Essay Practical: Designing the Box Front

After hitting a wall with the design element of this project I decided to tackle it from a new angle. I was originally using Illustrator so that I could easily illustrate it. I decided to change to Indesign so that I could use a grid a lot easier as this was one of the main things I was struggling with. After I put it into Indesign I found it a lot easier to work with and soon realised that the design I had previously created wasn't that great.

I was really struggling to get the clouds to work with the logo, I then had the revelation that the design didn't really need or want clouds. It wants to depict a glorious, sunny day not overcast. Removing the clouds made the background very light. I added a gradient so that it would blend into a more vibrant 'summers day' blue. The vibrancy added really pushes the land into the back, the logo clashes with the stronger background.

 Using Fibonacci's Golden Ratio means that everything has been positioned in the correct places.

The picture above is Dartmoor, a moor in Devon. The range of green tones and shades creates a great colour palette to use to increase the packagings vibrancy and energy. The colours need to be right, they need to be full of energy and look refreshing as this is how the product should make them feel. In my essay one of the points I wrote about was how colour needs to reflect the product and provoke a certain emotion. In this case, the product needs to make the customer feel revitalised. 

The golden ratio can also be found in the composition of the moors. The path leads directly to the centre of the page, the leads the viewers eyes towards the logo and also into the distance. Both sheep facing in keep the viewers eyes looking in the centre of the design rather than fading off the box.

I really wanted to add the purple again. Purple is the colour of luxury, kind of ironic in this case as air is everywhere although I suppose it would be a luxury if you were willing to buy it! The colour also grounds the whole image by providing a focal point, emphasising the logo. The white on purple provides a good contrast which helps the logo to stand out further.

The font Helsinki is bold and clear. Its not quite perfect shapes give it a friendlier, less formal appeal. 

Putting the type in another purple band becomes very overwhelming on the page. It darkens all the colours and the design looses its 'airy' feel.

Hard to read and very illegible. This doesn't work well at all.

Again the use of purple again is too much. However perhaps the type works better in Helsinki than JennySue. 

The design was still missing something. It didn't stand out enough. To combat this I added an inner white rim to the purple box to help break up the amount of solid purple. The logo has also been dramatically thickened. It is now a lot clearer, the larger amount of white is a lot more eye catching.

The type '100% Locally Sourced' has been curved around the bottom of the purple banner. This now fits a lot better, before it looked out of place where ever it was positioned.

This is the finished box front, I may still edit the closet green so that it picks up the overall colours. 

The final design has been uplifted by increasing the saturation and vibrancy of the colours to create a more idyllic setting. The graphics have been kept simple so that the centre of attention is the logo. By not using any white apart from the logo it means the logo comes to the forefront as it is a lot brighter. The path leads the viewers eyes into the centre of the page, keeping their attention. The Golden Ratio has been used throughout designing this back, it has really helped to keep everything in line and has made sure the viewers eye is not lead off the box design.

Lecture: Context of Practice 3

• Up to 9,000 words
• 40% of course
• Focus of the module is about a contextual knowledge
• How much your work evidences and intellectual engagement with the world.
• It is a project which we can research through making as well as writing and research.
• set question > think of topic > practice based research
• making something as a way of solving a problem
• we plan and drive it ourselves


Who am i as a designer? What do I want to specialise in?


Knowledge and Understanding
6A1: Demonstrate an independent critical understanding of the aesthetic, cultural, historical, technological, social, political or other contexts relevant to individual subject disciplines.

Find your own position on the topic. What is your take on it? rather than just repeating other established views.

Cognitive Skills
6B1: methodological and critical approach to everything

How are you going to research this projects?

Practical and Proffesional Skills
C1: Research - Quality and Quantity
Practical and visual as well as textual

6D1: Organise, plan and effectively manage self- directed projects and communicate outcomes through written and appropriate forms

6A4: synthesis both practical and theoretical.

PRAXIS - the realisation of theory and practice

Form:

Level 4 Essay Title: Should fine art be given more value than other types of communication?

Level 5 Essay Title: Outline And Explain The Key Characteristics For Successful Supermarket Package Design


Aim/ objective of your proposed Cop 3 project (basically a title but not polished)
-try to define a subject
-be as specific as you can
- series of related questions

What research needs to be undertaken into the general and specific contexts of your projects? What factors sit behind your chosen subject? History, culture, social etc...

Are there any dominant attitudes that inform my subject

Is my project culturally specific?

What approaches will you take and what processes, methods, materials and tools are to be involved in research into your project (Methodology) what are you going to use practically and textually to research it.

• how you are going to approach chosen subject,
•what questions you'll ask and why not others?

Figure out which research methods are most appropriate for your practice and essay.

What preparation or investigations do you need to undertake for your research project to take place?
How will i go about investigating my chosen subject.. eg sending out a questionnaire but research how to maximise results. Might have to learn stuff before doing it.

It will make the project better if we consider how to research now

Who is your research project for?
make this project as real world as possible. It will make it more complex but more exciting.

