Mood boards
I created multiple mood boards to study and establish the visual direction for my designs. I combined inspiration from healthy and unhealthy children's cereal packaging, popular children's tv shows, playful typography, and flat illustrative elements.
Brand name and logo design
I brainstormed and explored a few different options for the brand name. Originally, I was planning to use something like "Astro Oats" to speak to both parents and children. Eventually, I decided to use "Cosmic Crunch" because it would sound most appealing to children, the primary target audience. I use additional marketing efforts to inform parents about the health benefits of the brand.
Character development
After analyzing popular children's cereal brands, I noticed that there aren't many space themed cereals. I designed three aliens, Astro, Luna, and Nova to be the face of my brand and stand out from competitors.
Style guide
I created a style guide to reference as I worked on the remainder of my brand assets.
Package design
I photographed an existing cereal product, Love Grown's Fruity Sea Stars, and recolored the pieces in Photoshop to use in my Cosmic Crunch packaging. I combined photography with illustration to design my work, professionally printed my packages at a local print shop,
and photographed the final product.
Instagram story design
Since the visual style of the box primarily targets children's interests, I wanted to extend the brand in a way where I'd be able to communicate with parents about the health benefits of Cosmic Crunch. Since adults would most likely be the consumers viewing Cosmic Crunch's social media pages, I designed this story to speak directly to them through minimalistic illustrations, a limited color palette,
and educational informative copy.
Honors thesis gallery
I got the chance to display my work at the Winfisky Gallery at Salem State University. I designed additional panels and established the layout of my exhibition to inform viewers about my project. I also printed out some alien stickers for people to take, which was super fun!
