OUGD603 - Extended Practice - End of Module Evaluation

Overall throughout extended practice I feel that I have proved to myself that I am a competent designer. Being part of the Students Union has really helped me create some really professionally finished briefs to keep me going throughout the year. Working with them gave me experience of what it will be like working with a client, exercising my communication and professional skills.

My briefs have been very competition heavy this year in order to try and win awards to get my name out there. Also I find it’s easier to follow someone else’s brief than to write your own from scratch. At the start of the year I had planned a few self initiated briefs, however as the year has progressed my initial brief plans have planned and I have only completed one self initiated brief. I do wish I had pushed more to completing another self initiated brief because I really enjoyed the brief in the end. There are only a few briefs that I wasn’t so pleased with the outcome of, and all of these are smaller less significant briefs like The Little Art Collection. Looking back I do think that I should have focused on bigger briefs rather than the smaller briefs that I completed.

I feel that throughout the year I have managed my time really well, always submitting all my competition briefs before the deadlines and working towards a deadline for ones that didn’t need to be submitted. Also this has meant that I was able to complete more than 10 briefs, keeping my design process going at every stage of the year.

Through collaborations this year I have learnt a lot of new skills like animation, working on the Lifting Tower Projection with animators. I have also learned that some collaborations can be harder than others, simply through lack of communication. But I think that the collaboration projects I have completed this year have been some of my strongest because of the constant feedback you receive from your peers.

Overall I am really pleased with my progress into this year. I have found a specialisation that I love doing and have successfully put it into action. The difference in my work between this year and last year is noticeable - this year I have been able to complete my briefs to a much higher standard in my opinion. I have been able to build a really professional looking portfolio from briefs that I have completed this year.

OUGD602 - PPP - End of Module Evaluation

I have enjoyed spending time on PPP as an ongoing development throughout the year, trying to engage with the industry as much as possible. I have really tried to be proactive with the PPP module. I have tried to interact with the professional world as much as possible in order to prepare for when I graduate. My aim for this year was to be able to get a job or an internship for after I graduate. I have succeeded with this through networking with Craft and getting in touch with my favourite studio, Robot Food, to get a month internship. I have also attended a couple of interviews for a 6 month paid internship - A Design Academy - at WPA Pinfold, while I don't like this studio as much as Robot Food I feel this is an opportunity I’d be silly to say no to. These events have pushed me to update my portfolio and be able to talk through it confidently within the interview environment.


I have really enjoyed exploring my personal practice this year, I feel like I have now found who I am and want to be as a designer. I’ve really focused in on my specialism of branding and packaging, trying to build up a successful portfolio for this area. I have learnt the importance of getting your work out there this year and to not be shy to share things with the world. I have really focused in on my social media and online presence this year - adding things to Behance and Instagram where possible. This has meant I have had a lot more engagement from other designers and some great feedback.

The DBA brief was a fantastic experience that I enjoyed immensely. Our final outcome for DBA was really professional and I think that it’s the best work that I have done so far. Also to win out of the whole class, full of really talented people and amazing pitches, was a really nice confidence boost. To get that validation from industry professionals about my work was really encouraging that I was going in the right direction.

I feel that as a whole I am now a professional designer, rather than a student. I’m confident in my abilities and communicating with clients thanks to my work as Communications officer in the Students’ Union. I believe that my portfolio that I have created this year is of a really high standard. Also validation from places like Craft agency has made me realise this.They really liked my portfolio, and have offered to feature me in a “Best Grads of the North” blog post on their site. I’m hoping this will get me a Junior designer job in the near future.

OUGD603 - Unpackaged Brief - Evaluation

Strengths & What I liked.

I have thoroughly enjoyed doing this brief because it is a subject that I’m really interested in. The research stage of the brief was very eye opening because I learned about things I had never heard of like the waste hierarchy. I think the strengths of this project all lie in the final outcomes as well as the ethical design decisions. I tried to make all of the design decisions that I made relate back to sustainability, for example the use of recycled stock on the labels and the decision to riso print the guide. I tried my hand at a bit of art direction, trying to add some more interest to the photographs than just focusing on the design of the labels. It was a really fun experience doing these photographs playing with background colour and positioning.


Weaknesses & What I didn’t like

As mentioned before, Website design is not one of my strong points but I felt that it was necessary to complete the brand. It also allowed me to add more context to the shop so I can include all of my thinking behind why it is zero waste. Also I made some slight mistakes within the guide, however I don’t think they are that noticeable.


