Did you know that over a hundred tiny Praying Mantises spill out of one egg case when they hatch? It’s quite spectacular, and then you need to quickly release all but one or two into the wild. These little guys are carnivorous and very hungry. If you don’t give all of them all plenty to eat, they’ll feast on each other. Hey, a little sibling rivalry never hurt anyone, right?
The Praying Mantis Pagoda, obvious by its name, was to have an oriental flair. So I used a Buddhist temple, or tower, as inspiration for the logo, and created a custom font.
The Japanese writing on the base of the logo says “Praying Mantis Pagoda” repeatedly… how original.
At the same time I was working on the packaging, I was to create the look of the product itself. This needed to be done quickly so that it could be manufactured while I worked on everything else. I designed the base of the habitat, the pattern for the frame, and a little oriental lantern that would hang in the center of the habitat to hold the egg case while waiting for it to hatch.
I then had to create the illustrations for the Pagoda instructions.
Put it all together with a cute kid photo shot, some illustrated mantises, the essential legal mumbo-jumbo, and you’ve got yourself a bona fide product with packaging that fits well with the Insect Lore look.
Insect Lore’s UK division is able to sell living walking sticks while it’s illegal to sell them in the US. The reason being that walking sticks are a common pest. Strange, since the US division can sell mealworms/darkling beetles with no restrictions. Ok, this is totally beside the point… the point being I was given the challenge of updating their antiquated logo and packaging.
Aging Living Twig packaging
Ack! Those walking stick characters look like poo with legs. The challenge here was to align it with our unified Insect Lore look, and make it friendly for 10 languages. This looks like a job for illustration!
First off, I created illustrations to show how the kit worked, independent of any copy:
Next came the logo.
Sometimes I get on a kick and create the whole logo with textures and all, and realize that I’ve been going the wrong way the whole time. Although this logo has some punch, other than reading “Living Twig”, it says nothing. Back to the drawing board.
Ok, this idea had some merit. It was approved by the powers-that-be, so I finished it up:
As you can see, I stayed pretty true to the hand drawn look of the lettering, but modified the leaf “shield” behind to help it sit on any colored background and look good.
The children on the front are from two separate photos, and we didn’t have a shot of a habitat with walking sticks crawling around in it, so that took a bit of photoshopping to get what we needed. I added the obligatory choking hazard label, odds and ends, a little fizz, and there you have it, a fresh updated look to a very cool live insect kit!
Not available in the US, but you can get it in the UK here.
Bugs are cute. It’s true! Look at ‘em through a cute magnifying glass and they’re ultra cute! Ok, maybe not, but cute magnifying glasses are cute. That’s true. So started my journey to design a magnifying glass, logo, and packaging that would appeal to young children. Being an Insect Lore product, of course it had to feature an endearing bug character. The name “Bugifiers” was chosen, and I went to work.
I went back and forth designing the logo and the actual magnifying glass, which turned out to be the best way for me to brainstorm this product. I’ll explain why.
First, I sketched up some fun logo ideas, incorporating the glass of the magnifier. Here’s one of the ideas I came up with:
Fine and dandy, but it didn’t resonate with me. Nothing here drew me in. No reason to buy this magnifier over any other one on the market. It was a bit illegible as well for a product logo and was spelled wrong. I then moved over to sketching up product ideas.
When you look at someone that is looking through a magnifier, their eye get huge. That’s funny! How could I incorporate a bug and a big eye in the product design? Maybe have the bug looking back at the kid, and have one eye really big? Here’s what I came up with:
They loved the idea. So I moved back to the logo brainstorming. Now, I had an intriguing element to add to the logo to give it some charm.
I moved to Adobe Illustrator at this point to create the custom font and logo. I played around with the look further there.
And the final logo here with the customary Insect Lore background:
Prototypes of the actual Bugifiers came back, and I made some revisions to them with additional sketches. Chinese manufacturers are very literal, so the more detail given about your expectations, the better.
Changes were made, and then I moved on to the packaging designs. We added a hole into the package card so that they could be picked up, and tried out before the purchase. Here you’ll see the actual Bugifiers, and then in their cards.
This whole creation process is a thrill for me. I love seeing a project from an idea all the way to production. Changes of direction have to made all the time through this process. Anything from production limitations and costs, to making it fit on the retailers’ shelves come into play. But it’s all worth it in the end.
If you’re interested in buying one online, go to http://www.insectlore.com
by garth on April 10, 2008
Just in case you have a hard time focusing on those huge puzzles with a gazillion teeny pieces, here are a few that will just put your mind at ease. Then when you complete them, they can be used as little futons to take a nap upon. They’re big (20×30 inches), they’re made of thick, soft, but durable, foam, and you’ll learn the life cycles of various creatures while having fun!
These aren’t the cartoony illustrations I’m used to drawing, but it’s fun to take on a different style once in a while. Again, logo and illustrations done by me, and Giant Life Cycle Puzzles furnished by Insect Lore.
by garth on April 6, 2008
The summer days are long, and there aren’t enough rocks for all your offspring to play under. What’s a bug mother to do, send them to the compost pile? Right, good luck getting them to return for supper from that wonder wasteland… There are safer alternatives, one that even conforms to strict ASTM F963 requirements!
Introducing the Critter Carnival! This amusement park is the ultimate playground for your young larvae! Watch them play and perform in the zany carnival bug-play arena with a slide, swing, maze, tightrope, ferris wheel & teeter totter. Even a large protective dome to keep those pesky humans from squashing your precious pupae. It’s your very own one-ring circus!
Logo design by yours truly, and product by Insect Lore.
I can’t believe I’ve let my blog go without an update for so long. I’ve been so busy on stuff that I just kinda got out of the groove. It’s time for an update.
All of the work I’ve done here is for my full-time gig at Insect Lore.
So I guess the best way to tell you what I’ve been up to is to show you.
Here’s a fun one. Six puzzles in one showing the life cycles of butterflies, ladybugs, ants, mealworms (darkling beetles), praying mantises, and silkworms. I did the puzzle artwork, logo designs and packaging design. Here’s what the six puzzles look like:
Then, there’s a mealworm/darkling beetle raising kit in the form of a country farm. Hey, anything to make these ugly bugs a little more endearing. It’s popular for 5th and 6th grade curriculums. I designed the logo and packaging, and the logo on the roof of the barn itself.
Here we have a Butterfly Garden, Insect Lore’s flagship item. They’ve been producing this one since 1969, just in several different forms from a box, down to this super simple pop-up habitat. I just redesigned the logo and packaging.
And, the fun-loving Checker Bugs. Just a cute twist on an old favorite. Jump your opponent and capture ‘em in the bug nets.
This isn’t a comprehensive list of what I’ve done (by far), but a sampling. I’m currently working on a whole slew of new products for 2008, and as soon as those are released, I’ll show those.
I feel so lucky to do what I love for a living, and Insect Lore is really a great company with wonderful people.
