Jane Hansesgaard BA (Hons) Graphic Design Level 5 OUGD503 RESPONSIVE
PROJECT REPORT
Index
Brief
Area of Graphic Design
Page
Penguin Design Awards The Outsiders Individual, Studio Brief 1
Publishing
2-8
YCN NescafĂŠ Azera Collaborative, Studio Brief 2
Product & Packaging Retail & Promotion
10-26
Live Brief Stompa Individual, Studio Brief 1
Publishing & Editorial
28-38
Live Brief Juste Nous Individual, Studio Brief 1
Publishing & Editorial
40-48
Starpack Britvic Individual, Studio Brief 1
Branding & Identity
50-54
Live Brief Primeur Ltd. Individual, Studio Brief 1
Illustration
56-58
Live Brief Yoke, Leed Individual, Studio Brief 1
Poster Design
60-62
Penguin Design Awards THE OUTSIDERS Individual Brief
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THE BRIEF
MY CONCEPT
Design a whole new cover look for the book ‘The Outsiders’ by S.E. Hinton in order to bring the classic novel to a generation of new readers. The cover had to include the cover copy from Penguin and be designed to a specified template (B format, 198mm high x 129 wide, spine 17 mm wide). The artwork was to be digitally submitted without design boards.
I went down the route of picking a scene from the book where the main characters, Ponyboy and Johnny took refuge in a church on a hill. This formed the main illustration on the front. The overall theme of the cover is a translation of the war between the two gangs ‘The Greasers’ and the ‘Socs’ with the triangle dissecting the over sized letter ‘O’ and the pattern with the split squares representing two worlds. In order to add a degree of dimension to the front cover the title has been embossed. This idea was also brought on due the title being ‘The Outsiders’ and having the letters raised from the background mirrors the context of the gang being separated from the norm.
BACKGROUND The book is set in 1965 in Tulsa, Oklahoma and is about a gang war between ‘The Socs’ and ‘The Greasers’. The Socs’ idea of having a good time is beating up Greasers like Ponyboy. He knows what to expect and how he can count on his brothers and friends, until one night someone takes things too far and results in someone getting killed.
CONSIDERATIONS
TARGET AUDIENCE
MY APPROACH
The jacket - front and back - need to work together as a cohesive whole although the front cover needs to work on its own and be eye catching within a crowded bookshop setting as well as on screen for digital retailers. The judges were looing for ‘imaginative concept and an original interpretation’ as well as srong use of typography.
Male and female teenagers and young adults interested in reading books with a storyline that captures real life events and problems.
This was my first and main individual brief in this module and I decided at the start of the module that I wanted to push myself to try a variety of briefs including ones of a nature that I had never tried before. This was one of them. I read this book some years ago and remember the storyline well, however I read it again to pick ideas for the design. I also watched some film clips. Research into the previous book covers and visiting book stores to take photographs as well as looking online was a good starting point.
My first intention was to attempt to capture the interpretation of one the critical scenes but not give away the plot in order to create a tension which the potential reader wants to explore. I moved away from that idea admitting that my software skills were perhaps too limited to be able to do this successfully. In terms of manipulating images, I felt nervous about using any of the images from the film which are present online due to copyright.
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THINGS I LEARNED It was during this brief that I started experimenting with placing artwork on images to be able to propose further products and show mocks up of what it would look like. It was a frustrating learning curve for me. Looking back at the results now at the end of the module I think
EVALUATION I have improved since then. It has been a valuable time learning though as it opens up many more opportunities to propose solutions which I have attempted to try more in the briefs I have worked on subsequently. I also chose to use this brief to practice my embossing
When I chose the brief I was quite excited about the challenge but I set out to start, reality hit me and I did not think I would be able to do it. I had little confidence in my skills on Illustrator as well as photoshop. However, I did not want to give up and reminded myself that this is
what this module is about for me and chose to ignore my worries. The outcome is not of a high standard in terms of execution but I feel the concept behind my resolution is strong. I did a reasonable amount of research on which I based my design decisions.
The result is that it does stand out on the shelf. I feel happy with the choice of further products proposed at that stage. Considering what I have learned since then I might have been able to improve my resolution and expanded more with further products. 6
LOWEST POINT Realising I had chosen a brief that should be simple and easy, but for me seemed impossible.
