Evaluation - OUGD601

Context of Practice has proved to be a challenging subject but a challenge that has taught me new skills and given me a better understanding of my practice. As a designer it is not often we have to do research in such depth for theoretical practices. The critical writing side of my essay has produced some really amazing results for myself. I have looked into some great theories and authors and some really interesting articles. The question asked at the start of my essay was one I was eager to answer and feel I have done so to the best of my ability. I enjoy writing and discovering new areas of design theories and feel this has helped me to continue doing so in the future.

The final designs do exactly what they are supposed to, they show how colour, type and shape can help to stereotype a product on their own. Taking an everyday product like spaghetti and making it stereotyped showed how ridiculous it can be to do such a thing to any product that bears no need for stereotyping. The designs stayed very basic and held similar layouts to make sure that only the tools stated were changed. The designs could have featured more complicated ideas like changing the layout, the packaging size and shape and the wording but for this particular experiment it worked. This reflected findings within the critical writing piece and helped to back up points made within it. The research conducted here helped to gain some further insight into the visuals of stereotyping and also to help understand design techniques better. The skills applied to this were not new but they did step away from the work I am used to usually. The work I am stepping towards is that of a traditional printing style. This gave me look into digital styling as traditional methods would not have be relevant for this type of work although the question is something I stand by and really wanted to know more about. Although the methods were mainly digital all the boxes were hand cut and folded so some physical work was able to be put into the designs in that respect. If approaching a project like this in the future was an option a few things would change. A range of products could be produced all bearing different stereotypes and see if people would know the difference or in fact know what the products themselves were. More adventurous shapes for the products could be made using a range of different materials but as this was not the point of this project it was left out. Overall the project does what it is meant to and backs up the points made in the critical writing.

Time Plan - OUGD501

This was the time plan for the practical side of the module. Mostly the plan was stuck to throughout and only altered in a few areas. Time planning has become better within this module.

Synthesis - OUGD601

The practical side of this module has linked to the critical writing side using information and researched gathered for both. The research is geared towards answering the question “How are products stereotyped?”. Using this information a 5000 word essay has been produced answering questions like what is branding, packaging and advertising and how do they all link? This gave the understanding of how a product is made to be stereotyped. Brands create consistent images throughout all their marketing to create brand loyalty. Often this image can be helpful in the buying process to make sure that the correct person buys the right thing so that you do not spend unnecessarily. Brands sometimes take these understandings and use them against us, using tools like; colour, type and shapes to sell a product to a specific target audience when really their is no need. A pen should not have a specified gender therefore it should not be stereotyped in such a way. The practical side of this model will show how a piece can be stereotyped in such a way only through the use of the tools stated. It will be shown how brands can take advantage using three pieces; one for a female audience, one for a male, and one for a child. A fourth and final piece of packaging will be made to show how a product can be shown for what it is, a neutral item that needs nothing other that what it is on the front and what it’s function is. To do this a mundane product has been used to demonstrate. Spaghetti is a food item with no need to be stereotyped and from the questions answered throughout the critical writing we will see why this is and why there is no need for it at all.

Practical, Final Critique - OUGD601

Above are the final printed designs for the spaghetti packaging. The design are stereotyped using colour, typography and shape. From left to right the designs are stereotyped for; Neutral, Male, Child and Female audiences. The designs have had constant feedback from peers throughout the process and in the end these were the designs picked and specified to have the best connotations for all four audiences. The type, colour and shapes could have all been used in various ways and would not have come out in this way but put together as they have been and society has taught us who should purchase each product. Spaghetti may still not have the connotations as a product and these still would most likely be bought as they should,  based on what they are and how they work not for who they're aimed at. This test however has shown that these ideas and beliefs can be brought to any product no matter how ridiculous and the key point is how stupid it would be if everything had to be stereotyped even if it is not needed.

Practical, Rethought Designs - OUGD601

The design above was created in hopes or making a product aimed at an older target audience using some designs that would reflect that. Issues arose when not much research had been made into the designs making it harder to create. From feedback the colours were said to remind people of that of the german flag which is no the stereotype this product is aimed at.

Going back to the men's packaging it can be seen that new designs had occured inspired by some already existing packaging designs from various beauty and healthcare companies. The colours have been brought out more and the direction of the design changed back to a portrait one with a viewing window to fit in with all the other designs.

The female packaging was changed slightly too, keeping a more simple look and steering away from beauty product design. The idea was to use similar colour ways but maybe change up the type to suit more of a feminine script type. The design is still inspired by beauty packaging but has stayed quite simple with the shapes as to not overcomplicate things.

The final critique for these pieces are as follows. The blue suits a male audience better, the shaping and layout work better to keep a consistent design. The typeface on the women's packaging now really suits a feminine look, the colours have been toned down and the shaping helps to make the piece a bit more basic for a food product. 

Below are the final pieces, they will now need to be test printed at full size (A3) rather than A4 once access to an A3 printer is available. After this size of information and the overall look of the designs will need to be adjusted appropriately and then printed on the final stock.

Practical, Designs - OUGD601

The first design was the children's packaging, a character was created and bright colours used to make the piece fun and playful. The hamster can be seen eating spaghetti, there will be a small cut out window so that you can see the pasta through the box. The typeface used is fun and childlike and the information has been highlighted in a way consistent with other children's packaging.

These are some initial ideas for the male packaging. Using colours associated with men variants could be made. Type is bold and capitalised to show strength and the packaging is kept quite basic to show no nonsense. 

Above are the female designs. The colours once again are supported by research on female stereotypes. Shapes have been used to create some feminine looking patterns and the typeface is delicate and thin. 

For the neutral packaging there was a bit more leeway with the design but initially the packaging had to show ideas. Either keep it simple or make the design a bit more abstract. Colours and type can be based on research and the shapes also follow this. The design as a whole should stay quite basic with nothing too fancy on.

After sending the designs to peers they were critiqued. The favoured designs are above and once printed were send again. 

The reasoning for these designs to be chosen were based on the initial thoughts from peers on what best stereotypes the different audiences. The neutral packaging had the most variants and the piece above was chosen based on the face it stayed mostly neutral using basic colours and shapes to explain what the product was. After printing the male and female packaging was questioned. The female looked a little too much like a perfume of beauty product so new designs will be mocked up. The male packaging looked too close to the design of some specsavers products based on the colour and the design as a whole. There were no issues with the children's packaging and was quite often the favourite design. 

Practical, Making a net - OUGD601

The chosen product for the packaging is spaghetti. This requires a net so a box can fit around the pasta.

The box itself would have to be measured to make sure that pasta could fit into it. The box measures, h300mm x w80mm x d20mm. This would fit a standard 500g packet of spaghetti inside. Usually spaghetti comes in plastic packaging as it is easier to control and keep fresh. A card outer layer would almost be irrelevant to the design but it has been done prior to this. On another note the whole project is fiction and is just to demonstrate how colour, type and shape can affect someone's view on a product.

Initially the design had smaller tabs to fit the box together. After printing this proved harder for the box to close effectively so the tabs had to be made a similar size to the depth of the box. 

 Once the tabs has been adjusted the box could be remade. This time the tabs matched the depth of the box and on the lid small slits were made on the top tab so that the side tabs could slot in more efficiently.