OUGD603 - YCN GUCC - Evaluation

Strengths & What I liked

I think that the concept for the packaging we produced was really strong, creating something with a strong meaning behind it. The use of stickers and customisation really set our final resolution a part from other entries who most likely followed the brief to a tee.


Weaknesses & What I didn’t like

I don’t really enjoy creating web design, and sometimes I think this is one of my weakest areas of design so having to create a full customisation process on the website was not an enjoyable process for me. Also I struggled with the illustrator towards the end of the project, she put other briefs and personal work before getting this brief finished which annoyed me slightly.


Team Work

Collaborating with an illustrator was really beneficial to creating designs that I wouldn’t ordinarily create. It has also given me relevant experience for industry, as in a studio they will most likely hire an illustrator for all their illustrations. I also learnt about the importance of good communication, as I struggled doing design work when my partner wasn’t getting back to me, which halted the design process a bit. Also the fact that she lost illustrations she said she was going to provide and didn’t provide me with an alternative put a bit of a dampener on the whole experience.


Time Management

Though we spent a long time on this project the design process was very stinted in regards to timing because there would be large gaps while I would wait for a response from my team mate. However we managed to get everything finished and submitted just before the deadline so in that aspect we did okay.


Final Outcome

As a set I think that the packaging all works really well together, having a similar aesthetic combining graphic text with hand drawn elements. We have offered the brief a new outlook by allowing customers to customise pretty much all of the outer packaging, really promoting people to create a personal message that someone would be happy to receive.

OUGD603 - YCN GUCC - Final Presentation Boards & Submission

We created six pre-made templates in total, ready to customise for each occasion. The customers can add their own photos to frames, add or remove stickers on the wrappers and the box sleeves in order to create a truly unique design for them.

Unfortunately we couldn’t print on a textured stock as we had originally planned so we ended up adding on the texture digitally to add that organic feel that we were looking for. However, the print itself has turned out really well, providing really vibrant colours.

As a set I think that the packaging all works really well together, having a similar aesthetic combining graphic text with hand drawn elements. We have offered the brief a new outlook by allowing customers to customise pretty much all of the outer packaging, really promoting people to create a personal message that someone would be happy to receive.

Collaborating with an illustrator was really beneficial to creating designs that I wouldn’t ordinarily create. It has also given me relevant experience for industry, as in a studio they will most likely hire an illustrator for all their illustrations. I also learnt about the importance of good communication, as I struggled doing design work when my partner wasn’t getting back to me, which halted the design process a bit.

The landing page shows a coherent guide of the process before it starts, then takes the customer through the customising process logically. Within the process the user will have the option to add a “handwritten” note to the back of the sleeve design, to again maintain the personal element of our postal concept.

I think that the final website is easy to navigate through the customisation process. I tried to think of all the elements you would need in the customisation process, as well as maintaining the brands friendly tone of voice through tips at the bottom. The use of the simple stripped back layout and colour scheme makes it easier to focus on the design that you are customising rather than being distracted by anything else.

I created 12 web pages in total to show the customisation process all the way through, from picking the chocolate flavours to placing stickers onto their chosen template.

OUGD603 - YCN GUCC - Website

For the website I started by using the header that their current website has to make it feel more legitimate. I based the layout off one of my initial sketches, providing an overview of the process on the landing page of the site. I tried to take elements from the hand-drawn stickers Polly had created to use throughout the website to tie everything together. Also I had to be aware of the brand guide lines that the company provided, sticking to their colour scheme as well as using their fonts.

For the ingredients page I wanted to use illustrations of each of the ingredients to make it a lot more visual. However the illustrator lost the files in which she had drawn the flavours so at last minute I had to change to use banners like on the bars and inner box instead. It’s a shame that the illustrations weren’t provided because I feel it would help the site have a link to the stickers and sleeves. But I guess this is what happens in a collaboration, everything doesn’t go to plan.
I didn’t create the checkout step because I feel that would be obvious, and by this point I already have 12 pages of the website so I don’t want to create too much.

OUGD603 - YCN GUCC - Inner Box Development

For the inner boxes we didn’t want to create anything too complicated. Polly provided me with some illustrations of some of the flavours so I decided it would be good to make it into a pattern of ingredients a bit like what is used in the Sandeman chocolate packaging. I also took their main tag line and made it central to the design so that when the bars of chocolate would be taken out of the box it would reveal the tag line as well as a pop of colour. We also decided to use paper textures on all the designs to make them seem more tactile. If possible we want to print on a textured stock to give the feel of extra quality to the package.

 

For the back of the box I carried across the flavour banners from the bars to keep it cohesive. I also tried to hint at the postal theme by adding a sticker saying “You’ve got mail!”. I think this also adds a playful feel to the box as well. In terms of the copy I tried to keep it as on brand as possible, emphasising the important parts. I also had to leave a 8x4cm box for the ingredients to be placed into.

The box net itself was quite complex and took me a while to get my head around, I had to print it out to see how it would work properly. Constructing the net really helped me to understand how the design works and helped me in making sure that everything was the right size in terms of text and illustrations.

OUGD603 - YCN GUCC - Sleeve development

The sleeves will be the outer most part of the packaging so they are the most important visually. I started by mocking up the ideas that we had sketched out in our meeting together. I tried to add little hints of humour through the use of phrases to reflect the brand. These designs were just like initial ideas however because I would want Polly to do the hand rendered text to make it look more personal.

After meeting Polly again and going through these initial ideas we decided that perhaps it didn’t match the brand guidelines that well, as I only hinted at the brand through the colour scheme. We decided to change the type to match all the current packaging to the bolder typeface. Keeping the colour scheme to brown and pink I tried out some of the stickers on the sleeve template. To reflect the postal theme I used a kraft paper background as if the box had been wrapped in brown paper. I do like this idea but I feel that it is a bit too dark as printing on it would make all the colours darker.

