The primary area of feedback for Matt during the formative assessment was to develop the background of my bag using my monster gift wrap. Unfortunately as i had spent so long considering the acetate screen and overhanging tentacles this is an area i did not really consider going into the formative assessment.
Matt had suggested to use a blue background and just the black outline from my monster designs, so this is what i started with. Despite this working to a certain extent i wondered if i could create a bigger contrast through experimenting with other hues from my colour pallet.
Following this experiment i then developed this by using an orange background and black outlines. Despite achieving the initial idea of heightening the contrast, i feel the orange background took this too far, so much so that it distracted from the green central monster. As well as this, the orange and green together created a rather sickly feel.
After i did not feel the orange was working for this design i then reverted back to the blue; however, tried using a white outline for the monsters in the wrap design. Overall i felt this was also not as strong as the original blue and black combination as it had not helped with my issues of contrast and the vast amount of white outlines dimmed the overall brightness of the blue. With neither of these experiments proving successful i decided to stick to the blue and black combination Matt had suggested as i felt it was the strongest out of the 3.
During the formative assessment i asked Matt about production costs in relation to my low end market and he noted not to worry about this as it is in fact a university project. Because of this, i have decided to add a lining to my bag using my sheet wrap design. I feel adding a lining to my bag will help it appeal to the market as the bag will appear more costly compared to a bag with a simple white lining. As well as this, adding an interior lining will allow myself to hide the acetate screen which looks very messy on the inside of the bag i produced at the formative assessment. Despite that this will give me an overall nicer end finish, i am expecting this new design to be a lot harder to construct compared to my previous developments.
Once deciding to add an interior lining i then thought it would give my bag a nicer finish if i added the cutting guides to the interior only. Although Matt stated that if these are present on the outside of the bag it does not matter, as i have put so much thought into adding a nicer finish with the acetate screen i thought i may as well create the best end result that i can.
When making my mini mock up of my gift bag i realised the design would look more professional if i added colour and texture to the underside of the over hanging tentacles. To achieve this all i did was copy and paste the relevant elements onto the same sheet which i will then glue to the underside of the whole image before attaching the monster to the bag. In industry there will be a way to print the entire monster attached to the bag which then the tentacles can then be pulled out from. However, unfortunately i do not have access to such high tech equipment so have found it easier to print the monster separately and then attach him.
As i have had to print out 3 separate pages for this bag i have decided to make the bag outcome slightly smaller than it was at the formative assessment stage as it has cost me over £17 to print the 3 pages A2 at the print studio. Unfortunately, i just assumed the printers at university would give us the best rate on the market; however, have found they are exceptionally more expensive than the company i had my cards printed at. I will explain in the summative assessment that the bag size could be bigger to allow room for larger gifts children tend to receive at a young age.
To start the construction of the bag i taped both the interior and exterior sheet and then folded along the main fold lines. Following this i then cut a hole for where the acetate screen will be placed using my green monsters as a guide. After this i then untaped the two sheets and put the acetate sheet between the two, using double sided tape to hole the acetate screen in place. Then i went about constructing the bag, adding the handles and finally the green monster. I felt the design would be stronger if i did not use holes for the handle; however, simply attach them between the monster and the bag its self. Overall i feel this gives the design a lot neater finish.
Because of the acetate screen this bag did take an awfully long time to put together; however, now finished i am happy with the result. I feel Matts idea of using the wrap design for the background of the bag really draws the whole collection together. I also feel the new lining of the bag adds a more professional finish and also makes the bag a lot neater. Despite this there is still one more addition i want to make to the bag which is to add a sheet with the interior lining design to the inside bottom of the bag. This should hide all the folds at the bottom of the bag and give the bottom a neater finish. This idea is something i saw during my in store research.
Although it did take me an exceptionally long time to line up the back and front of the monster before sticking it to the bag i do feel having the colour and textures present on the underside of the tentacles and lips adds a much more thought-out and professional finish. Not only this but it also allows the eye to really visualise the monster swamping the bag.
Overall i am a lot happier with my bag now compared to at the formative assessment point. Despite this i feel so fortunate that i did create a bag at that point as it really helped myself to see which areas were working within the design and which others needed drastic improvements. If i could make one change to the end result it would be that it was the same size as my bag at the formative assessment. Despite this i will note during the assessment how much it cost myself to print and have my original design there as a size guide for how big it could be. From here i will have a piece printed for the bottom of the interior which will add a neater finish to the bag and then start considering what tag i feel best suits the bag design.
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