Cosmetics Comparisons...

I have reached a point in my design process where the design is now formulated, and the application process is beginning. I have collated a range of different Boots Own Brand products, so as to compare their collective brand with my design for their Expert brand. The image below shows Boots ranges: Vitamin E, Tea Tree, No7, Ingredients, Sun Swim & Gym and Essentials.



I am quite pleased with the overall feel of the design, and I think that it integrates well with the rest of the Boots brand ranges. I realise that there are elements of the designs that I need to change and develop a little, but this is the basis of what my final designs will look like.

Cupcake Box...

I've been working on the design for the individual cupcake box. I have chosen the design below for several reasons...

1. The design is easy to make; it folds up in a simple way, making it easy for the staff to put together when they are required.

2. The design does not use excess materials; the other designs I looked at used unnecessary amounts of card, as well as incorporating handles that weren't of much use.

3. The design requires only one line of glue to hold it together

4. The box can be prepared for making (ie. scored and glued) and then flattened for easy storage.

5. The design will hold and support the cupcake without the danger of squashing it.

Cake Box...

I have started looking at the types of packaging that I can create for the cakes and other products from Cake&Co.

I want to create packaging that is;
totally practical for each individual product

cheap to produce, as the goods have a short shelf life, and the packaging will end up in the bin pretty quickly

clever and different from what you might expect

I have been focusing initially on the individual cupcake box. This box needs to be well designed so that the cake is enclosed and cannot slide around, big enough so that the cake is not squashed, and tall so that the icing is not crushed when the box is closed.

I have been looking at suitable shapes, and produced these mock-ups as options for the cupcake box...they are all thiner at the bottom to help stop the cake moving around, and wider at the top to protect the icing...

Crit Feedback...

We had a crit on Wednesday, and I was able to get feedback on all 3 of the briefs I have started as well as the collaborative brief that I am doing with Sara. These are the basic notes that I made whist the feedback was being given;

Sustainable Packaging Brief...
- First hand research - go to Boots and look at what is on the shelf next to the products I am redesigning.
- Layout of the text - make it clearer
- Stock test - how will the stock/materials improve the personality of the products
- Might I include imagery?
- Find a happy medium with the type, not too overlapped or spaced out
- Plain bottles and simple colours works well
- Keep the design clear and clean
- Needs to feel more expert and crisp

Branding...
- Logo works well
- The colour palette is well chosen and hints at a retro-ish theme
- Use the logo within the doily shape, green circle with brown edge

Type & Product...
- Woodblock design with highlighted lyrics is the most popular
- Work with the order of the words on the digitally produced designs
- Lyric designs are less obviously christmas, less cliche
- Make the woodblock designs a little less distressed, not so gothic
- More white space - the design should not touch the edges of the cards
- Colour combinations are a good choice
- Gold/Silver accent will make the design pop, and not overpower with too much colour or glitter

I am going to devise an Action Plan that will relate to each of the points made in the crit, as well as the areas I feel I need to develop/ explore and design in. I also need to plan time around letterpress development and screen printing my outcomes.
The action plan will start on the first day back after the reading week (scheduled for next week).

Card Stock...

I have started to consider what kinds of paper stock I am going to use for the christmas cards and wrapping paper etc. Stock can be an integral part of the overall design and is really important to getting the tone of voice for a design right.

I am thinking that the cards should be printed onto some sort of heavy cartridge paper, possibly water colour, but definitely something with texture or grain in it. I think that this will add to the letterpress/woodblock design of the card, and enhance the hand made feel.

The wrapping paper could be of similar stock, probably thinner, but still using a textured/pulp paper, but I am also considering using brown paper. A couple of years ago I bought some beautiful christmas wrap that was basic brown paper with a repeat pattern of reindeer silhouettes printed on it in gold. The contrast between the 'cheap' brown paper and the expensive printed finish created a strange but beautiful design that made the paper feel really special. I think that this design worked because it wasn't too over the top with lots of metallics or glossy texture, but 2 very simple and contrasting elements. When I come to screen printing the paper I will try using brown paper, white paper and possibly some tissue paper, as well as more textured stock.

This is a digital mock up of how the brown paper might look with black and gold printing...

Work in progress...

This is some of our work from today, general work in progress stuff of how we have begun setting up the document.
We have hit a few snags - not having some of the content, and also having to make decisions between photos because we do not have a set up that allows more than one full image on any double page spread (we feel this may clutter, and make the brochure more like a photo album).

Public Art Progress...

The deadline for the this brief is the 2nd November. This is the first day back after our reading, for which Sara and I have already made other plans involving dissertation work, and visiting family, so we only have one week to complete the brief, rather than two weeks.

Today we began developing our work, having looked at it individually over the weekend. We created several master layout pages, and started our document from scratch. We have made good headway today with the content of each page, and which layout they will use. We have also been through all of the images Vanessa gave us and chosen a few we really like to fill in some of the gaps in the document.

These are our master layouts; every page of the document will be based on one of these set-ups, though sometimes the layouts may need to be combined to create enough space for the large amounts of text some of the pages carry.