Design decision: The boss, whose company produces cake decoration candy, asked me to design a pull-out box, where they decided to put 5 pieces of candy and the position of the holes is fixed as shown in the 1st image I’ve posted.
I conceived that there must be two figures in my packaging design, one of which must be Santa, and I wanted a figure to interact with the figures in the box or customers (and I still chose Santa to say hello to everyone); according to the holes’ position, if I want interaction, the snow houses with Christmas atmosphere may be the most suitable choice, with the patterns of the windows depending on the holes’ sizes – for example, I wanted something special in one of the smaller holes; therefore, I draw a wreath in the top left corner. As for reindeer, I conceived that its horns can be like a growing plant, but the rub is how to express it – I drew some plant-like lines on the “wall” behind this unique deer, and then some lights.
All these before are my ideas. Would you have some advice to this work?
My first reaction was that there was a lot of packaging for five pieces of candy.
My second reaction was that the illustrations were nice and that it all hung together.
My third thought was that there’s a whole lot going on, and I wondered how it would appear on the Christmas aisle at Walmart or Target. From a distance, I’d worry that everything sort of blends together into indistinct shapes that almost camouflage it as just another generic item in a sea of Christmas stuff.
Are you sure the target audience is “kids?” I’d be more inclined to target their mothers and grandmothers. To do that, it would need to stand out as eye-catching in a way that visually separates it from everything else on the holiday season aisle. Of course, you didn’t tell us where it would be sold, which makes a huge difference.
THX for your advice and it really makes sense. I have never thought the scenario you referred to to imagine this box on the Christmas aisle but just wanted it to be cute (maybe because I am an Asian and have limited knowledge of X’mas). But I just reminisced that the boss intended to show this box of candy in some exhibitions, where some cake shops would be intrigued by their products and then put them on their cakes, because their boxes never have been designed. So, that I said audience is kids may not be accurate.
My first concern is that the product doesn’t stand out. Instead, the product totally blends into the background. If the background was something like this, I think it would make the product stand out more than it does now.
My second concern, and this comes from first-hand experience, is that U.S.-based retailers want small packaging. Small packaging allows them to get as much product into an aisle as possible. As @Just-B pointed out, you have a lot of packaging for five pieces of candy. Not only do retailers want small packaging, but the excessive amount of packaging will drive up unit and shipping cost.
If these are cake toppers or gingerbread house figures, make that apparent.
When I worked in a bakeshop way back in college days, the cake toppers came in kitted bags, not packaging like this. They might come 10 or 12 to a box with the product pictured on the outside. No blisters.
This is more suited to retail sale, but as others pointed out, it’s very large compared to the content.
If your company isn’t a major player, getting that kind of shelf real estate could be difficult. Smaller and maybe with a fold out plastic hanger so they can go on a slatwall or pegboard wire display.
And these days, a lot of packaging is frowned upon by a good portion of the consumer public. To recycle this, I have to rip out the little plastic windows to put in the cardboard bin. It’s a small thing that I have to do with pasta boxes anyway. Not a consideration toward buying it, but some might disagree.
Looks like the candy position in the tray is fixed from the comments by OP. I figure that means that this is about graphic application only, even if the package looks overly large or wasteful.
Anyhow, where’s the logo and branding?
The reindeer antlers envisioned as plants is a weird idea. You hear hoofbeats you don’t think zebras, right?
The house could have much more character it’s Santa’s house right?
The whole scene is very high key. I generally use nighttime sky’s with the holiday house packages. ( I do a fair amount of things like this. ) Santa arrives at night so it’s more on theme and it helps contrast against the snow.
Take a step back, if you’re buying cake decorations you mostly want to know that they look great on a cake or at least arranged together in the scene.
Best of luck with the project sometimes the requirements just move like that. Putting a dark background in is challenging in its own way. Often dark packaging can recede into the shadows underneath the shelf of the one above it. In this case, I just think it will give you more punch.
Thank you and your comment seems pertinent. I used to see some excellent works about antlers perfectly blended with forest or trees, so I had such an idea…
For the house, actually, I wondered whether I should add other strokes to amplify it, but I was concerned about being cheesy. So I didn’t add anything; maybe I cannot walk the fine line between being too much going on and simple.
