What better way to begin somewhere new than with a welcome package. This fictious project assigned to me during my time at Johnson & Wales was to create a welcome gift for incoming freshman to the college or university of my choosing. I chose to make mine on RISD. We were tasked with designing the exterior of the packaging, as well as some items that would coincide with the package itself. Making sure to adhere to the university's brand guidelines.
The design was inspired by the city of Providence...the home of RISD, Rhode Island School of Design. The silhouette was created using the Providence skyline. And I incorporated RISD’s school map within the silhouette of the skyline. To distinguish each section I used their school colors to fill the map.
Now, a challenge that I faced during this project was to find a way to incorporate the school colors. RISD being a school of diversity and various mediums did not have one standard brand color. Neither color being at a higher tier than the other but all being distinguishable and bold in their designs.
Second challenge came when I looked at the packaging itself. I didn't want something that would be generic for a school that is meant to represent creativity and an indistinguishable thought process. I created a three tier container that would store different gift items. One with a student calendar, and a welcome letter to the student. One with a notebook and the last tier with a tote bag and t-shirt with the RISD logo.
