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:

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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.

cups continued

In my last cups entry, I mentioned I had one more idea to try, so here are the results of that:

cup2

I’m really glad I tried this top one, I think that’s what I’m going with. It mirrors the imagery on the mix package really well, and it’s still simple and to the point. I really did like the outlined squares in the previous design as well to use as the drink order.

I still like the second one for the vertical logo placement, because I don’t think that’s something you see on a lot of cups. However, I think the first one fits in better with the rest of the packaging scheme.

PS. As a side note, this time for the 3D part I started with just a line that I revolved around an offset axis. While it’s still not the exact replica of a cup, I think it’s looking a little more realistic this time, as it appears more open at the top.

postcards revised

In response to Jen’s last comment, I think my first postcard design was a little busy. That’s something I feel like can happen with my work a lot! I usually don’t notice until someone points it out, and then it’s much more obvious! So again, here is another benefit of keeping the blog posts coming!

So here are a few revised versions of the postcard, where I tried to incorporate more of the imagery from the packaging and cup designs:

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postcard3

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At this point I think I’m leaning towards the last one. I completely agree that having more of the off-white solid background makes it a little more relaxing and less cluttered. However, I did want to keep the original brown swirl design in part of it, as that’s something that is used prominently on the package design. I also like the flavors running down the left side as a subtle background. I wanted to keep that information in there, to hopefully appeal to more customers that may not like the flavor we’re highlighting on the back, but one of those might catch their eye and they’ll still want to come in. Lastly, I added the washout logo on the back right to potentially mirror the vertical logo on the cup. I still haven’t fully decided on the cup design either…but that’s next on the list!

Additional packaging items – cups

Here’s what I have so far for cups that customers would get if they were purchasing a beverage at the sit down store. (I’m also thinking they could sell similar mugs at these stores, or alongside the mixes at the Target type stores).

Anyway, I wanted to keep it fairly simple, and of course keep in line with the same color scheme, and look and feel of the other designs so far. I basically included just the logo and a tag line that’s sort of a shorter version of what was on the postcard “hot chocolate. your way.” I wanted something short and sweet, but that gets at what the product is, and emphasizes the creativity and relaxation that you can have the drink “your way,” just how you like it with no fuss. That’s also what I was hoping to achieve with the colored boxes below…each one corresponds with a signature flavor, so again, it’s emphasizing the idea of choices and customization.

I’m hoping that’s all okay that the tag lines aren’t exactly the same, but similar enough language to make the brand still seem cohesive. As we were discussing at the last crit, being new to all of this, I’m trying to figure out how much variation is acceptable and keeps things interesting, but also still keeps the brand recognizable and consistent. I’m hoping when I get things printed out this weekend, I’ll be able to set out all the items and make final edits from there once I see everything together!

These designs took me a lot longer than I expected, trying to remember how to properly use the 3D effects to produce the cup like shape, and then getting the logo on where I wanted it. So at this point, it’s a really basic cup shape, but hopefully it still gives a general idea of what the product would look like. I’m hoping to try and play around with it a little more to make it look more like a cup rather than just the cylinder shape!

The top design, I wanted to place the logo towards the bottom of the cup, so that if there was a sleeve on it, the logo would still be visible. I don’t think it looks bad, but it still looks like it needed something to me.

Taking a cue from Lindsay’s designs last week, I really liked the vertical logo placement on her containers, so I wanted to see what that might look like. I think it’s great to have the logo larger and more visible, but again, poses the same question of how much variation is too much. I do like that I was able to incorporate the colored boxes into the label on the cup for the barista to write down the drink order. I think that’s a good way to emphasize the creativity again, within a practical element on the cup.

I didn’t have time to try it yet, but I think my last variation would be to have the logo in the box, just like on the front of the main package design, and then where the flavor is written there, I could include the tag line. The question there is what color to use, or if I should use multiple colors on sets of cups (maybe for different seasons or specials?) Hopefully I’ll be able to work that design up soon!

cup designs

postcard design

Here’s the postcard I’ve come up with tonight. First of all, it would definitely go with the 3rd or 4th drafts from earlier (I’m leaning towards the 4th). I wanted to continue the swirl theme, and highlight the six specialty flavors, to hopefully intrigue people that at least one of the flavors would catch their attention (if not more!). Then I also wanted to note the fact that at the store you can customize your own drinks, so the possibilities are even greater.

postcard

Overall, I think it fits well with the package design so far…they feel cohesive to me. However, there are a couple things I’m unsure about for the postcard at this point. First of all, I’m wondering if I should have a photo of the hot chocolate. I really liked that aspect of the “slovak spoon” postcard we looked at last week. It’s one of those ads you see and even if you aren’t hungry…you’re tempted. I’m not sure if a picture of hot chocolate would have the same effect, but I’m wondering if I need to show a cup or some sort of other food imagery to get people thinking along that line.