Time Management

For this brief I managed my time really well, partly down to the fact that it was the only brief I was working on at that time. It was nice to wind down at the end of the year and focus on one big brief, however.


Final Outcome

The final labels, guide and website all work really well as a cohesive brand together. This project is probably one that I’m most proud of this year because I feel that it promotes a good cause rather being design for nothing. Additionally, the final outcome is all references to an ethical practice that I want to carry through to my professional life.

OUGD603/602 - Starpack Collab - We got Shortlisted!

We got shortlisted for Starpack! Which means we now have to make the bottle and tin. We have created the bottles using vodka bottles that we bought online for our portfolio. However, these bottles don't match the bottle specifications in the brief so I don't think that we can submit them. But making these bottles has meant that we have a good understanding of how we can mock them up properly. 

After speaking to Amber she gave us the idea of looking for oil bottles rather than spirit bottles for the square bottle we needed. We went to Morrisons and found an oil bottle that was a near perfect match to Bottle B, the bottle we chose. We decided for the shortlist that we would only send one bottle and tin because of the limited time that we were given. 

After getting the right bottle we could stick on the vinyl and paper labels that we had spare from our other physical bottle mock ups. However, we knew the tin was going to be the difficult bit, so we started by measuring the bottle. After measuring the dimensions we created a net. 

It was quite difficult for me to get my head around the slanted bit that was the main factor of interest with the design, but with some help from Laura we managed to figure it out. To make the tin look like tinplate, we got some brushed aluminum vinyl from James in digital print and stuck it directly onto the card and cut the net out of this. 

We were surprised how well this worked, it actually gives the box a really nice finish. Once again we used the clear stickers to add our illustrations to the design. For the lid of the box we use orange GF smith paper to the same effect as the aluminium vinyl. 

The final tin and bottle turned out better than I could have imagined. I think that they do look quite professional considering we were able to make them within a week before shipping them off for judging. The tin lid could have been refined a bit more, it was perhaps a bit big but it still works really well. Additionally, the use of the clear stickers has left some bubbles but there isn't really anything we can do about that. Me and Laura are very confident that this could win our brief category because of how well our physical mock ups turned out. Fingers crossed! 

OUGD602 - PPP - Manifesto & CV

I printed a double sided version of my CV and manifesto. 

After going to workshops about CVs I found that all these fancy designed CVs can often put employers off. So I went for a really simple, easy to read layout with a drawn portrait of me that I used within the hotdog book I sent out to studios earlier this year. It contains my work experience, education, and a small personal statement. I found that using software skills wasn't necessary and would have just cluttered up my CV. 

My manifesto again is really simple. I wanted to just show what inspires me to design. A lot of the points on my manifesto are quite common but I believe that I have taken them aboard my design process, like "do good work for nice people". I believe that throughout the years at university I have grown a real love for design, more than I had before. It's made me passionate about designing for good. I would never want to accept a job that had a huge payout that was a subject I didn't agree with. This is because I believe that design is improved when you enjoy it or feel passionate about the subject. I also really believe in being empathetic with others and therefore understanding any situation that they may be in. And of course, the most important thing is to be happy while you design. If it doesn't make you happy, don't do it. I believe life is way too short to being doing something that doesn't make you happy. 

OUGD603 - Unpackaged Brief - Final Website

I created a range of pages to complete the brand. The landing page gives you an introduction to the store, providing a bit of context. I then created a how it works page so people will know how the store works before visiting. I also included a philosophy page to describe about zero waste and why the store has chosen to get rid of packaging. Then I thought it would be a good idea to create a blog to interact with the customers, giving information about seasonal fruit and vegetables that are available as well as daily inspiration.

Overall I think that the final website represents the store really well. It has allowed me to add more context to the shop so I can include all of my thinking behind why it is zero waste. I think the use of lots of high quality images on the site makes it feel more professional and realistic. As well I feel like the images of vegetables promote the zero waste lifestyle without being overbearing. Even though this was a last minute thought to create a website I do think that it was necessary to complete the brand.

OUGD603 - Unpackaged Brief - Website Development

I did some quick sketches of wireframes that I could use for the site. I wanted a fairly simple site for the content to take centre stage.  I think the more minimal layouts are the more successful ones, like the middle layout. I think this will be the layout that I take forward into my digital development. I also thought here about what pages I could create to get all the information that I needed onto the site. I need to talk about how the store works as well as the store's overarching aim of converting people to a zero waste lifestyle. So I decided to have the following pages: How it works, our philosophy, contact us and about zero waste. Between these pages, you could find all the answers to questions that you might ask about the store. 

