What is blind box,
and why did it go viral?
This visualization project presents the history of how the blind box market developed since it was introduced to China and explores the psychological reasons why people are so addicted to it. It focuses on how the blind box market became popular, the huge potential behind it, and why people are so addicted to blind boxes, as well as the psychological research behind it.
Year
2022
Category
Data Visualization / Website
Design Preview
Introduction
You might be wondering what is blind box?
Blind box refers to the type of sealed packaging that keeps the contents of the toy a mystery until you open it. They typically come in a series that are made up of a variety of different figures / designs that are usually depicted on the side of the box listed along with the odds of finding each one.
When toys become the hobby of ‘adults’, they bring cultural and business opportunities and challenges that should not be underestimated. With the increasing wealth of Generation Z and the rapid diversification of entertainment, the blind box industry has made a big splash in the market.
My project explores why this is a viral phenomenon and what motivates young generation to buy and collect it.
Live Website (Desktop Version)
Github repo
Timeline
8 weeks
Full thesis paper
Final Design
Here's some screenshots of the final application:
Live Website (Desktop Version)
The Dataset
I collected data mainly from two ways: I downloaded Financial data from POP MART Annual Report from their official website; and used a crawler to get the number of mentions of the word "blind box" on different social media platforms in China over the years.
Background
Research Question
What is blind box, and why did it go viral?
What motivates the Z generation to buy it and collect it?
Audience
-
blind box lovers
-
gamers(blind boxes in video games)
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collectors
-
general public
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investors
I expect users to be able to see the trend of blind box market, the economic growth, and some basic background knowledge/history of why this market becoming popular. Also, I want to explore the reasons and psychology behind the binnd box culture that why people want to collect it and can't stop buying it once they start?
Mindmap
Design
Wireframe
I first hand drawn the wireframe on paper, and then remake it in Figma.
I want to draw my audience's attention first, so I started my whole story with a fun and quick activity to engage my audience to let them guess the prices of three different blind boxes. And then I introduced what is blind box, and the history of how the blind box market developed since it was introduced to China and explores the psychological reasons why people are so addicted to it.
Prototype
I made the prototype in Figma and Illustrator.
Unlike the wireframe I designed before, I refined the middle part of the website. I divided the part that introduced how blind boxes became a trend in China into six parts, and used the format of accordion in JavaScript, audience can open them in sequence, making my website more logical and interactive.
