Aaron Burke • Spring 2020
BOXEEN
PROCESS BOOK
Design Process + Thoughts
BOXEEN PROCESS BOOK Student
Aaron Burke Semester
Spring 2020
Project Topic
My project is about how Americans can help reduce the use of plastic takeout containers. Whenever I go out to eat at restaurants, I usually ask for a box to take the rest of my food home. Unfortunately, these boxes are almost always made out of #5 plastic which is not always supported by curbside recycling programs. Most individuals are not aware of and are not motivated to use alternative recycling programs. These single-use plastics are thrown away and end up adding to the current plastic epidemic.
CopyrightŠ2020 Aaron Burke. All rights reserved. No part of this book can be reproduced without expressed permission from Aaron Burke. All works in this book were hypothetical projects made for educational purposes. Designer
Aaron Burke Phone
703.581.4684 Email
aaronburkedesign@gmail.com Website
aaronburke.design
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1
2
3
4
22/23
5
28/29
THE PROBLEM
Issues with Plastic Program Outline
COMPANY IDENTITY Competitive Audit Target Audience Brand Overview Boxeen’s Logo
PACKAGE DESIGN Container Packaging Informative Card Paper Bag
COLLATERAL
Employee Uniform Vehicle Wrap Table Tent Card Coupons
CONCLUSION
Reflection Thank You
2/3
6/7
16/17
1 THE PROBLEM Issues with Plastic Program Outline
Boxeen Process Book • The Problem
ISSUES WITH PLASTIC
Americans are currently producing more plastic waste than ever before. Most of the plastic we use are not even recycled properly, which causes these plastics to end up sitting in landfills or killing marine animals. The small percentage of plastic that is discarded in the right way is typically inefficiently recycled or down-cycled.
4/5
Aaron Burke  •  Spring 2020
PROGRAM OUTLINE
Boxeen runs a reusable container program that provides customers with the option of placing a small monetary deposit in exchange for a reusable stainless steel container at participating restaurants. After the customer has used the container, they can either keep the box or return it to any of the participating restaurants so they can receive their full deposit back. Once the restaurant has washed the used containers, the reusable containers can be offered to new customers. Each container produced by Boxeen will be sold to their partnered restaurants for four dollars. These restaurants will be able to profit from participating in this program by receiving a small tax credit for going green and by selling these containers to their customers for five dollars. Customers will be incentivized to start using these reusable containers by receiving a coupon each time they return them to a partnered restaurant. The coupon can be used on their next meal.
2 COMPANY IDENTITY Competitive Audit Target Audience Brand Overview Boxeen’s Logo
Boxeen Process Book • Company Identity
COMPETITIVE AUDIT
Although my concept of integrating reusable takeout containers into restaurants has not been done before to my knowledge, Boxeen does have potential competitors. During my research the top three companies I found that could potentially expand into this industry are Returnr, Ozzi, and Loop. Returnr primarily provides reusable stainless steel containers for purchase for use in the workplace, but they have also partnered with a few cafes to replace their plastic products with Returnr's reusable containers. Customers are required to place a deposit if they want to use Returnr's containers at these cafes; however, they do receive their deposit back if they return the container when they are finished using it. Ozzi has also created a reusable container, but their O2GO container is made out of plastic. These containers are available to borrow from a machine with a small deposit at select workplaces. While Returnr and Ozzi had similar concepts, Loop is entirely different. Loop has partnered with major name brands, such as HäagenDazs and Clorox, to replace the single-use packaging of common household products with reusable stainless steel containers. Once the customer has finish using the products inside of the reusable containers, they send the empty containers back to Loop using the same tote bag that the items were originally shipped in. Almost all of the reusable or recycling based companies that I found used either green or blue in their color palette. They all also failed to stand out from one another due to their reliance on branding themselves based on an image of a leaf or the recycling symbol.
8/9
Aaron Burke • Spring 2020
TARGET AUDIENCE
Boxeen is a B2B2C company that markets towards customers between the ages of 18 to 65 years old. The majority of these individuals frequently dine at one of the casual dining restaurants that is partnered with this program. They all have varying levels of education and income levels, but the majority of the target audience is classified as being middle class.
Boxeen Process Book • Company Identity
BRAND OVERVIEW
Honest
Courageous
Boxeen is straightforward with their customers and partners and has no hidden agendas.
Boxeen is not afraid to add new products and ideas into their program which have not been tried before.
Optimistic The company believes they can achieve their purpose of eliminating the use of plastic containers in restaurants.
Friendly They care about their partners as well as their customers and welcome everyone to join them on their mission.
They are constantly looking for new ways to improve their reusable program to make it more effective and easier to reduce the use of plastic.
10/ 11
TYPOGRAPHY
Innovative ABCdef
Barlow Black
ABCdef
Barlow Bold
ABCdef
Barlow Medium
ABCdef
Barlow Regular
Aaron Burke • Spring 2020
Boxeen Brown PMS: 7508 U CMYK: 0 19 42 16 RGB: 215 175 125 HEX: D7AF7D
Dark Gray PMS: 419 U CMYK: 0 6 13 66 RGB: 87 82 76 HEX: 57524C
Tan PMS: 453 U CMYK: 0 7 18 23 RGB: 196 182 160 HEX: C4B6A0
Boxeen Process Book • Company Identity
BOXEEN'S LOGO
When I first started sketching, I wanted to try to make sure that the logo for this company communicated that their containers were a part of an infinite reusable cycle. I also tried to incorporate the first letter of the three different potential names of this company into the brandmark, which were Revvour, Retupble, and Boxeen. Throughout this sketching process I found that at some points I was focusing too much on the reusability portion of this program and that I needed to incorporate more of the container aspect into the logo. After these sketches went through a round of revisions my critique team unanimously agreed that my third logo concept was the most successful. In my first round of digital roughs, I wanted to explore a few of my other initial concepts, in addition to my third sketch. Although a few of these other concepts had potential, my second Boxeen logo that is paired with type was the best out of this group.
