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Paragraph that outlines the brief for project:

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Paragraph that outlines the brief for project:

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The BIC Package Design project aims to create a bold, innovative, and sustainable redesign for BIC’s mechanical pencil packaging. This redesign will highlight eco-conscious materials while maintaining BIC’s strong brand identity. The new packaging should incorporate nature-inspired colors (trees, leaves, flowers) while also using brighter tones to enhance visual appeal. The design should effectively communicate both product quality and environmental benefits, ensuring a balance between practicality, creativity, and sustainability. Key elements include modern typography, interactive or functional packaging, and a fresh visual identity that reflects BIC’s commitment to reducing environmental impact. The design must remain unique and aligned with BIC’s heritage, avoiding excessive simplicity while reinforcing the brand’s trustworthy and forward-thinking reputation.

I want to and plan to design the package as pencil, tree, or flower shaped package because I hope the package design can be unique and attract attention to the customers and the package design and how the package design is related to its features and purpose.

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Company: BIC

Product: BIC ECOlutions mechanical pencil

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5 inspiration images Reflective Questions

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5 inspiration images Reflective Questions

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What common features do you find it has?

I found they are all 2D designs and become 3D after printing out the packaging designs. Most of them are unique, simple or complex, I love how they represent the object that they held inside.

What do you find interesting about it?

The shape, and all designs that I’ve researched are all having different designs and not only just rectangular shapes, there are tons of different shape of packagings.

How does package design differ from 2D design?

Package design differs from 2D design because it considers three-dimensional form, functionality, and user interaction, while 2D design focuses solely on flat surfaces like posters or digital graphics.

What knowledge from other subjects factors in to your thinking about packaging design?

I have a strong grasp of design principles like layout, typography, color theory, and user experience, along with the ability to generate creative concepts and adapt designs for various formats.

What unique problems does it create for the designer?

Requiring designers to balance aesthetics, structural integrity, material limitations, and how the design looks and functions from multiple angles.

What design skills do you already possess?

Knowledge from subjects like physics (for structure and materials), marketing (for consumer appeal), and psychology (for color and shape perception) all factor into my thinking about packaging design.

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What inspired you in the approaches ?

I was interested in that in the first video, he had more than 10 designs illustrating for his packaging design and how he researched about the history of the brand and jotting down the keywords that is important and the purpose of the packaging design of the vinegar. One product can have tons of designs for itself.

What step did you notice in common about each designers approach to the process?

They firstly researched about the brand or the packaging designs, finding references for their inspirations on their packaging designs. Later, they sketched and designed their packaging designs digitally or visually (tons of designs). And reduce their prototype lots of time, the final is similar or kind of different from their prototype.

What are you curious about in the package design process?

How can I use the references to develop my process? Why does researching first is important? What apps or websites can I use for finding reference materials that will help and inspire me with designs?

What is a prototype and what did it help the designers do?

They found some references that they can use for their designs, for example other brands’ package designs maybe similar to their prototype, the inspirations from the reference materials will also help them to develop their prototype.

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https://docs.google.com/document/d/1bRZR4Wx45lOO4mu6cCbx9OyeW7YYgeGwwthpmvXA7_g/edit?tab=t.0

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https://us.bic.com/en_us/catalogsearch/result/?q=BIC+ecolutions+mechanical+pencil+package

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bic_(company)#:~:text=Soci%C3%A9t%C3%A9%20Bic%20S.A.%2C%20commonly%20called,%2C%20lighters%2C%20and%20shaving%20razors.

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Shape of the Package

Pencil shaped package design (the pencil lead part will be the in and out part for the pencils)

the open part: form that opens at once or connects with the main body of the package

cylinder or octagonal pillar shape

Tree or tree trunk shaped package design (make pencil come out from the bottom the tree like a colorful tree roots)

Color of the Package

colorful like the pencils (flowers)

light brown/green (nature)

pencil lead -> yellow (sun)

body -> ecosystem (natural colors)

bottom -> dark brown (soil/earth)

Fonts

Sans-serif: Clean, modern, and easily readable. This aligns with BIC's brand image of simplicity and functionality.

Bold and Clear: The fonts are often bold or semi-bold to stand out on packaging and be easily visible.

Geometric or Rounded: Some of their fonts have a slightly rounded or geometric appearance, which gives a friendly and approachable feel.

Helvetica Neue: A classic, clean sans-serif font.

Arial: Another widely used and very readable sans-serif.

Futura: A geometric sans-serif font.

