Project: Travelers Bag Prop Design
For this assignment, I was tasked with designing a prop that would seamlessly integrate into an existing scene (shown below). I chose to design a duffle bag for the main character, a seemingly simple item that would carry a deeper narrative within its design. The bag’s backstory was key: it needed to be an old military-issued duffle bag that has since been retired from its military service and repurposed into an everyday object. While its military origins still linger in its form, I wanted the bag to feel like a functional accessory rather than something that stood out too much in the environment. The challenge was to strike a balance between creating a design that felt believable within the world; while ensuring it maintained visual interest and unique character.
To begin, I immersed myself in real-world research, studying various military and civilian duffle bags to understand the design elements that made them both functional and iconic. I focused on the size, construction, and aesthetic of these bags. My goal was to incorporate these details into the design, ensuring that the bag felt lived-in and practical.
I kicked off the design process by creating a mood board, gathering visual references that would guide the overall direction of my design. The mood board helped me maintain a consistent tone, keeping the design grounded in the world I was contributing to. With the mood board as my foundation, I moved on to sketching, starting with 10 rough sketches using a bold brushstroke technique. This approach helped me focus on shape, proportion, and silhouette, forcing me to step back from the details and consider the bag’s overall presence in the scene. The use of bold, sweeping strokes allowed me to establish a strong visual identity for the bag without getting bogged down in minute details too early on.
Once I had a few strong sketches, I focused on refining my second concept and worked on an orthographic view to complete the design. This stage required me to step back and consider the context of the bag more: Who was the character using it? Was this bag a hand-me-down, still in its prime but weathered from years of use, or had it been well-maintained, barely showing signs of age? In this case, I decided the bag had been passed down from a father figure—a practical, well-loved object that hadn’t been used for very long, so it still retains a sense of newness despite its history.
The bag had once carried explosives and weapons during its military service, but now it functions as an everyday duffle bag, used by the main character to carry school supplies, snacks, and occasionally protective gear for forest hikes. I also wanted to give the bag a bit of personality by adding pins and patches, symbols of the character’s individuality and experiences. However, I was mindful not to overcrowd the bag with too many decorative elements. The goal was to have just enough to reflect the character’s personality without making the bag feel overly embellished or out of place within the world.
This final design decision allowed me to strike a balance between functionality, history, and character, ensuring that the duffle bag didn’t only serve a practical role but also subtly enriched the character's story through small, thoughtful design details.