s
A-Z Project
Madelene King KIN10307102 1
13
Word Research
Initial ideas
2
14
Ephemera
Proper Idea
3
15
Content: Waste & Recycling
Prototypes
4
16
Design For: Branding
How it went wrong
5
17
Design To: Change
Development of more ideas
6
18
Designer As:
Company Profile
7
19
Gameplan
Audience
8
20
Survey Results
Decades 60s - 70s
9
21
Nostalgia
Decades 80s - 90s
10
22
How it’s been used in Branding previously
Design Process
11
Finished Outcome
The lure of the limited edition 12
Examples
23
Word Research At the start of this project there only seemed to be a few words from the lists that actually caught my attention and interested me but as I researched more of them, alternate meanings and description came about which made the process more enjoyable as I felt like I was learning something.
Accents/Algorithm Amplify/Baseline/Bleed Channels/Cliche/Cut-outs/ Deboss/Demographic Descender/Duotone Dymaxion/engrave Ephemera/Entice/Flair Formulate/Gothic Grammar/Graphite Grotesque/Gut-instinct Hindsight/Hybrid/Ink Jargon/Kitsch/Lateral Legibility/Logic Manifesto/Metonym Motif/Navigate/Nostalgia Oblique/Opacity/Origami originate/Orphan Pagination Perforation/Quantify Silhouette/Subvertising Tangible/tessellations Tetrahedron Thaumatrope/Tints/Tribes Universal/Yapp/Zzz Zap/Zig-zag/Zing/Zoom
Word Research The four words I chose to to more research in to were:
FORMULATE for · mu · late [fawr-myuh-leyt]
EPHEMERA e · phem · er · a [ih-fem-er-uh]
to express in precise form; state definitely or systematically
items designed to be useful or important for only a short time, especially pamphlets, notices, tickets, etc.
TESSELLATE tes · se · llate [tes-uh-leyt; tes-uh-lit, -leyt]
DEBOSS de · boss [dih-baws, -bos]
to form of small squares or blocks, as floors or pavements; form or arrange in a checkered or mosaic pattern.
to indent (a figure or design) into a surface: The design on the book’s cover is debossed.
Ephemera I chose to focus on the word ephemera as before this project I had never heard of it before and I was drawn to what it meant and it’s origin. These were just some of the things I thought about: Celebrating things coming to an end Preservation of memories Things that last no more than a day Momentary Fleeting If yiou could only live for one day what would you do
destructable decompose transient brief temporary This got me thinking abut the life span of different objects that we come into contact with each day, a contact lense would last one day, a newspaper is only valid for a day, a coffee cup is about 10 minutes, and a flyer only has a use for the 2 metres it travels before being thrown away
Everything you ever have to replace is ephemeral, like a haircut or money for example. I also thought about it the other way round, What is the opposite of ephemeral. Perennial, enduring, immortalise, perpetual, eternal, permanent, everlasting,
Content: Waste & Recycling All these new words and ideas were making me question... ...Where does it all go? How is all the paper and materials gotten rid of and does ephemera pose a bigger problem than people realise. I find this topic interesting but I don’t want to come at my outcome with the preachiness there is surrounding being green and your carbon footprint these days. No one wants to listen to it. I am going to use this as my background content but going to highlight it through different means.
Design For: Branding An area I am particularly interested in is branding and within that, packaging. Most of the ephemeral item that we come into contact with on a daily basis is use to package some some of goods that we require such as food and drink. I want to use these ephemera objects as a way of getting my point across.
Design To: Designer As: Question Engage Promote/Sell Decieve Reform Subliminal Fun/Pleasure away from daily hectic life As this has stemmed from the issue of waste then I guess I am coming at the project from an environmental stance but also a commercial one as I shall be designing an outcome that fits into the branding sector
Visualisation My aim is to create an outcome that can be used for alternative purpose and recycled. An example of this is on the packaging for children’s cereal. There is sometimes an activity or something to cut out which gives the box an alternative use. I would like my outcome to be a more sophisticated version of this though, for someone older.
Survey In order to get some idea of what people hold onto things for I carried out a short survey asking people what they have used for alternative functions. For example to put flowers in a wine bottle, candles in a glass jar, a cardboard castle for kids. However the results turned back very few example of these kinds of uses and gave me more idea of why people hold onto things,.
Nostalgia The answer that was most common within the responses I got from people was that they kept things for sentimental value and to remind them of a certain time in their life.
