Week 4
Group tutorial discussing what we going to do next. Shared ideas between each other and
got some feedback from the tutor. One of my group members created a series of paper
pages by hand. I think it could of been done the traditional way when you rip used paper
apart and then you glue it all together. She suggested to use that for packaging but I had
an idea to use that packaging but add plant seeds to it so when you don’t need the
packaging any more instead of throwing it in the bin you can throw it in the garden to for
the paper to decompose and seeds would be planted.
I presented my views about co-branding body shop with another company like innocents
or Patagonia to create one product as well as try to redesign existing men product
packaging to make it stand out from the women products. When i say about redesigning is
to make it more more rough in shape and material... So for instance a fresh toilet water
bottle or packaging you buy the product in would of been made from stone or stone like
texture to give it more rough and natural feel.
Decided to start working on the packaging and bought whole lot of kitchen utensils to look
at which ones could be used by body shop and which ones could be modified to fit to body
shops theme. Spoke to my tutor about them to see what I can possibly do with them. We
had some some ideas like what items could be used for a set which can be bought from
the body shop shop store that would help you quickly make a fruit salad for instance.
Need to look at some ready sets that you can buy to prepare a meal or grow your own
food. Those are the things I will be looking at to make. Will search the web first to find if
there is anything like it already in the market and tomorrow should visit stores like john
louis, marks and spencer and waitrose. Those are the places that would be very likely to
sell those sort of items.
I have decided later to start working on a beginners set for growing your own herbs. I
though herbs would because they don’t take that long and can be used for your own food.
Grow your own fruits would definitely take more than a year compared to growing your
own chive which takes about 5 weeks. I bought different types of packaging of yoghurt that
had interesting simple packaging. Got my hands on a simple Homebase grow your own
herbs set that I though about adapting to fit Bodyshop set to. The thing about the
homebase packaging for grow your own set was that it had three plant pots which seems
fine for the £6 price tag but I though about making a single pack for bodyshop.
Once I had a few prototypes of different packaging done with simple instructions on how to
plant it and take care of it I went to the Oxford street flag ship store again and speak to the
employees there and see what they think. The feedback I got back determined that some
of the packaging I had done had too much material used and not enough colours. There
was however one that they favoured for its simple design that I made form cardboard. My
next step was to work on that one and add some simple graphics that have the same style
as the existing body shop products. I took a few pictures of the Chive and found the same
text used by the bodyshop. Photographs of the final products were taken and presentation
was complete.
Thursday, 28 April 2011
The Body Shop Week 3
Week 3
As individuals I had a conversation with my tutor about the research... Showed him my
findings. We compared the the experience of buying an expensive car like Ferrari, that it
takes a year for a car to be built and once it is built you have an option to pick it up from
the factory and travel all the way back home and all the expenses of food, hotels would be
paid by the Ferrari company itself. This is an example of great service because for one it
saves money compared to shipping the car but it also gives this experience of brand
values sowing that the company cares considering it will pay all the expenses of travel
back.
As a group we had meet up early this week to travel to a flagship Body Shop store in
Oxford street to do a few interviews with the people that work there. Once there we sked
people questions like how would a body shop holiday look like or what would a body shop
meal be like. I found that the answers were relating body shop to a natural place like an
jungle or island with a lot of their products being a in a hotel available for customers. A
meal would be a fruit salad something natural and vegetarian because they stand against
animal testing therefore a meal would contain no animal meat. Also we noticed that the
body shop as a cosmetic store doesn’t promote beauty too much within advertising and its
employees. We went there as a group and we did expect the people who work there to
look like models just the same as you would see if you entered a store of CHANEL or other
high end brands that promote beauty. In this case however. We came and saw normal
people each one of them explained how much they like working for body shop because
they like how the company operates and the brand values.
Spoke with the tutor about the research i did last week from the visit in oxford street body
shop stores. Presented to him that i got some info on opinions of the employers about the
brand values. Some interesting findings i got was that although body shop is cosmetics
store people that work there are all different... They are not super good looking shop
assistants they are however ordinary people which shows that body shop is not about
looking really good.
the tutor also suggested to do a mood board... Find images of what body shop is and is
not in different themes. For example image of body shop being a fruit salad is what you
would expect and not a greasy burger from your local fast food. Its images that you think
would be. Once that was done I had a better understanding of what body shop would be
like in different fields. This makes me want to think about products or services I could start
working on or adapting to fit Body Shop style.
