UNRAVEL— The gift of anticipation!
Over the years, Lexus Design Award has always picked themes that resonate with the human emotion and behaviour. This particular aspect appeals to me since it is open to unique and different interpretations which can be driven by one’s own experiences. It encourages ‘artistic freedom’.
This year’s theme was ‘Anticipation’.
It surely was a challenge to bring out a tangible concept from an intangible theme like ‘Anticipation’. There were so many ideas hovering in my head, there could be a billion possibilities!
So what is it that I associate with the feeling of Anticipation?
To me, it is the suspense that comes along with anticipation, and the subsequent reaction when that anticipation turns out to be true. I wanted to give this concept some sort of a shape and form.
When we were kids, digital cameras were not around. Cameras used to have physical roll films which needed to be developed over a period of time. I used to love the process of waiting in anticipation for the finished photographs to emerge. There was a certain thrill in that…what would the photographs look like? Will I look nice in the photographs? Will I look better than my sister in the photo?…I used to love it!
Taking a cue from this childhood memory, I came up with the idea of UNRAVEL.
The Concept
Waiting for a gift in anticipation is something everyone has experienced. UNRAVEL — the gift wrap, makes this anticipation ten-fold by incorporating a fun activity as part of the process. UNRAVEL captures it all — the initial curiosity as the gift wrap is opened, the excitement as the mind tries to solve the message on the wrap and the joy and satisfaction that one gets on solving the message.
It is fun for the sender as well as the receiver!
How it works
At first, the sender has to enter the approximate size of the gift. He has to then type in the personal message in the “UNRAVEL Software”. According to the size of the gift box as well as the length of the message, the “UNRAVEL Software” adjusts the size of the font and then jumbles the words to create the “Coded Message”. It will also tell the user the number of sheets to be printed as well as how to stick them together so as to not damage it. The user then has to just Print the gift wrapper. Done!
Normally, the gift wrap is discarded after opening unless it has something that catches the receiver’s attention. UNRAVEL contains the personal message in coded format making the wrapping paper more personal and valuable. The paper is to be unwrapped and then using visual cues, the message is to be decoded. The wrapping paper needs to be cut as per the pattern and then stuck together to decode the message.
The wrapping paper has a personal message which is important to the receiver, and keeps him excited in the process of anticipation — guessing what the message could unravel.
This concept gives a deeper meaning to the gift wrapper. It is much more valuable than just wrapping up the gift. The final collage of the cutouts of gift wrap becomes very personal. Not only does one enjoy the gift, but also the whole process of unpacking the gift.
This concept of UNRAVEL has been featured on the Designboom website as well
