Sharona Antonipillai

OK the Skincare Brand

The packaging exists to meet the needs of society and it has evolved through the ages. I decided to focus on the broader term of Cognitive Disabled for my specific special needs target.I want to introduce skincare to the cognitive disabled that is broad to non english speakers too. At a time of the pandemic there was a great mental health decline. Getting more people involved in skin care with its therapeutic qualities and bringing routine back into their life is my goal, that is open to all kinds of people that is inclusive and accessible.20–45% of the world population present special needs, permanent or provisional. This index is higher than that presented by the WHO, which determines that 10% of a country’s population has some kind of disabled, in times of peace.My goals are to:•Design to minimize existing differences•Promote a better expectation of life and human rights•Help to improve their self-esteem•Allow routine activities to be performed independently and autonomouslyAnother target I’d like to consider focusing on and integrating into this packaging is to non-english speakers, as Canada is known for taking in a lot of refugees and immigration. These type of people aren’t able to shop on their own for most part, but in the direction we’re going, smartphones are becoming the norm and more stores and areas are having wifi installed, so I was thinking of adding QR codes that can lead the consumer to a language option to translate the products for them.I realize that I broadly used the term skincare, but that is another area I need to narrow down on. I am very familiar with this topic as skincare was one of the things I found to help me get out of my own pandemic slump. It helped me to build back my routine and it felt good to be part of this skincare trend to have something to take care of as my own. I did research into what products were suitable for my skin to improve such as hyaluronic acid, niacinamide, etc. I have considered making one of those my products but I realize that it is already challenging to pronounce these words and figuring out a single skin type. I decided to back up a moment and focusing on some starter skincare products.. I decided to make 3 packages on the most essential products that are suitable for all skin types, and all the complicated ish like the 2 I mentioned would be ingredients implemented into the ingredients of my 3 products which will be cleanser, toner and moisturizer. These are 3 basic essentials recommended by dermatologists, and the intent of my project is to create a routine.For my brand name, I was thinking of going for something universal to represent my brand and their inclusivity. After researching several words that can be recognized universally, I decided upon OK as this is a word that stands out in speech and writing and is easily distinguished from other words. OK allows us to view a situation in simplest terms, just OK or not, which makes this word more inclusive as it’s easy to understand. It may be pronounced differently in different languages but understandings are the same, making it decipherable for those to search for.When it came down to design, I had decided to go with graphics of natural landscapes, water, fish tanks, and fires as cognitive scientists have repeatedly found that focusing on natural elements that mimic nature in design brings a sense of relaxation and ease to the mind.For my initial visual conceptual development, I looked at specific colours as the concept of my packaging is to create a design that tackles cognitive disability and the product is for the purpose of anxiety reducing, and relaxing. I looked at some pantone colours that fall under relaxing and soothing. The first row is “pastel hues are a very livable and soothing colors to consider”, the second row is “a nature-infused palette of health-giving hues conveying contentment” and the third row is “these colors as energizing hues that brighten moods”. I decided to take one colour from each row to make all these feelings into one pack of perfect balance.I ended up choosing 4 colours for my final brand colours. Orange was a strong colour as it creates more stimuli and enhance critical thinking and memory which will help encourage them to be proactive with their skin care regimen. It promotes creativity and helps to stay calm. Green and Blue are other colours that promote calm and improvement of focus. I read that blue is best for learning situations that are challenging and having a spike of orange is suggested by experts.For the conceptual development of my forms, I did some retail research I decided I needed a packaging form that stands out more, something that creates more stimuli towards it’s users.