HELP SAVE THE RAINFOREST!
A NEW MCDONALD'S HAPPY MEAL EXPERIENCE
EXPERIENCE AND PACKAGING DESIGN | MARCH 2023
BRIEF
Conceptualize, design and produce a new and engaging Happy Meal experience for the McDonald's brand. The final product will be a comprehensive design for a new Happy Meal experience that incorporates the students' research, conceptualization, content, new theme, and design elements.
CHALLENGE
Utilize an understanding of the target audience to improve upon the current customer experience of the Happy Meal.
DESIGN SOLUTION
Following my initial research and topic exploration, I chose to pursue an experience that raised awareness for deforestation in the Amazon Rainforest. With a proper balance of educational information and entertainment, the target audience would be incentivized to learn about the topic. More specifically, I chose to highlight the animals that are currently endangered due to deforestation and appeal to children's desire to help these animals.
Beyond just raising awareness, I also wanted to include something actionable to keep the ball rolling. My goal is that children would come away from the experience with not only a better understanding of the issue, but they would also learn small ways they can help make a difference every day.
TARGET AUDIENCE
School age children
ROLEResearch, Visual Design, Prototyping, Print Graphics, Illustration
APPLICATIONS
Procreate, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop
TEAM
Solo designer
WHY
School/Portfolio Project
HAPPY MEAL BOX
For the design of the Happy Meal container, I chose to create a fully wrap-around illustration of a rainforest that would include 10 endangered species hidden throughout. With a list of the animals on the side of the box, kids will find entertainment in trying to find them all. Additionally, I chose to include a flap that utilizes the shape of the McDonald's Happy Meal smile. The underside of the flap shows the same illustrated area of the rainforest on the front after its deforestation. Also shown under the flap is a QR code with information on ways that kids can help make a difference.
For the other containers, I decided to create groupings of the specific locations within the rainforest where each of the 10 featured species can be found.
6 PIECE Chicken McNugget Box
Main meal container
AREA OF FOCUS: Understory, Forest Floor
The understory and forest floor is comprised mainly of very dense brush and foliage. Of the 10 endangered species of focus, the jaguar, spider monkey, and poison dart frog are most likely to be found in this area. I also chose to include a map of South America on the top of the box to give children more context of where the Amazon Rainforest is located.
Fry container
AREA OF FOCUS: canopy, emergent layer
In the upper layers of the rainforest, one might encounter the pygmy three toed sloth, golden lion tamarin, hyacinth macaw, or toucan. If you look closely, you may even find that one animal in the illustrations has a treat of its own.
drink container
AREA OF FOCUS: river, aquatic based
Reaching the Amazon River, you may find a pink river dolphin, giant river otter, or a South American tapir. I wanted to play into the nature of the container to give kids a better look at the underwater environment these animals live in and around.
Toy packaging
For the toy packaging, I chose to create a box for a sticker pack. On the outside, I maintained relatively simple graphics with the exclusion of the 10 animals in the center. This serves to give an idea of what is inside; the stickers would be illustrations of the animals and rainforest plants, as well as a few QR codes that link to the Amazon Conservation Association.
Especially due to the current trend of placing stickers on items such as laptops, phones, and water bottles, many children love getting more to add to their collections. Since these objects are often seen by their peers, it can also serve as a great way to promote the Happy Meal experience.
process
RESEARCH
To start the project, I began by researching the Happy Meal and designs that have been used in the past. Doing so gave me a better understanding of the elements incorporated into most designs. Once I decided to focus on deforestation in the Amazon, I identified animals endangered due to deforestation. I looked into where they live within the rainforest, and found images to base illustrations off of. I also decided that for this Happy Meal, a donation would be made to an organization that specifically helps with the issue for each purchase. I chose the Amazon Conservation Association, which plants a tree for roughly every dollar donated.
ILLUSTRATION Videos
Included below are the time-lapse videos generated from Procreate for the four panels of the main Happy Meal Box.
TEMPLATES
After buying a Happy Meal, I flattened out the different boxes to measure and create templates for each item. I used Adobe Illustrator to aid in making the templates as accurate as possible.
PROTOTYPING AND CONSTRUCTION
Once I got my illustrations made and laid out on the templates, I removed lines from the template that would be visible in the final print. I did a few test prints to ensure I was happy with the colors and image quality. I printed the final designs onto cardstock paper, and I cut out the templates using an X-Acto knife. Once cut, I referenced my templates and used a scoring tool to fold where appropriate. With rubber cement, I constructed the boxes and ensured they maintained their structural integrity.
REFLECTION
Overall, I feel the project went really well and I am happy with the final product. I feel I was successful in the goal of creating a new and intriguing Happy Meal experience. In the future, I would go back and redo my approach to the folding flap a bit. It was difficult to line up the way I did it, although I was able to make it work by adding a small white border. However, given more time, it may have worked better to avoid cutting the original box altogether and just paste an additional section on top. Additionally, I would split the Happy Meal box into two sections in order to print onto two pieces of sturdier cardboard. At the size I printed, the paper available was slightly thinner than regular cardstock. Although it does maintain its integrity, I feel that thicker paper would improve the overall quality.
