The Brief
To create a series of packages for a brand with a mission statement. The brand's mission must revolve around recycling or the environment.The End Result
Wild & Free, a body care brand that specializes in sustainably sourced palm oil. All products are RSPO certified, and they fight deforestation in Indonesia and Malaysia. They also donate a portion of their profits to the organizations that care for the endangered Sumatran Tiger, Elephant, Orangutan, and Rhino.
Research
Research began by collecting examples of eco-friendly packaging, as well as learning more about the issue. I had a general idea about the ethics of palm oil, but wanted to learn more about the challenges faced in the industry.
Reading
I did a bit of reading on the World Wildlife Fund and Rainforest Alliance websites, as well as some articles about the types of products that contain palm oil. I ended up deciding to create a body care brand that used only ethically sourced palm oil, which did not tear down forests to create palm oil plantations. The products would be a soap, solid shampoo and conditioner bars, and an exfoliating bar. I then began looking at competitors and what types of packaging they produced.
The Body Shop uses sustainably sourced palm oil
I found companies like The Body Shop, Axiology, and Lush who were using ethically sourced ingredients and low waste packaging. I also came across these experimental seed paper packages that were able to hold liquids without breaking down, which I thought was promising. For the purpose of this project I needed a box, so if I had more time to source materials I would have chosen a seeded card stock paper similar to those.
Ideation & Sketching
My initial idea was that each product could be related to a specific animal. I had intended on doing a gift set box, with individual products inside. I wanted each product to be in a metal tin with a sticker label, so that it would be recyclable and reusable for holding other small objects after the product was used up. I had come up with the idea to draw a rhino, tiger, elephant, and orangutan to go along with a jungle-like theme, which went well with Wild & Free's mission.
All 4 drawings initially were going for the same bold style as the tiger (above), but it ended up being unsuccessful. I was having issues making 2 largely gray animals have the same impact as an animal with orange, black, and white stripes. During critiques, many felt that the drawings were not cohesive and that they needed more work. I went back and drew some more animals, which were slightly better but still not as cohesive as I'd hoped. I ended up deciding to scrap that idea and use their footprints as a uniting element. I also ended up creating a pattern with their footprints for the lid of the box.
In my initial critique, I had also used a brighter shade of green that I felt captured the colors of the rainforest, but my feedback was that it did not feel like a skin care brand but more like something related to a kids natural science magazine. I toned it down to a lighter and more muted green accompanied by a dark olive brown.
The final dieline before sending it to the printer
The Final Assembled Product
