I began with a Puma shoe box.
The Box was easily opened and then the brainstorming began:
So, the box was flattened and then rolled and cut and glued....
"Creativity is the ability to produce work that is both novel (i.e., original, unexpected) and appropriate (i.e., useful, adaptive concerning task constraints)." Robert J. Sternberg
This sums up the essence of design as I've learned it. Think of something new that will work to solve your problem. When I applied that to our project I realized that I had a wide field to choose from. Making my work anything but a box shouldn't be too hard. I started by researching associations with the box color, red, and the logo, a puma. I list the progression of my thoughts in my sketches. The brainstorming took me in many different directions, but the final image of a movie, a sunset behind a seaside tree, stuck in my head strong enough to lock in my choice.
After finding the right tree, a Baobab, I looked at the different textures I could get from the box and I experimented with the different ways to achieve the structure. I chose to leave the brown side of the box plain with the box innards unexposed for the bark because the Baobab tree has smooth bark. There were some striations on the bark and other markings that I wanted to achieve, so I used the box's red outside to achieve this. I also used one section of the box, with lined size markings, in order to further accent the striations.
To achieve the look of the twisted branches I rolled and twisted the cardboard, glued it and then twisted it. This required a little clamping and more gluing to get the cardboard to remain twisted. The leaf tops are made from splitting the branch tips to expose all of the cardboard layers. This was done to prove some color and texture contrast to give the illusion of leaves and smaller branches separating the top from the trunk of the tree.
The base was left red side up to represent the dry sand the Baobab tree is often found in. The base was shaped in a rounded, organic shape to both distance the box shape and to reflect the wavy formations sand usually finds its way into.
This sums up the essence of design as I've learned it. Think of something new that will work to solve your problem. When I applied that to our project I realized that I had a wide field to choose from. Making my work anything but a box shouldn't be too hard. I started by researching associations with the box color, red, and the logo, a puma. I list the progression of my thoughts in my sketches. The brainstorming took me in many different directions, but the final image of a movie, a sunset behind a seaside tree, stuck in my head strong enough to lock in my choice.
After finding the right tree, a Baobab, I looked at the different textures I could get from the box and I experimented with the different ways to achieve the structure. I chose to leave the brown side of the box plain with the box innards unexposed for the bark because the Baobab tree has smooth bark. There were some striations on the bark and other markings that I wanted to achieve, so I used the box's red outside to achieve this. I also used one section of the box, with lined size markings, in order to further accent the striations.
To achieve the look of the twisted branches I rolled and twisted the cardboard, glued it and then twisted it. This required a little clamping and more gluing to get the cardboard to remain twisted. The leaf tops are made from splitting the branch tips to expose all of the cardboard layers. This was done to prove some color and texture contrast to give the illusion of leaves and smaller branches separating the top from the trunk of the tree.
The base was left red side up to represent the dry sand the Baobab tree is often found in. The base was shaped in a rounded, organic shape to both distance the box shape and to reflect the wavy formations sand usually finds its way into.
The final shape of the project turned out better then I hoped. I actually recognize what I was trying to make and it doesn't look like a box at all. Success.
