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Packaging Evaluation

  I’m very pleased with my final design as I really let my historical and visual research guide the project into the final piece. It’s been an interesting project to look at an ancient site and try to link it to a more modern, sleek aesthetic with the Millenial and Gen-Z audience in mind. I feel that my target-audience really influenced my decision making as it led me to making an “experience” orientated packaging with the moss and lichen inside the box, which at the same time referred back to the history of my location. Also my use of a sans serif font is a nod towards this younger generation and trying to keep the branding modern and with the current trends, rather than looking rustic and vintage which is the direction it could have gone in.   From my research I’m also aware that a quiet, minimal black design would hopefully stand-out amongst my competitors due to it’s quieter and maybe more mysterious appearance on the shelf, as the current trends are to be white-labelled, floral and bright, especially as the gin market is more geared towards appealing to a female audience.

  Things I feel I could of improved upon are making the physical mock-up packaging, as it didn’t look very professional and I feel if I had access to college resources like printers and cutters this maybe could have helped a bit as I’m limited to only being able to print A4 at home. I also feel like I could have played around more with the layout of the labelling on the back of the bottle however I’m not sure how else I could have aligned things.

  Overall I’m very pleased with my final bottle design and feel like I fully explored the possibilities for making the final logo and trim design.

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Flying Dog The second labelling I chose to look at was Flying Dog which was started in the 60′s by George Stranahan in California. I used to buy this beer alot when I lived in Boston and loved that Ralph Steadman and Hunter S. Thompson had a part in the branding and imagery of the beer. Through Stranahan and Steadman’s friendship “in 1990, Thompson introduced Stranahan to Ralph Steadman, who went on to create original artwork for Flying Dog's beer labels in 1995.”* Steadman is a traditional satirical cartoonist that works with inks and nibs, paint and pens so the graphic designers are working with a very analogue, splashy artwork each time to convert into a label. I think it took the company a while to find it’s voice with Steadman’s drawings. Although, similar to Brewdog their beer really stood out with Steadman’s distinctive style from a Graphic Design point of view I feel they struggled to find typography and hierarchies that worked with steadman’s chaotic and splattered style. If you look at the blue Classic Pale Ale you can see that it feels a bit thrown together and not very successful or coherent. Fast forward to The Truth Imperial IPA packaging you can see they’ve settled on a solid green instead of a gradient and allowed the splatters to dominate but they have also found a typeface that goes well with the hand written elements of the design. I think overall though the packaging is successful now because it speaks to the younger craft beer drinker who want something that looks cool alongside tasting good. With Steadman’s labels they really do stand out and I know people that have kept the bottle purely because the label pleases them that much. _________________________________ Classic Pale Ale box -  Saucey.com. (2021). [online] Available at: https://images.saucey.com/84441d70-2b10-4839-b89e-9bc23e4abb25.tfss-c10c04e0-d0f7-45c4-b517-db509008ec74-BE-FDPALE-6BTL.jpg [Accessed 30 Apr. 2021]

* -  Wikipedia. (2021). Flying Dog Brewery. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_Dog_Brewery [Accessed 30 Apr. 2021]. Flying Dog Logo and can and bottle images -  flyingdogbrewery.com. (n.d.). Flying Dog Brewery - Good People Drink Good Beer. [online] Available at: https://www.flyingdog.com/ [Accessed 30 Apr. 2021]. The Truth box packaging -  Sparrowine.com. (2021). [online] Available at: https://www.sparrowine.com/media/catalog/product/cache/4affeeb0391b580bb11202aa0f1726bb/1/8/18771.jpg [Accessed 30 Apr. 2021].

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Brewdog

The first labelling I wanted to look at was Brewdog as they stand out in the beer market as being quite radical at the time with their anti-authoritarian message and packaging. Although the fine ale market now is more saturated, when Brewdog arrived on the scene they were really starting in the early days of the craft beer revival and hit the scene with a distinctive voice that was punk, modern and youthful in comparison to their more elderly peers that still had brown, muted and traditionally imagery associated with their beers. The first image I’ve supplied was their initial design, which was already colourful, loud and with the gritty grain texture gave the feeling of being bold and loud. Each beer had a set colour and the title of the beer was the loudest part. The rebrand, which was reviewed on the pavittdesigns blog chose to modernise the design and tighten it up into a more regimented graphic style. The review site states they had “placed beer styles to each product name to ‘help craft beer newcomers find their feet’.They have also added a three-word tag-line to each of the beers to capture what its about.”* So they were aware of making their beer understandable to a presumably new, younger, craft beer audience. Their latest rebrand saw them working with Made Thought to give a new face to the brand. “Brewdog has always had a very simple and straightforward approach to design, really focusing on bold colour and even bolder use of type and voice both in packaging and its communications,”^ The Design Week site breaksdown the change in the design stating: “The dog icon no longer sits within a shield-shaped lock-up and instead appears at the centre of the new identity.”^ so there is this shift around with the information on the can, with the new shield emblem and the smaller logo. To me their latest rebrand is definitely a sleeker affair, less punky and slowly becoming more corporate almost. As the company as grown to own hotels, more bars and more breweries it’s not surprising they are becoming a sleeker affair. I think their packaging is successful because it is so distinctive on the shelf compared to their competitors. Their vertical design period “used real wood and metal letter in order for the packaging to be come hand crafted as is there beer.”* and had a feel to each bottle with bevelled imprints on the label. It had a hand crafted character but now that’s gone from their design. Colour has always been what’s eye catching about their designs so I think they’re retained that aspect well. Brewdog have been so successful that their design is often imitated now (see final LIDL beer bottles as example.) _______________________________________

LIDL Beers -  Burns, H. (2019). Husband and wife’s Lidl craft beer deal. [online] businessInsider. Available at: https://www.insider.co.uk/news/husband-wife-brewers-400000-deal-14058146 [Accessed 30 Apr. 2021]. *Label Layouts - pavittdesigns, A. (2016). Artists/Companies/Brewerys. [online] pavitt.designs. Available at: https://pavittdesigns.wordpress.com/2016/06/12/beer-artistscompanies/ ^Can and Bottle imagery - Long, M. (2020). Web Page. [online] designweek. Available at: https://www.designweek.co.uk/issues/3-9-february-2020/brewdog-new-identity/ [Accessed 30 Apr. 2021].

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Etching

“Etching - A metal plate, usually copper or steel, is covered with a waxy, acid-resistant ground. An image is drawn onto the plate by scraping through the ground with an etching needle, exposing the metal. The plate is put into a bath of acid, which eats or ‘bites’ into the lines of the image. If desired, tone can be created using aquatint. This is a technique in which rosin dust is adhered to the plate by heat, forming small areas of tone when the plate is etched” - Glasgow Print Studio

Another printmaking process I have done in the past through Art School and at the Glasgow Print Studio. It’s another great printmaking process for the depth of mark making and for the grainy texture of the finished piece. Also the darkness of the blacks make for quite arresting images. As a fan of simple line illustrations I’ve found it a really pleasing process for crosshatching and weights of line.

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Monoprint

“A one-of-a-kind print, also referred to as a monoprint. A monotype is made by painting an image onto a non-absorbant surface such as glass or perspex. The paper is then placed on top and pressure is applied by hand or using a press. Monotypes allow the artist to work in a very natural manner, and often have a painterly look.An image may be built up with several printings, but there is only one finished image at the end” - Glasgow Print Studio Monoprint is interesting to me because it is a one off image and can be worked over slowly and more decisively and wont produce the same result every time it’s printed to it’s more unique. An artist I know from the local scene, Callum McClure, uses monoprint in a really interesting way with his muted landscape paintings and shows the breadth or mark making that you can do with the process.

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Screenprint

“Made popular by Pop artists Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein in the 1960s, screenprinting is usually associated with bold graphic images and flat areas of colour. However the process was first developed as far back as 500BC in Japan. Screenprints are made by pulling ink through a fine mesh material which has been stretched onto a frame. Originally silk was used, hence the name silkscreen printing, although currently fabrics such as polyester are more common.” - Glasgow Print Studio As a member of the Glasgow Print Studio I have been screen printing since 2019. It is quite a calculated process and it takes some getting used to in comparison to just painting on a canvas but the range in tones and colour are exciting about the process and the happy accidents make it worthwhile. It’s inspiring because of the layering you can do with just 2 or 3 colours that make it exciting and a surprise when it comes out.

