Budget to Premium Design Challenge

Lets turn a plain old $4 budget paint brush into a $35 paint brush just by changing the packaging! I forgot to mention… in only 90 minutes

Brief

- Redesign packaging for a budget paint brush to turn it into a premium product purely by changing the visual elements of the design in 90 minutes.

I started off with challenge with setting out some goals and key points that I wish to incorporate into this redesign.

Key points to perceive a premium retail value

- Consider user experience. e.g. the way it opens

- What needs to be communicated? Premium, high end, the product itself as a paintbrush, informative text

- Create shelf presence. Addition of a graphic elements that allows the product to stand out on the shelf

After setting out some key points, research was conducted to seek out what makes a product look premium. Majority of premium products feature black as the main colour as it seems to generate a luxurious identity.

I then sketched out some ideas in terms of packaging form, text layout and graphic elements to incorporate onto the design. The main idea I wanted to incorporate into my design was to create a user experience similar to what Apple customers feel when opening their products. The way the top box lifts off the bottom box to reveal the products creates a really intimate user experience.

Solution

With the use of a serif font and a vintage style paint brush graphic, I tried to achieve and suggest to the user, that the brand was well-established and produced high quality products. By keeping the packaging relatively minimalistic didn’t overcomplicate communication to the customer. The addition of the black cap established shelf presence and would be easily recognised by consumers searching for the product.

Challenges

One of the main challenges I found was my lack of graphic design skills and lack of skills on illustrator, therefore I the graphic element was externally sourced. I would have liked to explore the graphic elements further and improve upon the design.

The fact I was not in a group was also difficult as I wasn’t able to bounce back ideas with my peers. However, I didn’t find the time restraint too difficult as I was able to make solo decisions and designed a sketch I was happy with early on in the concept generation.

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Week 8 (did not attend studio session)

Paint brush image on packaging https://www.istockphoto.com/vector/paintbrush-and-paint-trace-gm1185402626-334059333