Giftboxes & Chocolate

The idea that everyone liked during my crit was the one surrounding chocolate box packaging for music. I have now concentrated my focus onto this idea and now I am looking at inspiration and analysing the design market for packaging that I could take ideas from.

I decided to search online for quick inspiration and found that type design and brand identities prevail. In terms of typography I have found that most boxes feature cursive or handwritten typefaces as well as a selection of simple sans and sans serif fonts. Colour is a little less easy to define but white and black seem to be the majority vote. The reason for the neutral colour choices seem to be used for a unisex market.

I realise I have only scratched the surface of this market, and I plan to look at buying figures, trends and also look at gender. There is a good deal print processes being used in the market too which appeal to me. Foil block and die cutting add aesthetic appeal and also give a luxurious feel that I am looking for.

I purposely picked examples of luxury gift boxes because that is what my idea is based on. Making the CD format seem more appealing. I don't want to make it obvious for anyone receiving a CD to know it's a CD straight away. The not knowing could raise expectation and create a buzz around the gift.

The handwritten type gives the box a personal quality as well as a luxurious edge. It assures the receiver that care has been taken, its like a signature of approval. The foil stamping suggests wealth and luxury also. The sans serif type examples appeal to me more just because it gives much more of a contemporary feel, and does not lose character, as I would have expected. Before searching I was playing around with serif typefaces but now I know it works like these examples do, I can broaden my search and include some sans serifs typefaces.

Here are my examples