Could make an exhibition, work in collaboration with people in the real world. Could you make it useful and world changing?

Essay Practical: Box Mock Up

I have mocked up the box very quickly just to check the jar will fit in comfortably. The box dimensions are 13.5cm x 9cm x 9cm this leaves room around the edge and the top for the jar to fit.

The box perhaps looks like there is a lot of room around the jar. However because the jar curves out the edges need more room than the top.

The box once filled with tissue paper supports the jar nicely. The use of tissue paper will make the product feel slightly more luxurious as well as practically holding the jar in place and protecting it.

I will now continue with the design to the correct dimensions. 

Essay Practical: Box Design

 Using images I have found online I have been able to create the basic shapes of animals such as sheeps which will be used on my box design.

The simple illustrations will fit with the boxes colour scheme and hand rendered design style.

This is how the box currently stands with each side touching. I wanted the image to continue around the whole box so decided it was best to design each box seperatley but in a line so that I could use the same grid and make sure each section moved smoothly onto the next box side.

I have taken inspiration from Dartmoor, Devon to provide the scenery for the box. This again links it back to its routes of Devon and gives the customer a visual image of where the product is sources.

I am still not sure about how or where to place 'country' or what else needs to go on the front. 

The side again is still plain. I plan to illustrate more sheep to add in.

The back text is quite heavy. I will do this last on Indesign anyway but need to find an appropriate way to layout the body copy. 

The last side is the still blank. I may rewrite the text and spread it over the two sides. 

I have hit a bit of a wall with this design so will take a break from it whilst I try and create a mock up of the box. By creating a mock up I can be sure what size I will need and how the jar will sit in it. I can also use this opportunity to explore paper stock as well. 

Essay Practical: Jar & Box

I have found the Jar I am going to use for my Air. It is 500ml so that'll be a good amount of air to sell. After the crit it was suggested that I could print on vinyl or perhaps clear, which is what I initially wanted. I want the logo to just be directly on the glass rather than a white backed sticker.

Although most glass jars are bought alone, I have decided that I want to create a box for the jar to sit in. A nicely designed box will sell better than just a logo on a jar. By creating a box I would be able to relate to more elements from my essay. Such as hand rendered designs, It would overcomplicate the jar to label it all. I want the label to take up as little room as possible, leaving the rest as glass so that the customer can see into the product, ironically air, as this was another key point raised in my essay.

Box Debate
I debated between two box designs: the gift box or the box with the lid. Although I think the box with the lid would be nicer, like a gift, It would be more complicated to design and harder to get right. I would have to allow a few centimetres on the top of the box for where the lid would sit over the design. This leaves the box with very little room for the design. The attached lidded box perhaps won't look as presentable but it would be more appropriate for the context of a supermarket. Boxes with lids aren't really used in supermarkets.

Tissue Paper
 I could perhaps fill the box with a yellow tissue paper and then place the jar in. The tissue paper would stop the jar from rattling as well as making the product feel personal to the consumer.

Essay Pratical: Crit

Today we had a crit for CoP discussing our practical outcome ideas. Overall the reaction I recieved was positive, people seemed to like the idea and the links to the essay. I received some useful feedback which will help me to further this project. 

One of the issues that was raised was that the colours don't reflect air. I couldn't agree more, now that its been mentioned I can see the colours don't accurately reflect air. It was also suggested I could do a range of airs which people could collect them all. As much as I like this idea I don't know how practical it is going to be in the short amount of time we have left. I originally wanted to do coast and country, however now I am thinking that I will only be able to get coast done. I would rather have one outcome to a good standard than two rushed outcomes.

My next steps are to experiment with colour more, exploring more 'air' colours. I also need to find a jar so that I actually have something to apply my logo to.

Essay Practical: Air Symbol

I have created another version of the logo for a potential Coastal Air. The colours don't really work for this logo however it will be a useful starting point if I do decide to branch out my range of Airs.

This is one of the well known symbols for air. I felt like the logo was missing something and perhaps placing a shape behind it would solve this problem.

The Air shape fitted really well with the line forming the flick of my A.

I traced around the shape to create my own version. This is would create a vector rather than working from the raster image. Now I can adjust the colour and opacity to suit my logo. 

I like the links behind using the shape and its symbolic meaning. However it makes the logo look busy and unclear, I will leave it for now and try and use it later in the design process if I can!

Essay Practical: Designing the Logo

I had an image in my mind of a hand rendered Air where the letters are interconnected. I drew out Air with the pen tool on Illustrator.

I wanted a background to work on so chose a scenic view of Devon. 

By applying a layering affect it cartoonised the image separating out the colours.

Adding different coloured rays was in theory going to make it look more idilic, however in practice it looks awful. 

Below are the three Art Board I was working on throughout the creation of the logo.

I didn't manage to screen shot my design process creating the logo. However you can see its progression throughout the art boards. Below is the final logo which I will take to the crit, I expect after feedback the logo design will change.