BEST LESSON LEARNED I can overcome my worries and produce a resolution.
MOST ENJOYABLE Embossing the front cover
WHAT SURPRISED ME? I forgot my low confidence and started to enjoy the brief.
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YCN NESCAFĂŠ AZERA Collaborative Brief
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THE BRIEF
BASIS FOR COLLABORATION
PRODUCT INNOVATION
Develop a new product innovation or a design tweak to upgrade the perception of the brand. Launch it both instore and through social media. Also to communicate more effectively the fact that Nescafé Azera contains ground coffee beans as well as granules.
I did this brief in collaboration with Grace Buckley as we shared the same views on organisation, time keeping and conscientiousness.
The idea instigated by myself to innovate a coffee dispenser helped to form our concept and make it possible to develop a new type of coffee On-The-Go experience which is not currently on the market. I made drawings, worked out how to construct it and sourced all parts needed to produce a prototype at college. I made contact with some of the tutors in wood and metal work and in assistance with them produced a working sample. I laser cut the parts from acrylic and glued them and used a metal rod and spring from a pepper mill to hold it all together. Grace made the sticky label to go on it working from my measurements.
BACKGROUND Nescafé Azera is just one brand from the Nescafé range of instant coffee, it differs in the fact that it is ‘barista style’ coffee. In most places where it is sold it is nearly double the price of the original instant coffee. It is sold in places like Tesco, Morrisons, Ocado, Staples. Nescafé claims ‘that millions of coffee lovers are now becoming baristas in their own home’ due to the introduction of Nescafé Azera. However, due to the fact that they are taking part in this competition suggests they need more exposure. CONSIDERATIONS The branding guidelines issued must be adhered to. No change of logo, colour or type faces. There is fierce competition in the coffee market with trendy cafés on every street corner and also take away concessions everywhere. The market is quite saturated. TARGET AUDIENCE
We identified that we both had some different skills to bring to the collaboration. We shared the work load and responsibilities with Grace being in charge of us following the brand guidelines, time and project management and primary research. Her role included social media campaign and illustrations/imagery. My responsibilities were secondary research, arranging booking slots and equipment and contacting people. My roles included in store campaign, creating mock ups and written copy. We both contributed to the ideas generation and made all decisions jointly. OUR APPROACH We both did a lot of research and met up regularly to share our ideas. We had the same idea about how we could upgrade the look of the tin and communicate that it is barista style with ground coffee by adding coffee beans on the outside. Grace hand drew those and digitalised them. I came up with the idea of improving the insignia by including the ribbon and enlarge it to make it more prominent. This was expanded to an icon we used to link all the products. Grace made all the illustrations.
The coffee shot dispenser can hold coffee for 5 cups of coffee. It has two chambers, one that stores the coffee, by turning the top once an amount of two tea spoonfuls runs into to the dispensing chamber. After a second turn the coffee empties out. There is a feeling of ‘grinding’ your own cup of barista coffee which we identified as something the target audience of busy people who appreciate quality coffee would be interested in.
25-35 year olds. They have grown up with a coffee shop culture. They are drinking high quality coffee and trying out all kinds of exciting varieties in coffee shops has become part of everyday life. They seek a better quality experience plus convenience and affordability to fit in with their busy life.
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OUR CONCEPT With the coffee dispenser as the main product which can be brought on the go we developed a full range of products to complete the concept which include sugar sachets, milk containers and individually wrapped biscuits. A flask was branded and proposed to be sold with a starter kit of the products inside. The idea is that you can bring the flask with you, store the milk container, sugar sachet and biscuits inside it. Bring the coffee shot dispenser as well and all you need is hot water at work or where you may be to make a cup of fresh, barista style coffee.
OUR CAMPAIGNS 16
INSTORE CAMPAIGN
PROMOTIONAL LEAFLET
I have proposed an instore campaign to be geared around the use of jumbo coffee tin display units designed by myself. The units can display the products on the shelves with the flask and coffee shot dispenser at the top followed by the refill products on the shelves below. The intention is that the display unit can also be used for setting up an Instore Coffee Tasting Event to promote the concept possibly in an area by the entrance as illustrated on the page beforehand.
