Character Development

This session was based around creating characters for packaging. Firstly we were advised to base this upon children’s cereal, as the task over the following weeks is to create a small cereal box design. I looked at some examples of different cereal brands as a guide and springboard for my own ideas, while also keeping in mind originality and humorous characteristics. I kept in mind humor as I found this is a key characteristic of children’s cereal characters, of the “hero’s” at least, as this gets the audience interacting with the character through the medium of laughter and storytelling.

Initial Sketches

I started my designs in quick sketches, getting ideas onto the paper as they were fresh and developing on such as I went along. If the character was to be used within a large branding campaign then most likely there would be a animation created of the character, in which case I drew the subject in a variety of poses. This tests how it would work with different dynamics, both on screen and with other elements of the design, for instance the logo and product image.

However these examples are very flexible as the product image and other elements can be resized around the character, as it is the character we want as our primary subject with the product being seen next as the character interacts with such. Further to this a sense of movement helps create an energy that engages with the audience, grabbing their attention against the competitors.

Cereal Front Designs

At first I thought of a Yeti as an interesting character to use, though on research I found this idea had been used a few times previously. Although that was the case it doesn’t rule out the use of a yeti, as long as it is created in a different style or dimension to those existing. However I found the yeti design limiting in term of movement capabilities and so came up with the following three designs: Three Legged Alien, Speedy Snail and Queen Bee.  Out of these choices I decided to base my packaging design upon the alien, this is due to a few reasons. Firstly I found the make-up of the body allows for a variety of movements and when accompanied with accessories such as a cap it creates a funky persona for the design.  However this attribute could be easily be applied to another character, though it may not suit one such as the “Queen Bee”.

At this stage the character’s names are temporary, as I will create more developed names in the next session once I have chosen the final cover design. I enjoyed this workshop and found when creating the characters that altering just one aspect could change the persona dramatically.