OUGD603 / Extended Practice: Meat me at Alberts.

OUGD603.

EXTENDED PRACTICE.

Meat me at Albert's.

Meet me at Albert's, a concept for a butchers I came up with, was purely a brief born from the want of wanting to apply branding in a way that would benefit society. Since starting my research for the COP 3 module, I have found that what I have learnt so far has, in fact, influenced the choices and design projects I am planning to complete this year. I have found that branding can be looked at in a negative way within the current 21st century consumer culture and so I wanted to take on a project that used the creation of a brand to produce positivity and give back to the society. 

I wanted to use the brand of a butchers to help enforce a sense of community, and moreso increase the size of one that already existed. Butcher's are known locally by their regulars through a relationship of trust and dependance. Many people visit their local butchers, not only due to the fact that its convenient, often better value in terms of quality to supermarkets, but they come for the Butcher. 'Meat me at Alberts' is a butchers brand that focuses' predominantly on the use of the butcher as the brand, bringing people in from further afield to be part of a community. A community that is entertained, valued and relied upon by Andrew. 

I chose Saltaire as a location, as it has a growing community in which tourists travel into to visit monuments such as the canal, the gallery and salts mill. However it doesn't currently have as big a following as small towns such as Hebden bridge in which people will travel in weekly to go to the market, go to the famous butchers or the array of independent and dependable stalls in the area. The sense of the community that is alive in Hebden bridge, is one that I wanted to emulate in Saltaire With the help of the butchers brand. 

This brief is also one of my more substantial pitches in which I am planning to put aside 4 weeks for research, development, designing and production. As the butchers will be in a sense a fresh food stall, I would like to create some sort of rustic and appropriate packaking to reflect the roots of the food. Here I have the ability to play with stock and printing processes where I could use hands on processes, to reflect the hands on approach the butcher has to his work. 

TO DO:

- Research into butchers design 

- Research into fresh food / deli packaging

- Research into community based design

- Research into traditional print methods 

- Research into place making (ted talks?)

- How to keep the project economical and on budget for an independent butchers. 

Deliverables (subject to change):

- Logo design.

- Packaging/wrapping for range of food.

- Fridge label cards.

- Sticker design

- business card

- Carrier bag

- Price list mock ups.

- Sign mock ups.

- Uniform mock ups. 

- Van mock up.

- Branding guidelines.

OUGD603 / Extended Practice: Penguin book competition.

OUGD603.

EXTENDED PRACTICE.

Penguin design awards. 

The Penguin design awards is something that I am choosing to take park in this year as I believe it will help further determine whether I want to enter the industry of children's illustration, or, Branding. I also thought that a brief such as designing a front cover for a book, could be a project with a fast turn around. However it  is also a brief that I would have the ability to extend if needed. For example I could create other promotional tools for the book, and possible branding for a promotion event. 

The competition is not open until 2015, and therefore I cannot envisage or plan much of the brief details, other than put an amount of time aside for it. 

OUGD603 / Extended Practice: Children's book.

OUGD603.

EXTENDED PRACTICE.

Children's book. 

Another project that I thought would truly test my want to illustrate for/ layout and design children's book could be to do all of the above for an already existing story. Although I had thought about originally writing my own story (something which I did, then design and produced all on my own in first year), Simon thought that the project, in ratio with all my other briefs we had discussed might be taking on more than I could chew, as I would have to spend a long time perfecting the content, so that both content and design were directly appropriate for the audience. Instead we discussed the idea of taking care of the aesthetic portion of the project such as, designing the front cover, inside illustrations and layout, and back cover. This would also mean that the work I would produce would in affect be very honest. If I were to write the narrative myself, I may think of design ideas along the way, and in result this may effect the writing of the piece. This would conclude with a set of designs for an unsuccessful story, and the outcome would therefore be rendered useless.  

In order to solve this issue I spoke to some of my peers, one of them, Sam suggested that I look towards other courses for a possible collaborative project. She spoke to me about the Journalism course at Leeds trinity, and how some students choose to write children's story books for their final pieces, and are often looking for designers to work with in order to make their stories come to life. This seemed like a great oppurtunity, not only to avoid the downfalls of writing my own story but to also collaborate with someone else outside the course, effectively in a designer to client relationship. 


TO DO:

- Contact Leeds trinity Journalism course. 

- Choose collaborative partner. 

- Meet with them to discuss further movements. 

Deliverables (subject to change):

- Front cover design 

- Inside illustrations and layout

- Back cover design

- Well crafted finished product of book. 

- 5 design boards. 

OUGD603 / Extended Practice: Christmas stationary.

OUGD603.

EXTENDED PRACTICE.

Christmas stationary. 

