My Art class required that we keep an art journal containing all our notes, art projects, and photos. Our instructor referred to this journal as a SSPNJ (pronounced like “sponge”). This was an acronym for Scrapbook, Sketchbook, Photo Album, Notebook, and Journal.

A large portion of our grade in this class was dependent not just on the journal, but also on the creative presentation of it. As a graphic designer (sometimes synonymous with the word “artist,” depending on who you ask), I decided to create a product box for my journal, playing on the word “sponge” to make it look like a cleaning product.

I used Adobe Illustrator for this project, and created all the elements (the sponge, the soap bubbles, etc.) from scratch. The retro lady clip art was scanned from a collection of 1950’s Multi-Ad Services clip art, inherited from my early days in newspaper layout.

The final artwork was adhered to a large piece of cardboard, then trimmed, scored and folded. I attached three binder rings to hold my journal materials, then affixed a piece of velcro to hold the folding closure in place.

Photos below show the construction of the printed artwork into the finished binder / box.