Packaging and Merchandising Design / Project 1: Promotional Packaging

07.09.2022 - 21.10.2022 (Week 2 - Week 4)

Chung Jia Xuan / 0346630
Packaging and Merchandising Design / Bachelor of Design in Creative Media
Project 1: Promotional Packaging

INSTRUCTIONS

PROCESS

Technical Issues: My laptop is damaged by water and I've sent it to the technician here, it is still not fixed yet, I have tried my best to redo everything and include what is needed to be submitted. I am trying my very best to complete all my tasks of ALL MODULES in the library everyday, so I do not have enough time to master all my tasks and e-portfolio. 

 

PROJECT 1

My initial idea was to create a happy meal box for children to learn about the 12 Chinese zodiac, or Sheng Xiao(生肖). It is a 12-year cycle of animal signs and their ascribed attributes based on the lunar calendar. I’m choosing this as the educational information on my happy meal design is because nowadays many kids have less knowledges about what is the Chinese zodiac and not knowing what animals are included in it. I’ll make rabbit as the leading role of the happy meal design as 2023 is the year of Rabbit. Moreover, many adults are a fan of the Chinese zodiac and they might want to buy the happy meal for collection.

Since the main purpose of the packaging is to make kids smile, I will design the box with cute animals elements and remain the iconic McDonald’s happy meal smile icon. I’ll be designing the box in 2 different colors - pink and blue, pink is for girl and blue is for boy, the kids can also make their own choices of these two colors on their own preference.

Before starting to design my happy meal box, I’ve went to McDonald’s to buy a happy meal and analyse its design. The original happy meal design is clean and only consists of yellow and red colours, which are the iconic colors.of McDonald’s. The shape of the box is something like a house-shape, the handling part of the box is designed like an alphabet ‘M’ which represents the company and its logo.

Figure 1.1 Original McDonald's happy meal box

I’ve started my task by dissecting the original happy meal box. After getting all the measurements, I used Adobe illustrator to start designing my happy meal box.

Figure 1.2 Original McDonald's happy meal box die cut

Initially, I have designed the new happy meal box in 3 colors:

Figure 1.3 Redesigned McDonald's happy meal box (1)

Figure 1.4 Redesigned McDonald's happy meal box (2)

Figure 1.5 Redesigned McDonald's happy meal box (3)

I’ve chose this two color as the main color of my happy meal design. The baby pink color looks soft and it is suitable for little girl, while the blue color I chose is a darker blue adding a sense of elegant and gentleman feeling to it.

Figure 1.6 Final choice of colours for McDonald's happy meal box 

Printouts:

Figure 1.7 Redesigned McDonald's happy meal box printouts (1) 

 

Figure 1.8 Redesigned McDonald's happy meal box printouts (2) 

I’ve added some interactive elements by addingdotted line around the 12 animals for the kids to cut it out. When kids are finishedwith their food, they can have some fun by cutting out the animals on the happy mealbox and carry them as a memory card to memorise the name of the animals. This brings a sense of playfulness to the design and strengthen the educational purpose of the happy meal box.

Figure 1.9 Interactive elements

Besides, I've remained the smile icon which act as the iconic identity of McDonald's Happy Meal.

Final Product:

Figure 2.0 Final product front view

Figure 2.1 Final product 45 degree side view (1)

Figure 2.2 Final product 45 degree side view (2)

 

Figure 2.3 Final product front view (2)

Figure 2.4 Final product 45 degree side view (3)

Figure 2.5 Final product side view with kids cutting line

Figure 2.6 Final product side view with kids cutting line (2)