Separate to submission a small leaflet to go inside the flask with the starter kit was created by myself to remind the consumer when they come home from buying the flask, that they can buy refill products. It also explains how the coffee shot dispenser works. I proposed this to Grace prior to submission and this was probably the only time during our collaboration where our opinions differed slightly as she did not feel it was needed and I did. We resolved it quickly and agreed for me to include it on my own boards.
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BRANDED PRODUCTS As an extension to the instore campaign I have since submitting developed a range of branded products that could be used in connection with a tasting event. The coffee cup to be used to give out free coffee, the paper bag to give out if people pick up the products from the display stand at the tasting point. The apron is for the people serving the coffee and the van is used to drive around to the events. This gave me some extra practise in Photoshop.
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ADVERTISING As part of the further products I developed after submitting I also made some mock ups of how I see the new concept could be promoted outside of the retail environment on a print based level.
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WHY CHOOSE THIS BRIEF? We both thought it had a lot of scope and was an exciting challenge. As we are both interested in packaging and branding this was very appropriate. As we broke the brief down and went into it more we felt slightly restricted by the fact that we had to stick to the branding guidelines. This was a challenge in itself as there was only so much we could do to improve the perception and the look. However, I think due to developing new products we managed to put our stamp on the brand. SOCIAL MEDIA CAMPAIGN In order to spread awareness about the new concept we also proposed a social media campaign which Grace developed. It involves a new Twitter account where customers can tweet about their NescafĂŠ Azera On-TheGo experience. The main concept is to tweet in photos of where they take their On-The-Go coffee. A similar concept is proposed with Instagram.
WHAT WE LEARNED We learned to remain creative and work with what we were given to the best advantage. I personally learned a lot from Grace in terms of software skills when she helped me improve my illustrations of the jumbo display units and also on other occasions during the collaboration. There were not really many things that went wrong or caused big issues over the course of the weeks. I think it was a successful collaboration, our different skillsets worked to our advantage in the jobshare and problem solving. I also took a lot of enjoyment and experience from working cross college to develop the coffee dispenser. I taught me that if I really want to make something happen, it is possible even if at first the idea seems like a silly brainstorm idea. Because it was a collaboration and we shared the jobs it meant that I had time to pursue the innovation. 24
LOWEST POINT Comparing my illustrations to Grace’s.
BEST LESSON LEARNED Always use shapes to make up illustrations if possible
MOST ENJOYABLE Testing my coffee dispenser the first time and realising it worked!
WHAT SURPRISED ME? How willing people are to help me if I ask.
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Live Brief STOMPA Individual Brief
28
Leaflet Insert created for John Lewis. Front page.
30
The range has six storage units which can be combined in various ways to create a storage wall in a child’s bedroom. The consumer can customise the look further by adding colourful doors. Comfortable Bean Bags and Bean Cubes are offered as accessories. 32
THE BRIEF A live brief for Stompa, a children’s furniture brand. The challenge was to develop a leaflet insert to introduce new storage furniture items to an existing range of beds and furniture. The task involved following the project through to print including checking proofs. The mandatory requirements were to produce print ready artwork, A4 format, double side print. BACKGROUND
CONSIDERATIONS
The brand ‘Stompa’ has been established on the UK market for more than 30 years and is one of the leading children’s furniture specialists on the market.
The new storage concept is to form part of an existing range ‘UnoPlus’. This range is selling successfully in John Lewis and they are now expanding it. Both the UnoPlus logo and the John Lewis must be present. TARGET AUDIENCE Parents with children aged 2 to mid teens. Family orientated and wanting space saving solutions in bedrooms. They expect quality, service and first class home assembly. They have a desire to stamp their own mark on their living spaces and want to express individual taste in the way they furnish their home.
MY APPROACH In the beginning of the brief I was was communicating with Stompa and not directly with the client, John Lewis. This was a mistake and I wasted time designing something that was not clearly communicating how they wanted to sell the concept. When I started to speak to them directly I understood straight away how I could get the message across. In the meantime I did quite a lot of research into their target audience which helped me a lot. I stretched myself to communicate the concept effectively on limited space and with mainly only cut out images of furniture rather than a lot of exciting lifestyle images.
