THE LEMON ACT

THE STARTING POINT

The Lemon Act started with a family New Year's gift.

My family wanted to give everyone a personalised gift that felt a little more meaningful than something picked off a shelf. I saw it as a perfect opportunity to make something myself, so I started designing a journal that people could actually use.

That became ACT., a compact undated planner with weekly spreads, goals, habit and routine trackers, reminders and lists.

But once I started working on it, the idea grew.

THE CONCEPT

Luman came from a little wordplay between lemons and humans. Anyone who owned a Luman Adventure Box became a fellow Luman.

I wanted to build a small world around one idea: doing something with whatever life hands you. Trying something new. Making something. Going somewhere. Spending time with people, or simply doing something for yourself.

THE PRODUCT

I ended up developing a complete box rather than a single item.

ACT.
A compact undated planner with weekly spreads, goals, habit and routine trackers, reminders and lists.

A Luman's Guide
A little book filled with ideas for things to do when you're bored, from solo activities and adventures to DIY projects, creativity, self care, travel and everyday life skills.

Stickers
A small element of play and personalisation.

Dust Cover
Added after I realised the light coloured planner cover would be prone to getting dirty.

Thank You Card
Designed to double as a bookmark. The back featured a doodle by my six year old nephew, which became one of my favourite little details in the box.

FROM IDEA TO EXECUTION

The original plan was simply to make enough personalised boxes for my family.

Then I ran into a very practical problem. The manufacturer had a minimum order quantity, which meant I was going to have far more boxes than I needed.

I could have just let the extras sit around. Instead, I started wondering what else they could become.

That was the point when The Lemon Act stopped being just a family gift and started becoming a small product of its own.

I'd never produced a book before, so I had to learn as I went. I found a manufacturer willing to work with the quantities I needed, worked through samples, and started figuring out what changes when something moves from a screen into the real world.

The samples were particularly useful.

The light coloured cover of ACT. looked great in the design, but once I had the physical sample in my hands, I realised it would get dirty very easily. Rather than redesign the journal, I found a simpler solution and added a dust cover.

The stickers came about in much the same way. They weren't part of the original idea, but once I started thinking about the box as a complete experience, they felt like they belonged there.

There were a lot of small decisions like that, things I couldn't have figured out properly until I had something physical in front of me.

Concept → Naming → Product Development → Content → Book Design → Packaging → Sourcing → Sampling → Production → Pop Up → Amazon

There was no existing product or brief telling me what came next. I had to keep figuring that out myself.

I created a pop up store around the project, then put the remaining boxes up for sale on Amazon. What started as a personalised gift for people I already knew had become something that could find its way into the hands of people I'd never met.

WHAT THE PROJECT TAUGHT ME

The most useful part of The Lemon Act was learning how many decisions sit between an idea and a finished product.

Production constraints change designs. Samples reveal problems. Things that look right on a screen can behave very differently in your hands.

Sometimes the answer isn't to start again. It's to notice the problem, find a practical solution, and keep going.

WHERE IT LEFT OFF

The Lemon Act started as a personalised family gift.

It ended up becoming a small world called Luman.

And if you owned the box, you were part of it.

Looking back, I can see the same instinct in some of the projects I've made since. The ideas are different, but I still seem to enjoy taking something that doesn't exist yet and figuring out what it could become.

The Lemon Act
The Luman Adventure Box, First Edition
Concept, product development, content, design, packaging and production
Small batch project · 2023