Before drawing directly onto my gift bag i decided to do some experiments on a spare piece of card of the same hue. At first i was thinking of drawing black wavy lines as this would be representative of the black outline and textures from my monsters. On this sheet i experimented with two shades of blue which would provide different thicknesses and two different thicknesses of black sharpie.
Overall this was a great last minute experiment as it really helped to show what colour and weight of pen would work best on my bag. In the end i settled with the thicker and darker blue as this did not create so much of a contrast as the black. Out of the two blacks i would have picked the thicker weighted pen as the thinner was hard to see and wasn’t so representative of the monster on the bag.
Once i had created my bag it was then easier to visualise what tag would best suit this product. I decided on selecting my two monster tags as i felt these would be most intresting to my demographic and suit a variety of my products.
I feel the red tag goes best with my gift bag and the orange with other products within my collection. The red matches directly with the hues on my bag where as the orange is not featured so much so does not coordinate as well.
I decided to mount these tags onto some black card as this matches directly with the outlines surrounding my monsters. I was debating with this and the blue; however, felt the black would work better all round. For the string on my gift bags i decided to use the same ribbon that is on my gift bag. By doing this i feel it helps to unite the two showing they are from the same collection.
Overall my gift bag is going to most probably be the hardest and most complex to construct because of the acetate screen i will be adding. Although i am not sure this element will be appropriate for my low end market area i would still like to present the idea to Matt to gain his feedback.
To start i sent some designs off to the print studio to be printed A2. These designs consist of two identical green monsters which are both A3. As i need the full page for each monster unfortunately, i could not have done this on the printers around uni as this leaves a large white margin around the edge of the page meaning the monster would be too small. The front and back of my bag will show the monsters so, to ensure the acetate screen in the mouth would be on only one size of the bag i reflected one of the monsters. If Matt likes this idea i would like to develop this further and use one monster on the back and a different one on the front to make the design more interesting.
Once collecting the monsters from the print studio i then mounted them onto a thicker card and carefully cut around them. Cutting the monsters out was awfully tricky and time consuming because the thick card was hard to cut and the curves and angles on the monster were rather awkward. It was essential i mounted the monsters onto a thicker card as some of the tentacles and facial features will over hang the edges so i need these to be strong.
I heard from other students that the template that Matt sent to construct the bag was awfully confusing so instead i decided to go out and buy one. I selected a size i believed to be appropriate for my target age range as they will still be receiving gifts at this age. I started off by measuring around the monsters mouth and then drawing this on the bag. To ensure the monsters mouth would be completely clear i cut the hole bigger than need be.
Following this i then bent the acetate to the bends in the bag which took two attempts. To attach this to the inside of the bag i used double sided tape as it is durable enough for a mock up and does not need time to dry. Following this i then covered the front and back of the bag in blue card. I needed something to cover the preexisting design on the bag so chose a blue card as i felt blue would attract my target market.
Up to this point i had not yet decided what would go on the two sides of the bag where it folds as i was not sure how busy they needed to be. Once having the two front parts of the bag constructed minus the monster i then used my happy birthday font to create one side followed by the same red hue on the other; however, with no details. I selected red for this part of the bag as i felt if they were blue the bag may come across slightly boring for my target market and red is already represented on the bag on the monsters lips.
Once attaching these to either side of the bag i then stuck down both monsters around the acetate screen using both glue and double sided tape. Once happy the glue had dried i then went about bending the legs so they would stick out from the bottom of the bag.
For the handles i settled on a simple black ribbon. I like how the black of the ribbon matches the black outline around the monster. In one shop there was some black wire which i felt would really complement the bag and make it seem that i had made more of a consideration towards the handles. Despite thinking this would work better i decided to go with the ribbon as i feel my bag will already be expensive enough to produce for a low end market and did not want to add any additional costs.
