ALEXANDER NICHOLSON
-//RESEARCH DOCUMENT
HUDDERSFIELD - 2015
The YCN Briefs Since 2001 YCN (You Can Now) has been helping young creative minded people break into the industry. Every year they run a kind of competition where they publish a set of live briefs. people from all over the world can the submit there work in hope that it’s chosen as a final piece. But... it’s not all about the winners.
YCN publish a book ever year which contains loads of work which didn’t win but was recognised in a different way. This year we have been given alot of flexibility in been able to choose either on of the YCN or RCA (Will be talked about later) briefs for one of our projects.
I decided to choose three of each brief to look into initially and decide which would play to my advantages, resulting in the strongest outcome. Over the following pages I will briefly go into a three briefs which I was initially interested in before choosing the strongest, following this I will research into the brand as well as developing my Ideas.
YCN - Fever Tree Fever Tree is a British based mixer drinks brand which has been running since 2005 after it was set up by Charles Rolls and Tim Warrillow.
top ten restaurants in the world. The aim of the brief is to create the label’s for four limited edition bottles of their tonic water.
They currently produce a large number of drinks such as tonic water to ginger ale which are served in over fifty countries. over the years Fever Tree has won various awards such as “Outstanding Cold Beverage”, making its name well established in the drinks market as it is served in seven out of the
The limited edition bottles are been created to support the upcoming charity relationship between Fever Tree and Malaria No More charity foundation. The bottles still have to retain the traditional Fever Tree style as they don’t want to confuse their audience. They have asked the
design should be inspired by artwork from at least two countries which are affected by malaria. I There is no need for me to include details of the partnership between Fever Tree and Malraia No More as they will be adding a tag on the bottle neck which will explain this information. I really like the sound of this brief and i’m already thinking of packaging Ideas and colour schemes.
YCN - The Saucy Fish CO The Saucy Fish Co is a brand which strives to put fish back on the menu. They started small in their home town of Grimsby, where their she’s painstakingly created a range of delicious sauces to accompany fresh fish.
the Sustainable Seafood Coalition, which brings together retailers and brands to agree common responsible fish buying and labelling approach. The brief is to create the packaging for a new line of “Saucy crispy, coated fish” which can be easily prepared just The company is passionate by placing the packaging in the oven. about the product, they care about the ingredients that go into their products The packages must still swell as the fish itself. They look like it is a product of the Saucy Fish Co are founder members of
while been bold enough to hold its own on the supermarket shelf. The fish must be visible in one way or another through the packaging and its essential that shelf space efficiency is considered throughout the design.
YCN - TOYOTA minuets. The brief is basically to come up with an advertising campaign for this new vehicle, focusing on the revolutionary new In basic terms the hydrogen power source. Although The Japan’s firm is also this clean source of power seen to be at the forefront powers a fuel cell within is the main selling point of the car which produces of developing new ideas the new car the designer electricity, that electricity and solutions although they may have just cracked is then directly transferred must not ‘bad mouth’ their biggest challenge yet. to an electric motor which cars which are filed in drives the wheels. traditional methods. A new vehicle named the ‘Mirai’ is literally proof of how the entire automotive No recharging, simply fill industry will change. Whilst up the car in the same way you would with a petrol be backed with the latest safety features and gadgets car., with the refusing like all Toyotas this one has time taking roughly five Toyota is the worlds biggest automotive manufacture, producing more than ten million vehicles a year.
a special difference which hides under the bonnet. The Mirai runs of a new rule type, hydrogen.
The Brand The aim of the brief is to design four limited edition labels for the Fever Tree brand. Fever Tree will be working closely with the charity ‘Malaria no more’ in hope of cutting the numbers of casualties in affected countries. The idea is to create the labels in a way that still represents the fever tree brand whilst clearly been influenced from artwork in the affected countries.
The packaging does not have to focus on the relationship between Fever Tree and Malaria no more UK as they will be adding a tag to the bottle neck which will explain about the charity. My job as the designer is to create an eye-catching design that will stand out on the shelf whilst appealing to Fever Tree’s target audience of 35-65 year olds.
The set of designs should also look like they are part of a set, again maintaining the Fever Tree brand. Over all all the text and information on the bottle must be legible.
