Monday, December 8, 2014

Collaborative Design | KlariNova

 

My responsibility was the creation of packaging for our product, the KlariNova. The packaging was a challenge because I wanted a simple and uniquely designed quality package small enough to fit into a clarinet case, yet large enough to provide protection for the product.  The design needed to be simple for a couple of reasons: First, the products sold to musicians generally do not have a whole lot of design in them (most are just a white with the logo). This means that some crazy design/packaging may not be favorably accepted within our target audience. Next, this product is outside of the musical norm. I wanted to capture the innovation, simplicity and traditional musical aspect in the package design. This is the front of the package:


What I like most about this design is the purple highlights. The highlights on the box represent stage lights bending, which will create a rainbow effect on the keys when watching a staged performance. Our vision was to use the same idea but with our company colors.

The Law of Continuity is at play here. Everything looks very smooth and flows to the vertical rod on the left side of the box and is countered by the logo asymmetrically placed on the other side - balancing out the design.








This picture is an increased size of the side of the box; attempting  to make the words easier to read so that our concept will be understood. The Klarinova is a new concept, which we felt marketing would benefit from a little explanation and also a small sales pitch. (Especially if someone walks into the music store unaware of the product.) We wanted the package to sell itself.

The Law of Closure is at  play here; most of the space is black but the outline of a clarinet is clearly seen.

The Law of Simplicity can be seen as you view the full design. I see straight lines most the time where - if you were to look at each line - but a few of the words are actually not in a straight line.




The logo will go on small ends of the box on each side. Why the ends? The box will open up - the top pulls off from the bottom  (which is standard among music products because of the ease of getting to the item).  Because of how the box is opened, the logo will always be seen when opening the package and holding the box. The other benefit is the location of the store bar code. (I can't tell you how many times I have seen the bar code placed over the logo or other important details.) By placing the logo on the small ends of the box, the bar code will not likely end up covering the logo. This adds increased visibility because of the unreliable way music stores typically place bar codes. We left the side of the box blank in order to save room for QR codes and the pesky bar codes for each store. 

Last but not least here is the prototype box.