As individuals I had a conversation with my tutor about the research... Showed him my
findings. We compared the the experience of buying an expensive car like Ferrari, that it
takes a year for a car to be built and once it is built you have an option to pick it up from
the factory and travel all the way back home and all the expenses of food, hotels would be
paid by the Ferrari company itself. This is an example of great service because for one it
saves money compared to shipping the car but it also gives this experience of brand
values sowing that the company cares considering it will pay all the expenses of travel
back.
As a group we had meet up early this week to travel to a flagship Body Shop store in
Oxford street to do a few interviews with the people that work there. Once there we sked
people questions like how would a body shop holiday look like or what would a body shop
meal be like. I found that the answers were relating body shop to a natural place like an
jungle or island with a lot of their products being a in a hotel available for customers. A
meal would be a fruit salad something natural and vegetarian because they stand against
animal testing therefore a meal would contain no animal meat. Also we noticed that the
body shop as a cosmetic store doesn’t promote beauty too much within advertising and its
employees. We went there as a group and we did expect the people who work there to
look like models just the same as you would see if you entered a store of CHANEL or other
high end brands that promote beauty. In this case however. We came and saw normal
people each one of them explained how much they like working for body shop because
they like how the company operates and the brand values.
Spoke with the tutor about the research i did last week from the visit in oxford street body
shop stores. Presented to him that i got some info on opinions of the employers about the
brand values. Some interesting findings i got was that although body shop is cosmetics
store people that work there are all different... They are not super good looking shop
assistants they are however ordinary people which shows that body shop is not about
looking really good.
the tutor also suggested to do a mood board... Find images of what body shop is and is
not in different themes. For example image of body shop being a fruit salad is what you
would expect and not a greasy burger from your local fast food. Its images that you think
would be. Once that was done I had a better understanding of what body shop would be
like in different fields. This makes me want to think about products or services I could start
working on or adapting to fit Body Shop style.
The Body Shop Week 2
Week 2
I travelled to a local Body Shop store and took a few pictures of their store inside for
reference as well as photos of their products. A lot of it is clean design and simple
packaging that doesn’t use too much materials. Graphics used on their products are also
very beautiful just like the packaging because it uses macro photography of a content
inside. I also went to a different cosmetics store near by to see the difference. The store is
called Lush and its a handmade cosmetics store. One of the first things you notice or feel
is the smell of the cosmetics which can be very uncomfortable for few moments but then
you get used to it. This can be a way to attract people to the store as well make it less
attractive. Inside the store however its a complete opposite of what body shop is, there is
plenty of hand made soaps and other bath cosmetics that really do like they were made by
hand. And one of the other unique things about the store is that most of these soaps and
cosmetics are very colourful like pastels. Their packaging on the other hand is universal. It
all uses black pots of different sizes for different cosmetic type. This is an advantage for
making it cheaper for producing large number of different size same coloured plastic
containers that can be filled with different content. Where as in Body shop each product ha
sits own unique packaging with specific colours. This makes it look like the Body shop
cares more for its packaging and makes the consumer feel special. Also Body shop store
has test product that you can open and smell the inside and try it out which allow the
customer to test the product before they buy it.
Another interesting thing I notice during different visit on another day was that another
Lush store in central London had a stand inside where people could bring their children
and make their own cosmetics by hand. I saw a group of children that were playing around
with ingredients which seemed like a nice way for the company to engage with young ones
and their parents. One of the things this shows is that the store wants people to see how
natural their products are because you wouldn’t allow your child to play with some
chemicals.
