Inspired by a recent trip to Japan and the many ramen dishes I tried, I designed a low to medium priced instant ramen container that could compete with other products at a similar price point.
While in Japan, we stayed in several cities and towns, eating delightful snacks and whimsical meals from 7-Eleven as we went. But it wasn't until we reached a town called Nozawaonsen, that I was truly inspired. Here laid a small village tucked into the mountains of the Nagano Prefecture. Nozawaonsen is known for a few things: It's beautiful mountains for skiing, it's picture-esc hot springs for soaking and a local vegetable called Nozawana, which coincidentally is their town mascot. A simple search of the town will bring up these results. It was here that we discovered a tiny restaurant in a basement called Toyo Ramen and it was here, that for only $7, I had the best ramen of my life.
Since I came home, I've dreamt of many things from this trip, but nothing as much as the incredible ramen I had in the magical town of Nozawa Onsen. The name of this product, the character mascot I illustrated and the fun design style were all chosen to pay tribute to my time in the town of Nozawa and Japan as a whole.
The Process
I created this design by first finding a mockup I wanted to use and reverse engineering a die cut from the images. I tested it a couple of times to make sure the proportions worked by building it out of cardstock and thin cardboard. Once I had the proper proportions, I scanned in the die cut and created the design and original illustration. Once finished, I printed out the pattern with the design to test alignment, and after a couple of tries, got a layout I was satisfied with. Lastly, after creating some mockups, I went ahead and did a little photoshoot of my own, mini versions of the product so I could see it in person and make a GIF!