Avenir: A modern and clean sans-serif font with a slightly rounded feel.

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Important Information that Needs to be in the Package

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Important Information that Needs to be in the Package

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What is ECOlution and Why BIC used the word:

"ECOlutions" is a catchy and memorable term that combines "eco" (referring to ecology or environment) and "solutions."

It positions BIC as a company that is actively working to address environmental concerns.

It appeals to consumers who are increasingly conscious of their environmental impact.

BIC's Official Sustainability Reports and Website:

BIC publishes sustainability reports and maintains sections on their website dedicated to their environmental efforts. These are the primary sources for understanding their use of "ECOlution."

Source LINK:

https://corporate.bic.com/en-us/commitments/sustainability

https://us.bic.com/en_us/bic-ecolutions

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Sustainability : Our approach | BIC Corporate

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At BIC, we believe in simple, inventive and reliable solutions for everyone, everywhere. And we believe in acting responsibly with the planet, society and future generations in mind.

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a) How can these concepts be used in the graphic design industry?

- I think the line hierarchy in graphic design helps establish visual order by using varying line weights, styles, and placements to guide the viewer’s eye. It enhances readability, emphasizes key elements, and creates a structured composition in layouts, branding, and packaging design.

b) What else would you like to learn about these concepts?

- I think maybe like how line hierarchy interacts with other design principles, such as contrast and balance, or like real-world examples of its application in branding and packaging design.

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Logos/icons:

BIC

Nutrition labels or any other labels:

ECOlutions

81% Recycled Plastic

Long-Lasting** Mechanical Pencils

Excluding leads and erasers

3-0.7mm leads

Body of text:

"Great Mechanical Pencils!!

I've always been a fan of Bic pencils because they write so well, and these pencils do just that. These pencils are easy to grip and not too slick. Overall, these are really nice pencils. They came in different colors and they are also eco-friendly!

From a verified 5-Star Reviewer"

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Design: Ecosystem (green, light brown, skyblue, white)

soil (bottom) -> ecosystem (body) -> sky (top)

Pencil-shaped case

Details: The top part (the pencil lead part) will be a sun part, and it will not be a sharp shape, like a half-cut pencil lead, to make the case safer, as the kids mostly use the pencils. If the top part is sharp like a real pencil, it may poke their eyes or hurt someone else.

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Simple box-shaped pencil case (open and close)

Make a ribbon hole to add ribbon (to pull the case out easily)

Inside: include a sponge to prevent making the inside box dirty with pencils (just in case) / Can use the case as a real pencil case / make a small part to include one eraser inside

Design:

Reason: If the case of the pencils are not able to take it with the box case and pencils, it will be just waist of paper, so I decided to make the box case look like a pencil case and also able to use it as a pencil case to save the papers, the consumers don't need to buy a new pencil case.

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Feedback:

First Draft:

She loves how I focused on saving the ecosystem and making the design resemble a pencil case so that people do not have to buy new pencil cases for these pencils.

She wants another similar pattern for the bottom box part, not the same pattern design as the top box part -> so I'm planning to make the bottom box part similar to soil because the top box part is trees, leaves, and grasses.

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Feedback:

First Draft:

It's good that you're highlighting the recycled content ("Made With 81% Recycled Plastic" and "100% Recycled and Recyclable Packaging"). That's a smart and important message.

Keeping the BIC logo prominent and clear, "Ecolutions" branding is good for brand recognition.

The overall look might be a little busy with the leafy background, wood-look, pencils, logos, and text all competing for attention. Consider simplifying some background elements.

The labels and backgrounds show my purpose of saving ecosystems and will make viewers interested in this package.

The design is good, especially with the focus on environmental aspects.

Second Draft:

The earthy brown cardboard look definitely aligns well with the "Ecolutions" concept – good job on that.

Making the "Made With 81% Recycled Plastic" and "100% Recycled and Recyclable Packaging" much larger and more central is a significant improvement – that message is clear now.

The floral elements are still a nice touch and add a bit of visual appeal.

*However, you still need to consider if the floral design strongly communicates "mechanical pencils." It might not immediately tell someone what's inside the box.

The BIC logo and "Ecolutions" branding are clear and well-placed.

The little "eco" leaf icon is a subtle but nice visual cue.

Overall, this is a good step forward in terms of highlighting the eco-friendly aspects.