Fever Tree Fever Tree is a British based mixer drinks brand which has been running since 2005 after it was set up by Charles Rolls and Tim Warrillow.
the drinks market as it is served in seven out of the top ten restaurants in the world. The name Fever Tree actually comes from the colloquial name for the cinchona tree in which They currently produce quinine, a key ingredient for a large number of drinks tonic, is found. The highest such as tonic water to ginger ale which are served quality quinine was sourced from the Rwanda Congo in over fifty countries. border and blended with over the years Fever Tree spring water and eight has won various awards such as “Outstanding Cold botanical flavours, including rare ingredients such as Beverage�, making its marigold extracts and a name well established in
bitter orange from Tanzania. Crucially, no artificial sweeteners, preservatives or flavourings were added. Of course the exact recipe itself is a closely guarded secret, although its known that some aspects date back to 1620. After trying the drink myself I can confirm that in my opinion Fever Tree is one of the best mixers on the market.
Malaria No More Malaria no more is a non profit organisation that was set up in 2006 by Peter Chernin and Raymond G. Chambers. There aim is to help stop seats caused by malaria, especially in Africa. They work by drying to get students and other young people involved as well as big businesses. All money is spent on tools such as mosquito nets, malaria
tests and various types of medication, not to medical facilities in general. Since 2009 Malaria no more has protected 10,000,000 + people from catching/ dying from malaria. The charity regularly holds fund raising events such as sponsored runs, bag packs and almost any other type of fundraising even you can imagine. The company
hopes to continue its work well into the future. The upcoming partnership with Fever tree will help save lives across Africa. One of the reasons I really want to get involved.
Malaria Malaria is caused by a bite from a mosquito infected with parasites. In very rare cases, people can get malaria if they come into contact with infected blood. A developing fetus may get the disease from its mother.You cannot get malaria just by being
near a person who has the disease. Most malaria infections cause symptoms like the flu, such as a high fever, chills, and muscle pain. Symptoms tend to come and go in cycles. Some types of malaria may cause more serious problems, such as damage
= Malaria affected countries
to the heart, lungs, kidneys, or brain. These types can be deadly. 3.4 billion people (half the world’s population) live in areas at risk of malaria transmission in 106 countries and territories. 627,000 deaths were recorded last year.
Prevention and Cures A simple malaria net which can be bought for less than a pound can protect both children and adults whilst they are sleeping. The net is simply too fine for the mosquito to pass through. Another simple prevention is to use insect repellents, various chemicals give off
scents that insects hate, leaving your house an insect free zone. This all sounds easy and cheap enough but unfortunately for those that live in Africa its a different story. They simply can’t afford the prevention equipment without donations, never
mind the medical costs for drugs after malaria is contracted. Despite this the rate of infections is declining but not fast enough as world wide malaria still kills a child every minuet of every day.
Mosquitoes are the number one transmitter of malaria
Africa Typical African artwork varies from country to country although it mainly consists of with animal patterns or bright bold colours and shapes. Of course with the
abundance of wild life all over Africa, patterns in fur and on scales can be seen throughout African artwork. It is typically arranged into a stripy pattern.
However in other aspects of African art bright bold oranges, reds and yellows are used in contrast with black to build up shapes and patterns.
Asia Asian artwork varies between countries although they all tend to stick to a strict colour palate with either bright or dull colours been used. The patterns made are also
usually symmetrical as they are painted on everything from paper to doors. Again the work can either be very small and detailed or on a much larger scale where the pattern can
clearly be seen. One of the most famous exports including Asian art are rugs, they come in all shapes and sizes and are often completely hand made.
North America In my opinion North America has some of the most beautiful artwork on the planet. People paint their traditional style carts with bright bold intricate patterns, making each one
incredibly unique. The pattern is made up of very small symmetrical shapes which are often arranged in a circular pattern meaning when the wheels on the cart turn
they are transformed into a blur of colours. Many different colours are used with no strict colour palate.
South East Asia South East Asia has the most unique artwork, with its strict colour scheme of gold and black. They create very intricate symmetrical patters which are often used as wallpapers. The
artwork typically portrays to find, traditionally this different gods and mythical kind of artwork was used beasts which are outlined in temples and palaces. with great detail. Although they are now more commercial and easy
South America South American artwork is possibly the simplest. the work usually has a black background while shapes, patterns and objects are portrayed through the use
of brightly coloured lines and spirals. The work often depicts simple 2D animals that are rendered with small colourful shapes and lines.
The Reds, yellows, oranges and pinks are the most popular and are often so bright they appear to have a neon effect
Existing LTD Bottles Most of the large drinks companies have released a series of limited edition bottles over the years, either to promote charities, to change with the seasons or to have a
retro throwback. These look others are highly often boost sales of the detailed, really catching the drink simply because the customers eye. customer wants to won the limited edition bottle. Whilst some designs have a more simplistic illustrative
Existing point of sale Point of sale is massively the new product. Most important when a company point of sale displays are launches a new product. usually large 3D displays that are positioned in the If a new product is simply centre of a shopping isle. placed on the shop shelf They are usually mad bout people will just walk past of cardboard although they without even noticing can be made from metal.
