The first project for my General Illustration II class last semester was to design a cereal box, front and back. It had to include a brand, a name, the cereal itself, a mascot, nutritional information, and a game or prize. Other than that, there were no rules. 

I was lost at first, but after experimenting with a few ideas, I landed on a murder mystery theme. Character creation is most fun to me, so that’s where I began. I wanted the mascot to be a detective, and for some reason (perhaps because one of my favorite detective shows is Poirot) I wanted the setting to be the 20s. 

From there I decided that the game on the box should be a mystery that has to be solved. In theory, I loved this idea, but in practice it meant I had to create a mystery, and I’m not a particularly great writer when it comes to plot. 

The main issue I have with the finished design is that the typography looks out of place, and there isn’t enough space on the box for all of it, so it looks cramped. I probably could have solved this by fine-tuning, but by the time I got to the type I was at the tail end of an all-nighter. Also, Miss Mystery’s coat on the front of the box irks me—I just want to add a few wrinkles around the back area to make it less stiff. Actually, I think the color scheme needs more contrast too. Nevertheless, I did my best and I’m happy with the result, so I’ll count it as a win.

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