The main issue with the original packaging is that many people did not immediately read them as guitar strings. After asking people about the original package, many of them told me they looked like different products ranging from medicine and other health related products to golf balls. With this information, I began research into other, more well known guitar string brands, and I found that in order to differentiate Elixir strings from the rest, while still getting their message across, was to frame the whole design process with the words “Scientific Grittiness”.

My process began with putting together a collage inspired by the 90’s grunge scene, which is about when Elixir strings were first introduced. While scanning the collage, I purposefully moved it around to distort it. After that I applied a monotone halftone effect to further evoke the grunge feeling.

For the interior, I used a program to convert the elixir logo into an audio file, which I then layered onto a collection of different music, which was then converted into a visual representation of the sound, called a spectrogram.

I made 3 different colored variations to represent the current line of electric guitar strings, but there is space for new products using this design scheme. I feel that merging the “scientific” aspect of the spectrogram with the “grittiness” of the grunge scene creates unique, but successful imagery that catches the audience’s eye.