Open Garage // Evaluation

This was the first packaging brief I had taken on this year, and it is definitely outside my usual scope of design. I found that I had to research into drinks packaging design as I wasn’t too familiar with this area. This has been one of my favourite projects of the year, as we were able to apply a level of interaction and playful design to a traditionally static medium. One step that I thought was particularly helpful in this brief was user testing, where we printed a black and white page of sticker designs and observed people interacting with the bottle. This gave us an idea of which designs were favoured and our findings were very different from what we expected. This is a process I have not used in a brief before and we definitely would have produced a less effective response without it. 

For this brief, me and Andy were good at working to our strengths and dividing design roles to create a better combined outcome. We put a strong emphasis on physical production and effective photography to really demonstrate the strengths of our idea. For an area of design that I have little experience in, I was very happy with the packaging that we were able to produce. We were also able to use animation in the brief to demonstrate the brand and product concept. This was created in collaboration with Leeds College of Music student Rebecca Saif, who did an excellent job of creating the sound for our animation. From this experience, I would definitely collaborate with a music producer for future animation work. 

Jaypee // Finished Photos

Here are some photos of the completed space. We found it quite difficult to photograph vinyl especially as the weather has been a bit grey since we finished. Jonny recommended waiting until it is dark and using artificial lighting to show the designs best. This is something we will definitely arrange before the hand-in.

Wall mural

Our vinyl display

Characters

From outside 

Jaypee // Installing + painting Day 2

On the second day Andy had returned and we made a plan of exactly where we wanted the remaining characters to go. We were careful to distribute them as best as possible to avoid repetition. Only some of them had been fitted with application tape, so we started with those. The pencil went on really smoothly with two of us working on it. This photo from outside shows that we were able to really eliminate bubbles by applying pressure at the right angle and in one continuous sweep.

The window above the door was perfect for our long ruler character. We found the points of the ruler to be really tricky to apply as there were so many of them. We had to really slow down to avoid mistakes. 

After the application tape had run out we had to find an alternative and bought some tacky back plastic from Wilkinsons which turned out to be too slippery and thin to get even coverage with. We went back to using masking tape and had to be careful to not let creates trap between the tape. 

Applying to the second window. 

I was heading to London in the afternoon , by which point we had completed the two main windows, the door and the small window over it. This left the last window to the left and the smaller ones at the front of the building. I had to leave Andy to finish these by himself in the afternoon. 

Jaypee // Installation and painting

As James was away, we hadn't been able to cut any of the vinyl in preparation for redecorating the room. For the morning, I helped the others paint inside the outlines that Jonny had drawn. We found out just before lunch time that James was in for 1 day only. Andy wasn't able to make the first day of installing vinyl and so I prepared the artwork by scaling it to the right proportions and making sure the arrangement of pieces was as tight as possible to fit onto the roll of white vinyl James had left.


The initial section got torn by the cutter and so the process had to be restarted and watched carefully to make sure no rips appeared.  This meant that about 20% of the design was lost due to wasted material. this still gave us plenty to work with.

I cut away all of the excess vinyl to prepare it for application tape. As James was due to shut, I had to do this really quickly and was only able to cover some of it in time. After cutting all of the characters into individual pieces, I made a start on installing the first piece. I started with the Jaypee signature piece which I wanted to place on the door. Josh helped me line it up as it was applied and this made the process easier. I was pleased with how this first on went on and moved onto the second.

The computer sticker proved to be harder by myself. Whilst it went on with relative ease, apart from a few bubbles which had to be teased out with a scalpal prick, some parts had been misaligned in application leading to creases. These had to resolve by cutting fine lines and repiecing it. Thankfully I was able to rescue this but decided that it would be best to wait for Andy and complete it with two people. For the rest of the day I helped the others paint inside and on the balcony. This was really fun as it gave me a break from my usual workflow and scale.

painting outside on the balcony

Inside - end of day 1

Dialogue // Exhibition

Both of my entries were printed for the exhibition (3rd row, middle and 2nd row, right)

My collaborative entry with Andy Foster was paired with Italian illustrator and printmaker Irene Rinaldi.

My personal entry was paired with French Designer Marion Denoual, who based her piece on the game children play to communicate through cups and string.

I was really pleased with how the exhibition turned out and was glad to have taken part. By connecting with designers in other countries, some unusual and unexpected designs have been created. 

North Bar // Poster

To help sell the beer mats which had been sent out in the last week, we were asked to design a poster that could be laser cut out of the same kraftboard and given to the bars. We wanted to use this space to show off all of the characters in full.

Again, we had to make the poster really simple for the laser cutter and so used the single line font and outlines from the characters. A description was provided and the price and hash tag also had to be shown on the poster.  

Development

I worked on creating a suitable layout for the poster, organising the characters and type and putting together the copy to include only the necessary information. Andy created a diagram for  the bottom section of the poster to show a linear arrangement of the mats as this was one idea as to how to display them along the bar. The client was happy with the result and this was the final poster that was sent off to be cut:

Pledge Music // Prototype