Is this a stupid design idea?
Posted by James on October 14, 2010 · 4 Comments
Question by Satinette: Is this a stupid design idea?
Idea for a student project:The project is to promote fresh and healthy food at the canteen using posters and flyers. Now this is one of my ideas – using a cigarette-shaped box as a base graphic, but instead of cigarettes, having images of beautiful photographs of fruits. Instead of “Surgeons warning: will cause lung cancer”, have “Will fight cancer” (fruit and veggies that is).
The only thing I’m worried about is the negative connotation of a cigarette box. That’s the only thing. Is my idea clever enough to avoid the negativity of this association? My idea is, after all, playful concept of how fruit and vegs are like opposites of cigarettes – one causes cancers, the other fights and protects (to an extent) cancers.
Best answer:
Answer by the fist
do it, for great justice
What do you think? Answer below!
Well, I didn’t think about the negative side of that until you pointed it out. If you execute it well people may not even think of it. Perhaps you should take the idea and see if you can expand on it, sometimes we can get stuck on one idea, fruits and veggies promote a healthy life in comparison to many things that don’t.
Agreeing with the first answer,a box is a box. It is clever to use that box shape. Back in school we used to design all sorts of boxes especially common shapes and then apply the graphics by hand, score the folded areas and glue it together. As for the content, it is good to move people away from the typical use of that box shape and what better way to do it than with a cigarette box. Great concept, go for it!
The drawbacks, as you partially point out, is that people could read the message as “smoke as much as you like, as long as you’re eating fruit you won’t get cancer” (this is vastly oversimplified).
Packaging itself has negative connotations, the retail world is trying to reduce packaging – fruit already has its own natural and beautiful wrapping.
If you are promoting something in the real world very few clients will stand for negative comparison (this can be illegal in some parts of the world, so can making unsubstantiated claims) so make sure you do some research into any claims you make.
to avoid the negative connotation, make you’re the typography of your headline is very interesting and very bold. in the aspect of design hierarchy, the headline should be the first read, and your main illustration/content, secondary
but no, its not a stupid design idea
goodluck