THE CHALLENGE
You were recently hired by a paint company to help them with a rebranding effort. For your first project, they would like you to design a 9"x12" folder that will hold a revamped press kit and other supplementary collateral. Your client has given only one mandatory direction: the folder must have at least 90% white showing in the overall design.
Time Limit: 60 minutes
MY TOOLS:
Pen and paper
Wacom tablet
Adobe Photoshop
Adobe Illustrator
SKETCHING: 20 MINUTES
I started this challenge by imagining a fictional company, called "Paint Company". It's logo includes bright and bold colors, and it wants customers to explore all the color options that the company offers.
With the challenge being about white space, I thought about how white space becomes part of the design, and how it wouldn't be part of the design. A folder with the logo right in the middle of the page would certainly satisfy the requirement of 90% white space, but the white space wouldn't actually be part of the design. Instead, it would just be surrounding the design.
Pen and paper
Wacom tablet
Adobe Photoshop
Adobe Illustrator
SKETCHING: 20 MINUTES
I started this challenge by imagining a fictional company, called "Paint Company". It's logo includes bright and bold colors, and it wants customers to explore all the color options that the company offers.
With the challenge being about white space, I thought about how white space becomes part of the design, and how it wouldn't be part of the design. A folder with the logo right in the middle of the page would certainly satisfy the requirement of 90% white space, but the white space wouldn't actually be part of the design. Instead, it would just be surrounding the design.
However, if a design included a logo at the bottom of the page and a paint bucket above it pouring paint all over the logo, the white space would be part of the design. That white space beneath the paint can gives it height in comparison to the logo. That height is essential for understanding the pouring motion in a static image.
To experiment with the relationship of the white space to the images, I sketched out thumbnail versions of many different designs. This allowed me to experiment with many different layouts quickly and the small size made it easy to see the balance between image and whitespace.
As I sketched many ideas, one after another, I started thinking about what the company would want customers to see on their folder. They'd want customers to see all of the color options and imagine how they could use the products. When customers purchase paint, they like to try it out and see how it will work in their own space. That ability to customize images and actually imagine your own space transformed is what sets paint brands apart. How could I replicate this experience with a branding folder?
MY SOLUTION: 40 MINUTES
I designed promotional material with a house on the cover including only lines and empty white space. I then included interchangable covers to the folder that add paint colors to the image of the home. This design embraces the challenge of incorporating white space into the design, but allows each customer to apply their own color choice, and "Find their color". Each promotional packet would include different colored covers, so no individual customer receives the same design. The customer could even layer filters to create new colors and design their preferred look.
MY SOLUTION: 40 MINUTES
I designed promotional material with a house on the cover including only lines and empty white space. I then included interchangable covers to the folder that add paint colors to the image of the home. This design embraces the challenge of incorporating white space into the design, but allows each customer to apply their own color choice, and "Find their color". Each promotional packet would include different colored covers, so no individual customer receives the same design. The customer could even layer filters to create new colors and design their preferred look.
Creating the final version extended over the allotted hour for the exercise, because I was fine tuning the details in photoshop. In an effort to make it pixel perfect, I was spending a lot of time on the details and rushed to complete the color filters at the end. Instead, I should have applied the colored filters early on to experiment with the opacity and save some time with pushing pixels.