COMPETITION INFORMATION
Before progressing with the brief I reviewed the competition information to help me get a firm understanding of exactly what the brief is asking for participants to create.
- Fedrigoni have been part of the paper world since 1717 - Industry experts.
- Design a desk calendar for Fedrigoni customers to promote the new Woodstock paper range.
- Woodstock is Fedrigoni's new uncoated paper collection that is made from 80% recycled pre-consumer waste and 20%FSC certified virgin fiber. - Sustainable paper range.
- Available in several different weights with 15 different pastel colour combinations. - Calendar will need to showcase these.
- The naturalness and simplicity of wood is clearly identifiable with this paper range.
- The calendar will need to be genuinely useful - Must fulfill some function, how could this reflect the target audience?
- Calendar also needs to be visually striking to engage the audiences high aesthetic standard.
- Creative yet functional outcome.
- Desk spaces are small outcome should suit this environment.
- The main audience is graphic designers and those with a keen interest in paper.
- Mandatory requirements - The Fedrigoni logo and contact information should be included on the design along with the paper information.
- Mandatory requirements - The calendar should also credit each chosen material used to produce the outcome.
- It is not required that students produce the outcome on Fedrigoni paper stock - Outcomes that use other papers will not be discounted.
- A sample Woodstock paper pack is available from the Fedrigoni Marketing team.
RE-WRITTEN BRIEF
After reviewing the brief information and highlighting its definitive aspects and requirements me and Joe sat down to redefine the specifics of the brief. Re-writing the brief is an important aspect of the project as it allows us to put our own creative twist on the project and create an original response.
ACTION PLAN ONE
Below is the inital action plan I created after one of the collaborative sessions, it outlines roles and responsibilities for both me and Joe and lists rough dates of when the tasks should be completed by.
Action plans like the one displayed below are a vital aspect of the project as they will help to keep both me and joe organised throughout the projects duration. I have outlined myself as the project organiser for the brief and so will be in charge of creating action plans and to do lists for the group.
Due to the nature of the task set by the Fedrigoni brief the project is going to be very concept driven. Therefore, me and Joe discussed dividing research tasks equally so we can quickly form a body of relevant research to inform our initial concepts.
GROUP MEMBER ADDITION
During third collaborative session our group gained another member as Jake unfortunately had no partner to work with and was left in a solo group. Therefore, me and Joe made the decision to let him join our group to ensure that he wasn't left working alone for the rest of the module.
The addition of an extra member to the group will change the run of the project dramatically as we have an extra person to help with completing work. Therefore, the previous action plan outlining tasks for each group member had to be redefined to ensure the workload is equally distributed and tasks completed on time.
ACTION PLAN TWO
Below is the new action plane created in response to the addition of a new group member.
RESEARCH LINK
As outlined on the action plan a body of research needed to be collected into varying areas relevant to the project and outcome. To help us move through the peliminary stages of the project relatively quickly the research areas were split between members of the group. The link below navigates to the research I personally collected as part of the project.
Research Link - Research
ORDERING PAPER
As mentioned in the project pack distributed from the YCN website students participating in the Fedrigoni design competition could contact Fedrigoni to get a sample pack of the paper the outcome is promoting.
Although it says on the brief competition entries will not be penalised for using other papers to produce the outcome, we decided it was important to produce our response on the paper the outcome is promoting. Not only will utilising the Fedrigoni paper improve the aesthetic quality and relevance of the outcome it will also give the produce context to the paper range.
Each member of the group contacted Fedrigoni through the email address provided so that we had a bulk collection of Woodstock paper when it came to physically producing the outcome.
CALENDAR CONCEPT
As outlined on the action plan I created each member of the group has equal influence in the creation of the products concept. The success of the project relies on the quality and relevance of the calendar as it is the main outcome and focus of the project. Therefore by all creating a variety of possible outcomes we increased our chance of developing a strong idea.
INITIAL DESIGNS;
A night was outlined for the group to meet up and dedicate to developing a range of initial concept ideas. Each member had an equal influence and developed a range of hand drawn designs exploring possible directions the form of the calendar could take.
Below is the range of designs that I created;
MOCK-UP CALENDAR IMAGES;
From the selection of our personally generated ideas we each selected our favorite two to three designs for development.
CALENDAR ONE
- Based around the Fedrigoni shield logo.
- Sheets of Woodstock paper placed inside.
- Date & year information on each sheet.
- Paper information placed on back of sheets (requirement of brief)
CALENDAR TWO
- Series of twelve booklets.
- Each acts as a monthly diary used for notes and organisation.
- Would be made with the woodstock paper.
- Packaging would also be created to hold the booklets.
CHOSEN FORM
After generating a range of mocked up calendars and assessing each ones function and relevance to the target audience we defined our final form. The chosen calendar is based around the recogniseable Fedrigoni shield logo and utilises a unique push in tab system to allow clients to keep track of what day it is. As this is only a mock up it does not feature the correct amount of days however later prototypes will.
Additionally, packaging will also be created for the outcome to house all aspects of the design during distribution. Furthermore, as only one month is used at a time spare sheets can be housed in the box while not in use.
