Portfolio Archive: CineStation

Published: June 2, 2017

Specifications:

Create:
- A fictitious company
- Mood Boards
- Logo Sketches

Design:
- Logo
- Packaging for 2 kits
- Outer Kit Container
- Real Mock-Ups

Process Work/Summary PDF:

CineStation is the concept for a food truck company. It is based off of the idea that there were two brothers who loved the film industry and would constantly travel to international film festivals. They established their business based off of their two passions: train travel and cinema. Their hot spot would be parked at a drive-in theater but they also set-up during seasonal outdoor movies held in parks or parking lots.

This project was for a class back at the Art Institute called “Portfolio 1”. The structure of the project was to create a branding identity for a made up business of my choice. This is what I came up with.

The logo is very symbolic of everything involved in the business. The train itself is shaped as a film projector with the wheels being the film reel. I included the red vendor umbrella to represent the fact that it’s a food truck that people can purchase from. Then inside each cabin of the train is a silhouette of a snack type. I remember thinking that the logo was a bit too busy but my teacher really liked it. Her feedback was that she could see it “being animated” which really stuck with me. Now when I design a logo I often think: “If this company wants to branch out into video, how would this logo look as a motion graphic?”

After the branding and identity, the project called for creating 2 kits which could be anything we wanted. For some people it was merchandise; others it was product. For mine it was snack packaging. The truck would sell treats that you would find at a movie concession stand such as popcorn, candy, or sundaes.

To start, the candy was each packaged in a little baggy made to resemble a movie ticket stub. I included an alliterative title for each of them such as “Gag Reel Gummy Worms”. All of the illustrations were done in Illustrator and all were inspired by different movies or acts. For example, the “Parody Peaches” have seagulls flying the peach similar to James and The Giant Peach; or “Nutty Naturalism” which was the container for nuts and had a squirrel holding a skull (resembling Hamlet). The nuts and the chocolates were in a separate style. This is because they aren’t individual snacks but are toppings for your sundaes. I put 3 variations of each type in one package which made a movie reel the perfect outer container. In each little window you can see the different chocolates available inside.

My favourite part of the project was kit #2 where I included popcorn seasonings. They are put together as paper shakers. Every flavour keeps up with the movie concept and makes characters out of the flavour ingredients. I wanted to have a strong image on the front and then a little tidbit on the back to bring continuity into the design. As well as a pattern in the background to create some movement. The one I like the most is “Killer Ketchup” where I have a little tomato standing over a crushed tomato with a knife. Then on the back; 2 scary, “blood” (a.k.a tomato)-red handprints like a horror movie scene.

The business card is a clever mixture of a slap card on the front and a railroad crossing on the back. I was really proud of this because these are two themes that wouldn’t always be held together (a train and cinema) — so it felt unique to have a card that could encapsulate both effortlessly.

I had a lot of fun with the creative freedom on this project. Though, I do remember how big of a project this was and how much time it took (although looking back at it, it doesn’t look like it now). When young adults joke about skipping class to do homework — this was the class I did homework for. I struggled a lot with creating the actual mock-ups and had no idea how people made them look so pristine. I didn’t have the patience to create the actual packaging, I just enjoyed designing the damn thing.

This isn’t work that I would showcase today and be super proud of — but I post it as it’s something I always wish to remember. It’s important to see how much you’ve improved over time and have these memories of where you started. This was one of the first large projects I ever did and it really helped me find my process in starting from a seed of an idea that could grow into a whole corporate identity.