Existing leaflet in which the insert will go.
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MY CONCEPT I focussed a lot on making it easy to understand how to create a storage wall. It is a simple building system. I brought in another typeface of a handwritten look to ‘talk’ to the audience and explain what to do. The use of the notepad and graph paper emphasizes the fact that they need to make some preparation before they go ahead and order. I was conscious that the insert should work well with the main leaflet already in the stores. The storage concept should look like it is part of the UnoPlus range
how to n o s ip t l u f e Us ith get started w dream creating your storage wall.
Add some colour with doors.
If you have space, carry on adding pieces....
Utilise height by adding a multi cube.
Add a book case for your favourite books. Start with a base for floor level storage with easy access.
ur space Measure yo
WHY CHOOSE THIS BRIEF? This kind of leaflet is not just about making something look pretty or attractive. It is vital that it explains technical information about the products laid out in an easy way to view. Building systems are always challenging to communicate and if done badly the range will not sell. That is why I chose to do the brief.
To challenge myself and test myself in how well I know the client from my previous years of working with them in another capacity. It turned out I did not know their audience as well as I thought. It is not until doing this degree I really understand the importance of knowing your audience and what information I
need about them. In this module I have felt the importance. I learned that it was wrong of me to think that because I know the product, it also means I know how to communicate the concept the way the clients wants it done. 36
LOWEST POINT Having to start designing again after realising the message was not coming across
BEST LESSON LEARNED Remember not to speak to the messenger it’s a waste of time
MOST ENJOYABLE Receiving email saying; ‘Jane this is fantastic! Thank you! Exactly what I was looking for.’
WHAT SURPRISED ME? How hard it was.
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Live Brief JUSTE NOUS Individual Brief
40
THE BRIEF A live brief outside catering company Juste Nous. Development of a brochure style menu. The resolution is a proposal and is unfinished. Juste Nous wish to come across less formal and corporate than their current website portrays. The format should be A4 portrait. BACKGROUND The catering company has been in business for more than 20 years and serve a big variety of cold and warm meals. THE AUDIENCE The audience is very broad ranging from small intimate parties to weddings and large corporate events. CONSIDERATIONS How to best target the audience when the menu has a very wide range of food for a broad range of events? The Juste Nous logo was provided in black and white and open to colour manipulation.
Front cover
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MY APPROACH I got this brief through a lady who works freelance with some graphic designers and printers. Her job is to find clients and coordinate between parties. For this reason I have not spoken directly to the client. After having done research about the company and looked at other catering companies I decided the best strategy would be to come up with 3-4 concepts for her to choose from. This was presented to her and she chose the ‘Contemporary’ theme which is the one I have proposed as a resolution for this submission. At this stage she has confirmed that she is happy with the design and layout but just needs to choose the right image for the front cover. The final resolution will be a 12 page brochure.
WHY CHOOSE THIS BRIEF? Early this year I took on a branding and identity brief for a restaurant in another module and I really enjoyed it. In that brief there was not so much focus on the actual designing of the menu which is why I thought this would be interesting for me. Another reason is that if I do a good job for this lady I might be able to get more work from her. I think the resolution I have made will look professional and the layout is clean and simple to follow. I think I have succeeded in adding a touch of personality and removing the corporate feel. WHAT HAVE I LEARNED? Same lesson as with the Stompa brief, if you do not speak to the right person, it makes it harder to get it right. The disadvantage of this brief is that the lady who owns the business is very busy and takes a long time in coming back and is also quite indecisive. I have learned it is important to take charge when the client asks for an unreasonable amount of designs to choose from. At the stage where the design was confirmed but not the image, I was asked to do another 25 front covers with various images. I said 15 should be enough.
Back cover
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Example of inside spread 46
LOWEST POINT Accepting I would not finalise the brief for module submission
BEST LESSON LEARNED If the brief is very vague, take control and set my own
MOST ENJOYABLE Sketching up ideas for the concepts and layouts
WHAT SURPRISED ME? How much I enjoyed it and found a way of presenting a half finished brief.
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Starpack Britvic Individual Brief
50
THE BRIEF
MY APPROACH
The challenge was to create a new soft drinks brand in a 330ml can. The structure of the can had to remain the same but the task was to design graphics that could make the can a tool of the brand.