Polly also went away and did a sleeve using her illustrations. She based hers heavily around the postal aesthetic and using her hand rendered type it has a lot more character. However, She has added some things that don’t need to be on the sleeve like the ingredients and it’s unclear what occasion this sleeve could be. We decided to make everything as clear as possible by adding the occasion line big in the middle in the bold font from the original packaging. Then the customer could customise it by adding the stickers around it. I think that this is much easier to understand as your eye is drawn to the main message and then it jumps to all of the other little personal elements implemented by the stickers. The use of the handwriting and friendly tone of voice here combines perfectly to create the look that we wanted. I really like the little touches like “open up for something tasty” going across the sides of sleeves, prompting the receiver to interact with the product.

To keep with the postal aesthetic, most of the sleeves will have stamps on and all of them will have the envelope on the back of the design, with information about the company as well as the customer’s custom message. All we need to do now is implement this layout style onto all 6 of our chosen occasions, using the headline in the middle to keep a consistent design.

OUGD603 - YCN GUCC - Stickers

Polly provided me with some handrawn illustrations and said she would draw over them in photoshop. However, in order to progress with the designs, I decided to have digital copies so I decided to vectorise all the sketches that I could.

These were the vectorised stickers I created from her illustrations, using a range of bright colours. The idea was that the bright colours would contrast the chocolatey colours that we plan on using on the sleeves. Polly didn't really like the colours I had used and digitised her own version of the stickers (though not to the extent that I had done). I do think hers look better with the use of textured brushes giving them more depth.

OUGD603 - YCN GUCC - Initial Ideas

At our first meeting we decided to get down what we needed to do and think about overarching themes and concepts for the packaging. Polly thought that because you would send the packs to people for special occasions that we could base the designs for the sleeves around this. We looked at companies like boomf who provide customisable wrapping paper where customers can add their own photographs and text. We both agreed that we wanted to create customisable boxes as well as the customisable bars.

So we brainstormed events or occasions that you might send someone a box of chocolates, from cheering someone up to wishing them a happy birthday. After deciding on 6 key occasions to base our sleeves around we tried to come up with some visual ideas. Polly liked the idea of making the sleeve look like a wrapped package or present. Or even using an envelope on the back so it would look like a gift you would receive in the post. We took this idea and thought that this could be our theme as the way you can order these boxes online so they would be delivered. We liked the idea of a happy package, replicating the excitement you get when you receive nice mail like personal cards or letters. So our theme for our customisable packaging will play on the idea of sending a gift to a loved one

We will also have to make a website, the brief just asks for the landing page. We want to create a full customisation process so that we can really boost the idea of being able to customise your own wrappers, not just the flavours of the chocolate.

OUGD603 - YCN GUCC - Research

For my research I started by trying to look at companies who already customised things for their customers such as Funky Pigeon, Moonpig and boomf. I learned a lot about how the process works - they often have pre-designed templates that customers can simply place images and text into. This doesn’t offer much freedom but it means that even the least creative people can create a nice looking card or gift for someone. Boomf was probably the most relevant company I looked at in regards to their products. They started by offering a service of printing photos onto marshmallows to send as gifts. I found that they now have expanded this into chocolates, pop out cards and much more. It was really helpful looking at their process for customisation with the chocolate as it has given me a good idea of the steps to include for the customisation of the bars.

Next I moved onto looking at chocolate packaging. I came across Sandeman’s chocolate box sets (figure 1). I really liked the use of the repeat pattern of the flavours, to give a hint to what’s inside. Also the text used is simple and to the point - it tells you what it is without much more information. The use of the white background creates a really nice crisp contrast against the imagery to make for quite a striking design without the use of too many colours. Perhaps in our designs we should think of letting the colours of the product shine through like used here.

This shows a lovely example of how illustrations and hand rendered type can be used to create a friendly approachable design. The use of characters makes the design feel more personal furthered by the use of hand rendered type. Because Polly has some good hand rendered type skills I think that the use of handwriting will really benefit the design in making each design feel individual and unique to the customer.

Another good use of hand rendered typography is in this Marchoc hot chocolate packaging (figure 3). The use of different type weights emphasises the dominant flavours. The type itself is very friendly and approachable, making you want to pick the packaging up from the shelf. Contrast this with figure 1 and you can tell that it feels warmer and more friendly because of the use of illustrations and organic elements rather than imagery. The only thing I’m not sure about in this design is the colour - I really like the orange contrasted against the beige but I feel that the blue is out of place and clashes to much with the other elements of the design.

OUGD603 - YCN GUCC - Brief & Collaboration Meeting

My plan for this year was to do multiple competition briefs and having already taken on one YCN brief - BEAR - I thought that I wouldn’t be able to do another on my own. However when I saw an illustrator, Polly Vadasz,  looking for a graphic designer to work with them for the Grown Up Chocolate Company YCN brief I asked if we could collaborate. I felt that we would work better and faster in a team and also I haven’t really collaborated with an illustrator before so I thought it would be a good learning experience. Below is a copy of the GUCC brief. 

We met up to look at the brief together and get some initial ideas together. She had a strong sense of what kind of thing that she wanted to create due to her illustrative style. She had sent me a slide that she created for her responsive that shows me a summary of her work.

I really liked her typographic style and thought that the use of hand rendered type would make the designs feel very personal, rather than being a bit cold. Also she has a nice cute style of illustration, which is very different to anything I do so it will be interesting to see how our combined styles work.