INTRODUCTION..............................................................................................................................3
UNDERSTANDING DESIGN ELEMENTS....................................................................................5
UNDERSTANDING DESIGN PRINCIPLES................................................................................11
UNDERSTANDING PERCEPTION..............................................................................................18
THE ELEMENTS OF GIFT PRESENTATION...........................................................................32
GIFT CONTAINERS...............................................................................................................33
Choosing a Gift Box......................................................................................................33
Choosing Paper Gift Bags.............................................................................................34
Choosing Cloth Gift Bags..............................................................................................35
THE WRAPPING....................................................................................................................36
Choosing Paper Wrap....................................................................................................36
Choosing Fabric Gift Wrap............................................................................................38
Creative flair wrap.........................................................................................................39
THE ACCESSORIES..............................................................................................................40
Ribbons and bows..........................................................................................................40
Ribbon colors and patterns..........................................................................................44
Creative ribbon options...............................................................................................46
Making bows vs. buying bows....................................................................................48
Accessories other than bows..........................................................................................49
THE PACKAGING DESIGN PROCESS.......................................................................................50
SELECTING THE RIGHT BOWS AND RIBBONS.............................................................51
COLOR....................................................................................................................................53
THE RIGHT PLACEMENT BOWS AND RIBBONS...........................................................56
WHAT TO DO WITH UNUSUAL SHAPED GIFTS.............................................................59
MULTIPLE GIFTS IN ONE BOX..........................................................................................61
GIFT BASKET DESIGN PROCESS..............................................................................................63
THE BASKETS......................................................................................................................64
Arranging contents of a gift basket...............................................................................65
Harmony and balance...................................................................................................70
THE FINAL TOUCHES..................................................................................................................73
SHIPPING PREPARATION...........................................................................................................76
APPENDIX A – COLOR WHEEL.........................................................................................80
APPENDIX B – COLOR AND CULTURE...........................................................................81
APPENDIX C - RESOURCES...............................................................................................85
How to tie bows............................................................................................................85
How to wrap gifts.........................................................................................................85
Where to get supplies....................................................................................................85
The basic principles behind all art including your gift or gift basket include:
What your eye is drawn to first is the focal point. Remember the red bow on the white box? The red bow is the focal point. In a gift basket, the basket itself might be the focal point or it may be some element contained in the basket.
Figure 9: Despite the bright red box, the elegant bow unmistakably draws your eye and becomes the focal point of this gift.
Figure 10: This image characterizes classic balance very well. Notice the large heart in the center with three smaller hearts on each side.
Imagine in your mind a teeter totter (seesaw). If only one child is on the teeter totter, it will be unbalanced because all the weight is on one end. If a child of the same weight is on each end, the teeter totter will be balanced. It will also balance if you have one child who weighs 60 pounds on one end and two 30 pound children on the other end. You can also balance things out if you move a heavier child toward the fulcrum (center of the balance) and a lighter child toward the end. Humans like things to balance. Don’t worry about how that applies to gifts right now, we’ll discuss it more when we begin designing the look of our gifts and gift baskets.
Figure 11: Is this a very large egg or a very small basket. Either way, the object in the basket is perceived as too large for the container.
We humans evaluate the proportion of what we see every day, but just don’t realize what we’re doing. “Babies have large heads relative to their body size.” “She has large alluring eyes.” “That guy has a big neck.” “There are more girls than boys in my class.” “He has huge hands.” “That piece of furniture looks too big for the room.” Comments or thoughts like these are all involved with our concept of proportion. If you have a tiny bow on a large box, the proportion will be seen as incorrect. The same will be true if you have a large gift basket that contains only one or two small items.
Figure 12: Notice how the colors on the ribbon and bow contrast nicely with the grey cylindrical shaped tins.
Contrast is the state of being extremely different from something else in close proximity. Light versus dark are contrasting tones as are square versus round and tall versus short. Contrast adds interest. For example a taller bottle of bath salts with two small bottles of lotion adds contrast to a gift basket. A red bow on green wrap also adds contrast.
Figure 13: The wavy lines in this gift wrap give it a feel of movement. This can also be achieved with a battery operated lighted bow.
In our gift wrapping and gift basket projects, movement is the path you want the recipient’s eyes to follow. For instance, in a gift basket it might be from right to left or top to bottom depending on the placement of items in the basket.
Figure 14: It’s very easy to see the rhythm and pattern produced in this Christmas tree dried fruit basket. You can do lovely things with your gifts by using color and shapes to produce a pleasing rhythm and pattern.
Some gifts just don’t lend themselves well to boxes due to their shape. Some gifts are completely round; others come in the form of cylinders. Then there are those with jagged edges sticking out everywhere. Enter gift bags. I love using gift bags for these gifts as they look much neater than using standard wrap. However, when using gift bags, I always wrap tissue around the gift before placing it in the bag.
Figure 71: The thin filmy material covering the colorful candies creates a beautiful effect. You can use organza, plastic wrap or even white garbage bags to create this type of effect.
Gifts that are rounded or cylindrical can be wrapped using a pleating technique that looks lovely. Go to Appendix C to learn how to do this.
Figure 72: This demonstrates a creative way to wrap a bottle.
The other option for weird shaped gifts is to put them in a second box without the jutting edges or gaps in items boxed commercially.
Figure 73: This is an example of a gift that you may want to put in a box before wrapping.