We had the distinct pleasure to interview award winning designer Nicolas Boon about their original and creative Fragrance Diffuser design work. Nicolas Boon is an award-winning communication designer, that makes our world a better place with their original fragrance diffuser works.
Nicolas Boon ("NB") answered Design Interview ("DI") questions about their award-winning work No48 Fragrance Diffuser. Interview questions prepared by Frank Scott.
NB : The main inspiration is the synthesis of ambergris and yellow amber which has resulted in a delicate abstract form that evokes polished amber or a pebble found by the sea, breaking with the traditional image of ambergris. The shape has been carefully designed to evoke solid and liquid, land and sea. The chromatic choice of gold was obvious, embodying both the colour of amber and the symbolic value of ambergris. The minimalist typographic composition evokes the Zen garden and gives a feeling of lightness and relaxation. A subtle play of opposites and duality.
NB : We wanted to bring together two natural elements mysteriously linked by their names: ambergris, an animal raw material used in perfumery, and yellow amber, an ornamental resin named after the Arabic word "anbar", which means ambergris. We wanted the design to give a feeling of restful lightness and to be a play of opposites: earth/sea, solid/liquid, masculine/feminine, square/round, container/contained, black/white. We also wanted to find this duality in the side-by-side presentation of two packages that reconstitute the golden pebble in its entirety. The identity characterised by the choice of the number 48 reinforced this notion, thanks to the lettering where the square masculine 4 and the rounded feminine 8 complement each other. All these suggestive dualities subtly reinforce the balance between the elements.
NB : As this was a limited edition order, there will be no follow-up to this project. However, we may launch a new limited edition in the near future.
NB : Between research, design and production we took two months for this work.
NB : The client wanted to develop an ultra minimalistic graphic identity and fragrance diffuser. They gave us very few creative constraints to develop the brand, the packaging and the conceptual aspect which gave us the necessary creative freedom but was perhaps the most difficult part of the project.
NB : This project was produced and used by another company.
NB : The intuition.
NB : No, but I must admit that the Japanese gardens inspired us for the layout.
NB : This work targets a very wide audience. This product is intended for the interior and is therefore aimed at both companies and private customers.
NB : I think that this concept stands out thanks to its minimalism, the absence of overkill and the strength of its suggestive, symbolic and metaphorical values.
NB : As a typographer, we were looking for a name whose meaning could unite the masculine and feminine. The number 48 was the ideal candidate, the masculine square 4 and the feminine rounded 8 complemented each other perfectly and made it possible to fit them both into a square when designing the typeface. It symbolically opposed masculine (square) and feminine (round) shapes.
NB : First we wrote down all the key words we wanted to evoke. Once the concept was defined we made a lot of drawings of the pebble to find the shape that would evoke both solid and liquid. The shape cut in two by the fold had to give the best balance on both sides of the box. The lettering and the typographic layout were designed with the same concern for balance and lightness. For the production files we worked with InDesign and Illustrator.
NB : I think the unique aspect of design is the balance of the composition. Even if the duality is present for each element, it is the composition that gives it its refinement, like a Japanese garden where each element is in its place.
NB : My wife and I work together, she contributed to the development of this work.
NB : The technical difficulty of this project lay in the fact that the hot stamping had to be placed on the edge without the shape being damaged by the paper fold.
NB : The analytical research focused mainly on the shape of the pebble, and the rounded forms that a liquid can adopt. The shape chosen had to evoke both the solid and the liquid, the earth and the sea, to bring together the two elements of our choice, amber (resin) and ambergris (animal product). Many drawings were useful before finding a shape that attracted the eye and had the necessary suggestive qualities.
NB : When working with very few graphic elements, as is the case with our packaging, the main challenges are the proportions of the elements between them and the balance of the composition. Nothing should be superfluous.
NB : It was because of the many positive comments about the product that we decided to enter the international design competition. But it was my wife who took the decision and initiated the initiative.
