OUIL505 Project Report Sophie Hargreaves
Roughly ten weeks ago, when I first began exploring product and packaging, my aim was to design packaging for a hypothetical, cruelty free cosmetic brand. I intended to explore creating a b r an d i de nt i ty a n d in te re st i ng , f u nct i ona l p ac ka g i ng . Ho we ve r, it quickly became apparent that creating a brand identity was not necessary or all that relevant to my discipline. Instead. I chose to use an existing brand, suitable for the target demographic I had already chosen and was cruelty free. From the start, I was really excited about working on this project. Pretty illustrated packaging is one of the reasons I was so interested in pursuing illustration in the first place and I think it’s an area of my practice I want to continue to explore.
Using an existing brand saved me a lot of time so I was able to take more time to research the kind of aesthetic I wanted to achieve. Early on, I was really inspired by the bold Lichtenstein aesthetic and my initial scamps reminded me of 80’s Pop Art – this is probably why I started using so many polka-dots. Throughout this whole module, it has been really important for me to keep finding things I am interested in to keep me motivated and to give my illustrations a voice. For example, I r e a l l y l o v e t h e s a s s y a t t i t u d e B a b s Ta r r c r e a t e s i n h e r f e m a l e comic book characters and I wanted to replicate that to really put across the protest of animal testing for cosmetic purposes.
Once I started taking the artwork I had developed in my visual journal and applying it to box nets, I discovered how different it looked in 2D compared with 3D. I found that the character ’s faces looked distorted if they went over an edge so it was really important (and useful) to physically assemble the nets. This allowed me to review what I had done as fast as I could assemble them. Throughout this whole project, this has been a really important step – not only for myself, but to show others w h a t I w a s d o i n g a n d g e t f e e d b a c k o n t h e i m a g e c o l o u r, s c a l e and composition.
For quite a while I struggled with deciding whether or not to base the whole packaging concept around animal testing a w a r e n e s s . I n i t i a l l y, I k n e w I w a n t e d t o c r e a t e p a c k a g i n g f o r a cruelty free brand but I didn’t want it to be plastered all over t he p ack a g ing . Ho we ve r, o nc e I ma de my mi n d u p an d dec i d ed to capitalise on it, the whole concept made much more sense and gave the packaging a purpose, beside housing a product. At this stage I was planning on having the product shade/colour printed onto the design as well as it dictating what colour the c h a r a c t e r o n t h e b o x ’ s h a i r w a s . I s o o n r e a l i s e d t h a t i n i n d u s t r y, this just would not be feasible as it would mean hundreds of different net designs.
To f a m i l i a r i s e m y s e l f w i t h w h a t c o s m e t i c p a c k a g i n g u s u a l l y looks like, I had a look at some I already had. It brought quite a few things to my attention, such as ingredient lists, product weight and country of origin. As there were a few things I didn’t understand, I took it upon myself to read up on the rules and regulations of cosmetic packaging for the EU. Some parts were q u i t e h a r d t o f o l l o w, b u t a s a r e s u l t o f t h i s r e s e a r c h I h a d a better understanding of the information I would need to fit on the packaging designs.
Time planning throughout this project has been pivotal to it’s success. I had to make sure I had developed the work enough to take it to print so that I could start testing the colours. As I had already decided I wanted to have a brightly coloured background, I knew digital printing would not be an option. W h e r e s p o t c o l o u r p r i n t i n g w o u l d b e u s e d i n i n d u s t r y, I u s e d screen printing. Seeing the colour before one’s eyes is completely different to seeing it on screen, which made it that much more important to produce mock ups. As I got to the point where I could begin printing my final packaging proposals, I really felt the pressure. It took much longer than I expected to screen print 25 different box designs and then assemble them. At this stage, I was really thankful that previously I had kept myself on track.
I’m really happy with how the final box mock-ups came out and I’ve really enjoyed this project. I feel as though I have learnt a lot about my individual voice as an illustrator and a part of the i n d u s t r y I wo u l d n ’ t m i n d p r o d u c i n g wo r k f o r. B y t a c k l i n g packaging on my own, it has given me a better idea of what has to be considered when designing the artwork for it. If this were a job, I wouldn’t have to worry about the text, creating the nets, printing or assembling – my only job would be to create an image and consider which parts might get covered up. Learning about spot colour printing was really useful because it reminded me that I don’t always have to work within the CMYK spectrum.
In retrospect, part of me wishes I had focused much more on product rather than packaging. I really enjoyed taking my artwork and applying it to other things and I definitely want to do more of it in level 6. I have found that I really enjoy creating a range of illustrated products and even though I cannot always physically make them, I have taught myself how to mock something up. Just from looking through my previous blog posts, I can see how far my presentation and documentation skills have developed. I am definitely finding synthesis between each module now and I am much more confident in my ability to realistically propose an idea.