I wanted to do a project that feels very personal to me, so I started brainstorming about my culture because I feel like there isn't anything else that can shape an individual more than where you come from and where you would call home. For a bit of background information, I was born and raised in Malaysia, which is a very multicultural country that is made up of predominantly Chinese, Malays, and Indians. Then, I started to think what kind of patterns do I want to play around, what kind of product(s) do I want to apply that on, what kind of vibe/feel does this brand have, do I want it abstract or more literal, and most importantly, the story behind my brand and how I can best connect the meaning/value to the choice of every design aesthetic made. By focusing on my culture, I listed out things that reminded me of Malaysia, such as local foods and flavours I love and miss as well as national landmarks, such as the Petronas Twin Towers. As with the color palette, I knew I wanted to play with bright colors because I wanted the brand to exude happiness when you see it. I also wanted to create a product that is artisanal and locally made. The first thought was a bottle of wine with a more uncommon design label that feels a bit organic, which then took to the concept of celebration and what that means to me.

Eventually, I decided to focus on the concept of celebration through a Celebration Gift Set, which would comprise of four different yet cohesive pattern designs for the four products included in the set. The pattern designs are made using illustrations of these three national elements: mangosteen, calamansi, and the hibiscus flower. Each pattern design will correspond with the flavors/ingredients of each product.

I made illustrations of the national elements as mentioned above using Adobe Illustrator and experimented with the whole fruit, the cross-section of the fruit, and the angle. I used grids to create a more interesting and balanced composition. Here, I used purple, green, and red so that they all were of the same colors of the actual fruit. However, the colors didn't complement each other well.

For a different experimentation, I played with textures, I stopped following the grids and simply enlarged and repositioned the illustrations, and used a different set of colors. This time, I picked these based on a triad color palette using the color wheel tool. I then applied this color palette to the grid-design.

Experimenting by transforming and reflecting the designs

All four pattern designs are attached as one PDF file below.

The four patterns are applied to the products of the Celebration Gift Set.

1 - Pattern Poster

2 - Applied to the Products Poster