OUGD603 / Extended Practice - D&AD John Lewis: Final pieces and Project evaluation.

OUGD603.
JOHN LEWIS. 
FINAL PIECES AND PROJECT EVALUATION.


The three boxes:

Process of the boxes opening:

Tissue and stickers:

Cards:

Online personalisation:

Recycle sticker:

JOHN LEWIS D&AD PROJECT EVALUATION.

Working with Caitlin:

I really enjoyed working with Caitlin and felt that together we made a really good team. I have previously worked with her on a compeition brief before that went really smoothly and successfully, so I went into the project with high hopes. Whilst I was really excited and involved with concept building and a lot of the design such as initial nets, vectorising the box design, doing all tissue paper and sticker designs and working with Caitlin on the card design. Caitlin was very much great at refining and testing out how the design worked technically, creating mock ups and polishing them until they were perfect. I felt that we both complimented and supported each other in the places where we both needed help. We did tend to do a lot of this together in the production stages rather than one do something and the other do something else, we both took a day out to take photos of our outcomes together to make sure we got the right shots we needed as we are both planning on putting this project in our portfolio. 

Our outcomes:

I think in the end we were both really happy with the outcomes we had produced. In the beginning when we were first talking about creating something that would need untying or unlocking, I was scared that whatever we had would turn out messy. But I think with good research into the possible ways in which we could hone our ideas (untying ribbon) and Caitlin's refining skills we were able to create something that was really clean and polished, and importantly 100% functional. I felt that our outcomes responded incredibly well to the brief that we were first given by D&AD for John Lewis in which there were a list of possible things they wanted us to consider a design response to. John Lewis asked that we create something that could be used across all different product ranges and asked us to create this for 3 different shapes and sizes which we endeavoured to do. They also asked that we contrive a great emotional response to the packaging, so the experience of home delivery was on level with that of a store experience, I think that we really hit this nail on the head with a great concept in which the delivery appears more like a gift than a regular order. Another aspect we were asked to contemplate was how the design could possibly be transferred from season to season, to which we responded with the ability to personalise orders for special occasions. This also helped to further the idea of increasing the speciality of home delivery. Lastly we created the design using 100% recyclable meaning that if the customer didn't choose to keep the box for storage or other functions, the box could be 100% recyclable meaning minimal impact on the environment. 

This is one of my favourite projects I have worked on all year and I feel that the outcome does tick the boxes set out by John Lewis. As previously stated it is definitely something I will be putting into my portfolio, and feel that the project itself represents me very well as a graphic designer in terms of the work that I really enjoy completing. 

What could we improve on?

In terms of improvements I think one of the biggest downfalls a lot of the time had to do with timing and organisation such as a shortage of card and having to go back to purchase more. We also found that the time we booked for laser cut wasn't particularly enough so we had to rebook again later in the week etc. I also think that we would have liked to create box sizes that differentiate more as this is something John Lewis would have liked to have seen more of, such as how the design works on a very large scale, however due to using the laser cutter to cut our boxes, we were limited by this. 

I had also mentioned when experimenting with box designs that I would have liked to have done a design that was a bit more detailed such as incorporating the brand stripes on the box, however we were quite limited with the amount of screens we could get hold of to print the bow and logo by itself. That being said, I think that the bow works really successfully by itself and I am learning that more detail doesn't always mean a better design. 

What did I learn?

First of all I learnt that this project is an example of the work I really enjoy producing. It was really a branding and packaging project all in one, which is what I love about packaging projects such as this. I have come to realise over completing projects that I am definitely most excited when working with or on brands, and my favourite part of the branding process seems to be creating packaging. I also learnt a lot about the technicalities of a project and understanding how to intertwine and successfully work on form and function. I also learnt a lot more about presentation skills and refined these, spending a good amount of time to take photos and preparing presentation boards, which is useful for future reference when preparing pitches etc.