I travelled to a local Body Shop store and took a few pictures of their store inside for
reference as well as photos of their products. A lot of it is clean design and simple
packaging that doesn’t use too much materials. Graphics used on their products are also
very beautiful just like the packaging because it uses macro photography of a content
inside. I also went to a different cosmetics store near by to see the difference. The store is
called Lush and its a handmade cosmetics store. One of the first things you notice or feel
is the smell of the cosmetics which can be very uncomfortable for few moments but then
you get used to it. This can be a way to attract people to the store as well make it less
attractive. Inside the store however its a complete opposite of what body shop is, there is
plenty of hand made soaps and other bath cosmetics that really do like they were made by
hand. And one of the other unique things about the store is that most of these soaps and
cosmetics are very colourful like pastels. Their packaging on the other hand is universal. It
all uses black pots of different sizes for different cosmetic type. This is an advantage for
making it cheaper for producing large number of different size same coloured plastic
containers that can be filled with different content. Where as in Body shop each product ha
sits own unique packaging with specific colours. This makes it look like the Body shop
cares more for its packaging and makes the consumer feel special. Also Body shop store
has test product that you can open and smell the inside and try it out which allow the
customer to test the product before they buy it.
Another interesting thing I notice during different visit on another day was that another
Lush store in central London had a stand inside where people could bring their children
and make their own cosmetics by hand. I saw a group of children that were playing around
with ingredients which seemed like a nice way for the company to engage with young ones
and their parents. One of the things this shows is that the store wants people to see how
natural their products are because you wouldn’t allow your child to play with some
chemicals.
The Body Shop Week 1
The Body Shop project
Week 1
New project was given out to us once we handed in the market project earlier in the
morning. The new project brief had been sent through email and it tells us to work in
groups on initial research on a choose brand of our choice. As a group we had to choose
between HSBC or The Body Shop. We choose the body shop because we visited the store
a few time so we knew a bit about it and in general its an interesting natural place with
values towards the world and customers.
we discussed what body sop stands for, like it creates natural products, simple packaging
very pleasing simple colours and in general it is a minimalistic place. It also stands against
animal testing during their cosmetics production.
sent out an email to the customer service asking some info about the tour around The
Body Shop factory in England. ,y tutor mentioned that he had been on one of these tours
and it could of benefited the group to have a closer look at how they make their products
Before the lecture on Wednesday I travelled to Canada water Body shop store, looked
around to see closer what their like. Their use of colours for all their products reflects the
content for example mango butter content is pale yellow but the the packaging itself is
strong yellow. I later asked my friend who visits the body shop quite often and she said
that she can recognize the content from the packaging so this seems like an interesting
way to make it easier for the customer to find what they are looking for.
lot of heir products are made in England but i noticed all their accessories are made in
India and china which seems like the most standard thing to do and it makes body shop
look like any other store that uses those countries for mass production.
Week 1
New project was given out to us once we handed in the market project earlier in the
morning. The new project brief had been sent through email and it tells us to work in
groups on initial research on a choose brand of our choice. As a group we had to choose
between HSBC or The Body Shop. We choose the body shop because we visited the store
a few time so we knew a bit about it and in general its an interesting natural place with
values towards the world and customers.
we discussed what body sop stands for, like it creates natural products, simple packaging
very pleasing simple colours and in general it is a minimalistic place. It also stands against
animal testing during their cosmetics production.
sent out an email to the customer service asking some info about the tour around The
Body Shop factory in England. ,y tutor mentioned that he had been on one of these tours
and it could of benefited the group to have a closer look at how they make their products
Before the lecture on Wednesday I travelled to Canada water Body shop store, looked
around to see closer what their like. Their use of colours for all their products reflects the
content for example mango butter content is pale yellow but the the packaging itself is
strong yellow. I later asked my friend who visits the body shop quite often and she said
that she can recognize the content from the packaging so this seems like an interesting
way to make it easier for the customer to find what they are looking for.
lot of heir products are made in England but i noticed all their accessories are made in
India and china which seems like the most standard thing to do and it makes body shop
look like any other store that uses those countries for mass production.
Markets Week 4
Week 4
Presented my concept to my tutor about using these self efficient Piezo LED panels but
was only a concept and to make one it would of taken too long time and aside from time
which I was lacking I noticed that even with the capacitors and LEDs the panels would be
expensive to produce and if Market would need to supply them it might be just better to put
a series of signs pointing to it. This however would have been good at night to point
people to the market when it gets darker where the LEDs would of done a great job
attracting people to them but during a day like 8am when there is most people around the
daylight would of made the panels useless.
