Assignment3: Design a Time Capsule

our 3rd assignment is to Design a Time capsule.

Brief
you are going to produce a box that, like a time capsule, will give anyone who
delves into it an insight into the designer or design movement that it is themed
around. You will design and produce every element of the box, the surface and
content, using appropriate visual language based on research.

you will produce:-

1. A measured box with a designed surface (either wrapped, covered or printed) and labeling.
2. At least one poster (A3) full colour.
3. A folding leaflet full colour.
4. N essay with full referencing and bibliography presented as an A5 booklet.
5. Illustrations as postcards (full colour front face, to colour or black and white back).

the main mark for this project will come from the poster.

initial thoughts on theme

• Bauhaus
• Dadaism
• futurism

Assignment2: product name design process

i drafted the idea i wanted in my sketchbook. i then decided that in order to make it in Adobe Illustrator i should start with a font and edit the paths. the font Nilland-Black (dafont.com) was the closest i could find.

i made my product name in grayscale so that i can change the colours to fit the packaging as a whole once all the elements are made.

(click on each image for a larger version)

i started by writing the name in the font.
then i created outlines of the text with shift+ctrl+o. i moved and rotated each of the letters so they sat roughly where they should end up.
then using the direct select tool and the join points command (ctrl+j) i edited each of the letter forms to be more of the shape that i wanted. at this point i increased the tracking in so as not to lose length.
then i made further adjustments to the characters with; the direct select tool, the convert anchor point tool (shift+c) and the join command to add the curves to the letters. it took quite a long time to get the relationship between the characters correct. i used the transform each command (ctrl+shift+alt+d) reducing the scale, to reduce the o's counter.
to restore the weight balance between the characters i went through and added a black stroked to each of the characters.
i then increased the tracking again and added little electricity effects around the word.
for the stroke i duplicated the text layer and put it behind the original. then i made all of the characters into one compound path (ctrl+8). i added a very large stroke to the patch giving me the boarder around the letters.
the final changed involved fixing a few places where i had missed joining paths together which where making the stroke look strange and changing the text to white as that is the colour that sweet packaging text appears.

i still think i could add some highlight shapes within the characters but i will wait and see how it looks on the packing first.

Assignment2: Product details & Flavor research

so the product dose not have a name yet but I'm developing one. the ideas so far are

• Venoms
• Shockers
• Droolers
• Stingers

i want it to have a subtle super hero feel. but i am not getting marked on being able to think up good names so i will develop this after other visual elements.

i have a tag line:

" Super Power Sour Candy!!"

i will develop further as i feel it dose not flow well currently.



Flavor

the flavors that my packaging will have are important because it will help me chose a swatch to complement the colours of the sweets, also because the sweets will be featured on the box.
here are some existing flavors used

all the diffrent verities of skittles and there packaging colour (source)

.Original Fruit Skittles, Red Package, Lemon (yellow), Lime (green), Orange (orange), Strawberry (red), and Grape (purple).

.Tropical Skittles, Light Blue Package, Mango Tangelo (orange), Kiwi Lime (green), Strawberry Starfruit (pink), Banana Berry (yellow), Pineapple Passion Fruit (blue)

.Wild Berry Skittles, Purple Package, Raspberry (blue), Wild Cherry (red), Strawberry (pink), Berry Punch (violet), Melon Berry (green)

.Crazy Cores, Orange Package, Mango Peach (peach with orange core), Cherry Lemonade (red with yellow core), Strawberry Watermelon (green with pink core), Melon Berry (pink with greencore), Blue Raspberry Lemon (blue with yellow core)

.Tart-N-Tangy Skittles, Bright Green

.Sour Skittles, Green, Sour Blue Raspberry (blue), Sour Lemon (yellow), Sour Strawberry (pink), Sour Orange (orange), Sour Watermelon (red), Sour Green Apple (green)

Fruit pastels use the following flavors lemon, lime, strawberry, blackcurrent and orange. (source)

blue red and green are all popular boys colours so i will include them. i will then also yellow ,because of the sour connotations. my final colour purple; which will allow me more interesting flavors.

