Graphic and Product Innovation
2009 - 2010
Alex Kemp
Straw bridge
Straw Bridge
Designing a bridge over one metre long strong enough to support a can using straws, pins and string.
More sketches, and trying to make the bridge much stronger.
Opposite page, top image: Close up of the middle section of the bridge to hold the can.
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3D Typography
3D Typography
I chose the title ‘Burn it until it’s burned”. These are some sketches to develop my ideas of what materials to use and what the final outcome might be.
Opposite page: Handwritten on acetate.
Next page: letraset letters. For both experiments I put them in plastic trays of water and placed them in the freezer. When frozen I smashed some of them to create the effect of destruction - like burning.
Experimenting with a vacuum former. ‘Burn it until it’s’ was done on a white plastic sheet and ‘burned’ on a black plastic sheet - to emphasise the meaning of the word.
Left image: I used Alginate to make moulds of the letters. Then I put them on the photocopier screen and experimented with various settings to get the best effect. Finally I put my hands on the screen to create the feeling of the panic.
Beginning of my final piece. Cookies. Made cookie mixture and placed it in baking moulds in the shape of letters. Letters at the end of the phrase were cooked longer than those at the beginning to create the effect of a gradual burning process.
te
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go
r-E
Alter-Ego
This page: Experimental sketches.
Opposite page: Bringing paper clips to life escaping a boring existence in the drawer. Learning to live and party!
LCC
L.C.C
Wayfinding
Wayfinding - From Elephant and Castle to LCC
Working in a team we devised a system to help people through the maze. We decided on green disk-shaped lights suspended from the ceiling which would flash to get people’s attention. These could light up on either the floor or the ceiling, or both.
Another idea was to have vertical lights mounted on the wall connected by arrows pointing in the right direction.
Affordance
Bad Affordance
Without the presence of a pencil you would not know that this was a pencil sharpener. It could just be an ornament.
Without the pencil you would not know what this is.
This is actually a useful tool, but you can’t tell from the casing which bit does what.
Fun to look at but you don’t know what it is!
Good Affordance People know that the slot is where they should post their letters.
Below: the shape of the opening and the sharp edges make it clear that this is a bottle opener.
It is obvious from the shape of the lock that this is where the key goes.
Even though this is an imaginative shape it is obvious from the handle and the spout that it is a teapot.
Red and blue signify hot and cold and the shape of the taps makes you want to turn them.
Obvious that the arms move up and down to operate the wine bottle opener.
The shape of the ink stamp leads you to knowing that it has to be pushed down to release the ink stamp on the paper.
A loose knob at the top of the pen is like an invitation to push it down. A simple, well known and very effective affordance.
Re-designing an Affordance. I chose a push top pen, and sketched forty different ideas of affordances for this object. The best idea was to change the top to a spray nozzle and change the ink supply to be either aftershave or mouthwash. The next few pages show experiments with various different types of spray nozzles.
Sensor Walk
Sensor Walk
On a journey from Barnes to Shepherds Bush I sketched everything I saw that required a sensor to make it work. These are shown on the next few pages.
Shepherd’s Bush
Hammersmith
This shows all the CCTV (red) and street lights (yellow) along the route. Below the green circles represent smoke alarms and the grey shapes are Oyster decker machines.
On the top of the opposite page the yellow rectangles represent speed cameras and the blue rectangles represent ATMs, and below the mauve rectangles represent automatic doors and the black are temperature sensors.
Barnes
Shepherd’s Bush
Hammersmith
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Find and Improve Arduino
Find and Improve Arduino After completing the sensor walk we had to work in a team of three to work on the hardware Arduino. We had to make a product that could flash or move using Arduino. Right and bottom left: Sketches of ideas for games. Bottom right: Final plan for a walkway with pressure pads that would flash when a person steps on them.
Mat showing position of pads to step on.
Part of the Arduino which flashes when the pads are stepped on.
A demonstration.
The Way We Eat
They Way We Eat Part One I went to Florida and conducted some personal research into the size of portions provided in that state’s restaurants. In general the portions are twice the size of the equivalent in the U.K. and they use much more processed food. The next few pages show quick sketches I did at the time for my personal journal.
I created this A1 poster to use as a presentation at Uni. These are my descriptions of the portion sizes.
I also investigated the types of takeaway packaging used in Florida. These are shown on the next few pages. I was surprised that none of them are recyclable or biodegradable.
The Way We Eat Part Two
I decided to take a further look at packaging and how it could be improved so that it could have compartments to keep portions separate and could be recyclable or reusable. The next few pages show my various experiments to see how this could be done. I tried a range of materials including different types of paper and card, corrugated card and finally Correx.
My research led to the creation of my final piece, the “Green Grab Box�. Choice of the colour green and inclusion of a leaf helps to create the impression of an environmentally friendly product. I chose Correx which is strong, leak-proof and reusable although not biodegradable.
Opening the lid to reveal compartments inside with separate boxes for individual portions. The next few images show the process of opening the box.
This shows the three different compartments to accommodate the different portions.