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David Carson

David Carson is a contemporary American Graphic Designer who lives and works between Europe, California and Tortola. He started out  studying Graphic Art at Oregon College of Commercial Art, but left after only a few months to accept an unpaid internship with Action Now magazine. His first big start was for Transworld skateboarding from 1984 to 1988 where he began to develop his signature “grungey typography” style. He is most famous for his work in the 90’s for Raygun Magazine where he worked for over 3 years. While at Raygun he expanded on his signature style which is a very visceral and punky typographic style using letraset, torn paper, paint and distorted printed lettering. It’s a distinctive and eye catching style that went on to inspire a generation of graphic designers. For the pieces I have selected you can see that he often uses a modern sans serif font and plays with layering it ontop of other letters, painting over surfaces in white, tearing paper and spacing letters further apart than expected. While running his own studio in New York some of his clients had been Pepsi Cola, Ray Ban, Nike, Microsoft and MTV Global, but I came to learn about his work through his collaborations with Nine Inch Nails. Due to the grunge aesthetic of his typography his work is clearly influenced by modernist movements like Dada and the Fluxus movement as well as the energy of the punk and surfing scene from the 70’s and 80’s. At a time when digital technology was taking over the world of Graphic Design Carson’s work stood out and proved that analogue techniques with typography could still be as vibrant and arresting as that coming from computers at that time.

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Spin Agency

Spin Agency is a London based Graphic Design agency that specialise in a wide range of branding work from brand identities, books, marketing campaigns, motion graphics, packaging and websites. Their client base is also just as broad from the arts, communication, broadcast, design, electronics and entertainment sectors. Some of their biggest clients have been MTV, Samsung, Channel 4, Apple and Google and their main team is Design Director, Jonas Zieher, Managing Director, Patricia Finegan and Creative Director, Tony Brook. Their typographic and logo work is very playful and engaging. It ranges from sleek angular vector work to found object style lettering as well as symmetrical logotypes and graphics. The thing that I enjoy the most about their work is the use of paint and found materials and the playful way they use a range of media and not just digital vector graphics. For example the numbers I have picked from their ‘Count Off’ campaign are each totally unique and engaging as they jump from number to number in an animated sequence on their website. This playfulness can also be seen in their branding for Apple Music’s ‘Jazz Scene’ with the pink vibrant background against the blue of the varied letters that look like they have been taped, mono printed, photographed and cut out to make a lettering of various media. Tony Brook expands on this by saying ““It’s important to make something by hand,” Tony explains. “You know, it gets us off our desks…” and states that “One of my great heroes is Dieter Roth and he made things, physically made things, all the time.” Roth was a Maximalist artist who is best known for his found material works which makes perfect sense when looking at Spin’s more visceral works. However when you look at their branding for Annika the bedding company you can see how they are flexible and can also work with very tight clean graphics for products. www.itsnicethat.com. (n.d.). 20 years of design studio Spin come to a London exhibition. [online] Available at: https://www.itsnicethat.com/features/spin-360 [Accessed 18 Feb. 2021].

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Studio Aaviz

Studio Aaviz are a design studio based in Glasgow and Porto who work within the fields of branding strategy, web design and advertising. The Studio consists of 4 staff members - two graphic designers, a photographer and a person who specialises in the business side of things- each with a degree in a creative field. The studio started from a large project that helped them invest the money into building their team together and renting a small space in Mount Florida in Glasgow, as well as working from Porto, Portugal. Their work ranges from tight, modern and clean for their branding but for their own website branding it’s been more playful and fun. An example of this playfulness can be seen in their ‘Studio Aaviz’ custom lettering that they showcased on their website as a rebrand during 2020. It was presented as an animation on social media and their website so it was energetic and interesting to watch. In terms of their product branding I would describe it as being modern and eye catching with little flares in the work, such as the EANNES fabric branding having the ligature NN’s. It’s small things like that that make the product seem modern and interesting, as well as the use of the modern sans serif typeface. Their use of type is playful and imaginative but also is focused around branding so isn’t as over the top as say Marian Bantjes. For their campaigns and branding they use a range of media and technologies such as animation software, vector graphics, website design software, photography as well as working in product design with packaging. This wide range of work makes them really exciting to watch as they are just a small team of 4. You can find their work here: https://aaviz.com/