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Added Template/Re-sketched the Line of the Template

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Added Template/Re-sketched the Line of the Template

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Added Logos and Mechanical Pencil Images

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Added Logos and Mechanical Pencil Images

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Rearranged the order of the Labels and Background Images

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Rearranged the order of the Labels and Background Images

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I want the labels to look clearer. The labels looked blurry when they were in the back of the background image, even though the background image was in 50-60% opacity.

I was trying to change the color of the label, from black to white, but I decided to use hierarchy. The white labels are the most important information that I'm going to emphasize (primary source), and then the black color labels are less important than the white color labels. (I got this decision after getting feedback from Ms. Ayesha).

I need to emphasize the information about the ecosystem, saving Earth. The white labels are definitely should be about those information.

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https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.dnpackaging.com%2Fcustom-pencil-boxes%2F&psig=AOvVaw3aSev6_1jz96wyhpam1Aoi&ust=1746080453238000&source=images&cd=vfe&opi=89978449&ved=0CBcQjhxqFwoTCJi26d-O_4wDFQAAAAAdAAAAABA-

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https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.dnpackaging.com%2Fcustom-pencil-boxes%2F&psig=AOvVaw3aSev6_1jz96wyhpam1Aoi&ust=1746080453238000&source=images&cd=vfe&opi=89978449&ved=0CBcQjhxqFwoTCJi26d-O_4wDFQAAAAAdAAAAABBH

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https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.freepik.com%2Fpremium-vector%2Fbox-packaging-die-cut-template-design_4878610.htm&psig=AOvVaw1gfnOUYb6nTs32Mrie_t36&ust=1746506259658000&source=images&cd=vfe&opi=89978449&ved=0CBQQjRxqFwoTCIiY5P3Ai40DFQAAAAAdAAAAABA-

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https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.freepik.com%2Fpremium-vector%2Fbox-packaging-die-cut-template-design_7448581.htm&psig=AOvVaw1gfnOUYb6nTs32Mrie_t36&ust=1746506259658000&source=images&cd=vfe&opi=89978449&ved=0CBQQjRxqFwoTCIiY5P3Ai40DFQAAAAAdAAAAABBV

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https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.freepik.com%2Fpremium-vector%2Fbox-packaging-die-cut-template-design-3d-mock-up_5874804.htm&psig=AOvVaw1gfnOUYb6nTs32Mrie_t36&ust=1746506259658000&source=images&cd=vfe&opi=89978449&ved=0CBQQjRxqFwoTCIiY5P3Ai40DFQAAAAAdAAAAABBc

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https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.freepik.com%2Fpremium-vector%2Fhanging-box-packaging-die-cut-template-design_5579067.htm&psig=AOvVaw1gfnOUYb6nTs32Mrie_t36&ust=1746506259658000&source=images&cd=vfe&opi=89978449&ved=0CBcQjhxqGAoTCIiY5P3Ai40DFQAAAAAdAAAAABCrAQ

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https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.vectorstock.com%2Froyalty-free-vector%2Fhanging-box-packaging-die-cut-template-design-3d-vector-27099122&psig=AOvVaw1gfnOUYb6nTs32Mrie_t36&ust=1746506259658000&source=images&cd=vfe&opi=89978449&ved=0CBcQjhxqGAoTCIiY5P3Ai40DFQAAAAAdAAAAABDRAQ

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Top -> trees and leaves -> green

Bottom -> soil, earth, and grasses -> brown and green

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I changed the bottom box part bottom part as green trees because that part will appear outside when the bottom box goes inside the top box.

I decided to change the part so that when the boxes are closed, the whole outside part of the box will be green trees.

I also added the ribbon as a paper that has a similar color to the green trees and leaves part.

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simple brown color background (soil and earth of ecosystem)

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I considered the 3D final box and placed the logo (front of the box)

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I considered the 3D final box and placed the Labels

The white colored label is the most important information that I want to inform consumers

The white colored label is placed on the back of the box

The triangle shaped part will be folded and the top part will be turn like a pencil shaped.

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Added Green and White colored Flowers/Leaves

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Added Green and White colored Flowers/Leaves

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I added flowers and leaves that fit the box and are related to the ecosystem.

I rearranged the place of labels

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Lastly, rearranged and refined the lines, labels, images, and logos to make the box design.

Edited Mechanical Pencil images after getting feedback from my parents to show the viewers what is inside this package.

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Edited version including mechanical pencil images

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Link for Constructed Idea Photos (Google Drive)

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Link for Constructed Idea Photos (Google Drive)

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Get access to files anywhere through secure cloud storage and file backup for your photos, videos, files and more with Google Drive.