Assignment 7: Packaging a Concept

In this assignment you will examine a concept as if it is a product - so instead of a chocolate bar, a smartphone or a washing powder, you are creating a logo, identity and advertising for an actual idea.

This is quite an abstract proposal for an assignment, but the aim is to give you the most open brief to imagine and develop an idea as purely and imaginatively as possible.

First choose one of the following concepts and draw out all your visual ideas as thumbnails on one sheet of A3:

• Wellbeing

• Sleep

• Fresh air

• Courage

• Health

• Peace

• Knowledge

• Creativity

As a budget is not part of this brief, you can think big: you can include all the things about that idea that you might normally dismiss for financial reasons.

Consider the range of possible audiences for your concept, and then rearrange the thumbnails around them. You can do this as digital montage, a collage or moveable photocopies. Record these key arrangements.

Finally, develop a set of three finished drawings aimed at showcasing the relevant viewpoints of your packaged product. for example, considering  your audience’s expectations, where or how they might obtain/purchase/find your outcome, or what changes when they interact with it. Think about what wording or ‘strapline’ you might include?

Intention

For this assignment I am going to create a product based on courage, my goal is to create several thumbnail drawings, several colour scheme to figure out the best one, produce a collage, then I am going to develop three finished drawings. I am also keen to do a little animation to do the promotional video for this task and maybe dabble in 3D sculpting to create this product but I'll see how things play out.

I want to explore courage after recently suffering panic attacks and wanted to create a product that helped me have courage, I wanted it to aim towards anyone but preferably 18-29 years old; I want the packaging to be fun but simple since vision is 50% of the sense, I want it to make someone to feel like they've got something that'll make them happy and give them what they need to go on about their day.

Mind-map/Mood board

I liked the common use of the saying "a little shot of courage" but it's usually resonated with alcohol, I want to change that saying to reduce the reliant of alcohol and towards a more healthier alternative.

I wanted to make notes on what demographic I think the product designs targeted towards

Research

I want to look into some product design research, just so I can fully understand and plan my product.

The first thing I need to understand about designing a product is to understand who I am creating the product for, and to research deeper into that demographic on their wants and needs. In this instance, I have reflected on my own personal desires that I believe reflect people my age, I've seen plenty of videos online of people around my age expressing their anxiety, however, I would like to explore that in depth. 1

According to the Mental Health Foundation UK, "In 2021, those aged 16 to 29 years were most likely to have some form of anxiety (28% likely)" with women more likely to experience anxiety at a higher level than men. 2 Even though there is less men, the suicide rate is much higher in men, not to diminish the voices of all that suffer. In the UK, the NHS had spent "£217.5 million on medication" and the most money being spent on these medications during COVID in 2020; as said in Forth with life blog. 3

Going back to my product research, I have to think about different ideas and come up with many solutions as possible for the product. Once you have the basic ideas, create a prototype and test it out to consumers, this way you can get feedback on what's right and wrong about the product. 4

There are basic things that I need to apply when I come up with a product, such as a typeface, colour scheme and composition (spacing) and logo design which I have previously researched in other learning logs prior to this assignment.

Sketch Phase

I tried to think of different things that could make it feel natural and also calm to give you courage, and I played with having a mascot which played with the idea of aiming for a younger demographic. I also tried to bounce off with beer carrier design but it didn't feel special and hand-crafted that I wanted it to be.

Thumbnails and Age Demographic

This was a little tricky for this part, because I somewhat already had a demographic in mind-- But I created some thumbnails just for fun and that can be put with a variety of different demographic.

The important sketch

While thumb-nailing, I got carried away with this sketch and extended from this plan; creating the company/product aims and different product elements that pushed the product further.

Three Drawings

Colour Palette Ideas

I found a great website that helped narrow down colour palettes and I managed to pick out the following colour designs. I wanted to capture bright colours to create a positive mood,

Product in full

Little Advert

Evaluation

This assignment was to design a product based on a concept, I decided to make a drink that'll give you courage. Coming up with a variety of concepts for the design, sketching out any ideas and doodling away-- figuring it out.

I did several thumbnails and coordinated them to age groups, and I had a basis of what age demographic I wanted to make these products for. Then I produced three drawings showing different interactions and going a little in-depth at the product details.

To push this further, I added some colours to further the product design, I tried to apply bright colours to create a positive vibe and I wanted to keep the design really simple.

This assignment was surprisingly very difficult, and I was really worried that I couldn't capture a good product design. I also tried to attempt to create a 3D both physically and in a program, however, after two failed attempts I thought it as best to leave it.

I'm a little disappointed with how my product design has turned out, I couldn't figure out how to make it look better. I wish I did a better job, I don't like how it turned out. Looking at the product more, I'm worried that the design resembles that of the 'Rising Sun' iconography which is really offensive to South Koreans-- but I hope this isn't the case.

I sort of liked how the little animation turned out, although that wasn't part of the brief...

After re-reading the brief several times over, I have decided to redo this task-- my aim is to improve, I need to create a logo and the identity. I am going to reflect the work I have already done and influence that into a logo and identity.

Sketching/Thumb-nailing

Starting from the first group of sketches that did have some influence from my previous sketches, I've included a mascot this time as I feel like this could be good for branding; I was inspired by some text I wrote halfway through and liked the rounded look.

Branding/Logo

Three Drawings

Little Animation/Branding

Side by Side

I much prefer the 2nd branding to the first, the first seems a bit boring and and the colours aren't organised as nicely as the second. I focused more on the branding at gave me the benefit of a better drawing.

2nd Evaluation

After re-working and actually including the branding, I would say that it has improved much more, but I feel like I'm not very good at product design and branding anyway-- but it was good that I reworked it, as most first designs don't work.

I would also say that the demographic is aimed at 13-25 years old because the font is a little more rounded and the logo is a bit more "childish".

I got rid of the brown colour too, limiting the palette to only 4 colours to avoid overdoing it.

The 2nd animation is not as good as the first, I just wanted to do another little one.

Overall, I didn't mind this assignment, I wouldn't say this is my best assignment but I'm glad I tried my best.

1 N Babich, Smashing Magazine 'A Comprehensive Guide to Product Design', Jan 31, 2018 https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2018/01/comprehensive-guide-product-design/ Accessed May 5th 2024.

2 U/A, Mental Health Foundation 'Anxiety: statistics', U/A. https://www.forthwithlife.co.uk/blog/mental-health-statistics-uk/#:~:text=Here's%20a%20quick%20recap%20of,vs%2012.5%25%20of%20men). Accessed May 5th, 2024.

3 J Braithewaite, Forth With Life ' Mental Health Statistics UK 2024. https://www.forthwithlife.co.uk/blog/mental-health-statistics-uk/#:~:text=Here's%20a%20quick%20recap%20of,vs%2012.5%25%20of%20men). Accessed May 5th, 2024.

4 N Babich, Smashing Magazine 'A Comprehensive Guide to Product Design', Jan 31, 2018 https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2018/01/comprehensive-guide-product-design/ Accessed May 5th 2024.