I made this display case for my husband back when I was taking Concept Development. We did a lot of packaging design but this was the final project and the only one of our projects that we were able to build.
He needed a display case for the product that he carries in his tiny little barbershop that would not take up too much counter space as his is very limited. He use to carry a different product line and still had their display but it was far too deep and still had the old product logos on it.
This was actually a very unique experience for a class project because I had a real client to work with, granted he is my husband and more than willing to give me artistic license (he actually prefers it that way), but I did get to work with an actual human being with specific design requirements.
Bad Cahill’s Barbershop is a small one man operation that really focuses on an “old school” feeling. It is a man’s kind of place. My husband wanted a display that was in keeping with the look and feel of his shop but practical.
One lesson that I learned with this project is that you absolutely get what you pay for when you purchase foam-core board at the Dollar Tree. I had to take this apart halfway through and repair/rework my design because the poster-board coating on the foam-core bubbled and warped after being painted and glued. I did manage to work around it and used what bubbling that I couldn’t get rid of to my advantage in creating a faux wood grain on that portion of the display.
The top part of this display is made from balsa wood and was carved by me with my Dremel tool (lesson #2 of this project: Balsa wood dust if very fine and blows up under the lenses of ill-fitting eye protection. It also makes a sort of wood putty when combined with the moisture in one’s nose).
This was all painted with acrylic craft paint and I also used Mod Podge as a topcoat/finish. The balsa wood portion has a crackle medium applied to it in order to give the display an antique look.
It is hard to notice in these photos (they were taken by my husband with is cell phone camera in his barbershop) but the inside of this display does have LED lights installed to showcase the product.
One of my husband/client’s biggest requirements for this project was that he be able to change product without needing a new display. He does not like dealing with the beauty supply reps and they really don’t want to bother with him because he does not move the amount or kind of product that they want that is beneficial to a long-term distributer/barbershop relationship.
I focused the display design on the barbershop itself and then made a little panel in the front where he can print up and slide in a new product/price list whenever he needs to. My client was very happy with my work and is still using the display over a year after its completion and he still gets compliments on it and his “clever little wife”.
