PROPOSAL
Reading has become increasingly popular over the years because of the use of social media. One popular trend that has gained a huge following on TikTok is called Blind Date with a Book where influencers promote people to stay in, get cozy, and dive into an adventure of a random book based off of a genre you choose. With this trend as the influence, I created and designed a Blind Date with a Book inspired subscription box company that focuses on promoting reading to not only avid readers but to new and hesitant readers to take a chance at getting into a new genre or picking up reading as their new activity of choice.
Fictional Fling is not only a subscription box company, but it fully dives into what book lovers like; from genre-based stickers, bookmarks, and tote bags to having popular highly recommended books at their fingertips. This subscription box company is one of the many solutions out there to help promote reading to people of all ages.
The primary target audience will be young adult females within the ages of 18-29 who according to a 2021 survey from statista.com, “it was founded that 83% of adults aged between 18 and 29 years old had read a book in any format in the previous year, up by 2% from the share who said the same in 2019” (Watson, 2023). Even though my target audience is for young adult females, it is important to state that subscription boxes are popular with younger consumers and reading books is most popular within females. According to sherpack.com, “the subscription box market shows that women are more common buyers than men by about 60 to 40%” (sherpack.com, n/a). It is also important to understand that people older than the target audience are still encouraged and welcomed to purchase this subscription box as they can and still would enjoy the books that are shown in many reveals online.
DELIVERABLES
1 primary logo
A full website focusing on mobile first then desktop
1 Email newsletter
4 stickers
Thank you card
2 tote bag designs
3 bookmarks
4 tea packaging sleeves
subscription box packaging for 1 large (2 book) box & 1 small (1 book) box
CITATION
N/A. “7 Subscription Box Trends.” Sherpack.com. https://www.sherpack.com/7-subscription-box-trends/. Accessed January 23, 2025.
Watson, Amy. “Book Readers in the U.S. by Age 2021 | Statista.” Statista.Com, 25 Oct. 2023, www.statista.com/statistics/249787/book-reading-population-in-the-us-by-age/. Accessed January 23, 2025.
WHAT IS FICTIONAL FLING?
Fictional Fling is a blind date with a book inspired subscription box company from the trend found on TikTok that focuses on promoting reading to not only avid readers, but to new and hesitant readers to take a chance at getting into a new genre or picking up reading as their new activity of choice.
Fictional Fling’s mission is to create a fun way to get a personalized book experience with a random book sent to you from a genre chosen by you. With the goal of giving you [the reader] an excuse to have a date night with your favorite genres and fictional characters in the comfort of your own home without the hassle of an actual date experience of crowded spaces and being stuck in traffic. Fictional Fling is changing the cultural norm by stating that it is okay to stay in, get cozy, and just enjoy not only alone time but a good book.
TARGET AUDIENCE
According to thecut.com, “Adults—as in, people age 18 or older—now account for nearly 80 percent of sales of young adult titles…” (Dahl, 2014). Due to the rise of book sales within adults, my target audience is young adult females within the ages of 18-29 years old due to rise in social media influencing Generation Z to give reading a chance by diving into an adventure of a highly rated book. Marketingcharts.com states, “eighty-four percent of Echo Boomers 18-33 who have read a book in the past year have read a fiction book, compared to 76% of both Baby Boomers 46-64 and Matures 65 and older” (marketingcharts.com, 2010). Fictional Fling’s target audience is women within this demographic because reading is primarily more popular within females and social media, like TikTok, is promoting reading within this target audience by forming a reading community within genres that are more popular with females.
Thecut.com also states, “overall, 60.5 percent of the young adult books sold were purchased by women, and 39.5 percent were bought by men. That gender disparity mirrors Pew research from January showing that men read fewer books of any genre—an average of four a year, as compared to six for women” (Dahl, 2014). When thinking about books, the genres that are promoted the most on social media and on book store websites, like Barnes and Noble, are fantasy, romance, mystery/thriller, and young adult fiction that often appeals more to female readers. Marketingcharts.com also states, “Female fiction readers have read mystery/thriller/crime books at a much higher rate than male readers (57% compared to 39%), although it is the most popular genre for both genders. The most pronounced difference is in the rate of reading romance books (37% of women compared to 3% of men)…” (marketingcharts.com, 2010). With the rise of technology, the use of social media, and popular trends found online, book consumption is more predominantly found within my demographic of my company (18-29 year olds) due to younger adults growing up with the use of social media where many book promotions are found and trends like Bind Date with a Book and the rise of stickers being used as a way to express younger adults are found to be more popular within my demographic than it is for older adults. Although, it is important to state that people older than the target audience is still welcome and encouraged to purchase this subscription box as the books that are shown in unboxings online can and still would be enjoyed by older audiences.