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Marian Bantjes Marian Bantjes is a Canadian born Graphic Artist who is active today, having started her design career in 1984.She studied Art in 1982 but dropped out to then work as a book typesetter from 1984 until 1994 and later moved on to work for Digitopolis in Vancouver, Canada.She ran her own firm from '94 until 2003 when she decided to embark on a freelance career as a typographer, designing her own bespoke lettering, and as a graphic artist.

Her work uses extensive patterning, flowing and curvilinear calligraphy with a Arabian styled influence, and found objects to make typography as well as ornate digitally embroidered designs. For the 'Seduction' Symposium poster she used tight calligraphy style vector graphics to create a fluid and lively logo. In 'I Want It All', and the flower based lettering, she has picked individual petals and either scanned or photographed them in the shapes of letters in a decorative and beautiful fashion. I would describe her work as playful and light but also with a jagged edginess to it with the use of solid black and the sharper edged shapes of some of her letters. Due to the intricate pattern work it’s very engaging and draws you in.

Her style seems to be influenced by calligraphy, digital graphics (I assume using Illustrator for the vector work) as well as a nod to the arts and craft movement with her embroidery style typefaces. She herself states, “There's nothing in my life or the life of my family that was in the least bit Baroque or patterned or ornamented. The only source of influence I can find is my travel to exotic countries in my 20s, India, Thailand, Italy, Spain, Bali, and Africa, that are the possible seeds of my interest in intense decoration.” She uses a wide range of materials from digital technology to fabrics, paints and even sugar for her piece for Stefan Sagmeister in 2007.

-Heller, S. (2014). Marian Bantjes, the Michelangelo of Custom Decorative Lettering. [online] The Atlantic. Available at: https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2014/01/marian-bantjes-the-michelangelo-of-custom-decorative-lettering/282917/ [Accessed 17 Feb. 2021].

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B. J. Novak

My niece an nephew have this chilrden’s book and it’s so much fun to read. It’s such a smart idea and really stands out against other childrens books for it’s lack of images! It recieved rave reviews and as you can see it a typographers wet dream. It also shows that not all childrens books need to have pictures and can be just as entertaining without them. Book Cover: Littleearthlingblog.com. (2021a). [online] Available at: https://www.littleearthlingblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/My-Book-With-No-Pictures-by-BJ-Novak_0002-768x1024.jpg [Accessed 8 Jan. 2021].

Page with hands: Shopify.com. (2021). [online] Available at: https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/1595/5453/products/05_4cc7f71b-29b9-4f06-900f-78a272698882_3000x.png?v=1525356951 [Accessed 8 Jan. 2021]. Pizza page: Cardiffmummysays.com. (2016). [online] Available at: http://cardiffmummysays.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/03-04-2016-The-Book-With-No-Pictures-inside-2.jpg [Accessed 8 Jan. 2021].

Inside page: Littleearthlingblog.com. (2021b). [online] Available at: https://www.littleearthlingblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/My-Book-With-No-Pictures-by-BJ-Novak_0004-850x638.jpg [Accessed 8 Jan. 2021].

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Korky Paul My next choice for reserach is Korky Paul, who is an illustrator and not a graphic designer, but I have enjoyed his books since childhood and recognise him as someone that’s in the field of childrens book illustration and immediately thought of his book covers when I think of children’s book covers. Dinosaur Poetry: Abebooks.com. (2021). [online] Available at: https://pictures.abebooks.com/isbn/9780192761262-uk.jpg [Accessed 8 Jan. 2021]. Dragon Book: Ssl-images-amazon.com. (2021a). [online] Available at: https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51Vk5sVDqFL.jpg [Accessed 8 Jan. 2021]. Winnie The Witch: Ssl-images-amazon.com. (2021b). [online] Available at: https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/81848ITKyuL.jpg [Accessed 8 Jan. 2021]. Duck: Ssl-images-amazon.com. (2021c). [online] Available at: https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/810GI7x5bOL.jpg [Accessed 8 Jan. 2021].

