Graphic Design Students Support Children Impacted by Cancer Through Little Monster Care Packages

In collaboration with Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and Well Beings Studio, a Southern California nonprofit arts organization supporting children, teens and families impacted by cancer, San Diego State University’s Art 450 Packaging Design class has helped redesign an existing Little Monster Friend Care Package.

The packages are part of Well Beings Studios’ The Little Green Monster Project which gives interactive kits to children battling cancer. The kits include a volunteer-made monster plushie, emoji stickers, creative activities, and a storybook about cancer and emotions.

The care packages aim to uplift children and promote literacy, creative dramatic play, and art-making to help families break silences and stigmas around talking about cancer and emotions.

Art 450 Professor Beth Weeks tasked her graphic design students to improve on an existing Little Monster Friend Care Package duffel bag, which had been sent without a box. The students then created a sustainable, mailable, reusable package which houses the contents as well as doubles as a toy. The package and additional elements interact with the gifted plushie monster in a creative manner. Each student in the class was also assigned a “little warrior” or child to send their care package to.

“This endeavor will allow design students to use their talents to encourage families who are going through extremely difficult times. The monster kit project will have a lifelong impact on the work students will choose to pursue in their careers,” Weeks said.

Founder of The Little Green Monster Project and Director of Well Being Studios, Sharon Frances, a breast cancer survivor and arts educator, said, “This project supports our commitment to expanding children’s imagination during difficult times, as well as reusing materials in everyday play. We will proudly print our motto, “Read. Feel. Create. Heal.” on the selected design we will use for our future care packaging.”

The print-ready art designs were sent to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo’s Graphic Communication department where Peter Schlosser, electro mechanical technician, took the designs created by SDSU students and produced the printed and converted corrugated pieces with Cal Poly students.

This collaboration between the two universities was put together by Sharon Eucce, founder of Packaging Chic LLC, a boutique packaging concierge company based in San Diego.

“When Professor Weeks asked me to help with presentations, it was the perfect opportunity to connect students from the two universities! Designers become printers’ clients at some point. Why not have the opportunity to experience the client-vendor relationship early in a career?,” Eucce said.

The collaboration was also in partnership with the California Kids Medical Foundation (CKMF) as they distributed the finished packages to the children. Cali Kids Director, Annie Rigor, said, “It is a blessing to be able to partner with like-minded organizations in order to increase our reach and make a difference to more young warriors in our community.”

SDSU Art 450 students presented their final designs to their classmates, Eucce, Frances, and Schlosser in a Zoom meeting on May 13 where they talked through the concept of their design, the design process, and shared photos and videos of their child receiving the package.

Art 450 student Megan Cook said, “When I was faced with the two part challenge of creating packaging for a cancer patient that would hold their little green monster friend and be interactive, I began to consider creating a treasure chest and map.”

Cook said treasure chests typically provide a valuable reward for bravery which she thought would be perfect for Deryk, the “little warrior” she was assigned, who is fighting T-cell lymphoma.

“The most fulfilling part of being able to create a Monster Care Kit was seeing my kit and the little green monster in Deryk’s hands. I hope his treasure hunt and chest help take his mind off the world and make him feel rewarded for such bravery on his cancer journey,” Cook said.

Casiel Jimenez-Sanchez, Art 450 student, designed a package for 7-year-old Phoenix who is battling Sickle Cell Anemia. Jimenez-Sanchez’s design was inspired by his childhood memories of when he and his sisters would play “house.”

“The concept is simple, affordable, and interactive, allowing the child to use their imagination while keeping the family involved, such as telling stories or going on adventures,” Jimenez-Sanchez said.

Regarding the design process he said, “this project was new and insightful because we were essentially working for something that would be physically produced … but in the end, the product was worth it because it was given to a child impacted by cancer, and we got to put a smile on their face.”

Weeks noted that, “these challenging times make it difficult for students in this class to build professional comprehensives,” however, the generous partners helped make this project possible.

“The collaboration shows students that people are compassionate and willing to help those in need. It will inspire everyone involved to give of themselves and to ‘pay it forward’ when they have the opportunity,” Weeks said.

All partners would also like to thank Pacific Southwest Container, supporter of Cal Poly and education institutions who donated the substrate material to print the prototypes, and Electronics for Imaging (EFI), and Esko Kongsberg for printing and converting the equipment to create the packaging.

The content within this article has been edited by Lizbeth Persons.