Through the Looking Glass: Inside the Design Process

Note: this will be a semi-regular series on the design process.


I first had the idea last summer to create an Alice in Wonderland card based on the scene where she steps through the looking glass. However, last summer, I was studying for the bar, so I only really had time to make the sketches below. I also saved this shiny silver packaging that came with my printer ink, thinking that I could use it as the mirror.



After I took the bar and came back from Russia, I started on my fall collection. I didn't feel quite ready to work on the Looking Glass card, though, and then after I picked up my second part-time job, didn't have the time.

That winter, my boyfriend gave me the idea of creating 2-card designs - where part of the image is on one card, and part of it is on another card, so you can fit them together like a puzzle. I thought about it, and realized that the looking glass scene would be perfect for a 2-card design.



The above sketch was made in January. I knew that this would be a difficult design to conceptualize, so I put it off for simpler and more time-sensitive designs.

By the time my self-declared product development week rolled around, I was itching to get to work with this sketch. I knew that I wanted the colors in Wonderland to be brighter and bolder, and the colors in Alice's world to be more muted and neutral. The challenges: 1) which colors and patterns to use? 2) how to make Alice's world visually appealing using muted and neutral tones?

I started out using a bright pink as the background color for Wonderland, and very light blue for Alice's world, but then decided a bright blue would be better - and that the blue spectrum (light blue, blue (Alice's dress), bright blue) would also be a visual representation of the transition from normal world to Wonderland.

I decided to use patterned paper for some of the objects to make things look more interesting and three-dimensional.

I looked at the original illustration, which had a desk clock smiling in Wonderland, and made wall clocks.

I also vaguely remembered a chessboard, so I placed them in the corner so that area would not look so empty. I also made the board dark blue and white - instead of brown and white - in Alice's world to give it a little more color.

And here is the result: