About Miniature Zen Garden
When I was a kid, our family lived near a beach in Korea. Instead of playing with dolls, I would play with sand and pebbles on the beach. It was my favorite activity as a child. The objective of this project was to create a packaging for a toy that I played with as a child. I chose a miniature zen garden kit because the content of the kit is the closest to the "toys" that I used to play with: sand and pebbles.
Problems
There were a couple of problems I noticed on the pre-existing packaging for miniature zen garden kits. First, they do not provoke the zen feeling. Secondly, they utilize plastic packaging, which goes against the whole teaching of zen and its advocacy for a harmonious relationship with nature.
Solution
I created an eco-friendly packaging solution to better communicate the teaching of zen, which is about peace and meditation. The box was created in wood, and the wrapping was created in a special textured paper. I used minimalistic, isometric illustration for the content and instruction on how to use the zen garden kit. That way, the kit could communicate its content and the instructions with less visual noise.
