Packaging Design | Illustration | Typography
Crate and Barrel
12 Days of
Christmas Candles
Overview
The 12 Days of Christmas Candle Set provides a journey through the holiday season with a nod to the classic song through each scent or day of Christmas. The decorative box displayed the votives in a tree shape. The illustration style is a modern, sophisticated take on geometric, mid-century/Scandinavian design specific to the familiar holiday song lyrics.
Problem
To create packaging that fit the elevated, modern, and unique product. Also, due to the higher price point of this product, the goal of the packaging was to reflect the elevated nature with a more delicate approach to the typography and illustration, a minimal color palette including metallics, and the use of additional white space.
Role
Lead designer and illustrator responsible for developing illustrations, typesetting and placement on die-line
Process
Research
Concept Sketching
Illustration
Design
Iteration
Production
Solution
The use of white space, delicate approach to typesetting, and soft metallic gold elevated the packaging to provide a festive elegance aligning with the tradition of holiday products the brand has become known for. I began this project with research into the proposed illustration style and a lot of analog and digital sketching before moving into Adobe Illustrator for the final refinements, typesetting, and placement on the die-line.
Tools
Adobe Draw (iPad)
Illustrator
Duration
2-3 weeks
Research
TARGET AUDIENCE:
Frequent Crate and Barrel customer (“Savvy Stylist”)
seeking an elevated holiday experience
Ages 35-65
VISUAL STRATEGY:
• Create packaging that matched the product’s quality and price point
• Elevated, modern, whimsical
• Illustration is primary focus
• Include metallics as part of minimal color palette
• Lean into Scandinavian illustration style
Research: Competitors
Restoration Hardware
West Elm
Williams Sonoma
Design: Illustration Process
This set of 12 votive candles were larger than typical votives and the goal of the set was to create a more elegant holiday decor experience for a customer interested in a sophisticated yet whimsical look and feel. I experimented with holiday forms in the desired style via digital sketches on my iPad. The color palette was undecided during the early rounds of sketching so I focused on the forms themselves.
Throughout the illustration process the challenge was to create images that were not necessarily realistic but recognizable as well as objects that had a combination of both curves and hard edge geometry.
Initial Sketches
Final Illustration Detail
Design: Die Line Mockups
The first round of mockups yielded an overall feeling of congestion, heaviness, and too much contrast. Including red and green alongside the metallic and black as well as the scale of the illustrations resulted in visual overwhelm and a lack of the elevated sophistication that this product called for. The use of bold and larger scale typography also contributed to the more casual feeling of the round one mockups.
From the first to second round I was able to re-evaluate the palette, scale, and vary the typography toning down the cluttered feeling and increasing the overall elegance of the design. I arrived at the combination of illustration, typography, and white space that struck a perfect balance between holiday whimsical and sophisticated luxury.
Round 1 Mockup
Final Mockup
Final Packaging
The final execution used metallic inks and a heavy, matte-finish box that opened like a book to store and display the votive candle set. The scent notes for each candle were described on the back of the box and the inside front cover displayed a small illustration and editorial copy to introduce the product.
Each candle had a unique dust cover with a small icon that subtly represented the specific day of Christmas. The box not only protected the product but also provided a beautiful way to display the set during the season.
Front View
Inside Cover and Candle Set
Close Up View of Side
Close Up View of Candle Set
Takeaways
The packaging for this set of candles was successful in creating balance between the whimsical wonder of the holiday season and the sophisticated elegance of the brand. From the first round to the last, I was able to refine the illustration and typography to get to this sweet spot. The slightly non-traditional palette used also helped to elevate the look and feel.
This product launched for Holiday 2022 and had great sale success in-store as well as online. My main personal takeaway was that I had the opportunity to work on a project that focused mainly on illustration because it allowed me the chance to combine two of my great loves as a creative, drawing and design.