Packaging Design

After completing my experimental research into different media, I decided that the fine lined illustration used to form the wood block imitation design, was the most suited to the brand. The style combined the traditional illustration with a modern design as the bold lines gave impact. Using this as inspiration, I began re-designing the brandy box.

To best use the design, I wanted to create a continuous pattern around the four sides of the box. I measures and drew the box net on A3 paper and using the previous design as a starting point, illustrated the pattern to follow the width of the net. I wanted to incorporate the design on the top and bottom of the tall box to fill the space but also frame the type in the centre. Therefore, I needed to measure the height of the space I wanted the illustration to fill. To join the pattern continuously, the design needed to be cut in half and the pages swapped, to connect the outside edges together in the centre. Once the hand-drawing was completed, it was fine-lined with 0.1, 0.3 and 0.8 fine-liners, to give alternating weights for different details. 

Now the drawing was complete, it needed to be scanned into Illustrator for editing. Using the technique learned in a previous lesson, I used the 'image trace' tool to transform the ink strokes to a vector. This cleans up the messier strokes, allows me to more easily adjust the colour of the illustration and also provides a design that retains its quality when scaled.

From here, I created a document the size of the box and began working on the packaging design.   Connecting the illustration I placed the first design on the top of the box. To save me designing a separate illustration for the bottom of the box, I reversed the design t differentiate it from the top. I chose to make the top design larger as this would act as the focal point, being the correct orientation. For each type of brandy, I changed the colour of the illustration using their current designs as inspiration. This individualises the boxes, allowing the consumer to differentiate between the different ages of maturity. As their identity is cemented in their typeface, I chose to keep the original style, recreating the 'Somerset' script using the pen tool in Illustrator. However, I decided to alter the rest of the type to match the more modern design. For the 'Cider Brandy', I retained the red type however chose to use Baskerville for its high contrast characters. For the age of the bottle, I used 'Colonna' a decorative serif, which uses double stroke letterforms, to give a traditional feel with a more stylised finish. On their current box, the body type of their product was written in a script, that lowers readability and looks messy in such a large area. Therefore, I used Baskerville again, for its readability but also to avoid using too many typefaces in one design. I also retained their logo of the Burrow Hill tree design, which in printing I'd like to foil, enhancing it. To make sure I included the correct information, I also included the barcode on the back and Protected Geographical Status sticker to the front of the box. For the lid of the box, I used a block colour as a bold statement that allows the boxes to be differentiated when looking down from the top. This also provided a seamless connection between the coloured illustration, as a white lid would have revealed a cut off edge where the pattern finishes.

When these design were completed, the elements were joined together to form the nets. Opening the reference box I was using, I measured and copied the net to Illustrator. This ensured that the box is correct to the size of the bottle and is functional. To finish the design, I added blocks of colour to the rest of the flaps that seal the box.