LANARD TOYS: WORKMAN POWERTOOL TOY LINE
My time at Lanard Toys gave me the opportunity to work on one of the company's most successful toy products, the Workman Powertool line. This was a challenging project which ended up being one of my favorite product lines that I've been involved with. There was plenty of creative freedom, and I was able to explore many different directions with the Workman brand.
My time at Lanard Toys gave me the opportunity to work on one of the company's most successful toy products, the Workman Powertool line. This was a challenging project which ended up being one of my favorite product lines that I've been involved with. There was plenty of creative freedom, and I was able to explore many different directions with the Workman brand.
ART DIRECTION + STRATEGY
The big challenge was to take an outdated product style and find ways to make it fresh and appealing for today's market. I took an unconventional approach to package design, experimenting with various ways to package the product more dynamically. My art direction strayed from using common box shapes, creating dynamic angles with the physical package, giving an illusion of angular flow with the artwork, and adding a textural element to the graphics of the package. With this strategy, a bolder look was achieved – a look that would help land the updated Workman line on major retail shelves worldwide.
COMBATING PRODUCTION PROBLEMS WITH PHOTO RE-TOUCHING
Conflicting due dates and poor planning on the production schedule were an annoying and constant problem on these projects. There were too many times that I was expected to deliver the final production-ready art before the new physical products even came in – that made no sense at all. If you need the new products in order to shoot the lifestyle photos and action call-out graphics on the package, you can't expect anybody to efficiently and accurately complete the package art when the updated product isn't even close to complete yet! However, you can expect talent with creative problem-solving skills to keep the project moving forward. It was never ideal, but when it came to be the only option, I took photos of old product models and digitally re-touched it to match the new product's specifications. For lifestyle photos, we never hired children to model for photoshoots, so we had to scavenge stock photo archives to see what works best to communicate the product's message. A lot of times the products we receive are damaged during shipping so you have to make them look pretty again for the package art. Removing any cracks, blemishes, enhancing colors, and laying it out to work with your design's composition was key to creating high quality work.
IN CONCLUSION...
As of today these continue to be one of my favorite projects that I've worked on. The first-hand experience was invaluable as I learned a lot about myself on a personal and interpersonal level. I found joy in giving an old toy a makeover and became more knowledgable about being aware of potential red-flags that can delay projects. Lastly, seeing my toys in stores like Walmart, Bed, Bath & Beyond, WinCo, Dollar Generals, and other major retailers worldwide are what made this project so rewarding for me.