Archive for May 13th, 2008
finals for final project
I’m fairly happy with how things have turned out for this project, and there are definitely some things I’ve learned! So I guess I’ll talk about a little bit about each piece in the final line.
Here are the final packaging designs, one for each signature flavor:
Apart from the logo, I definitely spent the most time on the packaging for the hot chocolate mix to be sold, and I’m happy with how it turned out. I like that I went with the more consistent line of packaging and just changed the color of the squares based on the flavor. Once I put the packages together, I think it would make more of an impact on the shelf. I purposely tried to keep things more simple, and allow more “space” on the packaging (as I mentioned before, I can tend to make things a little cluttered!), and I hope it struck a good balance of having all the required information, and still being very pleasing.
I was also waivering about the puff box idea, if it wasn’t going to stand up well. It could work on the shelf if there was some sort of dividers, but that would be a pain once you got it home if there were no way to stand it up in your pantry. So I played around a little and created my own template so that it would have a flat bottom and top. I think it would be a little harder to produce ( I definitely had some trouble getting it together myself!), but I think the benefits of it being freestanding certainly out way this. I still like that it’s a different shape than you usually see, so I think that would make it stand out more on the shelf.
Here is the final postcard design: postcards1
Again, I went through several variations of this postcard as well! I had a lot of elements in the first one that I liked, but again, I wanted to make sure it wasn’t too cluttered, and it would give off a relaxing feel. On the front, I wanted to make sure the logo was prominent, and I also wanted to show that the company is very creative, and you have a lot of options with your beverage choice. That’s why I decided to keep the flavors listed on the left. I wanted to make it more of a subtle background, but after seeing it in print, I might have made them just a little darker, or the background behind them a little lighter as some get lost in the pattern. However, I am still happy with the over all feel. I really like the way the vertical logo turned out on the back as sort of a watermark, just again emphasizing the company name. I also liked Jen’s last suggestion for the colors on the back; at first I had a lighter shade of the green as the background, but I think the off white color works much better overall, and isn’t introducing new shades into the design. The only thing I would change about the printout was that it wasn’t lined up front and back! 
Hot chocolate packets (for the individual serving, this file shows three flavors): individual-labels
This design was the last I worked on, and for whatever reason came much quicker. I had already decided for the cups to use the logo with the square, like on the mix packaging, and after seeing those, I decided that would work well for the packets as well. I think that was all the front needed, just the brand and flavor, just as it was seen on the box. For the back, I just wanted the basic information – directions and the website. I included the colored box outlines to mirror the cup designs, and also again allude to all the different flavors the line has to offer. For the actual printout, ideally the paper would be a little more off-white to match the off-white color I’ve used throughout.
Cup and Mug designs: cups_final_cidol
I’m really happy with how these turned out. Again, I like the consistency, using the logo and the square as the primary image. I was also able to come up with a short tag line “hot chocolate. your way.” that can fit on the mugs where the flavor is on the other packaging, which I really like for the similarity between the products. I’m really happy with the outlined boxes too, as I feel like they’re there for both form and function. Again, it’s highlighting the different flavors in the line, but also can be used to write down your specific order. On the mug I suppose they’re more decorative, but I like the idea of a mug that mirrors the cup in the stores, to promote the store wherever you are!
My other triumph for these designs was the extrude and bevel effect. It took me awhile to get the shapes right, and they were still looking fairly blocky. I eventually moved to revolving a line around an offset axis, and that made the cups look hollow, but still fairly blocky. Then I realized I could use the pen tool to edit the line to make it look more realistic. I was able to put a lip on the cup, and make the mug feel a little heavier. Then I created a curved shape for the handle; I’m not sure it looks exactly perfect, but overall for my first attempt with this effect I’m really happy with how it turned out. And I didn’t even have to look at my notes. 
So a few things I learned, mostly with regards to workflow and production. First, next time I will make sure to have my finals printed before the day of class! I thought I could make a few last minute corrections this morning and send the files over. However, I wasn’t accounting for printing errors (not having the font I used on their computer…), so the extra time it took to reprint I really wasn’t accounting for.
Also, I had some problems working from here (CS3) and my computer at home (CS2). For whatever reason, that I still haven’t figured out, the files I opened later in CS2 seemed to be all grouped, that I couldn’t individually select objects I could before, like the logo I had grouped, etc. So that ended up being problematic, as I had to recreate a number of elements so I could modify them for the final designs. I think had I used layers a little more in my work this might have gone more smoothly. I ended up using them more once I recreated elements, and my production went much smoother!
Because of these issues, I definitely would try to work a little faster on the front end of the project. I took a long time deliberating on the logo – which I think was worth it – but I should have budgeted for more time at the end.
Overall, I’m very happy with how this product turned out. It’s something I would definitely buy, and I think for my first packaging design project, the line came out very cohesive and attractive overall. I like the logo decision I made, I think it’s very unique (that the letters fit so perfectly in the word!) and it ended up being very versatile and I think it would serve the company well. I’m glad I kept the swirl effect as well. It was a little harder to work with to make sure things were still readable and not cluttered, but I think it gives of a nice relaxing feel that I wanted, and it makes me think of chocolate. I’m happy with the color scheme overall too. That was one of the first things I decided on, and I think it ended up working well throughout the project. I like the dark brown throughout, again, it makes me think of chocolate, but it also seemed appealing for food while still being calming and modern. Certainly there are little things I would change here or there if we had another week (it’s the perfectionist in me!), but I’m very happy with the end result overall.
Add comment May 13, 2008
