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RESUME

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DOMAIN: Designing for small moments of joy

STUDY: The psychology of the color pink

TYPE:

Product

PURPOSE:

Joy

YEAR:

2025

EXPRIENCE:

Adobe Firefly, Photoshop, Wacom Tablet


Adobe Firefly, Photoshop,

Canva, Wacom Tablet

The Color of Joy

The Color of Joy

The Color of Joy

origin.
origin.

The Breakroom Ritual - In many offices, the weekly ritual is someone bringing in two dozen donuts — boxes stacked on the counter, almost always wrapped in pastel colors.

The Breakroom Ritual - In many offices, the weekly ritual is someone bringing in two dozen donuts — boxes stacked on the counter, almost always wrapped in pastel colors.

The pink frosted donut remains one of the most recognizable pop culture breakfast food items.

But little do people know that pink frosted donuts and the iconic pink boxes they come in originated in Southern California.

The pink frosted donut remains one of the most recognizable pop culture breakfast food items .

But little do people know that pink frosted donuts and the iconic pink boxes they come in originated in Southern California.

Cambodian refugees and donuts.
Cambodian refugees and donuts.

The now-iconic pink donut box started as a cost decision.


In the 1970s–80s, many independent donut shops in Southern California were run by Cambodian immigrant entrepreneurs operating on thin margins. Their main packaging supplier's cheapest product was a surplus pink cardboard.


The reason?


White boxes required more bleaching during production, making them pricier.

What started as a penny-saving decision became an accidental branding system.

The now-iconic pink donut box started as a cost decision.


In the 1970s–80s, many independent donut shops in Southern California were run by Cambodian immigrant entrepreneurs operating on thin margins. Their main packaging supplier's cheapest product was a surplus pink cardboard.


The reason?


White boxes required more bleaching during production, making them pricier.

What started as a penny-saving decision became an accidental branding system.

From pink box to desk.

That small moment of joy encoded in a pastel box left on a breakroom counter is what inspired this mouse pad.


A child with a butterfly net, repurposed as a donut net, standing in a landscape made entirely of pink donuts, catching them as they fall through the sky.


It's the psychological charge of pink, the visual shorthand for sweetness and play, carried from the bakery into the workday.

Sketch — character study for the mousepad illustration

A tiny reminder that even a workday deserves a little color.

sarah mu

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