To finish the bag i have then added a sheet of my gift roll to the inside to demonstrate the big monster eating all the little monsters. This is the main reason for having a clear screen within the bag and should help to sell multiples of my products instead of someone just shopping for a gift bag.
As i am working for a low market sector i have decided not to decorate the inside of my bag in the interest of keeping production costs low. Instead the inside of the bag will be a plain white as this will be the cheapest to be produced.
Overall i think the highlight of my bag is the acetate screen; however, i feel i spent so much time thinking about this i forgot about the rest of the bag. The panel between the two monsters mouths is my least favourite part as i feel i could have done more with it. If i am to recreate this bag i would like the monsters body and mouth to extend around this panel of the bag joining the two sides up. I feel this will make the bag look more exciting to a boy between 8 and 11 and also help my design to look more considered.
Another part of the bag i really like is the overhanging tentacles as i feel they make the bag look a lot more exciting, especially to a child of my demographic. This addition also helps to break up the bounding box of the bag and extend it into real life. Much like my acetate screen however, i am not sure if this will be appropriate to my low end market but, i will ask for Matts feedback on this during the formative assessment.
One area of the bag i am really not keen on is the blue flat surface surrounding the monster. I added in some mark making lines which reflect the textures within the monster to help break up the sea of blue but this is definitely something i should have considered sooner. I am not 100% sure what exactly should go in this space as i am worried that i may overwhelm the bag but think if the monsters head was bigger this definitely would have helped. This is another area i shall question Matt about in the formative feedback session to gain his professional opinion.
Overall the areas i really thought about have turned out how i imagined them i just wish i gave more concideration to the rest of the bag. Despite this, as we are only at the formative feedback point i still have time to work on this design so i am completely happy with it.
In order to have a visual example of the coating/ material i want on my gift sheet and wrap i took to Cardiff city centre to see if i could find a sample. Upon going into the Card Factory i noticed a gift sheet with the shine i want for my sheet and wrap and it also had some monster imagery. Throughout my market research i struggled to find anything that really spoke to the ideas i wanted to create so am very happy i found this product/ sample.
What attracted me to this piece as a sample was the glossy finish it has when caught in the light. The shine is not over bearing; however, makes the overall piece attractive. I feel this will appeal to my childs market as it helps the colours become more vivid compared to a matt finish. As i was shopping in a low end store i also know i can achieve this finish for a low price which will fit into my low end market. This particular gift sheet retailed at 35p.
The imagery on the sheet directly relates to my own project; however, in a different style. The designer has used muted tones, none of which exact primary colours. This reflects my own colour pallet also as none of my hues are primary colours; however, i have chosen a slightly more vivid array. Because the designer has chosen muted tones this design feels more so to be aimed at a younger demographic than my own.
The composition of the piece is also very similar to my own gift roll as there is a huge lack of negative space. The sheet is a wash with textures and monsters all staggered going up the page. This is something i had initially thought about experimenting with within my own collection; however, decided to make my monsters interlocking. After gaining feedback from Matt in the formative assessment i could try to stager my monsters in this way as i feel it will help extend my collection. I can imagine this type of design on a card with two monsters holding up bunting which says happy birthday. With the inclusion of the bunting it will allow me to introduce negative space on which to place the letters.
Overall i am very happy i found this sample and have added a piece of it to my desk space as i think it fits in really well with my project. If Matt asks me to make any major changes with composition within my work i definitely would like to experiment with this idea.
As i am working for a young demographic there are a lot of cards on the market for children with their ages on them. To tap into this market i have created a card aimed at the specific age of 8. This design is a development from a previous post where i had the text but was not sure in which direction to develop the background
So this design ties in with my collection i have decided to add a border of monsters, extracted from my gift roll design. This card should help to tie my collection together with the inclusion of font and imagery. I extracted this border from the boarder around the text on my roll design which i then slightly edited so it would fit around the text.