I wanted the emphasis to be on fun and energetic lifestyle focussed mainly around sport, music, dance and friendship. I was also concerned about the health aspects and quality and therefore sought a more organic feel to the design rather than shiny bubble writing. I choose the fresh intense colours to present the fullness of the fruit flavour. The impact of the block colour also make the can eyecatching on the shelf.
Starpack were asking for a mock up model to send as well as three design boards. CONSIDERATIONS & AUDIENCE Shelf impact. How to expand it to a range. How can a prototype be made at college?
WHAT I LEARNED I chose the green colour for the logo as its appropriate to the fruit drink and goes well with each of the solid colours of the cans. The fruit illustrations are to make the flavours instantly recognisable. I sent all four mock ups down to Starpack as I felt this would represent the brand better than one with the colours working well together as a range.
From the outset of the brief I was not sure how to make a mock up. I feel fairly pleased with the solution using a matt, heavy self adhesive stock and cutting slits in the top so that it folds into the neck of the can. It helps to give it a natural, organic feel. The logo and simplicity of the artwork works well with the block colours. I did not propose any further products which could have emphasized my concept and the brand.
This was the second brief I did in the module. It was enjoyable and I think the result is a young, fun looking brand suitable for my target audience. It was my first attempt at branding a drink. In this brief I learned how to brand my boards to fit in with my concept which I think I succeeded in. Better photography would help improve my boards.
There was no identification of audience from Starpack. I identified my own target audience to be young and active in the age range from mid teens to early twenties.
THE BRAND The brand name ‘Pulse’ is reflecting energy, healthy adrenelin and active lifestyle. It is fresh and fruity and offers a range of four flavours A refreshing taste of apple fizz to revitalise. Tangling and energetic lemon fizz for a real energy boost. Orange fizz for a sweet citrus injection. A summer burst of mouthwatering fruit with raspberry fizz. 52
LOWEST POINT Admitting that I should have proposed a channel to promote the brand
BEST LESSON LEARNED Working out how to make the fruits look reasonable
MOST ENJOYABLE Putting the logo together
WHAT SURPRISED ME? I forgot my low confidence and started to enjoy the brief.
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Primeur Ltd CUSHION COVER DESIGN Individual Brief
THE BRIEF A live brief set by cushion and door matt manufacturer Primeur. Design a new cushion cover in one hour as this is the pace they work at. They issued a ‘Greenhouse’ theme mood board as inspiration. The artwork had to work on a cushion sized 40 x 40 cm. Digital submission.
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LOWEST POINT At the beginning I had a blank moment probably because I felt under pressure
BEST LESSON LEARNED Finding out how to mock up the cushion in the chair MY APPROACH I wanted a simplistic design with a young feel and a capturing short sentence that makes you think. I went for earthy, natural colours to stick to the theme given and based my design around a pair of ‘Kissing Birds’. I chose this theme and design as I think it will appeal to a country home as well as a more modern and contemporary interior. EVALUATION I am pleased with what I came up with in the time scale. I think it is commercial and I have shown the artwork mocked up on cushions and on a chair that could form and an advert in a magazine.
MOST ENJOYABLE Creating the design
WHAT SURPRISED ME? I did it in one hour.
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Yoke Poster Design - Dialogue Individual Brief
THE BRIEF
MY APPROACH
WHY DID I DO THE BRIEF?
Design a black and white poster ready for screen print manipulation on the topic of ‘Dialogue’. The submission was digital and form part of a week long pop up print exhibition in Leeds.
I wanted to try image tracing which I have not done before and used it for the Howling Wolf which is to capture a wolf communicating to its pack. The other poster is an observation of the British greeting ceremony - after round one comes round two.
I have not done much poster design and it is a good chance to try out new ways of doing design. I think the ‘Howling Wolf ’ came out well enough. I am unsure as to whether people will get the other one and it is not that aesthetically pleasing.
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LOWEST POINT Comparing mine to other peoples BEST LESSON LEARNED Working with image trace
MOST ENJOYABLE Creating the design
WHAT SURPRISED ME? I worked out how to make the poster mock ups
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A summary of a very enjoyable but challenging module never to forget