Year
2024
Category
Packaging Design, Illustration
Bad Bois Gone Good: The Story of Xiao Hei & Xiao Bai is a short web-series-turned-zine storybook that I created, about 2 stray dogs’ endearing friendship and journey to find a home.
A series of derivative products was produced from the illustration in the storybook, including washi tapes, button pins, a sweatshirt and a set of ceramic figurines of the protagonists: Xiao Hei and Xiao Bai.
This gift box is designed to contain, protect and ship all the products above, while delivering an interactive unboxing experience. The material—corrugated cardboard—traditionally only serves as a shipper, but I choose to design the inserts with the same material as the outer packaging, since it not only absorbs shock and protects the product nicely, but also with the volume (thickness), it’s easy to form a structure without glue, and that makes the entire box curbside recyclable, achieving a sustainability goal.
Idea A: Flip Book Concept
The first idea I explored for the box inserts, is to mirror the storybook and have flaps that flips open to reveal products underneath, with simple divided compartments for the sweatshirt (heaviest and largest product) and for the rest.
I discovered several weaknesses through prototyping process:
The box is too big
Lots of wasted space on the right side bottom, since the size of the products are drastically different
There are no space for creative graphics
No way to make sure the sweatshirt’s print faces up after shipping, since it’s rolled up
Therefore, I’ve decided to move on to Idea B.
Idea B: Stage Scene Concept
This idea came was inspired by the story aspect of the project. What if i made the box look like a scene in a play that reenact the story of Xiao Hei and Xiao Bai? This approach puts the ceramic figurines in the centerstage, with supporting pop-up cutouts forming an immersive environment, inviting users to walk into the story.
After iterations and prototyping, an idea came to me: Can I prolong the lifespan of this design, by offering purpose beyond just shipping and opening? The figurine-collecting community is already known for displaying their collection, therefore I decided to make the insert with the added value of doubling as a display stand with fun graphics and illustrations on it.
Final Design
The final design is a box with rich artwork and details, and an insert that double as a permanent display for the figurines. It is designed to eliminate extra paddings materials, such as bubble wraps or styrofoam. The products are locked into place by the cardboard structure itself or used minimal plastic elements (zip-ties for now, which can be easily replaced by bio-degradable alternatives).