I started by trying out my favourite wire frame from my sketches, making a quick wireframe to fill with images and text. I wanted to bring across a tag line to show people that its not that difficult to change your lifestyle, so I went with a repeated phrase of "Zero waste. Zero guilt. Zero fuss." this shows people that they could be better off living a zero waste lifestyle. Additionally I found some royalty free stock images of fresh fruits and vegetables to use in the site, I think that it brings the image of a healthy lifestyle to the site as well as promoting zero waste or goods without packaging. I also took inspiration from the design of the labels across into the text boxes on the site to create a bit of consistency with the brand. However, something still feels lacking in this design so I decided to try a different layout.

Having an image that stretches across rather than 3 separate images looks a lot more professional in my opinion. But I feel that boxing off the text like this makes for a very static design, it doesn't inspire anything with me. 

After looking back at my research for websites, I decided to try something a bit more visual rather than text heavy, having a full bleed image of the vegetables to get the viewers attention. Also, I tried not framing the text here, but now the text feels a little like its floating, it needs more context.   

I took a break from creating the main home page and decided to look at the how it works page instead.  Again, taking inspiration from the chocolate website in my research I used the icons that I made for the guide to explain how you actually shop. I really like how the icons overlap the imagery like this, maybe this could be a theme throughout the site, to have a large image at the top with the main body of the site slightly overlapping it. Also, the use of the off white as the main colour works a lot better, giving it a more organic colour as stark white feels a bit unnatural.

At this point, I asked for feedback with Alec as I was struggling with choosing a layout as well as figuring out the design. He clarified things for me, telling me the enter page should be the full bleed image with information about what the shop actually is rather than what zero waste is. Not having the quote here and putting the title in a frame really helps to ground the text, making it less floaty. I took this design style across to the other pages, condensing the “what is zero waste” page into the philosophy page after Alec suggested that they would include the same information. This makes the information a lot clearer I think to have it all in one place. Also, the information used is a lot more relevant, explaining how the store works as well as the ethos of having ethical reasoning behind everything. I also thought that it would be good to have a blog to promote the use of seasonal vegetables and other services that the store could provide to make it more active within the community.

OUGD603 - Unpackaged Brief - Discussion with Alec

I asked Alec for feedback on my Zero branding project so far as well as feedback on how to progress my website designs further. He really helped me clarify what information needs to be on there and where, showing me that some of the things would be irrelevant.

He also suggested that I should write out my ethos and aims for the store to clarify all the designs further. For example why people should shop at the store, what is the problem that I am trying to solve here. He also suggested that the aim of the store should be to make the transition from normal shopping to zero waste shopping as easy and unnoticeable as possible. The main aim should be to basically to promote anything that avoids the use of our precious natural resources.

We talked about the older generations and their engagement and he had some really interesting suggestions here too. He said I could do a delivery system by bicycle for people within a certain radius of the store so that older people could get their groceries in a sustainable way without having to carry heavy jars etc. Also he suggested that the store could rent out trolleys for the customers to take home, again within reason.

Another thing that I thought about off the back of this would be a recycle bank/food waste bank at the store where customers could drop off their waste before coming to the store, because sometimes some waste is unavoidable. The store could have a place to drop off food waste to compost and get some ready compost in return for the amount they dropped off to encourage them to think about where the waste goes. To add to this community feel I could have a community herb garden where people could gather herbs without using packaging.

He told me to look at how Unicorn Co-op Grocery Store (http://www.unicorn-grocery.co.uk/index.php) works and their ethics in Manchester and base my store's ethics around this. Also we looked at the Co-op and their new initiative to donate 1% of their profits into business ventures and charities in the local area of the store. Anything to support the community. Because at the end of the day you can't live sustainably without a stable community.

After this discussion I have a lot of ideas that I will put to use in the website as well as for the brand of zero as a whole.

OUGD603 - Unpackaged Brief - Store Mock Ups

To add some context I tried to mock ups of the store itself. Trying to work out what it could look both outside and in.

I wanted to keep the storefront really minimal to add intrigue for people walking past. Keeping the same colour scheme of off white, orange and black. I also decided to use a slogan that I have used on my website designs - "Zero waste, zero fuss" as I believe that people would presume going zero waste while shopping would be hard work but it is easier than they may think.  

I tried to mock up what the vegetable area might look like, with chalk boards for more information. The colours are a bit off because of the image I used but I think it works well to show how the produce would be placed in the store.