Internal packages are made of corrugated card. I chose the colours of white and green as they are fresh-looking. The ends are sealed with green tape and each package has a label to indicate contents.
Different shapes for different portions.
Different sizes according to contents.
Broad Oak Farm Branding
Broad Oak Farm Branding Project
I visited Broad Oak Farm in Essex to attend a briefing for a live project. The company makes high quality sausages and wanted us to improve a product or a service for them. We had to work in a team and focus on packaging, and my assignment was to improve their logo. Here I used oil pastels to try out some ideas.
Using high quality crayons I experimented with different colours of pigs.
Here I used ink but it was difficult to get the effect I wanted.
Oil pastels on parcel paper to create a natural feeling.
Using software on my sketches to create more interesting effects and using the green colour which was the only specific request of Broad Oak Farm.
I wanted to create some happy, healthy, friendly looking pigs to portray the image of the family business of the farm. Whilst keeping the green as instructed, I wanted to add some warmth and a vibrant feel so I added a little pink. I tried many different designs but the one on the right was voted the best by the students on my course.
Finalising the shapes, positions and overall layout. The best image is the middle left one below. The star looks like an ink stamp that assures top quality, the name of the brand is prominent and the pig’s face is friendly and happy!
Broad Oak Farm Farm
Broad Oak Farm Farm
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Sausages and Hot dogs SausagesandHotdogs Their existing packaging has lots of words relating to the sausages in the background. For my first attempt I used a similar theme, but putting the words describing the flavour of the sausage, and using the vibrant pink for colour association with the hot dog and light green for the peas.
Broad Oak Farm
SausagesandHotdogs Sausages and Hotdogs SausagesandHotdogs
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SausagesandHotdogs
Sausages andSausages Hot dogs and Hot dogs Broad Oak Farm
Sausages and Peas
Sausages andSausages Peas SaandusagesaPeasndPeas
SausagesandPeas SausagesandPeasSausagesandPeas SausagesandPeas Sausages andSausagesPeas SauandsagesanPeasdPeas
Sausages and Peas
On the opposite page I have used the same theme, but have chosen white to represent mashed potatoes. I think this is the best combination of colours.
Sausages and Mashed potatoes
Broad SauOak sagesandMashedpotatoes Sausages and Mashed pot a t o es Farm Farm
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Sausages and Mashed potatoes
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Sausages and Mashed potatoes
Saus a ge s and Mas h e d pot a t o e s SausagesandMashedpotatoes
My next idea was to de-clutter the overall effect by getting rid of the words in the background and using a simpler bolder layout. The flavour of the sausage is printed on the diagonal to separate it from the logo and to give a lively effect.
Broad Oak Farm
s a e P as nd
sau age
S
Broad Oak Farm
s e g a s Sau
s g o d dan Hot s
I have done the same to the peas and mashed potato flavours. Having changed the design, however, I now think the peas is the best colourway.
Broad Oak Farm Farm
s e o t a t o p d e h s a M d n a s e g uSa sa
Broad Oak Farm Farm I realised that the combination of sausage and hot dog was not a sensible choice of flavour as they do not go together, so I changed this to sausages and tomatoes which I represented with red text.
Broad Oak Farm Farm
Sausages and Peas
Sausages and Tomatoes
I thought it would be a good idea to insert windows so that you can see the sausages inside. I changed the design so that the text and logo are horizontal thus creating two natural slots to insert the windows.
Broad Oak Farm Farm
Sausages and Mashed potatoes
First attempt. Box design functioning like a drawer. Windows in the lid with transparent film so you can see the contents of the box.
Different layout. Different typeface and different position of windows.
Outer flap has to be opened before you can pull out the inner drawer to reveal three compartments.
The previous box design did not work out for several reason: it would be too expensive to make, the material used was not suitable, and the overall effect was not thought to be attractive enough to customers. Therefore we decided to try to adapt the idea to make something more suitable. Next we looked at using a different type of sleeve. We wanted to find a design that would stand out from the rest. We decided on having the shape of the logo sticking out from the package. The next two pages are various attempts at finding something original. We chose the colour layout and experimented with different typefaces and different positions of logo. These two pages show some of our creative thoughts.
Broad Oak Farm
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Mashed Potatoes
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The final template for the sausages and potatoes flavour.
Broad Oak Farm
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Sausages Tomatoes
The final template of the potatoes with tomatoes. The red colour symbolies the tomatoes.
Broad Oak Farm
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Sausages Peas
Final piece with different colourway to indicate the peas flavour.
Broad Oak Farm
Broad Oak Farm
Broad Oak Farm
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Sausages Potatoes
Presentation of our work to the client.
Final sleeve for the potatoes. The logo sticks out just enough to be noticed, to give a new dimension to the package and to attract customers to buy the packs.
To make the packaging is straight forward. The design is simple and eye-catching and the logo sticking out of the side is distinctive.
The client wanted to show that they are green and environmentally friendly. Our designs are modern, fun and practical and the packaging itself is recyclable.