Final Learning Cards

So after much development of my icons on Illustrator and fiddling around with the layout on InDesign I have finally found a graphic system that would work well with the Jolly Phonics system. This took an absolute age to make myself, printing it out, cutting them down to size, sticking them back to back, laminating them then cutting them to shape again and then curving the corners to make them child-friendly. Examples:

Because it took a long time to make the actual cards I didn't have much time to make my packaging so I felt like this was a tiny bit rushed. (Kite and CE mark) but still I think I managed to design a net that complimented the card set with the time I had.

Learning Agreement Presentation

Notes for Presentation:

1) I am doing a branding/packaging project (and selling it, i.e. advertising).

2) Going to create a design product which makes a daily problem easier/encourage people to do something (they don't normally want to do). Much like the magnetic cup idea of some kind of kitchenware product to make cooking easier (like chopping board by Joseph Joseph that folds slightly to make it easier to tip chopped up vegetables into saucepan)

3) Something to simply inspire through creativity.

4) Something you might find in Magma.

5) Maybe have a collection and incorporate a graphic system.

6) Need to find a reason to create this product.

7) Think of an old product that hasn't been seen in a long time- bring back and rebrand. Maybe an old toy?

Ok, so maybe I wasn't 100% prepared for this presentation. I had no idea how far we had to have gotten with our project and what exactly it was we had to present. The presentation style was very varied within the class, some people showed images that would inspire them in their project, some had already pin-pointed what their final piece would look like(which I'm sure is mental seeing as we've only had this brief for a week) and some just spoke out to the class without any projected supporting material.

I was one of those people, I just stood there and made my point without any supporting imagery; which at the time I regretted because at least if I had a pdf projected onto the wall the class would be busy staring at that rather than glaring me down throughout my whole presentation. Oh well, positive pressure is good I guess (I want to think I'm good with public speaking but sometimes I stutter a little, part of the charm maybe? Well let's hope that's how it comes across).

Overall I didn't feel like the tutors liked my idea, well part of it was alright but I think it was down to me not preparing properly for the presentation, I don't think they completely got what I was on about. The main point though was that I wouldn't be able come up with an idea, brand it as well as package it. Thanks for the confidence in me guys...but seriously, I wouldn't have been able to do all that. So yes, back to the drawing board.

Packaging Research

At this point I had decided that I wanted to brand and package an innovative product I would come up with to sell in a shop like Magma. So begins my research on packaging as a starting point. While many people consider packaging to be a byword for 'waste', it's value is actually beyond money and materials.

We don't know it but sometimes it is the packaging that encourages us to by the product, that little push that helps us decide. For example, the other day I was looking for a nice white wine to go with my curry dish. Note: I am the worst person at picking wines, I have very little knowledge within this field and don't think I will ever be able to distinguish all the variety of flavours in different wines, that's just not how my tongue works. If it tastes good it tastes good and it goes in my good book. Anyway, back to my story; so I was in Sainsbury's and was utterly confused on which wine to pick. One bottle stood out amongst the rest, not only because of the name Black Tower(which is just plain cool and reminds me of dragons, yes I'm a bit of a nerd) but more so because of the packaging. It was original and clean-cut, I just couldn't say no. You'll see what I mean if you follow this link

Of course, packaging wise, practically it has to look good, but also it needs to protect the contents, stack neatly in multiples and on standard pallets, and not fall off the shelves at point of sale. Packaging that is innovative is only innovative because people have either:

a) genuinely never seen it before.

b) or come across something that is strangely familiar but which has not been seen for a long time.

Packaging has to be:

1) Recognisable- memorable because of maybe the innovative design.

2) Informative- user should know how to open it without instructions.

3) Immediate- inform the user what the product is straight away.

4) Textural- budget permitted, this can be used to raise your packaging higher than competitors.

5) Functional- should have all the features required by a piece of basic packaging.

6) Dependable- especially important in food packaging, user should have confidence in it.

Initial Research

So, I've decided to go for my most crazy idea; inventing a product. I don't know whether this realistically is a good idea given the timeframe but I thought hey, it's my last project of the year, might as well be ambitious and if I find it really isn't working out I can always change my idea. But obviously because we had to hand in our learning agreement with our proposed idea in about 2 weeks time, I needed to figure out whether this route would b a viable one.

I began by writing down and sketching out the random ideas that immediately popped into my head. My mindset was to think of something that would be useful on a day to day basis, something that you have to do every day and think 'wouldn't it be so much easier if this product was like this!' of course I also recorded ideas that were just down right cool (ie. furry headphones- headphone muffs).

At this point I was looking at websites which sold really innovative designs of products to look for inspiration, some examples:

Magma

DesignTown

SmashingMagazine

W2Products

NotOnTheHighStreet

From this I came across this image and I thought, how cool.

"What appears to be two or three cups nestled within each other is actually only one cup. Stacked Cups are available in white and black, and come in a set of triple, double, and single size cups."

I started to think how cool it would be if cups had a magnetic mechanism which allowed one to stack numerous cups without worrying about them toppling over and falling to the floor. This would be especially useful after a huge dinner party when you had to clear the table; you would be manically juggling dirty plates and cutlery, how nice would it be if you didn't have to worry about the thought of breaking one of your very nicely design mug or cup?

Ok, so maybe I'm just going over my head with this awesome idea. After coming up with it I did then see this product which put me down slightly:

On some level I wished I didn't see these designs because they were a lot cooler than my idea, it almost blew my mind. Especially when all I could come up with to explain my idea was this:

I'm not even sure I myself understood how my idea worked after looking at this illustration. Oh the dream of wanting to design a product to be sold at Magma (the shop I worship), it all seemed to be slipping away from my fingertips. I even emailed the Magma team asking them about the people who visit their shop to get a feel for the target audience I'm dealing with:

Unfortunately they didn't reply to my email, sadface.