The christmas stationary brief is mostly something I chose to do for over the christmas period, whilst working on my COP writing and practical to keep myself sane. As a lover of all things christmassy and festive it was hard to only pick one christmas brief. I really wanted to try and find a brief where I could do some more screen printing. Traditional printing is something I really enjoy doing, and is a craft I have tried very hard to refine over my last two years at Leeds college of art. It also seemed like a great match to pair this possibility with the idea of christmas stationary, as screen printing is something tactile and adds a special touch, perfect for gifting. 

The idea is to create a selection of Gift stationary based upon 3 famous christmas films, I chose christmas films a the use of quotes is something slightly rarer and more special than the use of song lyrics. I plan to prepare for each film, a greetings card, gift wrap and gift tags. I would also like to do bags, however I will have to pitch this against the time constraints of the project when doing this simultaneously with my COP projects. As far as audience goes for the project I will be focusing mostly towards families and friends. however this brief does seem to have the widest range of audience. The gift wrap could be something a boy purchases for his sisters present because she loves the film elf, or gift wrap you buy for your granddad because he reminds you of chris cringle etc, so therefore the best thing to aim for is to stay true to the movies, and create a response that echoes the film in a creative way, and the followers of the films will come. I have however decided that it would be best to stock such products in shops such as HMV and Water stones as these themselves are media outlets, and often places where you will find those who love movies, or those who are shopping for film/book based gifts around christmas time.  

TO DO :

- Look at other music/ film inspired gift wrap. 

- Find 3 christmas films most popular for families. 

- Watch Christmas films.  

- Pick out most recognisable quotes and motifs. 

Deliverables (subject to change):

- Greetings card

- Giftwrap

- Gift tags

- Gift bag (If possible)

OUGD603 / Extended Practice: Beckett Beccari luxury florists.

OUGD603.

EXTENDED PRACTICE.

Beckett Beckinsdale Luxury florists. 

Beckett Beccari is a brief that inspired solely from interests I have outside of university. Obviously as stated in my design strategy PPP presentation Branding is one of the sectors that excites me most about the industry and is therefore one of the reason I have taken up so many briefs under this Umbrella. However the subject of choice for the branding brief is something that I have interests in outside of university. If I ever got to a point where I ever thought that Graphic design would be too much for me, I wanted to have a back up plan for another career where I would still have the availability to enjoy a range of different projects and explore creativity. 

It was here I began to enjoy the idea of Branding for a florists. Floristry was something I had considered doing as a back up career. My grandma was a florist, and now my cousin has just finished training at floristry school. Although I am doing a lot of branding initiated projects, I am trying to further my progress by designing for a range of different audiences. The type of audience I am aiming for within this brief is one I have not really approached before. The aim is to create a luxury brand for an older audience, who would assumably have more of a disposable income to spend on such objects. 

This will also be my most substantial brief with an approximate time frame of 6-8 weeks. The branding project includes producing items such as, packaging and stationary items, business cards, letterheads, online platform (not coded), possible inside spatial design and mock ups for the store/ uniform / delivery vans. In order to begin a successful design process there are a few things I need to look into. 

TO DO:

- Research into how a Luxury florist functions.

- How stock can effect the class of a product. 

- Research into the aesthetic of already in business high end florists. 

- Research into branding for florists.

Deliverables (subject to change):

- Packaging (boxes and bags)

- Wrapping

- business cards 

- Letterhead

- Invoice

- Mock ups (store, uniform, delivery vans)

- Branding guidelines.

OUGD603 / Extended Practice: Alice in Wonderland for MAC.

OUGD603.

EXTENDED PRACTICE.

Alice in Wonderland for MAC cosmetics. 

I knew that as part of my extended module project selection, I wanted to do another project similar to one that I did last year. For the responsive module in the second year I entered a YCN competition response for the Cath Kidston brief. Although it was something that I did find quite stressful, as Cath Kidston already had a very distinct style, It was in face something I ended up enjoying, and due to all the leg work I put in trying to make it just right, It turned out to be one of my most successful projects to date. I wanted to highlight the fact in my portfolio that, not only could I work creating my own brands from scratch, but I could also mould to the needs of an already existing brand. 

Again for this brief, I have added some extra personal enjoyment by choosing to work for a brand that I myself am attracted to. Not only do I enjoy using make up as It is another outlet for creativity, I love collecting make up, especially those pieces in special, or limited edition packaging. And so I decided to combine this idea of interest to work with a brand that already exists. The brand I have chosen to work with is MAC Cosmetics. On a regular basis throughout the year Mac cosmetics brings out a range inspired by a character, group of characters, film or series. In the past few months we have already seen collections by the Simpsons and Rocky horror picture show being released. It it my aim to create a new line of packaging for MAC cosmetics that could go across all the different products usually featured in the collections, another possibility I would like to do if there is enough time, is create the table stand in which the products will be held in. I have chosen Alice in Wonderland as a point of inspiration for the collection as I thought that the styles, patterns and colours of the movie left a lot to be played with, in terms of the products (colours of eyeshadows, nail varnish, lipstick etc) and the packaging itself. I also tried to pick a film that was heavily influenced and well known for its wondrous, out of the ordinary and talented make up skills/ looks.

