A Dwarf in the Mirror

镜中的侏儒

Client
Plastic Friends 

Service
Art Direction
Packaging Design

Partner
Liao Zicheng

Team
CD:Liao Zicheng
D:Liao Zicheng / VE / Wong Kaho
PM:Zeng Xiling
CW:Lin Ziming

"A Dwarf in the Mirror" is a concept album by rapper JFEVER. It is a one-hour vocal theater, a journey, a legend about a dwarf, an epitaph engraved on a tombstone. Taking the story as a starting point, the artist Lin Wenxin, together with the toy brand Plastic Friends, recreated the image of the dwarf and the tombstone using vinyl art toys.

We designed a series of packaging for the concept album and its derivatives, including the title font design, the overall packaging for the concept album "A Dwarf in the Mirror", the dwarf toy packaging, and the limited edition tombstone toy packaging design.

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Client
Plastic Friends 

Service
Art Direction
Packaging Design

Partner
Liao Zicheng

Team
CD:Liao Zicheng
D:Liao Zicheng / VE / Wong Kaho
PM:Zeng Xiling
CW:Lin Ziming

The design intent of the title font conveys the atmosphere and emotions in the album's story, summarizing the life of the tomb's owner like an epitaph, floating in the mirror and reflecting the illusory shadows in dreams.

In the packaging design of the concept album, we used techniques such as parody and imitation to form intertextuality between objects. We adopted the size, materials and composition of the limited edition tombstone toy, abandoning the conventional boxed form and header card packaging for toys, integrating the two together to create a strange and novel feeling and experience. 

The CD embedded in the poster, bundled together with the toy blind box inside the packaging, at this point the packaging has completed its functional mission and task, and is presented in a more intriguing and exhibitory form.

The appropriation and referential relationship between product and packaging is also applied to the dwarf toy packaging design. The water-washable paper cape, which functions as a header card, also plays the role of an integral part of the product and packaging. The material of the water-washable paper also allows it to be rolled up into bundles to meet the need to protect the product during packing and logistics.

The title font on the cape is designed as a small clue, waiting for the dwarf to appear in front of the bronze mirror to reveal the mystery.

As a precious historical relic, the limited edition tombstone toy packaging intends to create a sense of mystery and solemnity with an artistic temperament. The wooden box is like a tombstone, a carrier for mourning, and a product of faith. The half-told story gradually reveals its complete outline as the lid of the wooden box is slowly opened.

Fragmented excerpts from the musical story are murmured cryptically on the sides of the wooden box, with the text layout vaguely showing the veins on the bronze mirror, its meaning ultimately ambiguous.

Awards
2023  GDC Awards / Integrated Design / Merit Award / China