Finally, to aid with the construction of the box a simple instructional leaflet will be created to accompany the other elements of the outcome and help users construct the calendar.
DESIGN DECISIONS
Once the group had defined a final form for the calendar and received positive feedback on its success as an outcome during the class criticisms we could progress forwards with the project and define the design decisions such as the typeface that will be applied to the outcome.
TYPEFACE
To ensure that the outcome is cohesive with the existing Fedrigoni identity we researched into the font that is used for their logo and other aspects of their branding. It is important to utilise the font as a design that applies to the existing company brand guidelines will stand a better chance of winning.
STOCK
As previously outlined we will be utilising the Fedrigoni Woodstock paper range that the product is promoting. To maximize the customers focus on the quality of the paper we decided to utilise as little printed influence as possible, leaving only the papers inviting aesthetic.
PACKAGING
The packaging would hypothetically be made from the thickest stock of the Woodstock paper range however this was unfortunatly not included in the sample pack received. Therefore, we decided to utilise a white card and back it using spraymount with some creme coloured paper with a very similar aesthetic to the Arachide paper from the Woodstock range.
PACKAGING DESIGN
Once we had defined the design decisions each member of the group progressed with an individual task relevant to the outcomes production. As outlined on the various action plans created for the brief It was my job to design and create packaging to hold the calendar and supporting material.
With regards to time management, splitting up production tasks at the latter stages of the project helped the group to progress with the outcomes production quickly.
INITIAL DESIGNS
I started the packaging design process by creating a range of quick thumbnail designs for the outcome. When creating these initial designs I took into consideration a list of elements relevant to the packagings success;
- Will the packaging protect the outcome during distribution?
- Does the packaging fit with the calendars aesthetic?
- Will the packaging engage the audience?
- What stock is needed to produce the packaging?
- How will the elements of the calendar and instruction leaflet be separated?
Below are the initial designs I created exploring different packaging ideas;
CHOSEN FORM
Once I had created a variety of possible designs I presented my ideas to the group so that we could make a joint decision on the form of the packaging.
A unanimous decision was made to define a simple box style form of packaging for the project. After defining this design I explored the concept in slightly more detail giving further thought as to how the concept could be further developed.
- The stock used to construct the outcome will need to be rigid and strong enough to support itself and the contents contained within - Heaviest Fedrigoni paper could be used from Woodstock range.
- The contents of the calendar could be wrapped in a paper wrap made with a sheet of the Woodstock paper promoted.
- Boxes aesthetic kept simple so focus is directed at stock used to produce it - Sticker with printed information & Fedrigoni logo placed on box front.
- There will be a pocket on the boxes inside lid for the instructional leaflet.
BOX MODEL MOCK-UP
Before creating the packaging for the calendar a series of mock-up versions of the design were created to ensure that the packaging design is strong and functional. The process of creating mock-up versions of the box also helped to refine aspects of the design such as slightly angling the edge of the inside lid.
A pocket was also added to the inside lid of the outcome as a place for the instruction booklet to sit.
PHYSICAL PRODUCTION
After producing mock-up versions of the packaging and refining its form and function I was in a position to physically produce the packaging for the final outcome. The images below document this production process which was completed problem free.
BOX CONSTRUCTION
The crafting of the packaging was started by first binding the card stock and coloured paper together using spray mount. Once dry the box net was lightly sketched onto the inside of the sheet.
A metal ruler and scalpel was utilised to cut out the design and sore the fold lines.
Moreover, to ensure that the folds of the packaging were clean and accurate a bone folder and metal ruler were used to fold the various aspects of the box.
A sticker style closure tab was added to the design by gluing a coloured wrap around the box's lid. A range of tab colours were created so that we could choose the most effective combination.
Finally, tabs were added to the inside lid of the box to hold the instructional leaflet in place.
CALENDAR PRODUCTION
After our last criticism the group agreed to refine the calendars form to make it the correct dimensions and added the additional day tabs. Once these changes had been made to the outcome Jake booked a session on the laser cutter so that the individual sheets of the calendar could be cut.
An image of the laser cutting process is displayed below.
PHOTOGRAPHY
After creating the calendar, base plates, instructional leaflet and packaging we had all the necessary aspects of the outcome finished and ready for submission. As when we will be submitting a selection of design boards to the competition final images displaying our response needed to be taken.
As we were working to a tight time scale towards the end of the project there was no time to collaborate with a member of photography to take a collection of professional images of the outcome. Therefore, as the only member of the group with a camera an photography experience I was tasked with taking the selection of final images.
To do this I create a D.I.Y photography studio from large sheets of white paper and natural light from the studio windows.
FINAL IMAGES
The final edited images are shown below;
FINAL DESIGN BOARDS
Once a body of final images of the outcome had been collected we were in a position to start producing the competition design boards.
The images below document the final design boards we plan to submit to YCN.
PRE-SUBMISSION TESTING
Before submitting our final design boards online we went into studio three and uploaded the PDF's to the mac so that we could review the boards on a projector. Reviewing the boards on a projector allowed us to assess their quality and effectiveness on a screen similar as to what the judges will be viewing the submissions from.
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