Also, this is a smaller point, but I wonder if I should mention where else the brand is sold? I’m not sure if this would be too much information (I don’t want the postcard to lose focus), or if that would promote more people to buy the brand (“oh, I can’t make the tasting on Saturday, but I could go to Target and pick some up.”) I’m thinking it might be too busy, and lose focus from the tasting event, but I think it’s still something to consider.

packaging explanations

For all of these, I decided to go with the logo with “hot” incorporated into the word chocolate. It first I was a little hesitant that it might not be as readable (people would just see chocolate), but the more I thought about it, the more it grew on me. First, I want people to think chocolate first; it is the primary component of hot chocolate, and I want to give off the impression that the brand uses real chocolate, not imitation materials. So in this respect, I think the emphasis on chocolate is good. And also, I feel like most of the packaging underneath would say something to the effect of “hot chocolate mix, or 8 servings of hot chocolate, etc,” so I would hope that would clear up any possible confusion about what type of chocolate it is.

Also, I liked that the logo itself was a little simpler, and would lend itself to more packaging designs and versatility. And on last note, I really couldn’t ask for better luck, as one of the previous comments noted, that the letters HOT are perfectly spaced in the word chocolate. So I think I’m finally set on this logo design.

Now I’ll talk a little about the packaging drafts I posted:

Draft 3 – I was trying to keep things simple, while still using the “swirl” imagery that I think represents hot chocolate pretty well. I wanted to emphasize this particular flavor in the packaging, so if I moved forward with this design, the raspberry background color would change depending on the flavor. I do have to say on this one, the raspberry color looks much pinker in this post – just FYI!

Draft 4 – This one is a bit of an inverse of draft three. The swirl and background colors are switched, and again, the raspberry colored box would change color with the flavor. Of these two, I think I would lean towards this one, as I want to make sure the brand looks cohesive despite any color changes. I think by having the smaller square of color change, the brand would be more recognizable as a unit on the shelf, versus having too many competing colors.

Draft 5 – This one went an entirely different direction. The six colors on the back would represent each of the six signature flavors in the line, so then I tried to mirror that on the front just having the individual square of the flavor for this box. I like the idea behind this one, but I’m not completely satisfied with the result, I think it might be too simplistic. I tried playing with some of the effects we’ve been talking about in class for the squares on the back, but I wasn’t completely satisfied with that either. So I guess this one is sort of a work in progress if I would chose to go in this direction!

Draft 6 – For this one, I changed two major things from the previous draft. First, I added in the “chocolate chip” part of the logo. I wasn’t sure if maybe since the logo was entirely text, if it needed some sort of identifying graphic to accompany it, especially for the back of the packaging. Again here, I added the highlight on the chip in the color of the flavor, and that would change depending on the flavor in the box. However, I’m thinking that might be so small that no one would really pick up on it! Also, after playing with the scribble effect, I added that behind the logo on the front. I kind of like how this looks, or I was also thinking it could represent torn paper, that the main logo on the front could be two additional pieces of paper attached onto the front (giving some texture and dimension vs. being printed flat on the box.) The only problem I might see with this idea is cost wise – I’m trying to keep this as a Target-esque brand, so I wouldn’t want the packaging costs to drive up the price too much.

So I would definitely love input on these drafts! I know I have a lot of work ahead of me this week to finish up, especially since I really want to hear about portfolios tonight too. But I hope once I have this first packaging design solidified, the rest of the products will come easier as they should look fairly similar for a cohesive marketing strategy.

By next week, I hope to have this packaging complete with at least two or three different flavors to get a feel of how it would look on the shelf, I would also like to put together a postcard this week to advertise the store and the specialty flavors they have. And then if there’s time, I might try to work on either a cup or sleeve for the cups at the store, and/or the individual packets of mix that come in the box. Hopefully I can have these done by early this week too, so there’s still time for feedback before I get printing. I’m realizing I definitely should have moved along a little faster with the logo part of this project so I’d have more time for these products at the end…

first packaging drafts

So I probably won’t have too much time to write about these before crit, but I wanted to get the ideas posted.  More details to follow!

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research and refocusing

So last week in class I started working on a label for my hot chocolate container.  I’m thinking about doing sort of a puffy box (one of those hybrid type things that’s between a box and a cylinder, just a fold on each side and the circular tops “puff” the box out).  I think I’m going to have to try making one before I decide on this format as my final!  But I wanted to use this sort of packaging, as it’s one I haven’t seen before, and I think that will help it stand out on the shelves from the traditional boxes and canisters.

