Learning to Design

Introduction

This project can be found at this link.

Not everyone is artistic, but to create graphics is a skill like any other, so at times a technical communicator must lean heavily on the technical part of the profession and use the tools that are provided to accomplish the task at hand. In this particular task, the challenge was to conceptualize and design a single product, in three dimensions, with multiple flavors.  

Problem

This project was assigned as a part of a class at Arizona State University, GIT540: Cross-Media Design Solutions. The class as a whole challenged me to try new tools such as Adobe Substance Designer and to become more proficient in other software like Adobe Photoshop, and this project allowed me to work on my skills as a 3D designer. As more of an engineer and less of an artist, this pushed me to go beyond my comfort zone and learn to work with color palettes, design principles, and texture to design a realistic product for a ‘client’. The packaging needed to project an authentic feel, while also appealing to a broad range of individuals.

Reasoning

Creating this as a 3D prototype allows for visualization of the end product without actually going through the process to make a physical product, saving money and time to allow for analyzing reactions of the audience. For choosing the product to create, I needed something that had several flavors, but with easily reproducible designs. At the time, I had just started drinking tea during my days at work, so when I was shopping for tea at the store I had noticed that many tea flavors had similar box designs, which caused it to be a “sea” of choices. Due to this discovery, I decided to design a product package that would stand out on the shelf.

Process

The project started with basic design tools, such as art boards, and researching the history of tea. This gave me a connection with those who are growing the tea leaves, as well as the customers who go to the store to purchase said tea. After this, I needed to sketch the products on to paper so that I could validate the concept of slide out tea boxes. Next, it was time to bring this concept into the digital world, using the Adobe suite to design the boxes. 

As I had chosen to do a slide out box, I couldn’t just rely on the downloadable assets that were normal boxes, so I needed to create my own 3D object. This was actually simpler than I thought after playing around for a minute. I found that I could turn an open-top box into the ‘container’, and another open-top box, with different proportions, into the ‘tray’ that slides in and out of the container box. This design allowed for me to create three unique versions of the tea box object. From there, I needed to find a tea bag and a cup for context, which were free assets I found online. 

That completed my object collection, but then I needed to work on the logo, color palette, and box designs. Each face of the boxes was designed individually in Adobe Photoshop, made to fit the chosen color scheme for the flavor, and then placed onto the objects in Adobe Dimension. It would have perhaps been easier to use die lines to create these designs within a single file, but as I had a custom 3D object, there were no fitting die lines, and I found it easier to do one graphic at a time. 

Media 

What’s Next

If I were to redo this project, I’d spend more time on the tea bags by creating a completely custom 3D object. Also needing consideration is the texture, lighting, and environment improvements that will take the quality of the image to a professional level. This was a level up in my skill level in multiple categories, and the attention to detail I learned has changed how I see graphics in everyday life. 

Summary

My growth here was shown in my ability to design a unique object on paper, and then produce a life-like three-dimensional rendering of the same object. This may have not earned me the highest grade I’ve seen, but it required more energy and thought-process than many other projects, and it changed perspective on my abilities, and what I can achieve.