CITATION
Dahl, Melissa. “The Dudes Who Read Young-Adult Fiction.” thecut.com. 8 June 2014. https://www.thecut.com/2014/06/dudes-who-read-young-adult-fiction.html. Accessed April 1, 2025.
n/a. “Female, Younger Readers Biggest Fiction Fans” marketingcharts.com, 7 Oct. 2010. https://www.marketingcharts.com/industries/media-and-entertainment-14476. Accessed April 1, 2025.
OBJECTIVES
To independently research, design, and produce a logo, box packaging, bookmarks, stickers, thank you card, website, tea packaging sleeves, tote bag designs, and an email newsletter for a Blind Date with a Book inspired subscription box company called Fictional Fling.
To produce and design a cohesive, functional, well branded project where all components are fun, engaging, and fit with the overall aesthetic of the inspired Blind Date with a Book trend established for the brand.
To evaluate all designed components by self-critiquing throughout in order to create high quality work while applying all critiques given by peers and instructor, if necessary.
To apply the knowledge and technical skills such as structure, color theory, and typography with skills of packaging, branding, illustration, and photography to all required components.
To understand and research the Blind Date with a Book trend that is inspiring the overall project.
To research and execute a new original brand name and logo that exemplifies the overall aesthetic of the Blind Date with a Book trend.
To produce and apply perfect craftsmanship and overall presentation of all deliverables that are required for project completion.
RESEARCH SYNOPSIS
The primary research I did before the start of this project was watching Blind Date with a Book unboxings on TikTok to see all the elements that are usually found in each box or wrapped book. Once all the components were set for the project, I started researching common design trends for each of my components that needs to be completed. For the bookmarks and stickers, I took the most common elements I saw on Pinterest and pushed the idea to create something that is still showing the commonality found, like genre based sayings or book trope sayings, but with a slight twist of using the commonalities with die cuts of genre based elements (dragons, crime scenes, roses, & grim reapers) breaking the boundaries of the rectangular shape to make it my own.
All the information for book tropes and definition of each trope and genre that is found on the back of the bookmarks and on a page of the ecommerce websites (desktop and mobile) are found from a Google search using whatever popped up (not clicking on any websites, just staying directly on Google), and the genre definitions found on my websites is using information found on Indeed.com wrote in my own words in the tone of voice the website is written in. For website design research, I used Pinterest for certain elements like the subscription/plan option page, and used Amazon to locate book descriptions for the new book arrivals page to tell consumer on the website what the book is about when they click on a title. I referenced multiple ecommerce websites like nyx.com, target.com, and amazon.com to see how those websites lay out their information. I also researched a standard typography sizing guide for the web to see what the correct type size should be for desktop and mobile, so it shows a consistency with what is seen on every website found online.
My email newsletter inspiration was found with my research on Pinterest by finding a common theme with an envelope showing the message when the email is opened. With that inspiration, I also used mystery elements that are closely associated with the genre, for example the type I used ransom note lettering and hanged the books like it is being placed on an evidence board, with the use of brand elements like typography, color, and symbols (hearts). The tea packaging research was looking up the original book cover of the chosen book and changing the main elements to tea related elements with the name of the book changing to tea puns while staying as close to the original book cover as possible.
PROCESS NARRATIVE
For my process that I went through for the components needed to complete this project, I knew what I wanted to do for majority of the components besides three. That being said I do have more process for certain elements than I do for others, for example, my stickers, bookmarks, and tea packaging went through more process than my thank you cards and my email newsletter because the bookmarks, stickers, and tea packaging was a more complicated design with the illustrations and the rendering of photos together to create the composition. The bookmarks and stickers use similar illustrations but they are both completed in a slightly different style but went through a lot of process with fitting a logo in the space, working with processing out the illustrations, especially the dragon, to even processing out the type layout on the front and back of the bookmarks. The tea packaging process was getting the book cover to read as a the original book cover, but changed with tea based elements like mugs and tea bags. The most process that I went though was with the Lord of the Chais tea packaging by trying multiple book cover designs. The other teas went through slight process with some changing from illustration to photography. I also had to change books in the beginning to books that everyone would know by using books that have been adapted into popular movies.
The website went through slight process. For a while my website was wireframed out with very little process until I referenced different ecommerce websites. I also referenced my proposal and realized that I did not have enough for the new readers that do not know much about reading, so I added a page to help the new readers find and learn about genres they enjoy or want to try. I also added a page for each book that is apart of the new book arrivals page that includes the book’s description, tropes, and if that book is apart of a series so people can click on the newly added title to learn more.
