End of Module Evaluation

This module as a whole has been fun and has furthered my understanding and practice of graphic design. Although some of the work that I have produced I wasn’t happy with. This work was within the YCN brief. I found the partner ship brief harder than my previous experiences last year. The hardest thing was agreeing on the designs them selves with my partner. Although we both appreciate each others design approach, I don’t think that our skills mix together as well as they could. It didn’t help that a lot of the designs I was producing I wasn’t happy with and my main role within the partner ship was the ‘illustrator’ so I didn’t really get to finalise and develop my bad designs into good design. But the YCN brief wasn’t all bad, I think having two heads is much better than one when it comes to coming up with conceptual ideas. We were always bouncing new ideas of each other which we developed and made into an interesting outcome.

The web design part of the module was interesting and useful to know, but ‘Dreamweaver’ is a fiddly and annoying programme. I got that hang of it and designed a website that I am happy with.

The product range and distribution brief was a good one for me. I really enjoy it when you have complete creative freedom within a brief, I feel I thrive with the openness of it all. I went with the idea of a butchers because it could of incorporated a lot of aspects of design that I enjoy and haven’t tried before. I think making a logo is one of the hardest things in graphic design, because it’s the icon of a company and its usually plastered on everything people see it on a daily basis so it needs to have staying power. I think my logo for ‘Teddy’s Butchers’ is a strong design that works well on letterheads and business cards. There are elements of this brief that also make it one of my strongest so far. Firstly the different wrapping designs for the different meats, with the colour coding, makes it easier for the customer to see what they have in the bag is a fresh touch on a butchers packaging. Secondly the business card which doubles up as a loyalty card. I am really pleased with the design and the stamp, which I made, ties it up well. Thirdly the recipe cards that I made where a suitable design solution for my target audience. If I were to really brand this butchers I would make lots of recipe cards for the different cuts on the animals. Also for a future addition to the recipe cards I could design different cards for styles of food ie. Chinese, Indian Italian etc. Finally I think the photography of the products really helps the project come together. I looked for ages for the perfect wooden table to photograph all my solutions on, but I found a slightly battered dark wooden one that complements them perfectly.

Product, Range & Distribution Boards

Straight Cuts Website

Photography

Photographing the end solutions to any project is very important. Through good photography you can make the graphics look more professional. Because of this I looked long and hard for the right surface to photo my solutions on. Eventually I found one which was lovely and dark and battered too.

Personal YCN Boards

Stamp

Stamp

I made a stamp for the loyalty card out of a rubber. I need to find an appropriate handle though.

Signage

Used the same rustic string for the packaging for the sign to hang on the door.

Insentive

Through the crit one of the thoughts was to have a double sided business card. I felt it didn't need to be double sided because all the information fit onto the front fine. But I added in a 'loyalty' card scheme. So if you get 6 stamps you get 6 free sausages.

Tag

Added a tag with the logo and message to tie the package up

Designs for my butchers website.

I used a image of what the butchers may look like in a duo tone. On the 'home' page below I've kept the design simple with the logo, link buttons to other pages and the opening times. I also added the soil association and RSPCA food logos.
'Who we are' page shows a picture of Teddy in 1976 when the butchers was first established and a bit of info about the butchers now.
'Top Quality' page goes into more depth of the importance of quality at 'Teddy's' butchers. Soil association and RSPCA food logo shown bigger
Recipes page shows the meat and the number of recipes for each meat. Clicking on the numbers would take you to another page with the recipe on.
'Contact' page is very simple. Address, phone number and link to google maps to show where exactly it is.

Wrapping accessories

I tied up the package with some rustic string.I also bought some grease proof paper that I wrapped round the original, I think it gives a genuine aesthetic that would be in a butcher.

I think it needs a tag of some sort though.

Stock Issues

The white sign below looked odd next to the off white wrapping paper so I re-printed it on the same colour stock as the wrapping to keep the consistancy.

Wrapping

Printed out the wrapping paper on thinner stock so it could fold easier. The thinner stock has more of a off white hue but I think it works well. Also people said it looks less 'clinical' than the white.

Crit Feedback

Web

Web site layout , experimenting with background colours

Info cards

I decided to get rid of the image of meat on the card. It didn't fit the style I was going for.
The same for the beef card.The chicken card too.From the crit my class mates pointed out that everything was in the centre apart from the chicken cooking instructions so I centered it.

Business Card Rework

The logo on the old business card didn't have some of the lines that are on the original logo so I changed it to keep it consistent.

Pork wrapping re work

I decided to slightly change the pork wrapping paper design because it looked to spaced out compared to the beef and chicken ones.

Chicken Wrapping

PORK PORK

Development on the info/cooking instructions for the meat

Print

I printed out the pork wrapping paper and letter head to see how they looked printed and try out different wrapping techniques to make it look like a real butchers

Beef wrapping

With the same idea of cows, utensils and typography relating to the meat that comes from the animal.

Info Card

With the meat I thought I could give away a card that gives you cooking tips/ recipes. To give the butchers more of a unique selling point.

Pig

Looking at different ways to divide the pig up to show the different cuts. The dashed line looks best. Also I looked at bits of pork to illustrate their shape.

Wrapping

The tessellating animals were a bit to much so I tried just pigs, utensils and typography.To make it obvious that the packaging will be different I will colour just the animals in the wrapping.

Ticket

After talking to my classmates I have decided on this ticket.