Assignment2: package elements

i went to Cybercandy a sweet shop in Brighton that stocks a large range of boxed sweet products to see what elements are on the different sides of the packaging.
(there is repetition where the locations of elements changes often)

• the whole box are in bold colours purple orange green and red are popular; yellow and green for sour products.
• gradient backgrounds are sometimes used to create a more dynamic feeling.
• the product name needs to be a size that will allow it to fit on the top, bottom and sides of the packaging.
  
• the shape of the boxes are rectangular with a depth around 1/3 of there height
• they are sized so they fit comfortably in your hand and pocket. (unless its a large box in which case they are the right size to be on a bookshelf; i will not however be making a large box)
• each box has a website
  

front

• brand name
• product name
• illustration of the sweet: all flavors in the box are represented
• occasionally illustrated characters
• weight
• flavor
• flavor text with information about the product
  
• depth is created so the front elements appear close

back

• the back is sometimes a direct copy of the front or the front changed from a horisontal to verticel
• parent company branding
• additional rights
• nutritional information per 100g
• ingredients; because the products are sometimes shipped across multiple countries you often get the ingredients in several languages.
• best before date
• bar code
• flavor information
• bin packaging logo
• recycle logo
  
• large boxes contain word searches or other fun activities

top

• some form of despeseing flap
• opening instructions
• product name
• brand logo

bottom

• because of the way these products are displayed in the box the bottom is not visible so there is often just the product name and brand logo
• bar code

left & right

• these two are interchangeable which ever one dose not have the information will often have just the brand logo and product name on it
• ingredients (only in one language if found on the side)
• bar code
• product name
• brand logo
• flavor information

Assignment2: Brand logo

so I took the fonts and played around with them and now have a logo for my brand. below you

can see part of my creative process that led me to my final decision.

http://img513.imageshack.us/img513/4233/r1copy.jpg

http://img109.imageshack.us/img109/1843/r3copy.jpg

http://img97.imageshack.us/img97/7631/r2copy.jpg

http://img194.imageshack.us/img194/673/r4copy.jpg

the colour on the final logo can be changed to fit the packaging like the Haribo and Roundtree's logo dose.

these logos where made in Photoshop but because i need to use Illustrator for my packaging i will create the logo in Illustrator next.

Assignment2: Brand logo typeface research

we here at Scaife's have family values, excitement and adventure at our heart. we strive to create wonderful, bizzare, outragious and deliously tasty products for children all around the uk to enjoy and talk about and for them we promiss never to be boring.

im starting with my mission statement because i want my brand logo to explain these points. looking at this the font I choose needs to be:

• Legible
• bold
• warm
• clean
• an interesting detail that sets it apart from others
• clear curves (because of the characters in Scaifes)
• San-serif

I have decided after looking at the Roundtree's logo that I will incorporate and apostrophe into the logo.

browsing Dafont.com I have found the following typefaces that I could use as a base for my logo.

http://www.dafont.com/soolidium.font

http://www.dafont.com/days.font

http://www.dafont.com/street-corner.font

http://www.dafont.com/kronika.font

http://www.dafont.com/zitti.font

http://www.dafont.com/lexia.font

Assignment2: Rowntrees brand logo

Rowntree's is another nestle brand. they recently changed there logo with the relese of a new product ,Roundtree's Randoms.

this logo is taken from there website where it is displayed in a warm light green but the colour of the stroke and text changes depending on the product it is displayed on, seen here.

the logo its self is a simple san-serif font with a high X hight and sounded characters. the has a thick stroke that fill the counter. the apostrophe is in the shame of a leaf hinting towards the word tree that can be found in the brand name.

I find this logo a very pleasing to look at. it is nicely balanced so that no part of it distracts from the rest. it dose a similar job too the Wonka logo without being as elaborate.

Assignment2: Mission statement

i have decided that before i make my product and brand identity i need to write a mission statement. the aim of doing this is to make sure that my product has a unified feel by setting out some global aims that the product should do.

this quote is from the Haribo website it is of the consumer information which is not really a mission statement as it is to long but i wanted to post it so i can see where the points it makes are visible in the packaging of its products.

Haribo prides itself on the high quality of its confectionery and are proud of the fact that all our UK bagged products are now free from artificial colours. Check out the green flash on pack.