However, so far I’m not all that crazy about my design.  I think it has some good things about it, but I’m not that excited about it overall.  So I decided I should really sit down and do a little research before class tonight about what other hot chocolate brands are out there, and how my design can differentiate this brand.

First, there are your well known brands that I think just about every grocery store carries: Swiss Miss, Nestle, Hersheys, and also Ghiradelli and Godiva.  I’m not sure that all stores carry the last two, but they seem to be fairly well known brands overall.  Here are some quick shots of their package designs:

There are also a few additional brands I found in my searching.  The first two in the following picture are a little more upscale, the bottom three are specialty brands I found at Target:

There aren’t any major similarities that I see across all the brands.  But I will say that in general, I feel like the mainstream brands (Swiss Miss, Nestle and Hershey’s) are a little busier than the upscale brands.  Since I want my brand to be a little more calming and relaxing, I don’t think that’s a feel I want to go for.  Also, on the Swiss Miss brand, it gives a feeling of cold and winter with the snow and mountains in the background.  While I know that’s when a lot of people drink hot chocolate, I also want my brand to be something people want to buy year round.  So I definitely want to stay away from any seasonal type of imagery.

I like that the upscale, and specialty brands feel a little more clean, and detached from any seasonal imagery.  However, I still feel like they could be a little cleaner, or more modern, so perhaps this is the angle I need to take on with my brand.  The two upscale brands are probably my favorite overall, and these were the two not sold at Target, so I think bringing something a little more crisp and fresh to the shelves is what I should be focusing on.  Something that feels slightly upscale, but not so much to alienate a typical target shopper, or give off the impression it’s more expensive than it is.

Before, in my original post about the company, I used the following adjectives to describe the company: calming, relaxing, creative and unique.  I still definitely want to keep all these feelings, but I think from my research, I want to also add clean, modern and accessible.  Clean and modern in the respect that I want my product to stand out on the shelves as something a little fancier, but again, not to alienate a typical target customer.  Accessible can go two ways, first that it reaches a mass audience, and second that it’s a product people want to buy year-round.  It can still be something that’s relaxing, calm, and a bit of a treat, but also a treat you would want any season of the year, and not something so fancy you feel guilty for buying it!

So I hope this is going to help focus my work a little more for class tonight!  At least I’m learning a little more of what I don’t want, and what angle to focus on!

final project – round two

So after crit last week, and reading people’s comments, I decided I definitely needed to take a second look at my logo. I hadn’t thought about it reading as a “warning label,” but that was not the feel I was going for! So first, I decided to try playing with the relative size of the two words, and I think I like where this is going now. Keeping the “hot!” in the script font I feel makes it less jarring, and then having “chocolate” be the more prominent word makes that more of the focus. (As it should be…that’s why you’d drink hot chocolate!).

I had liked the look of the squares previously, but with the new word arrangement, I don’t think I can keep that…I tried a few, but I’m not really satisfied with how they look. After some of the demonstrations we had in class, I tried playing around with the twist tool, and I thought it made a really cool effect that sort of looks like chocolate the way it swirls at the top of your cup. I hope other people get this impression too, and if that’s the case, I’m definitely leaning towards one of the bottom two designs posted below. I wasn’t sure if the one on the left might be too busy, but I feel like it could also be influenced with how the rest of the packaging looks, and how the logo is used. I’m looking forward to the that next challenge of now actually using the design on packaging!

final project – first logo drafts

Here are some drafts I’ve come up with so far.  First I wanted to take a look at the text I was using for the logo.  I have a number of options here:

Right now I’m leaning towards the top two, keeping the fonts a little more simple, so that it’s still clean, calming and easily readable.   However, I think this will highly depend on how the font fits in with the rest of the logo design, colors, etc.

Here are some first thoughts for logos.  Again, I’m still deliberating about which fonts to use, and of course what the overall logo would look like!  But I started trying out a few combinations:

The six bottom squares are the color palette I’m looking at using.  I wanted to pick a shades of brown to use to represent each different kind of chocolate.  The other colors I feel like could represent different flavors (reddish for raspberry, green for mint, orange for cinnamon or orange , etc.)  Overall, I wanted the color palette to be calming, and also pleasing in terms of food – colors that make the hot chocolate look appetizing.   (Right now as I’m posting this, I hope these colors look the same as when I worked on this at home, since I have CS2… ).

So far I’m leaning towards the square designs.  I think the text layout I have so far lends itself well to this, and it’s a versatile  shape to use on any marketing items I come up with.  I’m leaning towards the brown text as well, only because I think it evokes more of a chocolate feeling, but I’m still definitely in the early stages.  I’m very open to feedback, and hopefully between the blogs and crit tonight, I’ll have a solid direction to start taking this project after tonight!