Coral Roots

Coral Roots

The problem with coral reef conservation and restoration is that the reefs themselves often appear to be “out of sight, out of mind”. Because the coral reefs are not easily seen or accessible to most of the world’s population, people tend to not realize just how important they are to humanity. With this project, I aimed to reach those people in a way that includes them in the process of saving our coral reefs from anywhere in the world. The goal was to create a functional packaging design that would provide users with the experience of a lifetime and the opportunity to make a difference from home.

CoralRoots is a brand I invented and designed to raise awareness and provide customers with the necessary tools to help save our coral reefs. Inside the box, the customer would receive a tree that will thrive in the specific climate zone of the shipping address, a bag of organic tree fertilizer, a sticker, and a coral branch adjustable bracelet. The box would contain a booklet with information about the company and encourage people to share the stories of their coral/tree memory. A portion of all profits would be donated to the Coral Restoration Foundation in further effort to help save the corals.
The final project consisted of a finished box product, a website, and a poster advertisement. The tree within the box becomes a symbol of health and breathing. It explains how corals benefit humans by providing 50% of the Earth’s oxygen supply and filtering one-third of the Earth’s carbon dioxide intake. The organic fertilizer becomes a symbol of control because coral reefs are in control of many species within our oceans as they provide protection and food for thousands of species. We as humans are also in control of the health of coral reefs because we control what we put on our lawns and ultimately what ends up back in the runoff water into our oceans. By watching what chemicals we are putting on our lawns, we can help protect our reefs from poisonous and harming chemicals that are endangering them. Finally, the sticker and bracelet become symbols of protection to show how one of the most important forms of protection for our coral reefs is to spread the word and share the importance of coral reefs with others to make their presence more apparent and save them. The sticker and bracelet act as physical mobile forms to represent the brand and allow people to share the CoralRoots story and present information about coral reefs in a new, exciting way for everyone. The poster was created as an advertisement for the box, to lead people to the website where they can learn more about coral reefs, and purchase a box. Overall, the brand promotes the comparison of coral reefs to trees, making the concept much more graspable and thus hitting home a little harder. This company is sure to make a mark on people and help them to make a difference from home.

Lauren who won a Gold ADDY in the student division of the 2019 American Advertising Federation Toledo competition, went on to the District 5 competition, where she won a Silver ADDY for her project “Coral Roots.” Henderson graduated in May 2019 and is currently a designer with shark&minnow, a strategy and design consultancy in Cleveland.