I just completed a course called 'Packaging Illustration: Create Imaginative Product Designs' Taught by Lisa Perrin on Domestika. So I thought I would share my project here! 🌈 😃 https://www.domestika.org/en/courses/2404-packaging-illustration-create-imaginative-product-designs
To start I chose 'pickled Jalapeño peppers' as the product I wanted to redesign.
In the class it says to choose a product your passionate about as this will add to you work.
Jalapeños are one of my favourite foods and they remind me of eating Mexican food with my best friend so thought it was perfect.
I wrote down on a spider diagram all the things that jalapeños made me think of even the more obscure things i wrote down as ideas could come from them.
I drew a few different shaped jars- It's good to do this to get an idea of the overall shape the label will end up.
I started researching on Pinterest some of the lettering i found inspiring and also found references which I could combine with these to form my own lettering. If you would like to check out my references of lettering here's the board.
I very roughly started combining ideas from my spider diagram and testing out roughly where the lettering could go.
With each design I liked I would combine it with another design I liked until I was happy with it.
I tried mirroring the same design so it looked chimerical, using patterns from the ideas.
I started to settle on this oval design with flower like petals around it, I was inspired by the sugar skull patterns in particular the flowers around the eyes. I liked the idea of using a sombrero to hold the less important text (Sliced green) and as this writing needed to be small it also needed to be clear.
So when it came to playing with lettering I wanted my biggest word (Jalapeño) to be decorative as it would still be readable but have a Mexican feel.
I started drawing the jar and testing out a few simple lettering styles for the small text.
I then started working digitally and turned my sketch into a more finalised illustration, I drew the label close up and also it on the jar of jalapeños.
It's important to do this as it's good to see what the label will look like against the jalapeños as the jar is clear. This will help me to choose a colour pallet which pops out.
I then started roughly planning my colour pallet, I knew I wanted bright lively colours as most Mexican imagery is. I really liked the 4th colour combination and so I decided to do this in my final illustration.
If your stuck for colour pallets try looking out for colour combinations in your day to day or take inspiration from Pinterest. Now that I have chosen my pallet, I am ready to create my final design.
Overall I loved this course, if you can do it i would recommend but if not if you follow these simple steps you have the building blocks to making great packaging designs for you portfolio. I learn a lot about lettering and tips and tricks for in photoshop too.
Thank you for taking the time to read this, I hope it has been helpful to you in some way and if you know someone who might enjoy it too: please share it forward. ✌️
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