Below shows my first step in arranging the text around the imagery. Although being happy with this as a first step the monsters were to big in scale, distracting from the text. I want this design to stand out because of the text and i feel because the imagery is bigger than the font it distracts from the message on the card.
Below shows my next step in my developments where i have made the monsters slightly smaller and re arranged the text. Overall i feel these monsters are a more appropriate size; however, they cover a vast amount of the card not leaving much room for the text.
As the boarder around the text is so obscure i tried arranging the words in different positions to see where they would fit in best. Out of the arrangement of this text and the one above i feel this to be the weaker one as the words seem to be written right to left. Although this may be a more creative way that could appeal to my young demographic because of the amount of visual stimulus on this card it is not easy to read.
On this third experiment i made the monsters slightly bigger again which helped to allow more room for the text. I feel this is the best balance i have had yet between the scale of imagery and the amount of it as there is now a larger negative space to add text.
Once again i tried to rearrange the text to find a more appropriate position for it. Although the words are in a linear fashion and not backwards like previously i feel this is still too confusing to read. From here i will refer to the position of the text on my first experiment and slightly re arrange it so it is in a more appropriate position.
Below shows the outcome for my second card. Overall i feel it does work; however, will need improvements following the formative assessment. I would like to use most of the imagery that is from my gift roll design; however, edit some areas so there is more room for text. As well as this, i would also like to ensure either the monsters are clear on the design with its whole face showing or not at all. I feel this will make the card look overall more professional and interesting to my target market.
For this card i have decided to add a red interior and text at a smaller scale than my previous card. I selected red as this colour is prominent on the exterior of my card so feel they will match up well. As the text on my previous card was slightly too big i have decided to make it a touch smaller and condense it onto one line so it does not take up so much space. I am a lot happier with the scale of this text than in my previous card. Once again the envelope for this card will be of a flat hue and the same as the interior of the card. I feel this is a really good way of uniting both the envelope and card at a low cost.
I mentioned in a previous post i wanted to change the text of my current roll design to my monster font. With lots to do i was concerned this would not get done before the formative deadline; however, by prioritising work and managing my time better i have been able to. One of the reasons i wanted to experiment with this font on my roll design was that Sian felt my text and monsters were too distant from each other.
To add the text to this design i used a combination of both photoshop and illustrator. As my previous font had a white outline i decided to reflect this in my monster font as i found this helped the text to stand out against its busy background. Although it does help the monster font to stand out i am now wondering if a black outline would have been better as the font does stand out because of its new bolder colours. For the formative assessment i will submit this design as there are still other aspects of my project i want to complete.
Overall i feel this font does help to unite the illustrations and text as now everything directly reflects monsters. Despite this, i am unsure of whether this design is now too busy; however, will ask for Matts feedback on this. Within the formative assessment i will present both my original design and this one with the new font to see Matts opinions.
After reviewing my initial sheet design i decided to add a white outline to the text before the formative assessment so i could make an informed decision on which would be best to present to Matt. I wanted to add a white outline to the text as i felt the black outline merged too much with the black background and felt adding a white one would help the text to stand out.
As the end result for this design will be printed i have decided to print out my 3 different colour combinations of this repeating structure to ensure i am making the correct decision.
Overall i feel the white outline does help the text to stand out a lot more vividly than it did with a black outline; however, it is not as good as i originally expected. The white outlines do help the hues to stand out against the black background; however, they also lighten the overall tone. For the formative assessment i will present this design to Matt; however, also this design with a white back ground to see what his opinion is.
For my mockups i decided to use the designs i have finished so far so i would have some done before the assessment and i would not have to do them last minute. I was very relieved when Helen mentioned they do not have to be perfect as of yet as i have not practiced this technique since second year so, it will take me a few attempts to get it right.
The first mock up i completed was one for my card. To create this mock up i did not use a displacement map as the design would be flat anyway. I think this was a good way to get my mind back into the process of what i was aiming to achieve before diving in with the long process of displacement maps.
