Mac Tonight's Nighttime Happy Meal
The objective of this project is to create the entirety of the Happy Meal package design, including the Happy Meal box, kids' cup, chicken McNuggets container, French fry container, and finally, the toy package. This project explores package design, extensive research work, and making creative choices that look appealing to the target audience. For this Happy Meal, I decided to bring back a character from the 1980s named Mac Tonight. Mac Tonight is well known for promoting late-night dining for McDonald's with a crescent moon-shaped head and his charismatic personality.
Challenge
In this project, I decided to modernize Mac Tonight, a character from the 1980s who advertised late-night dining for McDonald's. With his crescent moon head and his snazzy charisma, the main target audience would be kids while still invoking nostalgia for Mac Tonight among older audiences. Composing all the crucial elements for the Happy Meal I try to present it in an entertaining manner and educate children who is Mac Tonight.
Illustration, Research, Package construction
Application & Equipment
Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop
Client
Class project
Chicken McNuggets Box
The Chicken McNuggets box was designed to capture the nighttime cityscape view, visualizing Mac Tonight's most likely place to stay. The entire imagery has a close-up view of the skyscrapers with hues of blue.
French Fry Container
For the fry box, I illustrated a starry sky to represent the theme of the Happy Meal experience. With fluffy clouds and comets falling from the sky, the entire composition looks appealing.
Drink Container
As for the drinking cup, I included the cityscape to fit the theme. I also incorporated the McDonald's sign to make it stand out from the background, along with additional information about the history of Mac Tonight.
Toy Packaging
The toy box design features a starry sky background with instructions on how to assemble the puzzle pieces.
Research Methodology
How I conducted this research is by looking through the history of Mcdonald's and the emergence of Mac Tonight. It helped me to understand the fundamentals of what Mcdonald's strive for. This also guided me in the creative process when designing the package.
Idea Sketches
Templates
Prototyping and Construction
Reflection
After designing the package design, it made me realize that every aspect of this project made me appreciative of what every designer has to go through. Even though it was tedious and time consuming to put together, it came out alright at the end. This project inspires me to evolve to who I am as a designer. I have encountered many challenges in this project, trying to figure what looks good or not, or constructing boxes with no guidelines. The outcome of the packages turned out to be a little different than I expected it to be. if I were to do it again, I would take the time to fold the containers carefully and redesign the main box carefully.