We are also actively working to ensure all our products contain only natural flavours as soon as we possibly can. This is a lengthy process but one which is a top priority alongside ensuring we continue to offer the same high quality products our consumers know and love from the Haribo brand.

At Haribo we go to great lengths to ensure that all our marketing is conducted in a responsible manner. We have never positioned our products as anything other than an enjoyable treat. Haribo is not to be consumed as a meal substitute but should be consumed as part of an active, balanced lifestyle.

here is an image of Haribo's most popular packet of sweets, Starmix.

as stated in the first paragraph you can see that the package has a green "flash" that states that the contents are free from artificial colours.

The packaging has been designed to look like a fun treat backing up Haribo's statment "we have never posisioned our products as anything other than an enjoyable treat."

apart form those two things there is nothing else that links in with the consumer information visually. I was expecting more.

from looking at this mission statement and also the difficulty i have had trying to find other sweet companies that produce the style of sweet i am going for a mission statement dose not seem as important as i had imagined.

that said however i will still write one as the rules it imposes on me will help my creative process. here is a draft of it

We here at Scaifes have family values, excitment and adventure at our heart.

We strive to create wonderful, bizzare, outragious and deliously tasty products for children all around the uk to enjoy and talk about and for them we promiss never to be boring.

i say draft because i may not be able to follow it to the letter and will want to come back and change it even if that is kind of cheating!

Assignment2: Haribo brand logo thoughts

Haribo is a leading brand in the uk for large packets of sweets. i am just looking at the visual side of their brand logo

the Haribo logo is much more basic than the Wonka one. it uses a large rounded san-serif font with a curved bevel effect and a strong white stroke. the simple use of colours makes it eye catching and instantly recognizable. it would also be easy for children to read. i feel Haribo is aimed at a younger audience than what i am aiming for. but its strong use of primary colours i can use.

another point that is worth mentioning is that on Haribo packaging the brand logo uses a large amount of space and is a main element. where as the Wonka logo occupies a smaller space typical to the top left of the product name. i can balance this ratio later but when designing my brand name i need to make sure that is not so intricate to lose strength at smaller sizes.

Assignment2: Wonka brand research

it was stated in our brief that we should substitute our name for the product name. it was made clear in lessons that we could use our name as the brand name. i will use my family name, Scaife, as the name of the brand.

Wonka is a children sweets company owned by Nestlé. its name is from the Charlie and the Chocolate factory license. i really like the styling that the Wonka brand uses. the logo uses a classic rich purple which is associated with the colour of the suit that the character Willy Wonka wears. they use an elaborate font that make it look mystical and alluring to children.

current logo


old logo

the brand Wonka dose not have a mission statement but the following line from the Nestlé mission statment i find is fitting,

"As consumers continue to make choices regarding foods and beverages they consume, Nestlé helps provide selections for all individual taste and lifestyle preferences."

looking at this and the products Wonka produce, i can see that Wonka is made to aim to the life styles and tastes of young children especially boys. i will replicate this target audience as i find that area of sweets the most interesting and feel i will make a more interesting end product.

their range of products is a wide range, mainly consisting of Candie, each of their titles are done in a large block lettering with heavy strokes and drop shadows. the names of the products are Onomatopoeic.

Assignment2: Product idea and research

after doing some researching into packaging i have decided that I am going to produce a box of sweets for kids. I have not yet decided on what kind of sweet they will be but I am leaning towards something sour.

as a starting point for more research on sweet packaging I am going to write a list of all the sweet packaging that I can remember and see if any patterns emerge.

• sour skittles
• skittles
• starburst
• fruit pastels
• nerds
• toxic wastes
• jelly tots
• haribo; tangfantastic, star mix, strawbs, cola bottles, fizzy cola bottles
• wham bar
• vimto bar
• refreshers
• love hearts

I'm surprised at how small that list is of what ones I can remember but I imagine its because I am no longer at the age where I gaze at sweets before I pick which one I will eat. here is an image of all the packaging I can remember. I made a little mood board of the packaging that I could remember:

(click image to go to a larger version)

I noticed from doing this that all of the products have much more elaborate packaging in the united states. I also noticed that the primary colours feature heavily in all the designs.