Winter Solstice is an Advent Calendar consisting of 7 mystery pins to be revealed until the day of Christmas
Role(s)
Product Designer, Social Media Director, Illustrator
Timeline
7 Months
Deliverable
Brand Design, Product Design, Graphic Design
Platform(s)
Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop
Overview
Winter Solstice is a collaborative project between four teammates to ensure customer satisfaction and to express a different outlook in creative projects. The idea of this enamel pin advent calendar includes a total of seven different pin artists, who will each design one pin revolving around the theme of "Winter Solstice". Once fully designed and produced, all pins are placed in seven slots of the physical gift box. It has a fun "surprise" element, in which the gift opener is able to count down the days for one week from December 18 to December 24.
The inspiration for this project came from our love for original enamel pins. We believe we can make something fantastic with our creative ideas and turn it into a big project that can inspire other enamel pin designers/artists.
Project Inspiration
Our Theme & Brand
“What does Winter Solstice mean to you?”
Our theme is “Winter Solstice.” This day happens in the middle of December and is known to be the darkest and longest night. Many traditions have their own versions of celebrating, but in general it involves crafting lanterns to shine through the night, and feasting.
We made the theme ambiguous so we have room for interpretation for our individual pin designs.
Logo Process
Phase 1: Sketch
Phase 3: Iterations
Phase 2: Vector
Final Logo
Before creating our social media accounts, we needed a logo that was simple, yet abstract that catered to our audience. Initial sketches showed pill-shaped logos with a blue and two variations of pink, on top of motifs such as snowflakes, stars and a moon to convey the dark, chilly night that is winter solstice.
From the previous image, the team preferred the combination of the cool pink and blue with the snowflake, moon and starbursts included. At its vectored phase, title placement was the issue. We prefer the title placed below the logo as it shows a more professional presentation.
The final step is adding small details and assets including gradients and stars. We chose B, and decreased the opacity of the gradient, as we believe it adds personality to the logo.
There are different variations of our logo created into icons for social media, shop, and email.
User Survey / Interest Check
Service: Our team created the survey using Google Forms
Participants: 196 anonymous individuals, both U.S. and outside of U.S.
Screen: The request for participants was posted to social and shared through our personal outlets, inviting users to participate on their interest in a product.
Quantitative Insights
71.4% like animals or creatures as subject matters for pins next to character busts which received 61.2%.
96.4% would purchase an enamel pin advent calendar for themselves.
75.4% would prefer purchasing a 7-day calendar over a 4-Day gacha calendar.
Qualitative Insights
Most questions pertained to how we will showcase previews of our pins when it’s supposed to be a surprise.
A user suggested that we share artists’ previous enamel pin works as art samples to get better judgment in the art style.
Users preferred no Christmas-themed pins, as rest assured, there won’t by any.
Box Design
Sketch
Final Design
We designed the box to have a gradient similar to our logo, creating an illuminating effect coming from the starlight in the corner.
Our supplier understood that we wanted a box with perforated slits and provided a template for us to follow.
The challenging part required the pink starlight to align in different corners in the box. With trial and error, and prototyping, we were able to find the best alignment for the starlight.
Shop Launch Date
Due to laws in the United Kingdom (U.K.), we created two storefronts: Bigcartel for U.S. and countries excluding the U.K. and Etsy one for U.K. only. We wanted our product to be accessible to everyone so they can enjoy our enamel pins.
On October 1st, we launched our store in both Bigcartel and Etsy. Because of the hype we created for this project, we sold over 50 boxes in a span of an hour of launch.
Results
We sold 200+ boxes total after preorders!
Our enamel pins, backing cards, boxes, and shipping boxes have arrived on time!
We made profit and are able to distribute compensation money for our guest artists in return
Challenges, What Worked, and Moving Forward
For seasonal projects, it’s best to plan this at least a year ahead so there is more time to look over logistics.
Communication between teammates was tricky with workload being distributed. Next time, teammates will speak with more clarity and what they want from others
During the packaging process, the company did not send enough dividers for our calendar box and as a result we postponed shipping 1/4th of our customers until we received more dividers
Once regular sales are over, we will give our guest artists their part of the cut.
After working with an efficient team, I learned how to manage time, communicate, and organize files.
I learned what work ethic I have and will initiate more participation next time.