Project Requirements
Make a logo for either an existing company or an imaginary company, then create one die-cut box and one die-cut bag that employ a unified theme.

Client Name and Description
Dancing Dragon--a well-established company that sells all kinds of dragon-related items (T-shirts, posters, statues, masks, stickers, etc.) through the mail and Internet. For the purposes of this project, it was assumed that they had chosen to open an outlet store in a mall and therefore required themed packaging.

Client's Objective
To aquire bag and box designs that will appeal to the widest possible audience, alienating the fewest number of potential buyers. The primary message that should be sent is, "We sell dragon items for everyone."

Target Audience
Dragon fans of all ages, backgrounds, and descriptions; the company sells items that people of any tax bracket can buy, and their available dragons run the gamut from cute and cuddly to dark and bloodthirsty.

How My Solution Works
In this instance, I felt that simplicity would be the best way to go, since my target audience was so huge that every new addition to the design would increase the risk of alienating part of them. My logo and type had already been designed to appeal to this huge group by embodying some of the concepts associated with dragons in general, so I decided to simply let those elements speak for themselves.

This design was developed because I wanted to build a version of the packaging that had a very stylized look (and might possibly be more modern as a result) and would be a bit snazzier than the leather version. However, I still had the same concerns regarding possible alienation of parts of my large target audience. The end result was inspired by Oriental figurines that I've seen, which are made of white porcelain and have details painted on in cobalt-blue dye. Scales are common to many dragons, so using them as a pattern would be generic enough to avoid driving off any part of the audience. The blue designs that I used to represent them were directly inspired by the painted detail seen on the aforementioned figurines, specifically those of fish, dragons, etc. The result is a near-abstract pattern in a pleasing blue color. Despite the business of the background, I took steps to ensure that the logo and text would still be extremely noticeable.

In the case of the bag, a low-opacity white circle was placed over the pattern to create a calmer area in which the logo and text could be placed. The design is based on vinyl drawstring bags, due to the simplicity of such designs.

On the box, the logo is placed by itself on top of the scale pattern, while the "Dancing Dragon" text is wrapped around the white bottom of the box. This prevents these two items from interfering with each others' strength.

It should also be noted that this design is built using only one color; if a Pantone ink is used, then this version of the packaging would be extremely cheap to produce.

Programs Used
Illustrator 9.0.