Karla Burns

Some of my packaging Prototypes

Last year at university, we were given quite an interesting project. We had to choose an object, mood, feeling anything really and change people’s perceptions of it. Our tutors wanted us to choose something that was not obvious, or that wasn’t well marketed out in the environment. After much thought, and many mind maps I finally settled on the ‘paperclip’. I thought it would be an easy task to change the perception of such a generic item, but I found that it was easier to talk about the perceptions than to visualise it.

My core message for this was ‘if a paperclip could talk’. I wanted people to take a step back and really realise why they use paperclips. A paperclip is a mundane piece of stationary that we use everyday day, we take it for granted to hold our documents together. Why do we choose a paperclip to hold our documents together? The reason is how they are marketed; paperclips will not rip or mark your paper, and allow for movement of pages within the document allowing for no error in paper orientation.

The paperclip was made an iconic piece of kit by the 1980’s  epic MacGyver! MG could get himself out of jail, disarm bombs, break into high security buildings, fly planes armed only with his paperclip! Now ask yourself truly how exciting is a paperclip?

So how could I get these ideas together, and stop people from mistreating these poor paperclips, not giving them the respect that they so rightly deserve. I broke it down into smaller chunks of copy. I created my very own Paperclip font and each of the phrases began with ‘I can…’

I can protect you. (Holds your legal documents together, or reminiscent of MacGyver)
I can tell your secrets. (Holds secure information)
I can hold your heart. (Hold together Love poems, letters, thoughts)
I can hold your inspiration.

And so on.

When I came to visualise these it became difficult, as for an advertising campaign, through billboards and idents to change the perception of a paperclip would not appeal to any paperclip company as they have no need to advertise a piece of stationary that we use everyday. I had to find another way to capture the hearts and minds of the public in a way that might appeal to a company who makes paperclips. From my research I had realised that the packaging of paperclips is really lack lustre, the paperclips themselves can be silver, or coloured but they are all packaged in transparent, plastic boxes. There was no meaning or thought to the boxes, or to the reasoning behind the colour and that really bothered me as a lot of thought had gone into the style and use of the paperclip to make it so user friendly, to prevent it from damaging your documents. Why had this same care and consideration not been taken over to the packaging presentation? This is what I chose to tackle. I created a box that was playful and exciting, that would please the eye and draw you over in a stationary shop. That would make you stop and think, why does this packaging look like this? I created illustrations to provide a visualisation of the different uses of a paperclip. I created a box with the branding ‘I can…’ placed on the front of it. Inside the box is four compartments each colour coordinated, (inside each box is some paperclips the colour that corresponds with the colour of the lid.) Each box not only has a colour but it also has a use. So when you require the help of a paperclip you choose the corresponding use; heart, inspirations, dreams, secrets. All the boxes I made by hand from my own net designs.