The whole point of a point of sale display is to capture the customers attention, making them read into the brand.
Competitors Like any industry every company in the drinks market has competitors, the most famous of all been the on-going battle between Coca Cola and Pepsi, although the tonic water market is just as
competitive. Whilst many branding also plays a kay class Fever Tree as the best roll as after all its the first tasting tonic water out thing a shopper sees. of all market competitors other large brands sell much larger quantities. Of course and price have a lot to do with this the
RSA Briefs The RSA Student Design Awards is a global curriculum and annual competition for higher education students and recent graduates run by the RSA, a globally renowned charity committed to finding innovative, practical solutions to social problems.
charity offers various prises and offers for winners which is even more of an incentive to submit some work! Over the years winners from the RSA awards have gone on to take major rolls in huge firms, with the most famous and well known been Jonathan Ives, the chief designer at the tech giant Apple.
Since 1924 the charity has been helping students, providing the Smith live brief which bring something Adding an RSA award certificate to my portfolio new and exciting to their would boost my chances existing portfolio. The
of getting placement long term job opportunities hug else because its so internationally renowned.
RSA - Brief 11 “Design a way to enable more people to enjoy the benefits of making” There is evidence that shows that hand made items are popular with the general public although the cost often puts people off, leading them to buy more mass produced products. The aim of this brief is to
encourage people wto make craft items and sell them online, through sites such as ‘Etsy’, a site which has been specifically set up for selling hand made craft items. In recent years the UK market has stabilised meaning all of a sudden more and more companies are thinking about sourcing
local manufactures rather then importing from China. Despite this resurgence we have seen a 50% decline in the number of children enrolling g onto art and design course across the UK. This campaign will hopefully encourage people to begin ‘making’ again.
RSA - Brief 12 “Design a moving picture to go over a piece of audio� This brief is extremely open in the way that the animation can take any shape or form, it simply has to work with the audio file. It could be a motion graphics piece, typographical, stop motion or film.
The animation needs to flow well whilst representing the spoken word through a visual format. Although the technique changes, all previous winners have in a way told a story, so that the animation could even be understood without the audio file.
RSA - Brief 1 “Design and develop a compelling vision and business case for an environment or situation that prompts creative thinking� This brief is all about inspiring people, weather they are children, students or people already in industry. This brief really challenges creative thinking
as it must be submitted with a business proposal which will be marked separately. One route which I would possibly go down is to create something either visual of physical which encourages children to be more creative in their work, this could in turn encourage
them to go into the design industry at a later stage. I would probably approach this by using a bright bold poster campaign, looking into various things that initially catch children attention, such as colours and shapes.
Hand Made UK With the UK been an island we have to import many things from cars to food although we import some things what we can easily make here in the UK. Craft based things such as jewellery, clothing and other accessories are becoming more and more
popular as we begin taking notice of all the artistic talent around us. Now more environmental and economic issues are been brought to light a massive selling point of products is that they have been made in the UK, this ranges from small
independent businesses to much larger corporations. It would be great to get more and more people to down to local markets and shops, consuming hand made products.
Mass Production During the industrial revolution people stopped hand making products as they moved into the ever expanding cities in order to work in the mills where fabric and other products were mass produced on huge new machines which sped up the manufacturing process.
Over they years Britain was totally industrialised, building up cities such as London, Sheffield and Birmingham although in the last century the industrialisation has ‘cooled off’ within the UK. Now china is the leading superpower as the entire
world imports from them although concerns for the environment and workers rights are troubling.
Importing When living on a island we don’t have a option but to import some products such as cars, certain foods, materials and many others although Britain is now trying to change its ways.
we can make/ grow right here. This would create countless jobs, revive lost professions as well as reduce the impact on climate change.
Small businesses are It’s been criticised time and starting to get busier as time again that we import well as online sales going through the roof. too many products that
Etsy & Folksy Etsy is a world wide site which only sells hand made products, most of these consist of jewellery, cloths and art products.
as well as others using it as a main source of income. As this site only sells hand made items many of them are priced affordably and can be personalised.
The site is much smaller but is growing fast as hand made items become more and more popular.
Again this site allows artists and designers to sell their The site is free to join and Folksy is similar to Easy but work in a unique and allows you to sell your products in a professional it only sell from products in professional way. way. More and more people the UK, from British crafts are selling bits on the side people.
