It feels like I’ve been living in front of my computer screen for the past two weeks. Everyday it has been non-stop GRIND. I must say though, since this is a project that I’m personally passionate about and determined to do a good job at, it’s not so terrible. A huge milestone at the start of this week was creating the box design. After scrolling through billions of inspiration designs on Pinterest I finally, finally, FINALLY had a vision for what I wanted to create. 

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Below is a breakdown of the visual design. Lots of thought went into every single component of it.

I’m honestly so satisfied with the final product. The branding of my project is something I have literally been thinking about since the very beginning and it is very satisfying reaping the rewards of my Pinterest scrolling, Procreate doodling, hair-pulling-outing and feedback seeking. I’m very grateful to my peers for providing me with such good feedback.

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Not to mention, I sent out a message asking for feedback at near midnight and immediately had five people respond! Even though this has literally been reiterated to me for the past four years, the power of feedback is truly phenomenal. 

Finalising the box design was not just another thing ticked off my to do list. The reason why it was such a huge milestone for me is because I am a person who just works better when there is an aesthetic. It’s a little hard to put into words but, to elaborate, I study better when I have visually appealing notes, I focus better when I’m in a curated physical environment and I feel better when I’m wearing a cool outfit! Something about visuals just improves my mood and focus so much more. So, since I now had a brand identity/aesthetic to keep in mind, finishing the visual design of all the tools felt like a breeze. Even non-visual tasks such as report writing were easier because it felt like I had a better grasp of what my toolkit is and its purpose. This magical milestone is what led me to finish creating all of the tools in my toolkit, writing the facilitator’s guide and writing my 302 report all in one week! It was exciting updating everything I had created so far to match the branding of the box, hence why I was able to put in so much work without burning out. If there’s one thing I admire more than aesthetic appeal in visual design, it’s consistency. 

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It has been a rollercoaster of a semester. The total word count of all my blog posts totals to almost 7k words. It was and is so rewarding going through the entire design process. It is so fascinating to reflect on all the times I felt stuck with no direction but nonetheless pushed through. This project ingrained in me the sentiment of “trust the process”. Not only that, it also taught me to trust myself. I suppose that is what the essence of the term “trust the process” means. The process is nothing without the individual driving it. This is the end of my career as a design student, but the very start of my career as a designer. What’s really cool to think about is how I could use this toolkit later in my career if I get put on a food-related design project. It’s definitely something I could use in co-design workshops with different actors and stakeholders. Although there won’t be another blog update at the end of the project when I have completed absolutely everything, I thoroughly look forward to reflecting on my project as a whole in my report. There are only two weeks left, but I now trust the process and myself enough to know that I will have something awesome to show at the end of it. I think if first year Ally could see my capstone project, she would have been ecstatic to see what we have accomplished.

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Thank you so much for tuning in :)

REFERENCES

Image capture of the feedback my peers left me on my box design.  [Digital Image] (2023). https://miro.com/app/board/uXjVM1EOxvs=/?share_link_id=555568399592.

Image capture of my final box iteration breakdown from my Miro Board. [Digital Image] (2023). https://miro.com/app/board/uXjVM1EOxvs=/?share_link_id=555568399592.

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