Source

Source

TO DO:

- Look at previous limited editions collected by MAC.
- Look for stocks similar to that already used in MAC packaging.
- Watch Alice in wonderland.
- Look for key colours, moments and motifs in the film.
- Gather dimensions for all products. 

DELIVERABLES (subject to change):

- Logo for line.
- Lipstick packaging.
- Eye quad packaging.
- Nail varnish packaging. 
- Blush packaging. 
- Powder packaging. 
- Eyelash packaging. 
- Table stand for products. 

OUGD603 / Extended Practice: Brrrew Iced tea.

OUGD603.

EXTENDED PRACTICE.

Brrrew Iced tea. 

'Brrrew' Iced tea company was a creative concept I came up with to fulfil my want to do another branding and identity brief, with the ability to do packaging and promotion, as these are my favourite elements of the industry that are often found holding hands with branding. It is important for me to fill my portfolio with a good selection of work in the relevant fields of practice which I wish to pursue. 

As a yorkshire 'born and bred' young adult, I have often been met with confused dazes and stares when the words 'I don't like tea' happen to escape from my mouth. I did however discover over the summer that I do like tea. Iced. and fruity. But for such a heavily dependant tea drinking nation I noticed that Iced tea wasn't something there was a lot of brands around for. Then it occurred to me, why not produce a brand for a Yorkshire based Iced tea company for people like me who hate tea, and those who love tea, but fancy something chilled, a little more fruity and a little less... meh. 

Brrrew is a brand that I want to be fun, exciting and refreshing to see, taste, drink and share with everyone around you. Whilst being so brilliantly hot-off-the-press I always want Brrrew's followers, drinkers and friends to remember that the ingredients are fairly traded, locally blended and that at Brrrew they are proud of where they, their oh so zesty, thirst quenching ingredients and big ideas come from.

TO DO:

- Research into the audience of Iced tea.
-  Research current iced tea brands - pros and cons.

- Research tea design. 

- Research yorkshire based product design. 

- Research packaging shapes. 

Deliverables (subject to change):

- Logo.

- Packaging for 3 flavours.

- Billboard promotion.

- Magazine promotion.

OU5D603 / Extended Practice: Say no to Palm oil.

OUGD603.

EXTENDED PRACTICE.

SAY NO TO PALM OIL.

The above brief is a result of two other projects that have provoked a new train of thought within me in relation to Graphic design. Last year, as part of the Responsive design module I responded to a number of live briefs, however there was one brief, towards the end of the process which I, in particular struggled with. This was not down to the complexity of the brief, and type of designers block or time constraints, but more so my own morals in relation to the project. From this moment on I knew it was of importance to me, to always be honest with the audience that I was designing for, If I didn't believe in the product, I shouldn't promote it, and to do so would be a lie on my behalf. 

It was through this realisation that I also began to think about the power I have as a Graphic designer, and that which I have over my audience. In the essence of things, I am able to somewhat control what a person thinks about a certain brand, a lot of the time I can even convince/ discourage someone to invest in something. I started to think about how I could use this power to shape the world in a more positive way. For this reason I want to start (and continue on through my design career) doing a percentage of work that helps spread my creative wings in terms of social responsibility, cultural issues and ethics, this is also work that I would expect no payment for. 

The unsustainable collection of Palm oil is something my eyes were opened to this summer, after a visit to Chester zoo. In The orangutang exhibit the spatial design spoke of the struggles of unsustainable palm oil and the devastating affects it has on this beautiful animal. It was something that unknowingly I had been ignorant to myself, and now when purchasing products such as cosmetics, domestic items or chocolate I try and look for sustainably certified Palm oil products. However I found that others walk away from the exhibit without knowing this information from not fully reading into the spatial design. This was a problem I wanted to try and solve through a selection of flyers/leaflets. 

The series of leaflets will be designed in affiliation with Say no to palm oil and www.orangutan.org.au/. 

I will design leaflets on behalf of the above two campaigns. These would then be fed through many facets of the zoo;

 given out with a gift shop purchase, distributed with tickets mailed out, a segment on zoo maps, and large scale 

posters to be displayed throughout the zoo. This will also ensure that I can produce my designs on a number of 

different formats. 

TO DO:

-  Look deeply into the issue of unsustainable Palm oil. 

- The effects of unsustainable palm oil. 

- Design for zoos. 

- Design for social change - techniques. 

- How many different designs will I do / are necessary? 

- Work already taking place by say no to palm oil and www.orangutan.org.au/

Deliverables (subject to change):

- Flyer distributed with gift shop purchase 

- Flyer to be distributed via post with tickets before a visit to zoo takes place. 

- Segment on the back of a map. 

- Large scale posters for around zoo.