Moleskine Pen+Ellipse

Agency: QNY Creative
Creative Director: Ezio Burani
Art Director: Iker Iza
Art Director: Samantha Clemente
Copywriter: Valentina Robotti
Copywriter: Anna Urban
Location: United States
Project Type: Produced
Client: Moleskine
Product Launch Location: United States
Packaging Contents: Smart Pen
Packaging Substrate / Materials: Paper Sleeve
Printing Process: Offset + Partial UV gloss

Behind the Moleskine name are centuries of history. Once trusted by the likes of artists and writers such as Vincent Van Gogh. Pablo Picasso, and Ernest Hemingway, this iconic stationery brand’s legacy was built upon a simple notebook. Determined to redefine the everyday experience of writing and creating by hand in a digital world, Moleskine was challenged to provide new tools to a demographic searching for the perfect way to put their ideas on a page: students. With a new product–that effortlessly makes each fine pen stroke on paper visible on digital devices in real-time, from words to doodles to graphs and more–came a new dilemma: how to truly showcase its versatility and productivity potential inside a College Book Store without being able to try the product?

Moleskine approached QNY Creative to design the packaging of their Pen + Ellipse College Edition sleeve, searching to emphasize its capabilities in the classroom as a true aid for the modern student. Not merely limited by pen and paper, they now could instantly transfer physical notes into the virtual world, making them truly indelible and endlessly shareable. QNY was tasked to translate the seamlessness of the Pen+ and communicate the intrinsic advantages of focus and retention when notes are handwritten, rather than typed. Aiming to position the signature Moleskine aesthetic–one that has defined an era–into the hands of today’s most promising minds.

The visual journey of this sleeve went through several stages of design Iteration and is currently in the final development phase.

What’s Unique?
The copy is king in the front panel of the box sleeve, emphasizing functionality with bold graphic appeal and UV gloss accents, while also educating the consumer on the product use. We wanted the consumer to see the pen in motion, adding dynamism to the design and leaving no doubts as to how it can be used in action. Sketches, doodles, and calculations flow freely across the panel, jumping into the notebook and occupying the foreground space, simulating the digitization process of the Pen+ Ellipse.