The Smelly Lunchbox
Featured in Armour Magazine No. 32 Creative Direction, Photography, Graphic Design, Layout
For plenty of Americans, school lunch was the boring PB&J and chips. But what happens if you broke that mold? Instead, lunchtime meant pulling out a meal, looking around, and realizing everyone is watching. What is that? Why is it different than ours?
Featured in Armour Magazine’s 32nd issue, The Smelly Lunchbox combats the isolating experience of being “othered”—whether that means getting strange looks in the cafeteria, or receiving outward judgment of your own culture.
Following a series of interviews, I directed, constructed, and photographed sets featuring four people who knew what it meant to stand out at lunchtime. Putting a positive spotlight on individuality, this editorial demonstrated how cool it is to celebrate your own culture.
Photography
As I spoke to others about their school lunch experiences, it was commonly compared to being “a fish out of water.” So, it felt fitting for our shoot to be captured entirely with a fish eye lens. The images capture small moments from odd angles, “blowing up” the moments that feel big, and exaggerating that feeling of having eyes on you. The image treatment runs from realism, from the images’ texture to the funky colorful backgrounds.
Art Direction + Set Design
Building the sets for this shoot, I channeled three things: bold, bright, and big. The goal was to create eclectic settings, with flashy and eye-catching styling and makeup.
Layout + Graphic Design
As the layout designer, I focused on incorporating simple and organic shapes that were colorful and retro, with moments of solid color
for the images to shine.