MinaLima, Harry Potter Sweet Packaging Design

A competition to participate in either the redesign of an already written about sweet from the world of Harry Potter, or design packing for your own magical sweet. 

I created my own 'Portkey Popping Candy' which would essentially jump you around the room as you ate it, each time it crackled. The emphasis was upon the packing design however, and so I used the designs MinaLima previously used in the films and I was influenced by the 'Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes' collection.

I wanted a bold and dynamic pattern with a clear aesthetic, and stuck to a minimal colour palette, thinking that perhaps there would be different coloured Portkey Popping Candy and then the colour of the packaging would reflect that.

I also made my own mock-up of the packaging which I thought would be interesting to have in a sachet style packaging with a flap lid, tied by ribbon, slightly like a wallet. 

Owl Post

A little while back I found out and managed to get to the Graphic Art of the Harry Potter Films, which would be exhibiting work by the graphic artists Miraphora and Eduardo - MinaLima. It was such an amazing opportunity to look at the work in great detail. What was even more amazing, and I still can't get over til this day - both Miraphora and Eduardo were there, and they talked to us! It was so interesting to hear about their work, and so lovely for them to take the time to talk to us and point out little design secrets. They are a bit inspiration to me, and to actually meet and talk to them - yep. I therefore wanted to make them a thankyou card. I then got pretty carried away! It went from a card design to a full blow mini-craft-project!

Owl diagram and plan

I drew out the design for the owl and then I was able to apply the feathers on top of each other, separately, into the correct formation.

Final Card

Close up of some of the card illustrations

I originally had a few thumbnail ideas of possible cards, but I ended up going for a collaboration of different Harry Potter related objects, all in monochrome.
Mounting the illustration onto the black card, really work well with the black ink illustrations, and really brought them out.

Completed wing, with separate feathers

The wings of the owl were crafted from the original design. I used it as a template for layering the feathers in the correct formation, to get that wing-span shape. All the feathers were cut separately, so that on the back of the bird, you can still see all the feathers.

Owl: BACK

Final paper-constructed Owl 

Holding the owl up to the light clearly highlights all the wing construction

I wanted to make the owl hold the card-envelope.
To make with possible, the beak and neck feathers are only glue at the top, and the feet are glued at the bottom of the talons. This way, the letter can be slipped under at both ends of the owl, and it will be as though the owl has the letter in its mouth, and the talons keep it secure.

 The whole point of the design was to have the owl - based on Hedwig - carrying the well known Harry Potter-Hogwarts style envelope.

Full collection of pieces