Popular Products The products available on various websites and at crafts stalls varies as many people have a specific profession. With trends that come and go it pays to keep up with the times, hand made clothing and artwork which follows current events, TV shows and trends sell well as many large companies
don’t have time to react and get products out into shops. Another huge are is hand made jewellery. In a age where its all about standing out and making an impression funky quince designs sell fast. Home care products such as ornaments, Christmas decorations and furniture also are becoming more
and more popular as people want their home to look unique. People don’t seem to mind paying for products that has hand made here in the UK, people enjoy supporting local business as it keeps the high street thriving.
1) Jewellery 5) Craft supply’s 2) Home and Living 6) Accessories 3) Clothing 7) Photography 4) Art & collectables
Development Idea 1 I began by sketching my initial Ideas, working out some form of pattern. I decided that I would start with the North American style pattern, using geometric coloured shapes to build up a pattern which would wrap around the bottle. The pattern would be simple, but something which relates to the
traditional style. As for the colour scheme I will research in to the colours which are primarily used within their artwork in order to properly convey the idea. This design will wrap around the bottle, snaking around the logo of the brand. Although this design is in the early stages I feel that it would create
a eye-catching outcome. Over the next couple of pages I will experiment with this Idea.
Digital Sketch One I had made some rough sketches and had an Idea of how I wanted the pattern to look I scanned in my rough drafts and began building a more accurate concept using Adobe Illustrator. I added a slight gradient to each of the coloured panels to give the piece depth. I also decided that just using
the smae repeating colour scheme would be too much so I added a ‘break’ in the form of a pattern. I looked at traditional styles from the region and came up with a cursive, root like pattern. After a rough sketch, again I scanned the work into Adobe illustrator, vectorising the outline aswell as extending and
repeating it. Once I had arranged the patterns I experimented with different colour ways and layouts.
Development Idea 2 One I had made some rough sketches and had an Idea of how I wanted the pattern to look I scanned in my rough drafts and began building a more accurate concept using Adobe Illustrator. I added a slight gradient to each of the coloured panels to give the piece depth. I also decided that just using
the same repeating colour scheme would be too much so I added a ‘break’ in the form of a pattern. I looked at traditional styles from the region and came up with a cursive, root like pattern. After a rough sketch, again I scanned the work into Adobe illustrator, vectorising the outline aswell as extending and
repeating it. Once I had arranged the patterns I experimented with different colour ways and layouts.
After Scanning the piece into the computer I opened the document in Adobe illustrator in order to Vectorise. I used the pen tool to create the initial outlines. I then used the reflect and rotate tool to get the correct positions. I left all the shapes with a transparent background and a 2pt outline.
After creating the outline I then began creating a colour palate. I decided to use a light and dark shade of four colours, as well as adding a gradient to each one. Once I had the colours I arranged the layout so that the four colours were equally spaced.
One I had the correct positions for the colours something still didn’t like right. In the style of the artwork I was basing this piece one I decided to change the outlines form black to white. This greatly improved the overall look of the piece. I also adjusted some positioning and colours.
Finally I decided to add the Fever-tree logo and name. After playing around with the position and colour scheme I found that white worded best. I lowered the logo opacity to 30%, placing it in the background. I feel this represents Fever-Trees professional image.
Second Pattern Design For the second design in the collection I decided to gather inspiration form the African continent as it is one of the worst effected locations for malaria outbreaks. I began by looking at various styles of African artwork, both modern and more traditional
pieces which helped me get a general feel for the patterns in-particular. I found that they traditionally use warm earthy colours such as burnt orange, green, yellow and various shades of red. Blue is also used but in moderation. I began by creating a simple pencil outline which I then elaborated with fine line. I
decided to only fine liner half of the piece to save time. This also gives a nice effect so the viewer can see how I initially sketched the piece.
After creating my initial sketch I scanned the piece into the computer and opened it in Adobe illustrator so I could vectorise the outline. I used the same presents as the first design so they could keep to the same dimensions, however this design is slightly bigger.
Once I had the outline I searched for various different African colour schemes in order to truly represent the continent. I then played around with the colour schemes, settling with a layout. I planned to add more detail to the final piece.
After finalising the colour scheme I decided to add more detail to the piece. I did this by adding small circles, lines and zigzags which kept to the same colour scheme. This made the piece much more interesting to look at.
Finally I added the FeverTree logo, keeping to the same size and dimensions as the first design. Unfortunately white didn’t work for this piece so I used a dark brown colour which had been used tin the pattern design itself.
ALEXANDER NICHOLSON
HUDDERSFIELD - 2015