Packaging & Merchandising Design - Project 2

Edita Chew En Thung / 0357357

Publishing Design / Bachelor of Design (Honours) in Creative Media / Taylor's University
Project 2 (Collaboration with TBS)

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Table of Content

1. INSTRUCTIONS

2. PROCESS

3. FINAL

4. FEEDBACK

5. REFLECTION

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INSTRUCTIONS

fig 1.0 | Module Information Booklet (MIB)

As the part of the interdisciplinary project, we had to design the packaging of the food product being developed by business students (TBS). As design students we had to work together with TBS and SLAS students to develop a commercial viable product. This was done by ensuring cross-references in the packaging design and the brand of the product, target group of people, and the overall business strategy.
Our Responsibilities:
Research & Analysis: Get to know the product, its special selling points (USP) and carry out market and consumer research in order to pin the target audience.
Concept Development: Development fresh and innovative design ideas of the packaging design that contains message of the brand and customized to the targeted consumer.
Design Implementation: Create a polished final design of the package based on a suitable size, attractive appearance and conveying of the product.
Collaboration: Liaise with students in other faculties to be sure that our design can make use of the business model, marketing strategy and consumer profile.
The project necessitated the critical thinking process, good design skills, and ability to work in teams to take a product made by students nearer to the market.

After TBS's pitching from all the groups, I chose "ThermoBrew", along with my formed group.

Week 1-3

After discussion, we, the 2 teams were to work on sketching a rough draft with variations of our version of the logos and preferably a mascot for their brand, ThermoBrew. Then progress will be shown by week 3 to finalise and revised.

SLIDES (LOGO PROPOSAL)

Logos were done by group members and mostly by me and Maisarah. 

We had 2 groups for ThermoBrew, we openly discussed and exchanged ideas on how we could design and make both group's designs consistent and align to the brand.

Chosen logos were mine and Maisarah's to integrate and improved and presented/proposed on the next weekly meeting.

After improving and revising the logo, the Designs were approved.

Then, the mascot was done by Maisarah and was decided to use her designs as Thermobrew's mascot

FINAL LOGO + colour palette for packaging

Logo & Logo in B&W

Maisarah worked on improving the logo and I told to change from just reversing from black to white, to give it a white background behind the logo instead. Just by reversing the logo looked a little too simple and it didn't feel right, so I suggested to change it to this way when the logo is used in a darker background setting.

I searched for a decent typeface for the brand ThermoBrew, and the logotype we decided on was Prosto One after some experimenting with other san-serif fonts like Roboto.

We chose Roboto as our body font.

Deciding and finalised colours, logo, etc, after our weekly meeting.

After researching and sourcing the fonts, we concluded on the final outcome and placed it in the slides with the other group as collaborative work where we can always critique and improve our progress together as a whole team rather than competing against each other.

PACKAGING PROCESS (SKETCH)

This is what I sketched for our group, and we discussed to have carmen's group design to be their packaging.

The first design of this sketch was chosen to be the packaging of the thermos. 

After a thorough discussion with the 2 groups, we decided to go with a solid colour toning approach to match with the minimal design of ThermoBrew's brand. Then the 2 teams worked on the designs of the 2 different target audiences respectively

Finalised proposal of the designs, colours and fonts

The slides above is a combination of 2 groups to form an agreement and presented for approval to the lecturer of the business school students, ThermoBrew's supervisor.

I worked on the whole design of the packaging and added some placeholder text before the ThermoBrew business students gave us the list of things to be included on the box.

It was then handed over to Maisarah to place the remaining text.

Then, Me and Group 2 worked on tweaking some faults in the box making as I felt like it could have a more sturdy lock with a box slot mechanism to lock it in better. 

And so, we tweaked the box cut to the latest version below.

Final packaging (adventurous & workaholic)

we have discussed to make the work consistent by adhering to the style we chose as it could be weird and disrupting if styles we're done differently from the brand's original aesthetic, thus creating a harmonious theme of the workaholics and adventurous target audiences. 

The physical mockup was then printed on a sticker paper and pasted on a corrugated thin cardboard and have it done in a printing shop with lasercutting services.

FINAL

The finalised design and dieline cut was done (with approval) and revised with some tweaks here and there, before it was sent to printing on sticker and pasting it on a thin but sturdy one-layer corrugated cardboard.

SLIDES

Final slides for project 2

FEEDBACK

Lecturer was informed on our progress and feedback was not given during this time for this particular project as we are dealing with the business students as our "clients" and we adhere to their requests and opinions while we provide support and our side of concerns throughout the project collaboration.

REFLECTION

In this project, I was able to work across disciplines and this actually challenged me to think beyond the visual side of the package. Just any design that looks good was not the issue as it had to convey a message, reach out to the targeted people and be consistent with an overall business and marketing strategy. I understood that it was of extreme importance to be consistent in aligning design choices to the story and values of the product since I found myself in a team, with each discipline having a unique perspective.

It is also due to collaboration where I became very conscious of the importance of presenting and defending ideas in a clear and confident manner. By presenting early ideas or revising them to improve them according to the audience reception, I was required to critically think on what was effective, what was not, and why. Prototyping was also quite heavy because not only were we testing aesthetically, but we were also testing how practical and prepared our packaging was in the market.

On the whole, the project actually allowed me to develop as a person, creator, and leader. It also helped me realise the role of design in the marketplace in being able to get consumer perception and contribute business when done properly, as well as making it be realized that communication and cooperation are as significant as the last product.