The pattern that is used on the box packaging and the thank you cards and is a pattern that I made early on with slight process (color and a few genre elements changed), but it was not a huge change to have for documented purposes. The box packaging has not changed that much besides a color change and a few rewordings on the front of the box. The thank you cards have been consistently the same with the sayings on the back of the card changing slightly. The front thank you portion of the card has only been rewritten, but all elements have been the same. The email newsletter went through a slight change with the only change being the paper in the background was originally ripped in a few places and was then changed to a uncut piece of paper coming out of the envelope.
PROCESS WORK: LOGO
When I was starting to figure out the name for this company, I started out with a different aesthetic in mind. I originally had a cottage core aesthetic with the name of Boundless Adventures, but I soon realized that it was not the correct direction for my company and I decided to lean into the dating aesthetic that is part of the Blind Date with a Book trend (not judging a book by its cover) where the name Fictional Fling was born. Throughout the logo process I messed with visual ideas that represent the dating side of the trend by trying to pair different typography, interactions, and symbols that symbolize the word fiction or show the cheesy or cliche way dating is show like cursive typography, hearts, and paper airplanes.
ROUND 1: ROUGHS
critique from this round:
take 3, 7-9, 12, 13, 14, & 15 to process out
make the airplane not look like it is crashing
ROUND 2: COMPS
Critique from this round:
no secondary type underneath fictional fling (sounds weird and is not needed)
no moons on the top of the i
process out 6 & 7
make the dots of the i smaller, too large & distracting
work on the overlapping of the text, it feels awkward
ROUND 3: FINAL COMPS
This critique was simply choosing which aesthetic was the best option. I was not against either of the options and just wanted a class vote.
The class vote established that one heart was the better option and the cursive typography used for the word “fling” read more on the dating side of the inspired trend. The word “fictional” is pushing towards the book side of the trend that read as a stronger logo for the overall aesthetic of the brand. The other option read as a simple logo and gave more of the book side of fictional fling; not both.
PROCESS WORK: BOOKMARKS
When figuring out the idea that I have for my bookmarks, I started scrolling on Pinterest to see what is trending and popular with the bookmark designs. I discovered that the most popular type of bookmark was genre related themes (for example book tropes or aesthetics found within specific genres) with the bookmark being contained in the standard rectangle size. With this idea in mind, I did not want to do what is seen all over Pinterest, but push beyond the boundaries seen. I wanted to do a die cut bookmark that is breaking the boundary of a standard sized bookmark. My bookmarks are not only genre based, but it is popular elements based off of the mystery, romance, and fantasy genres. Towards the end of the process, I originally imagined these being one sided, but I thought about adding elements for new readers to reference to learn more about the tropes of the genres the bookmarks are about.
ROUND 1: THUMBS
ROUND 2: ROUGHS
Rough critique
fix misspelling
mess with the placement of the type
fix the dragon illustration (leg to tail area)
take away the bow on roses & third rose
add blood to knife
ROUND 3: ROUGHS
Rough critique
continue process on dragon’s leg & tail overlapping
add logo to bookmarks
consider doing a two sided bookmark
rearrange type on fantasy bookmark (group text better)
ROUND 4: COMPS
Comp critique
fix the type on the back of bookmark, keep it within the rectangle do not run text into die cut area
shorten the text on the back
PROCESS WORK: STICKERS
With the same thought process that went into figuring out the aesthetic I wanted to do for the bookmarks I did for the stickers, I originally wanted to do tarot card themed stickers with a modern twist. While I was processing the stickers out, I established that it was better to go into a direction that was showing a light influence to tarot cards with more of a push towards genre based stickers to connect with the bookmarks.
ROUND 1: THUMBNAILS
ROUND 2: ROUGHS
Rough critique
change to genre based stickers by changing the reader to horror with a small tarot card influence (not the main focus)
take away the words under the illustration
fix the exhibit A sign on the mystery (awkward cut)
fix the awkwardness the skeleton illustration has towards the bottom of the sticker
ROUND 3: ROUGHS
Rough critique
add logo to stickers somehow
fix the ghosts on the horror (grim reaper) sticker (less pac-man)
make the grim reaper’s sleeve come down into the border of the sticker
fix the shoulder of the grim reaper
ROUND 4: COMPS
Comps critique
take out third rose
rotate the grim reaper to make the scythe sit at a diagonal to fit the logo better in the space
PROCESS WORK: TEA PACKAGING SLEEVES
For the tea packaging sleeves, I had this idea before starting. I knew I wanted to do tea puns with elements from popular book covers being replaced with tea related elements.
