.com/the-film/). It was horribly depressing - which is why I'll be watching the rest of it soon. Our waste production is out of control but it feels so impossible to rectify, we're spiraling out of control and killing everything (including ourselves, eventually). From a cosmic perspective, the human race has been around for a fraction of a second. And in that fraction of a second, we have learned to create, to buy, to sell, and to throw away. We have gone from apes to hunter-gatherers to mom-and-pop store owners to factory workers to corporations making billions of kilograms of waste every day. We used to rely on the Earth for life, and now we destroy the Earth to better our lives. We as designers really do have a huge responsibility on our shoulders to design with an environmental conscience. I'm just one person, can I really make a difference? Yes. I often think about a Haida story when people say "one person can't make a difference." The story takes place in a huge forest. Lightning strikes and fire engulfs the woods. All of the animals and birds flee to safe ground and watch with dismay as their forest burns, crying because there's nothing they can do. All but one - the little hummingbird. He frantically flies to a nearby lake, fills his beak with a single drop of water, and then hurries back to the flames and drops the water. He does this over and over, but the fire burns bright. The rest of the animals stare at him, many scorning him saying "What are you doing? You can't put out that fire. You are too small." The hummingbird keeps on depositing drop after drop and says to them "I'm doing what I can."

Digital Prototyping

Today, everyone in the class was paired up and swapped our packages from last week. Instead of creating a sketch model, the task at hand this week was to create a digital prototype in Illustrator, print it out, and build an (almost real) model.

The package I got was for Scentuals Rosewood Soap, and construction-wise was fairly simple. The typography was, quite frankly, pretty terrible (capital letters and punctuation were thrown in seemingly at complete random), but that's for another class. 

Using my classmate's measurements, I started building the package in Illustrator.  It went pretty smoothly, and I took it as an opportunity to brush up on my short cuts and typing speed. All that's left to do is print, cut, and fold. I'll update with a finished product once I'm done.

Package Design - Task One: Deconstruction

Today was our first package design class, part of our third year curriculum in graphic design. The task at hand today was to take a piece of empty packaging that Nancy had accumulated over the summer and deconstruct her entire life based on the products she uses - just kidding. What we did do was take an empty product package and deconstruct it (carefully!). I was the lucky winner of an Aspirin box.

Once disassembling the box, I traced the outline onto paper, took measurements, and marked where the glue had been. The next step was to create another tracing, but this time concentrating on information rather than construction. I studied the hierarchy of information and labelled on which side each piece of information was to go, along with what the order of importance was. Finally, a third tracing was done on Bristol board - this was the sketch prototype (prototype prototype!). The final result is below.