12/ 13
Aaron Burke • Spring 2020
Boxeen Process Book  •  Company Identity
Final Revisions The major criticism that I received with these revisions was that almost all of the logos had odd portions of white space that needed to be fixed. I ended up moving forward with the final logo; however, I shorten the logo horizontally since it was a bit too long. For my color choices I wanted to stay away from using similar shades of green and blue that other reusable companies were using. While the shades of orange that I chose had potential, everyone in my critique group agreed that the tan shade of brown was the best color to represent the company and stand out from the competition.
14/ 15
Aaron Burke • Spring 2020
3 PACKAGE DESIGN Container Packaging Informative Card Paper Bag
Boxeen Process Book • Package Design
CONTAINER PACKAGING
The two packaging concepts that I initially explored were the possibility of either having a belly band or a sticker applied to each container. After the first critique I was informed that the sticker concept would not be a good idea since it would disintegrate each time the container is washed. One interesting idea that I had and ended up using as the final packaging was the thought of attaching the info card to the container with the use of slits cut into the packaging. This packaging is made out of recycled cardboard in order to match the brand.
18/19
Aaron Burke • Spring 2020
INFORMATIVE CARD
I had a lot of ideas for how this info card could function when I was still in the sketching stage. It could have functioned as a coupon or bring attention to the problem with plastic containers. Once I decided that this card needed to be integrated into the packaging, the only logical use for the card was an informative guide for the program.
Boxeen Process Book • Package Design
Mockup The logo on the packaging is die cut so it will turn dark grey when the card is inserted into the packaging. I communicated that the info card should be removed and flipped over by placing directions on the bottom of the card.
20/21
Aaron Burke  •  Spring 2020
PAPER BAG
I wanted to keep the bag simple and interesting so I ended up using the second concept for the final design of the bag that the containers are placed in when they are given to the customer.
4 COLLATERAL Employee Uniform Vehicle Wrap Table Tent Card Coupons
Boxeen Process Book • Collateral
EMPLOYEE UNIFORM
The first two uniform layouts were an attempt to incorporate the brandmark into the uniform by wrapping it around the shirt in different ways. While the second concept worked better than the first concept, I felt that the most interesting part of the brandmark should be moved to the front of the shirt.
24/25
Aaron Burke • Spring 2020
VEHICLE WRAP
I carried the same style of displaying the brandmark over to my concepts for the vehicle wraps and chose to stretch this brandmark so it spans across the entire van. The biggest issue that I ran across in the first round of revisions was that people could not identify what the company did. In order to solve this problem, I added text to the vehicle that explained what type of program they run.
Boxeen Process Book • Collateral
TABLE TENT CARD
One of the most effective places that this program can be marketed is right next to the customer in a restaurant when they ask for a box to take home their food. This table tent card helps to not only let the customer know that they have the option of asking for a reusable container, but also informs them of how the program works.
26/27
Aaron Burke • Spring 2020
COUPONS
In order to help motivate customers to make the switch to these new reusable containers, they will receive coupons each time they return these containers. Each one of these coupons can be given out and used at any of the program's partnered restaurants.
5 CONCLUSION Reflection Thank You
Boxeen Process Book • Conclusion
REFLECTION
It is impossible to reflect upon this project without addressing COVID-19. Designing under these strange and challenging circumstances is certainly important to note; however, I feel that people will focus too much on identifying how these circumstances affected the work rather than focusing on the quality of the work itself. With that said, COVID-19 certainly had a negative effect on the quality of the work. Based on past projects that I have worked on, I produce my best work when people have high expectations and strict deadlines. Thanks to COVID-19 both of these factors were basically ruined. If I redid this project under normal circumstances the quality of the work would be significantly improved, but I do believe that my final design solutions are successful.
30/31
Aaron Burke • Spring 2020
Biggest Changes When I pitched my original project concept, I was ambitious and planned on creating a motion graphic advertisement as well as a point of purchase display, in addition to the collateral that I was able to create. These two items had to be canceled because there was not enough time to do everything due to COVID-19. The biggest impact on my work that this pandemic caused was the deterioration in the quality of feedback that I received. Since I was only able to share the majority of this work online, I found it difficult to ask and push people to give the same in depth, quality feedback that they would have given in person. A lot of my work ended up not even going through a second round of revisions because everyone said it did not need any further changes. Out of all of the negative effects that COVID-19 had on my project, this was the one that I hated the most.
THANK YOU
I am so grateful for everyone who helped me during the process of this project and who taught me how even the most complex problems can be solved with design. Instructors
James Quigley Angela Terry
Donald Starr James Van Meer
Classmates
Thank you for everything you have taught me and for inspiring me to be a better designer. My Parents
Thank you for your continuous support throughout my design journey.