McDonald's Happy Meal X UEFA Champions League
Brief
The objective of this project was to create and new Happy Meal experience aiming at a new target audience. We would iteratively design and construct a new Happy Meal experience that addresses identified areas for improvement and aligns with the new theme and target audience. The Happy Meal includes a main dish of nuggets or burger, beverage, fries, toy, while also featuring essential elements of the McDonald's brand like the famous Golden Arches logo, smiling face, and distinct color scheme. The main objective is to captivate and enchant viewers with the exciting sport of soccer and one of its most prestigious tournaments.
Challenge
The objective of this project was to get more people to get engaged and know about the UEFA Champions League. As we all know soccer is the most popular sport in the world and incudes a very wide range of demographics. I wanted to create something that people would look at and want to watch or just learn about what the Champions League is. The Meal features different players from the soccer world that are the best of the best with quick facts to give people a little information about the Champions League.
Role
Research, Visual Design, Prototyping, Print Graphics, Illustration
Date
Feruary/March 2023
Tools
Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, Procreate
Client
School/class project
The Box
For the box design, I decided to create an illustration on each side I made illustrations of the current best of the best players such as Kevin De Bruyne, Karim Benzema, Jude Bellingham, and Kylian Mbappe. I also using Enzo Fernandez who is one of the best young talents, much like Bellingham. I wanted to encorporate one of the best players to play the game, Cristiano Ronaldo, as he scored of the best goals ever scored in the Champions League. I ensured that significant brand elements, as well as minor informative texts and icons from the original packaging, were incorporated into the design.
6 Piece McNuggets
For the McNugget container design, I wanted to do something the winning the UEFA Champions League. As you finish your nuggets, at the bottom there is an illustration of the prestigious Champions League trophy. There is aslo a quick fun fact about Real Madrid, which is that they have won the most UCL Titles, which is 13. Also wanted to incorporate the confetti, as confetti rains down on the winners after given the trophey.
Small Fries
For the fries container design, I wanted to keep it simple and use the Champions League ball logo and ball design. For their logo they have 8 stars formed to make a ball. Also including a fun fact about the design of the logo/ball.
Small Drink
For the drink cover design, I wanted to use the main theme of the Champions League stadium with the stars acting as a roof cover the open stadium as light shines through and makes the stars glow blue, pink, and purple. I needed to use an essential like the Golden Arches. I made a glowing Golden Arches to go along with the stadium glow.
Toy | Collectable Players
For the toy package design, I kept it simple once again and used the 4 main players for my design and simple background colors as they were McDonalds colors and UCL colors. I wanted to do collectable action figures cause growing up I didn't watch much European soccer and wasn't invested. Around 13 I would get an action figure of the player who is still my favorite to this day, Eden Hazard. I wanted to connect with the younger side cause you never know how someone can get involved in this sport.
Research
To initiate this project, I purchased my own Happy Meal to gain a more in-depth comprehension of its appeal. Subsequently, I delved into the history and brand of the UEFA Champions League while also leveraging my personal knowledge as a fan of the sport to inform my brainstorming and mood boarding process. I wanted to really go into what the UEFA Champions League is about and what type of graphics and design they use that really engage the audience of the world. Also using their logo to help me throughout my design process.These measures were essential in comprehending the brand and audience, enabling me to execute a more effective design. The accompanying research boards were created using Milanote.
SKETCHES
I began my project by sketching rough concepts on paper but then eventually moved to Procreate. This was the first time using Procreate and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I thought I had a clear idea for the project near the beginning, but then things started to change as I used procreate and let my imagination rum. My approach was to start with loose sketches and gradually refine the design through trial and error. As you can see, the ideas evolved greatly during the project and I even scrapped the original illustration I had in mind. My initial sketches I had with Procreate went well and I loved where I was going with it and I had a decent idea of what it would look like in my head.
Artwork
Once I began to get familiar with Procreate as the project went on, I gained confidence and wanted to make some decently realistic illustrations. I tried to go into as much detail as possible by going into specifics with differnt skin tones, shadows, jersey wrinkles and twists. I also thought the best choice for text was for it to be written out in Procreate. I loved the way it could flow with the designs I had.
Video Process
Below are some videos of my process with each component of the Happy Meal:
Prototyping and Construction
To ensure accuracy in the packaging design, I carefully deconstructed Happy Meal items before commencing the design process. After tracing them onto Illustrator and printed a few blank templates on 11 x 8.5 inch paper, I evaluated the designs on letter size paper and made necessary adjustments. Finally, I printed the Happy Meal design at its actual size and manually folded, cut, glued, and assembled each piece for the desired outcome.
Reflection
Personally I loved what I got to do with this project. I got to pick a theme that I love and is a passion of mine. I got to put my own twist on things and have my viewpoint of the Champions League and what it is about. One thing I really appreciated was getting to use Procreate and getting to learn anew skill that I can use for the future to excel in my graphic design career. Getting feedback from others and my teacher helped me out a ton when it came to getting different perspectives to help me really develop my design. One thing I wish I did was printing the Happy Meal Box on two separate pages. I think it would've looked a lot better when it was constructed together. Overall I am happy with what I created and definitely would want to further develop this concept.
