One of the best things about origami is how accessible it is. With nothing more than a sheet of paper you can tell a lot of different kinds of stories. For the new drug product Prevnar, Pfizer wanted to tell a story of childhood. They came to the studio asking for custom origami children’s blocks and here is how we delivered.

1: Brainstorming

The Prevnar team reached out to us after seeing our origami work on the Berkeley Haas Campanille project. For that project we created a sheet of paper that had the crease lines, the images, and also the folding instructions on it. This meant that they could hand over one sheet and the folder had everything they needed to fold something cool. This was what Pfizer wanted as well. Here is what that looked like:

With this past project in mind, we began work on an easy-to-fold origami block. After several iterations and revisions, Senior Designer Frank Ling came up with a 3 X 5 grid model.

Once the shape was confirmed by the client, Frank got to work on the hard part- overlaying the instructions and graphics onto the crease pattern.

2: Designing

There were several graphics that the client wanted displayed, so the Taro’s Team worked backwards on the model. Frist they colored in the sides of the block and then they figured out where to add the instructions and step-by-step guide.

3: Final Changes

In the end it was decided to use a lettering system so that everyone could see what parts to bring together. After several more rounds of edits and improvements here is a look at what the final printout looked like.

We then went to our local professional printers and made over 500 copies for mass distribution.

4: Teaching

After everything was finished we also went one step further and made an instructional video for the client. They wanted to make sure that everyone would be successful and finish the block, so the companion video was made as a failsafe. This step was just one way that the Taro’s team went above and beyond to make sure everyone was excited about folding the blocks.