ROUND 1: THUMBNAILS
ROUND 2: ROUGHS
Rough critique
make the books based off of well known books that everyone would know (like books made into movies or classics) and not so much on popular books found on social media
ROUND 3: ROUGHS
Roughs critique
change the illustration to a cup on the Lord of the Chais
make Fifty Shades of Earl Grey photographic, not illustrative to fit with the book cover aesthetic
ROUND 4: COMPS
Comp critique
do a different book cover for Lord of the Chais (illustration is not working)
FINAL
Below is a photo of all the components of what the consumer would get when they purchase a book box. After that, fill free to scroll down to see each component separately.
FINAL: LOGO
During the process of establishing this logo, the cursive type for the word “fling” of the logo read more on the dating side of the Blind Date aspect of the Blind Date with a Book trend that inspired this project. The cursive typeface, called Chonky, was paired with the word “fictional” that read more on the book side due to the modifications that I did to the typeface, Coquette, with the f and the l looking like a bookmark. Out of all the variations, this final logo read as a stronger logo for the overall book blind date aesthetic that this brand is based off of.
As you can see from the last section of process the stickers went through there is a slight tarot card influence with the primary focus being genre based elements that represent the genres shown (horror, romance, fantasy, and mystery).
FINAL: STICKERS
FINAL: BOOKMARKS
As seen previously from the last section, the bookmarks only changed slightly with the type on the back being confined to the rectangular shape of the bookmark instead of it going off into the die cut area.
FINAL: SUBSCRIPTION BOXES
Each box will come with a wrapped book made from the same pattern found on the bottom of the inside and the left and right side of the boxes. Each book also has a tag that is telling you what genre it is, and some information that includes the first sentence of the first chapter of the book, settings, and tropes that the book has. The boxes are made to feel the same but with slight differenations to established the different box options while using the same color scheme for both. The large box is a dark purple with a teal inside panel and the small box is a dark blue with a pink inside panel. Each box has a different saying on the outside with the inside having the same saying to tie into the consistency of the overall brand.
FINAL: THANK YOU CARDS
Each card is for the different size boxes using the same colors of the correlated box sizes. The large box gets the dark purple card with a baby teal back and the small box gets the dark blue with the baby pink back. The back of the cards are using the same pattern and same opening saying of “get cozy, it’s date night!” but each card has a different subheading that is focusing on the dating aspect of the brand.
FINAL: TEA PACKAGING SLEEVES
As seen in the last section, the Lord of the Chais tea packaging was changed to a different book cover with the rest of the tea packaging not changing.
FINAL: EMAIL NEWSLETTER
I came up with this idea pretty early on and it went though little process as stated in previous sections with the back light blue rectangle representing the paper of the letter changed from a ripped paper to a non ripped paper.
prototype link:
FINAL: WEBSITE
As stated previously in other sections, my website went through slight process from the websites being wireframed out for a while until researching other ecommerce websites for inspiration to further process out the website. The main goal for this website was to have a mobile first then desktop mentality because majority of consumers that search anything online or do online shopping is done on mobile devices rather than desktop due to our phones always being in our hands anywhere we go while a desktop is not as portable.
prototype link - desktop:
prototype link - mobile:
FINAL: TOTE BAGS
For the tote bags, I did not originally have an idea of how I wanted these to look, but I used the same mentality and research of searching for tote bag design trends on Pinterest. I established that I wanted to do a stamp themed design as I have seen this design trend with the stickers and for tote bags. Instead of the bag focusing on one genre or book, I decided to push the idea to showcase 7 different genres (fantasy, western, mystery, horror, romance, fairy tales, and sci-fi) drawn in the same style as the stickers with the same “pattern” in the background of the stamps. The second tote bag design is also a commonality seen when searching for design trends for tote bags (and is seen with stickers) with books standing straight up (like it is on a bookshelf) with a bookish saying below the illustration. My twist to what was seen on Pinterest is I decided to design each book to fit with the genres shown on the other tote bag using icons that is shown behind the main element in the stamp, and used branding elements like the logo, hearts, typography, and used the colors of the brand (light green, dark purple, dark blue, pink, and teal).
note: this was physically made and can be seen in person, but digitally it was easier to use a mockup to showcase the two tote bags.
EXTRA ELEMENTS
To add to the aesthetic of the Blind Date with a Book trend I decided to add two additional elements to the project that is not apart of my required deliverables. I made a wrapping paper out of the pattern that is used on other deliverables, such as the subscription boxes and thank you cards, that is used to wrap the books chosen to make them a surprise to what books the customer will receive (and to also add to the blind date part of the trend to not judge the book by its cover). To pair with the wrapping paper, I made a tag that is specifying the genre, tropes, first few sentences/first sentence of the first chapter, and setting of the chosen book.
