As this year’s holiday season begins, packaging designer Katie Wylie re-imagines an old standby: the gift tower. Her conceptual solution, named Crescendo, radically contemporizes the structure and branding of what this major American industry traditionally offers. Unlike conventional gift towers that rely on stepped-box construction strategies, the streamlined Crescendo form relies on a series of interlocking structures that reduce packaging waste.

But waste reduction is not the only benefit of Crescendo’s form. After finishing the contents of the boxes, the interlocking structure allows end users to reconstruct packaging materials into modern art sculptures, without scissors or adhesives. This one-of-a-kind after market value transforms Crescendo from a gift into a dynamic, creative experience.

Crescendo’s look and feel conceptually connects to its structural solution. The Mondrian-esque mark abstractly alludes to the interlocking nature of the boxes while the logotype continues the theme with letters that overlap. The outer packaging includes modern diecuts that show off an internal gradient. The diecuts – one for each season of the year – assist end users in differentiating the sets.

To learn more about this project, please watch Katie Wylie’s presentation video here.

See this article on The Dieline’s “Concepts We Wish Were Real” column here.