A bracelet craft designed for Carnival Cruise Line to celebrate the Year of the Dragon.
To celebrate the Lunar New Year, Carnival Cruise Line wanted a festive make-and-take craft guests could enjoy onboard. I developed a bracelet kit featuring sustainable packaging and clear visual instructions, creating an engaging activity that was easy for guests of all ages to complete.
Role: Product Developer, Illustrator, Product Photographer
Client: Pulsar Products, Carnival Cruise Line
Tools: Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop
Key Skills: Product Sourcing, Instructional Illustration, Packaging Design
The Challenge
Carnival Cruise Line wanted a Lunar New Year-themed craft that guests could create onboard to celebrate the Year of the Dragon. Timing for this project was critical because the craft was tied to a zodiac animal that wouldn’t return for another twelve years, leaving virtually no room for production delays or missed deadlines. After presenting several craft concepts to stakeholders, a bracelet featuring a gold dragon charm was selected for development.
At the same time, Carnival had launched a fleet-wide initiative to reduce single-use plastics onboard. The packaging for this new craft needed to align with their sustainability goals and stay within the limited budget for complimentary onboard activities from the entertainment department. This required a thoughtful packaging solution that met sustainability goals while preserving the quality of the craft and creating an experience that would surprise and delight guests.
The Design Process
Research
Multiple types of bracelet concepts were researched and priced with overseas suppliers. After comparing options, a stretch bracelet featuring red and gold beads with a gold dragon charm provided the best balance of cost and perceived value. Pre-production samples were requested to evaluate materials and begin packaging development.
Sketch
While waiting for production samples to arrive, I sketched out different packaging solutions and layouts for the craft instructions. These early concepts helped determine the clearest way to layout out each step on the limited packaging space.
Prototype
When the preproduction samples arrived, the beads were the wrong color and were only intended to verify size and material. The gold dragon charm was also delayed. To avoid any type of delay waiting on correct materials to arrive, I created simplified vector illustrations for the craft instructions and composited product photography for the packaging in Photoshop using the available materials. This kept the packaging artwork and instructions on schedule without delaying manufacturing.
The Final Product
Iteration
This craft turned out to be a huge hit with guests, and Carnival wanted to bring it back for future Lunar New Year celebrations. The new challenge was making a craft that was designed specifically for the Year of the Dragon work for a different zodiac animal each year.
Instead of creating a new kit every year, we developed a more flexible system. New individual kits contained the basic beads, cord, and instructions, while craft class instructors received all twelve zodiac charms in bulk along with a reference guide showing the years associated with each animal. Guests could choose the current year’s zodiac, their own birth-year animal, or combine multiple charms to represent family and loved ones.
Outcome and Key Takeaways
Outcome
- Successfully launched in time for the Year of the Dragon
- Positive guest response led to a reorder for future celebrations
- Evolved into a reusable 12-animal zodiac system that gave guests more opportunities for personalization
Key Takeaways
This project reinforced the value of designing through ambiguity. Working with incomplete samples required creative solutions to keep production on schedule, while simplified illustrations made the instructions easy to understand at a glance. The later iteration also showed how thoughtful design could extend the life of a product while creating a more personal experience.
We’re not designing pages, we’re designing systems of components.