The Lure of the Limited Edition Karl Lagerfeld has managed to find the time to designing a second collection of limited edition Diet Coke bottles. Previously designed by Matthew Williamson, Gianfranco Ferre, Marni and Roberto Cavalli among others, Diet Coke and Coca-Cola bottles have been getting fashionable and collectable makeovers by fashion’s biggest names since 2003. It’s no surprise Lagerfeld was invited back for a second collection, this time decorating the pink and white bottles with stars, stripes and spots, next to his unmistakeable be-ponytailed silhouette. Vintage pin-up girls cunningly hug curvaceous bottles of Schweppes’ recently launched Limited Edition Collection. To celebrate its historic style, Schweppes’ Ginger Ale, Lemonade, Soda Water, and Indian Tonic Water, are all swanked up with authentic, rarely-seen pin-up muses hailing from the 1920s to the 1950s. Created in collaboration with Australian-based design agency DiDonato, this limited series is one of two ranges released by Schweppes in honor of its chic heritage and sophisticated past.
The Lure of the Limited Edition Jean Paul Gaultier revealed the 3 new bottles he has designed for Diet Coke. Enticingly lit up by the cabaret dancers, the bottles gradually appeared as if they were part of a kinky strip-tease. Jean Paul Gaultier also explained how much he enjoyed ‘dressing’ these bottles thanks to their feminine curves. The fun-loving couturier took his inspiration from the very graphic Diet Coke logo and teamed it with classic Gaultier symbols to create an ultraglamorous result; a combination of corsets, sailor tops, fishnet stockings and tattoo prints on skintone bottles. Collaborations with artists and graphic designers seems to be a pretty hot trend in label design these days, but this is no new concept for the brand. Beck’s has been promoting the work of artists on its bottles of suds for over 25 years now, including images by Andy Warhol, Damien Hirst, Yoko Ono and Jeff Koons. Scarcity of an item adds to its value. You don’t have to be an economist to work that out. It is something that we all know in our subconscious. The ‘limited’ implies that and we want to be part of it. As well as the value, humans have to conflicting emotions that they want to satisfy. They want to feel special and they want to belong. This is what limited editions offer them. They know that they are one of the special few but they aren’t out there on their own, there are also a restricted number of other people too.
Ideas Generation
Final Idea My final idea is to design packaging for a fast food company that has a sense of nostalgia about it so that people who buy the food on their daily commute will want to keep the packaging as oppose to throwing it away as it remind them of their childhood memories and steals them a moment or two away from their bustling lives.
Prototypes
Idea Development The packaging from the era’s i am looking into have not changed that much over the years for fast food. and would not have made as big an impact on the audience as i would have like so instead i decided to use imagery from the chosen eras to decorate the fast food cases with. Having mocked up this prototype I took in into college to get feedback, alot of which I had already observed myself so it was good to get a second opinion. The issues it raised included the fact that many people would not want to hold to packaging because of the greasy food that has been in there and the risk of it going mouldy. I needed to find a more suitable format for this idea to be channeled into. People may hold onto it for a littl elonger but eventually they would throw it away so I am not stopping the packaging going to waste just delaying it slightly. This is not actually tacklng the issue of waste and would only make a small impact. So with this I thought of who I could design packaging for without it getting contaminated. This is when someone told me about the flasks that Starbucks have been selling, which you are able to go and refill..
Company Profile: Starbucks Starbucks I thought would be an ideal company to design for at the moment because they have been in the news lately in a bad way as they haven’t been paying taxes. If any company was in need of a bit of good light shed on them it would be Starbucks. So my designs are part of an overall scheme to improve the company’s reputation. By designing nicer flask inserts then the number of flasks should go up meaning the paper cup wastage should go down and there would be a noticable difference. This would improve the public’s opinion of them as they would be seen to be doing something good for the environment. It would also fit into my idea of not being in the audience’s face about going green as they would be promoted as a limited edition.
Audience customers consumers interactors participants list of criteria as oppose to defining them by gender age occupation etc people who like to wind down and relax fond of their childhood feels nostalgic about times when they were younger felt nostagic about a time they werent even present for, people on the commute who would regularluy buy coffee
Decades: 60’s & 70’s
Decades: 80’s & 90’s
Final Outcome nostalgia series took a while for everythin got come together, i think i might have got bogged down in it at someijt and maybe going back to initial research and taking differ roiute wiul dpissibly have benefited me , had some interesting things hat i eould like to explore furthe, vintage packaging design, found out so much more that i am interete it, becaus eof the research i have one a valuable experince
Evaluation I don’t feel like I have done my best on this project I started out with so many ideas but seemed to get bogged down the ones at the fore front of my mind. I needed to experiment more.