Oh! Hello! Did I catch your attention with the cool Celtic knots? Great! It worked! Now that I have your attention, I want to ask you a question. You know about Thor and Loki, the Aesir Gods of Norse Mythology, and probably even more well known for their characters in the Marvel series, right? No?! Oh boy this page isn't for you, shoo! Just kidding, stick around and let me learn you some things. If you do know about those studs, then let me ask a follow up question. Did you know that Thor and Loki had another brother who was more loved than all the other Gods only inferior to Odin (the God of all Gods)?! He went by Baldur, the Sun God, and even more well know for his status of resurrection. So what does one do when they pick the God that literally is the best God for product design? Well, you make the best of the best design of course! Please, stick around and take a peek as to what incorporations I made into product design as I encompass the God of Sun, while also telling you of some of his story, hopefully not in all words, but also the products themselves!

I wanted to include warm colors in the design due to the fact that he is the God of Sun, however I also wanted to be able to use some darker cooler colors to give it a more cold feel since it is a cold beverage. Not only that, but Baldur was also known for his stint in the afterlife with Hel, so a shade of black was necessary.

In order to get the bottle in the shape that I wanted for the design I had to take my ideas into blender. There were several bottles that I was looking at; some bulbous, some straight sided, and some with inlays that looked like scroll carvings. All of which I felt I wanted in the design. I wanted straight edges to give a hint of danger, as well as some roundness to show Baldur's good nature and appeal. Lastly, I wanted the etching design because most Celtic designs have lined patterns. This prototype you see above encompasses all that I was invisioning. The cap has a beautiful bronze etched look, and the glass has a flat bottom, with some roundness at the bottom as well with bulk material to compensate for the angle of the bottle. There had to be a substantial amount of glass at the bottom to keep this new prototype from falling over easily. Once I had my bottle design, and found a cardboard 2 pack that compensated for straight sided bottles, so again I took this idea into blender and modified for my bottle size, so the thinner tops would fit more snug around, while also still being large enough for the bottoms.

Here are my flat designs which I opted for simple pattern on the cardboard backing of the multipack box, to enhance the beauty of the bottles rather than destract with words, or too much color. The "white" parts you see in the box, are actually transparent and punched out, which would allow you to see through to the cardboard box. Not only that, but when you place the label on the glass bottle you can see the drink through the tea leaf shaped holes. I opted for a label that was rectangle, because I liked how I could shift the content of the design to accomodate the curve of the bottle, rather that have a label that fit straight across the bottle. I feel it accentuates the uniqueness of the bottle shape. I have also posted a version of it backwards, to show you how the file needed to look to apply to the 3D models in Adobe Dimensions.

In the design I have the tree of Yggdrasil, which is an entity that many Norse Gods held as a sacred being. The tree in itself represents as a portal between men and Gods, and also has been known to be their version of Heaven and Hell. The reason I feel this was imperative to design success is because Baldur of course is the Sun God, however with his untimely death, brought upon by his brother Loki, he was sent to the afterlife with Hel. He was later reincarnated and participated in the eventual Ragnarok war, which was perpetuated by the Gods mourning his loss. Which leads me to my next most important design integration. Ragnarok was the war that the Gods faught in, and I wanted to incorporate this somehow. Eventually I came up with the idea to add Razz at the beginning, to denote the drinks flavor. Then ever so selfishly, I had to incorporate my obsession with alliteration, and added Rooibos to round it out. Rooibos is a non-caffienated tea, that many in South Africa drink regularly. It is said to not be as bitter, so it ties in with my sweet natured God of the Sun. I placed a graphic version of a sun behind the tree to round out the logo for the drink. Of course I had to make the nutrition label seem like it would have been drunk in the Norse God times, to tie the whole label together. 

This is the fully rendered version of my bottle and package design with the logo on the bottle, and the cardboard multipack wrapped in it's design. This render was completed in Dimensions, afte prototyping was done in blender. 

So far this is the end of my journey with Baldur the Norse God of Sun. This project helped me grow my blender skills, and also taught me a new software (Dimensions). Not only did appeal to my mythology loving soul, but it helped me grow as a designer. This was an absolute blast of a project.