BOX Apparel Live Brief

This week we received a live brief from men's fashion brand, BOX Apparel, as part of our packaging module. Box Apparel is a brand new clothing range which sells socks and underwear for the urban modern man online. Considerations of the brief: reflect the brand ethos, must fit through a letter box, must be cost effective, must protect the product, increase customer loyalty and awareness for the BOX brand.

I've been looking forward to getting stuck into a packaging brief as this is something I'm interested in. This module will give me the chance to explore packaging design further and really get to understand what makes effective packaging design.

I have completed a SWOT analysis for this module:
Strengths: I feel like I will be able to stay focused on this module as packaging design is something that interests me.
Weaknesses: I have no experience in creating 3D visuals, which is a requirement for the final outcome.
Opportunities: This module will give me the chance to explore packaging design, as well as learning about packaging nets and 3D mock ups.
Threats: The target audience! BOX Apparel has asked for a design aimed at the 'urban modern man'. I think this will be a challenge, however I am confident that I will be able to adapt my research and development in order to meet the clients requirements.

My Creative CV

I have chosen to create a CV that is simple and easy to follow. I didn't want it to be over complicated and off-putting for potential employers. I chose a soft font that supports the friendly tone of my writing and added a little bit of design to the left hand side of the page. Here is what I came up with:

 

Now that my CV is done I can get cracking and find a placement! There is currently an opportunity with IKEA Gateshead which I will be applying for. It's a 5 month internship at one day per week working alongside the graphics communication team. I think this could be a great opportunity to see how designers work within huge companies as well as gaining industry experience. Wish me luck!

2013 / 2014 Action Plan

Now that I'm back at college for the 2nd year of my foundation degree I need to think about setting some realistic targets for the year ahead. It's time to start thinking about where I want to be in the future and deciding what aspect of graphic design to focus on.



My first goal is continuing to develop myself as a designer:

What is it I want to achieve? - I want develop my design skills further and discover what path of graphics interests me the most.

Where - I can achieve this within the college year, completing research tasks in my own time.

Achievable? - Developing myself as a designer will be achievable within college as I will have studio sessions throughout the year that will help to develop my digital skills, continue to help me understands and actively complete the design process as well as being set tasks and live briefs that will require final outcomes.

 

Relevant - Completely relevant to my practice.

 

Time - This goal will be on-going throughout my whole college year.

 My second goal is finding a work placement:

What is it I want to achieve? - I want to secure a work placement, either a long term internship or short term placement so that I can gain industry experience and understand how graphic design works in the 'real world'.

Where - Ideally a local agency that has a wide variety of clients and briefs

Achievable? - I'm confident that I can achieve this before the end of the academic year as I have a years worth of work for my portfolio and a keen interest in achieving this.

 

Relevant - Completely relevant to my course. Securing a placement will aid me in my personal professional development as well as my work based learning. Securing a placement will also hopefully allow me to build on my portfolio of work, completing live briefs for live clients.

 

Time - I will focus on this goal in the new year and will hopefully secure a placement that will run alongside my college hours.

 

 

 

My third goal is to continue my education after I've completed my foundation degree:

 

What is it I want to achieve? - I want to continue my education and gain a full degree in graphic design

Where - Ideally I would like to continue with Newcastle College - it's closest to home and I feel like I will have an advantage having already studied with Newcastle College.

Achievable? - I feel like this is achievable as I have built up a strong portfolio of work and I have an advantage having already studied with Newcastle College.

 

Relevant - Relevant to my practice as continuing onto the thirs year will allow me to focus on the aspect of graphic design I want to pursue in the future and plan a whole project around this interest.

 

Time - I will need to meet UCAS deadlines, ensuring that I have a strong personal statement. I will need to create a portfolio of work to present at my interview.

 

 

My long term goal (within the next 5 years):

 

What is it I want to achieve? - I want to secure employment within fashion as either an editorial designer or visual merchandiser. I would love to work as an editorial designer for a company that has no restrictions in terms of design guidelines, giving me free reign to be creative. Alongside this I would also love to design my own t-shirt range as a freelance project.

Where - Ideally here in the North East, however I would love to spend a few years down in London gaining experience in a fast paced city.

Achievable? - This will be achievable if I work hard and continue to stay committed. I will need to get some fashion based work into my portfolio.

 

Relevant - Relevant to my interests within design.

 

Time - I will focus on my next year of education first but will start looking at employment opportunities towards the end of 2014 / beginning of 2015.

 

 

 

Packaging Inspiration: What Makes Effective Packaging Design

As part of my packaging module I have researched packaging design across various sectors. These are some of my favourites :

 

Above: The brief was to create a product design for 'an unexpected blend that brings together a Sauvignon Blanc and Absolut Vodka.' The bottle features a white sleeve that tears away to reveal an intricate and elegant gold pattern which aims at expressing the unique experience of drinking Absolut Tune. Glamorous and extravagant with a strong shelf presence that encourages the audience to buy.

Aove: Beautiful packaging for Zen Tea with a deeper meaning for the product. Outer sleeve is minimalistic with a subtle texture representing a zen garden and the body packaging has an intricate pattern of leaves and blossoms to represent the flavour of the product itself. Pastel colour palette gives a calm and peaceful feel that designer Konrad Sibiski wanted to portray. Minimalistic and elegant, represents the product perfectly.

 

Above: Family run business Go Macro has clear values of a living food that is vegan, organic, non-GMO (genetically modified) and from sustainable sources. The clean and authentic designs represent this, each flavour with its own icon mosaic. Credible, friendly and modern packaging which communicates the brand identity well.

Above: The brief for this product was to design an affordable package where you could see, and smell the product. The product is wrapped in a wax coated paper with an oval cut out where the product can be seen and smelt. The packaging has an authentic and approachable look which can relate the product.

 

 

Above: Extremely innovative packaging design for restaurant quality tea; The Art of Tea Collection. The idea behind this was to create a new concept and liven up the hospitality industry’s ‘boring world of tea-drinking’. Inspired by watercolour paintings, the packaging does just that. The packaging not only acts as a visual, protecting the product, but also unfolds into a disposable tray for the used teabag. Beautiful, unique and extremely well presented.

 

Above: Really simple packaging design, yet represents the product really well. Almost the illusion of the illustrations fusing into the product. Clever marketing which will grab the attention of the audience.

Above: A minimalist approach which looks slick and modern yet still appealing. A good example of clear and simple working really well. The simplicity of the packaging will engage the consumer and draw them in, encouraging them to purchase. Heavily photography based.

 

 

From my research, I have concluded that effective packaging design must:

• Protect the product
• Communicate with the target audience
• Promote the brand
• Be functional for the consumer
• Be visually attractive

Creative CV Inspiration

Its time to design my creative CV! Second year is all about building on your skills and gaining valuable experience by (hopefully) securing an industry placement. This week I have been getting some inspiration by looking at other students creative CV designs. A lot of the CVs I looked at seemed to be too 'try hard' to be different. Personally I much preferred the more stripped back versions that didn't bombard the reader with information about how great you are. These CVs were also so much easier to follow in terms of reading the information. I want my CV to portray me as a designer (which I think!) is pretty simplistic and laid back.

These are some of my favourite CV designs from my research:

All three of these designs look well thought out, clean and contemporary. Each one portrays the personality of the designer using a friendly tone throughout. I want this to come across from my design when I get round to it.