Soda Can
'J-POP' SODA
I had a lot of fun with this challenge (which prompted me to continue to work on improving the design later on). The challenge required us to watch Kyary Pamyu Pamyu’s J-pop music video entitled “Sai & Co.” We then had to gather what we could from the imagery, sound, and general vibe of the video, and morph those concepts into a J-pop brand soda can design.
In my first original design (below), I began by recreating the image of a bird with a sort of “techno mohawk” kind of attachment along its head/back mirroring the look of the birds I had seen in the video. I added futuristic sort of sunglasses that felt clean and cool, but still fun, much like how I view J-pop as a genre. I set that birdie on a sort of circular “stage” with lights, similar to the sort of stages which the dancers and characters were on toward the end of the video (minus the “Greek-like” designs and sloped edges; more simplified and clean). I also spotted these airplanes in the music video which seemingly appeared from a sort of vortex into onto the scene. So I took that concept of the airplane and I used it in my design to establish the scene I was setting (with the bird being front and center). Behind the plane trails a tri-color ribbon which envelops the can, playing on its shape which is normally very standard and expected. I chose the three colors (the three original being pink, yellow, and blue based on the three main colors in the video) and also incorporated those colors into the “mohawk” of the bird, as well as the J-pop name, for continuity and completeness.
The original J-pop font I chose was picked based on its clean lines, but I realized upon rendering the design onto the can that it got stretched strangely and didn’t feel fun enough, as it was one of the main contributors to setting the design “mood.” Additionally, I used the tri-color theme of blue/yellow/magenta, while incorporating the callout at the top and the slogan beneath the rim.
I liked where the design was going and it felt unfinished. So I revisited it soon after. I changed the J-pop font to something more fun and rounded. I also altered the tri-color palette slightly, taking the advice from the class critique that the pink/blue/yellow felt too much like a printer’s magenta/cyan/yellow. I agreed. Not wanting to seem like an ad for printers, I changed the pink to a redder color, which I preferred to the original palette. I then went on to incorporate these colors into “bubbles” floating around the scene, to further emphasize the texture and airiness of the soda. I altered the color of the bird, too, seeing as it felt too dark and heavy for J-pop (kind of like a crow in the original). I lightened it up to a much lighter grey to play off the greys in the stage and “sunburst” background setting. I also tricked out the bird’s wings, making some sleek, shiny, futuristic additions (using a gradient like that of the sunglasses or the sunburst.) As a minor fix, I also moved over the callout in the cloud shape seeing as it was getting cut off by the edge of the can in the original rendition. I was extremely happy with the final result of this design challenge. One of my favorites.