Overall this design did come out a lot better than expected as i was anxious about the top edge of my design. If this was just straight it would have been more straight forward as i could have just filled in the image i had found on the internet with my own design. I decided to not look for an image with a border on the top like my own as it is a very specific shape. Considering my initial hesitations i am very happy with this outcome although the orange inside of the card does stand out slightly. Compared to my hard copy mock up i do think this looks a lot more professional.
For my second mock up i decided to use an actual displacement map now having gained confidence from my card. So i knew what steps to take when creating this map i referred back to my second year blog which contains very detailed notes on how to create this map.
Because of these notes the process was very straight forward to follow. My main struggle was balancing the folds within the paper and the hues of my original design. Looking back i should have spent longer playing with the brightness and contrast to ensure this was as high as possible. Despite this i feel it is still a good first attempt for the year and will help for when i produce the mock ups for the summative assessment. There is still lots of improvement for my displacement map skills. Despite being happy with what i have achieved i need to practice more to ensure i can get the folds in the paper and the hues within my design in the right balance.
Looking back at the difference between my mental attitude of the formative assessment towards the end of last year compared to approaching this one i am very happy with myself. Last year the pressure got to me so i did not complete a series of tasks that were required at the formative assessment point e.g. mock ups as i could not cope. I have now learnt to look at tasks one at a time so’s to not overwhelm myself with the grander picture. Also what i really believe helps me is that i write day by day lists of things to complete instead of one big lists which contains every task i need to do within the next 3 weeks. By giving myself more concise tasks, which are relevant day to day it means i only have to focus on these and not everything i should be doing; however, can not fit into one day.
To ensure i know what substrates i want my products printed onto and what finish i want them to receive i have conducted some online research into what is available in the low end market. I believe this will give me a better idea of how exactly i want my designs to look and also help to paint a better picture for Matt.
Card
300 GSM card
UV Gloss finish
Having a high GSM of card will be essential to ensure my cards can stand up and be durable. 300 GSM appears to be the most regally available on the market within the low end sector.
Upon seeing the outline of a UV Gloss finish i was not 100% sure what exactly it meant. A gloss finish is understandable; however, the UV element bewildered me. Upon further research this is a glossy shiny liquid coating which is then cured using UV lights. I believe having this shiny coating on my cards will make them more attractive to children and should really help the cards hues to stand out. When viewing cards within the low end sector it was uncommon to not find a card with this glossy finish so i believe it will suit my market area well.
The envelope to my card will be made out of paper with a matt finish. All envelopes on the low end market have this matt finish in order to keep costs down.
Gift Bag
100% Polyester
UV Gloss finish
I was surprised to find out that gift bags from the low end market are not made out of paper at all; however, polyester. This is most likely because the material is stronger and a lot cheeper to produce. Upon doing further research into the recycling of polyester it can be recycled; however, not forever. It is hard working for a low end market using materials which do not have a closed loop system as this is something i really wanted to include when starting this project. For now i will propose to Matt the use of 100% polyester; however, ask if he knows of any other cheaply produced materials which i could use instead, and have less of an impact on our environment.
When it came to the finish of the gift bags there was more of a variety, some with a matt finish and others with UV gloss finish. I believe a gloss finish will appeal more to my target market as this will help the colours to pop out of the bag and also match the shiny acetate screen i am looking to include within my bag. As well as this some products did include a metallic foil finish for a slightly higher price. Although this would be nice to include if i was working for a girls low end market; however, i feel it will not be appropriate for boys. As well as this i have to consider the additional costs for including an acetate screen within my bag so will want to keep all other costs as low as possible.
Gift Roll and Sheet
100 GSM
Gloss/ Silk paper
For my gift roll as this will need to be a lot thinner than the bag and card 100 GSM seems to be the main paper weight on the market at both high and low end. By sticking to this tradition i hope that my gift roll will be cheep to produce so the price can appeal to a low end market.
