Alternative techniques - SWOT ANALYSIS

For alternative techniques we were all tasked with finding and creating our own briefs but we had to develop ourselves as designers, we did this through a S.W.O.T analysis.

S - Strengths - Illustrator skills

W - Weaknesses - Photoshop skills i.e. mock ups

O - Opportunities - Placements that are available through the college and Claire

T - Threats - Other students, lack of theory and understanding of print.

Although i've only used the SWOT analysis for this project i have realised that this must an ongoing process if i want to see progression in my design skills.

Phonica records - initial ideas and development

These are just the rough ideas and concepts for the packaging, notice that i try to make each packaging multipurpose and eco-friendly.

Top :

. Poster comes in a box rather than a tube

. The middle of the box has a smaller perforated square

. Comes away to produce frame

Middle:

. Box for vinyl sleeve 

. Slight perforation in the middle, to crack open

. Although not seen ridges underneath to stack to make cabinet of vinyl

Bottom:

. Same idea as above but across perforation QR codes

Phonica Records- The brand

To follow up my earlier posts of packaging, since i had looked into different trends occurring within packaging i thought i'd look further into Phonica as a brand and it's characteristics. Phonica is a London based music store which specialises in Vinyl and on the website refers to the brand as "London's leading vinyl specialist", the shop format seems to be an old style crate digging style of shopping maybe i could play upon this with a crate illustration on the front of the packaging ? sort of like the images bellow but would that just be copying another companies concept

However, i do like the look of the minimal design and the vary little use of colour.

Phonica Records - Packaging

From the list of brands to produce packaging for, i chose to produce the shipping and packaging for Phonica records as it seemed more open and with Phonica being a music based company, i thought there could be many opportunities to reference musical lyrics etc.
However before delving into designing, i begun to research into what i could do to make my packaging more of a valuable asset rather than just a container, my tutor suggested that i look into QR codes. Quick response codes or QR codes, are matrix barcodes (two dimensional barcodes) are read quicker and can store more info. than regular UPC barcodes. One good example of the use of QR codes to sell a brand is the "Sneaker Angel" guerrilla branding (as seen bellow).

Maybe as an idea i could use the QR code as a link to a sample of a bands latest song or a link to the bands poster art/ tour dates.

Packaging first task

For our first task we were given the task to find a brand in need of re-branding, so me and my friend Michael Elliot set about re-branding Durres Jam. As you can see bellow the packaging, the whole graphics on the label, from the colours to the type, it all looks a bit dated.

Before we began designing we researched into the brand and found it was one of the oldest jam preserves in Britain, upon finding this out we thought we would play upon the heritage concept. To follow the concept we used a selected old traditional decorative flourishes but we used modern san serif typefaces to give a sense of modernity. As to follow tradition we agreed on using a pattern based cloth around the jar with a swing tag with the logo upon it.

This was the final concept for the jar and packaging.

Packaging Design

This years first brief is about packaging design and how we need to produce packaging to suit the company of our choice, the brands that we can choose from are Phonica records, Mr. Porter, Urban Outfitters and a few others.
Before we began the brief, we were given a presentation about different packaging techniques and trends and one thing that stuck out to me was the idea that the best packaging has more uses and is more eco-friendly as well as simplicity in its design for example

When it comes to designing my packaging, i'm going take on board the concept of minimal content and practical usage.