When I thought of medals I could design to give to someone in my life, I thought about my roommates and our vast supply of milk. Between seven roommates, we had about five milk cartons every week in our refrigerator from oat milk to skim lactose free milk. I thought it was funny how many different kinds of milk we had so I decided to design my medal from these concepts. I started with a very simple outline style but I found that it lacked personality. I then decided to create my own typography by using the brush tool in Illustrator and drawing on top of a sketch. I tried different compositions and colors, but finally decided on a black milk carton shaped medal with white lettering and lines to show the contours of the carton. When I mocked up the design, I took photographs of bubbly milk, turned them into a bitmap design, and used a blend mode to soften the texture. I then changed the colors of the milk cartons to a more unexpected color scheme. I mocked up the medal like a sticker on a reusable drink container that someone might decorate with to match their personality and and they might use to drink their coffee. I first engraved the piece on white acrylic, but the design was hard to see, so I decided to engraved the medal on a light colored wood to slightly emulate the white color of milk and use the dark burn of the wood to make the design stand out.