For the finish on my paper i want to use a gloss or silk paper. To help myself decide i will ask Matt to see if perhaps if one is cheeper than the other to produce and also have a sample to show him so he can give me an indication of whether this sample is gloss or silk. By having a glossy finish though out my collection it will hopefully help to unite my designs.
I want my gift sheet and roll to have the same finish so once again they are united as a collection. Online i can not find it outlined to whether a gift sheet has a higher gsm than the gift roll so will query matt about this during the formative assessment.
Gift Tag
100% Polyester
UV Gloss finish
Within the low end market the gift tag often comes attached to the bag so will there for be also 100% polyester. To ensure my bag and tag match i want to use the same materials to unite the two products. If i am also to sell the tags in packs i need them to also have a high gloss finish as this is what my other products will have throughout my collection.
For my first mock up for the formative assessment i decided to make a card. This design was originally one i had created for my sheet wrap; however, i felt it better suited my card design. To create the mock up i took a sheet from my sketchbook which i then folded in half before printing out my designs onto normal printing paper and sticking them on.
Originally, i was going to create my cards 5×7 inches; however, after initially printing the card this was not as big as i thought it would be so decided to change it to 7x 9 inches. Cards for children are often larger than those for adults so i wanted to ensure the scale represented my market area. When deciding i wanted to make my card bigger i looked at online for standard sizes; however, there was a complete variety of almost every size you can think of. Following the formative assessment i will make a trip to town to measure the card sizes within the low end market, to ensure mine fits into a standard size. By ensuring my card is a standard size it should mean it is cheeper to produce so can retail for a low price.
To make my design appeal more to younger boys i decided to add a curved edge to the top of the card. Often with children’s cards the shape is not necessarily rectangular and have a more interesting borders on the top and/ or side of the card. As of yet i have not considered borders within any of my designs apart from the gift sheet so this was a good way of bringing a border design into another product. Overall i feel my cutting could have been more professional along the top of the card. As i used fairly blunt scissors it does not have a crisp edge and it did not help that i was trying to cut through two pieces of card and 3 of paper all at once. When creating this card for the summative assessment i will outsource this cutting to a professional company who can achieve a crisper finish.
As well as considering the design on the front of my card i also wanted to consider what would be inside the card. Often with cards right across the market there is text and/ or colour inside. As my card is for birthdays i added the words happy birthday to the inside of the card in my monster font. I feel this is a nice addition and shows i have considered both the exterior and interior. To ensure the text was the right size i done a few experiments to ensure the text would be big enough to read; however, small enough to allow space for a message in the card. Overall despite the text i settled on seeming to be the right scale i still feel it is slightly too big for the interior of the card as it takes up too much space. To ensure i am managing my time well i will leave this text as is so i can ensure i have all my mock ups made in time for the assessment and then review it following this date.
As well as adding text to the inside of my card i also decided to add a flat hue of colour. As my design is for children i feel this will be more attractive to them than a flat white background. For this background i settled on an orange hue as this tone is on the front of my card and contrasts nicely against the black background on the cards front. I feel the orange and black combination will really appeal to my boys market. Overall i really like this addition as it really brightens the cards tone overall. Wanting to manage my time wisely i decided not to add colour to the inside of the happy birthday text; however, this is something i did concider. I feel if i did add colour to the inside of my text it would have made it stand out more and also appeal more to my target market.
When considering the envelope that would go with this card i would have it the same flat hue as on the inside of the card. This would mean the card and envelope match and it would also allow the envelope to be produced at a low price as it will not require any printing.
Overall i am happy with the outcome of this card except from the few points mentioned above. I feel the thing which most annoys me about this card is the size of the text on the inside and the thing i enjoy most is the orange background on the interior of the card. From here i will prioritise digital mock ups of my products so far to ensure i have this element for the formative assessment point.
BA Hons Textiles Consultancy Blog 