Mailer Project
Mailer Project
Mailer Project
Mailer Project The Process
The Beginning The mailer project was presented as our next project and I was immediately excited to start working. We had different events to choose from and I had so many random ideas for every option that I was stumped on where to start.
Along with our first prototype we were require to come up with a paragraph explaining the concept we are trying to acheive. I brought prototypes and paragraphs for three events.
Our class spent some time mind mapping each of the events. A few things that stood out to me... Wizard World Comicon: nerdy, video games, costumes Dam to Dam: running, outdoors, downtown Trick-or-treat Night: candy, east village, costumes World Food and Music Festival: eating, plane ticket, travel 80/35: outside, bands, records Passion for Fashion: runway, volunteers, makeup
Using tangible items like a record & Sunglasses, this mailer is targeted toward fun people. The sunglasses would be sharpied on (referncing techno aesthetic), with broing infor underneath the sunglasses. THe backside of the record will have sponsors and specific details.
Mind mapping with other people was extremely helpful for me. I’m new to the Des Moines area so I’m unfamiliar with all of the options. Once I got a feel for each of them (beyond what I could assume by their titles) I was able to decipher which option I might relate with best. I decided to move forward with Dam to Dam; World, Food and Music Festival; and 80/35.
Inspiration My main source of inspiration came from past students and their creativity with this project. Professor Ward spent time showing us several of their projects for examples and I enjoyed looking at each of them. It was challenging to view them, narrow down why you liked what and then using it in an original way in your own mailer. Another source of inspiration in the beginning steps was books with different types of paper folds. I knew that I wanted to make the fold of my mailer an important part of the design so I looked through tons and tons of options.
80/35
Mailer Project World, Food and Music Festival
I want to emphasize cultures of the world coming together for a family friendly event downtown. the suitcase will draw an interantional aspect. Inside the suitcase you’ll first pull out a passport (magnet on the back) highlighting the places you’ll “travel” throughout the event. Other items in the suitcase, gyro/plane ticket/music note, will hold information about aspects of the festival. Cost and specific details will be on the inside of the suitcase.
Mailer Project Dam to Dam
Highlighting the journey of the race, the mailer will go through beautiful characteristics that Iowa has to offer. As the runner approaches the finish line, they’ll get closer and closer to downtown. I’m hoping to target runnderst that run fo rthe scenery, like to have fun and enjoy the community aspect of the event.
Mailer Project
Mailer Project The third prototype took a giant leap from where it was. I like the scale way better and there is an overall greater sense of perspective. For this prototype, on top of the next iteration of the actual mailer, we had to come up with the first prototype of our envelope.
I chose to move forward with the mailer I created for Dam to Dam. I was most excited about that option out of my first prototypes, I just need to work out some technical details. Above is my second prototype. This time I decided to ditch the moving piece of paper idea because it was too rough of a transition with the way that the paper folded. Instead I chose to cut out the skyline from the top to emphasize the runner getting closer to downtown. After creating this I realized a few things that needed to be improved on further. First of all, my proportions look super weird. I needed to make it less tall and skinny so the information and the illustrations could have a stronger relationship. Secondly, my buildings only got taller as they got closer when in reality they would get wider and taller.
The idea behind my envelope was to bring forth a little piece of the runners journey outside. As you can see, there would be footprints running along the side of the envelope and then the flap would be cornstocks (the same illustrations that are on panels inside the mailer.
Mailer Project
Mailer Project
Below is an overview picture of the whole prototype. There was still room for improvement. One of the biggest issues that I was having is that I didn’t actually know what it looked like at Saylorville Dam because I had never been there. In order to figure out how to illustrate the space with the city in the background, I was going to have to go visit the area.
Mailer Project For my third prototype I was finally able to bring my ideas into the computer. It’s a whole different world when you are using pen and paper, there are advantages and disadvantages. One of the biggest challenges for me was figuring out where to place text in the midst of some complex illustrations. Quite ironic that we’re in Typograpy class, huh? I tried choosing bolder typefaces and scaling things up, but sometimes text just need to sit on a little simpler background in order to be read. This was also the first time I was really working with the sponsors and interacting with the back side of my mailer. Seeing it printed was helpful to determine the scale of the different logos. Another aspect that I never thought about when I was creating and printing my document was how to attach the different panels together and how that would affect my printing document. As you can see on the back side (bottom picture) there are little tabs in between a few of the panels. For my final prototype I was going to need to solve that issue.
Mailer Project
Mailer Project
Final Book Cover and Front Matter
Mailer Project
Mailer Project
Reflection Overall I was extremely excited about how my mailer turned out. I had an interesting time working with the laser cutter for the first time. I really enjoyed the process, but there were some rookie things that I wish had known about before I used it the way I did. For example, in my final mailer you’ll notice that the corn got cut a little rough. I didn’t even think about how difficult it would be for the machine to cut such tiny pieces. I probably would have made the proportion of the corn a little bigger had I known. Another thing I would change if I were given the chance and had more time is the back of the mailer. When you close the whole thing and look at the back side, the cut outs look really cool, but I think I could have emphasized that a little more if I had varied the color a little bit more rather than having the background all green behind the sponsors.
Mailer Project