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Ed Fella Although he’s not a children’s book author my first Graphic Designer for the book jacket project is Ed Fella. I’m chosing him for his colourful and playful way of working with typography. I think this inspiration would lend itself alot to a childrens book cover. New York Times: Pinimg.com. (2021a). [online] Available at: https://i.pinimg.com/564x/9b/b3/93/9bb3931988838b9272e62f23c0f67804.jpg [Accessed 8 Jan. 2021]. Alphabet B&W: Pinimg.com. (2021b). [online] Available at: https://i.pinimg.com/564x/a8/58/ee/a858ee7e65ddcb2132031764e5f120da.jpg [Accessed 8 Jan. 2021]. Alphabet Colour: Pinimg.com. (2021c). [online] Available at: https://i.pinimg.com/564x/55/73/24/557324f393d2d6da2330d0da49008e34.jpg [Accessed 8 Jan. 2021]. This is what...: Ncsu.edu. (2021). [online] Available at: https://go.distance.ncsu.edu/gd203/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/2-ed-fella-373x465.jpg [Accessed 8 Jan. 2021].

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Greenbank Gardens - BECOME, FANTASTIC, REDUCE Mural Evaluation

Personal evaluation of the mural project Strengths

I’m pleased with my final piece because I didn’t start the project with an idea already in mind that I saw through to the end but instead created the final piece from an investigation of concepts and experimentations. I wanted the final to be a simple layout for a quiet suburban/rural area so I’m pleased with meeting the feel of the location.

Personal Critique

A critique would be that the star imagery and pattern does look very Christmassy, with the pattern almost as wrapping paper. It was also pointed out during the feedback session that removing the green background could have worked better with the stars which I can agree with as I struggled on colour choice.

Whole project review & final piece

It was a fun project and I’m happy with my final. It was a challenge to try and incorporate Graphic Design principles into the brief.

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Alasdair Gray

My personal connection with Gray is the last mural in this line up which is in the church I used to attend as a wee boy which we passed every day during Sunday school. I used to look at it and enjoy the colours and not really understand what was going on but enjoyed the shapes and layout.

20+ years later my sister got married at the same church and having gone to Glasgow School of Art I knew alot about Alasdair Gray’s works and lo-and-behold I looked at the mural I had forgotten about over the decades and suddenly realised it was an Alasdair Gray!

He was oddly religious yet un-christian so I’m surprised he made a mural in a church. His work covers the life cycle and here he was probably taking his own twist on a bible story as he was quite critical of the church and power in his writings.

I’ve included his masterpiece at Oran Mor too for it’s great use of blues and the continuous theme of humankind's search for purpose in the world.

  “Alasdair Gray.”

Òran Mór

, oran-mor.co.uk/history/alasdair-gray/. Accessed 19 Nov. 2020.

  Mayer, Jane. “Minister’s Message - November.”

Greenbank Church Clarkston

, 1 Nov. 2019, www.greenbankglasgow.org.uk/ministers-message-november/. Accessed 19 Nov. 2020.

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Diego Rivera

Mexican muralist who made political pro-communist murals for the new Mexican government in the 20′s and 30′s.

I like his work for the jam packed feel of the pieces, being so charged with meanings and stories in each one.

His earthy colour palette is also really interesting as he tries to bring his culture and experience with him into every piece.

  “Diego Rivera: Exploring the Artist’s Role in Mexican Muralism.”

My Modern Met

, 8 Sept. 2019, mymodernmet.com/diego-rivera-murals/.

Cogswell, Ned. “A Brief Overview of Diego Rivera’s Murals In San Francisco.”

Culture Trip

, theculturetrip.com/north-america/usa/california/articles/a-brief-overview-of-diego-riveras-murals-in-san-francisco/.

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Out of my own interest I tried making a Designers Republic-esque Autechre album cover to try out the muted colour palette and digital manipulation look. The image is hand drawn, then scanned in to the laptop and manipulated using the Image Trace feature in Illustrator. Due to the colours and imagery it does look and feel very early 2000′s.