Never the less I still tough this electric idea would of worked well and the tagging system
form the Film Step Up was a nice and cheap way to attract attention I looked at the
pictures I took of the path form London Bridge to the Borough Market and I noticed there
was a traffic lights button which a lot of people interact with. I though about designing this
little cheap device that would have been connected to the traffic light button so when you
press it it will also point you to the market. This would have been more of a guerilla style
advertising system so it would be against the law to fiddle with the traffic lights as its
dangerous and on the other hand there is only 3 sets of traffic lights aon that path from
station to the London bridge so it would not make the best way finding system to show
where the market it.
Considering the time frame I decided to look at an app for a smart phone since everyone
has a phone these days and smart phones are becoming more popular. I spoke to one of
my tutors about it and he suggest I could look at QR codes and augmented reality to see
how it would work with the phone. A QR code is a similar to bar code which contains a
message a text or a numbers. This is a very simple way of generating messages and I
though about positioning these QR codes around the area like the ground, ceiling and
walls and allowing people to scan them to point it towards the market,
The concept I ended up with was that a QR code would be placed on the ground right
outside the London Bridge Station and anyone who has a phone with a qr code reader will
be able to scan it and an augmented reality arrows will pop up showing where the Market
is. Also another concept I added was an official London borough application with an option
inside where you choose a stand type like for example apple stand or fish stand. Once
selected the application will tell you how close you are to it and what direction you have to
go.
Presented my concept to my tutor about using these self efficient Piezo LED panels but
was only a concept and to make one it would of taken too long time and aside from time
which I was lacking I noticed that even with the capacitors and LEDs the panels would be
expensive to produce and if Market would need to supply them it might be just better to put
a series of signs pointing to it. This however would have been good at night to point
people to the market when it gets darker where the LEDs would of done a great job
attracting people to them but during a day like 8am when there is most people around the
daylight would of made the panels useless.
Never the less I still tough this electric idea would of worked well and the tagging system
form the Film Step Up was a nice and cheap way to attract attention I looked at the
pictures I took of the path form London Bridge to the Borough Market and I noticed there
was a traffic lights button which a lot of people interact with. I though about designing this
little cheap device that would have been connected to the traffic light button so when you
press it it will also point you to the market. This would have been more of a guerilla style
advertising system so it would be against the law to fiddle with the traffic lights as its
dangerous and on the other hand there is only 3 sets of traffic lights aon that path from
station to the London bridge so it would not make the best way finding system to show
where the market it.
Considering the time frame I decided to look at an app for a smart phone since everyone
has a phone these days and smart phones are becoming more popular. I spoke to one of
my tutors about it and he suggest I could look at QR codes and augmented reality to see
how it would work with the phone. A QR code is a similar to bar code which contains a
message a text or a numbers. This is a very simple way of generating messages and I
though about positioning these QR codes around the area like the ground, ceiling and
walls and allowing people to scan them to point it towards the market,
The concept I ended up with was that a QR code would be placed on the ground right
outside the London Bridge Station and anyone who has a phone with a qr code reader will
be able to scan it and an augmented reality arrows will pop up showing where the Market
is. Also another concept I added was an official London borough application with an option
inside where you choose a stand type like for example apple stand or fish stand. Once
selected the application will tell you how close you are to it and what direction you have to
go.
Markets Week 3
Week 3
Last week I left of with the tagging system from the film I saw and I knew that the batteries
will eventually die out so I would need to find an alternative to the power source so I
decided to look into alternative ways of powering the lights. That is when it strike me that
there was a project I was involved for a short time which used floor panels that would have
been powered by people by just walking on them This is called PIEZO electricity and
theses are little crystals that produce small amount of electricity when compressed. An
example of this technology is used in everyday life object we all have, lighters have them.
Models where you just press the button and light it up. I bough a few Piezo discs from
Maplin Electronics to play with the and see how they work. As it turns out it does produce
electricity when tapped or pressed but not enough to light up an LED so it can attract your
attention to it.
I did more research into this Piezo on the internet and I found a youtube video showing
how one person manages to store the piezo electricity in a capacitor which is connected to
a LED which uses this energy to light up bright. I replicated the circuit used for that it and it
work the way it did on the video.
This was the first time I was involved with electronics in my project and I learned some
basic things like how capacitors work, what a diode us and how it works as well as the
Piezo electricity which is literally fee energy. From that I came up with an idea to create a
series of panels with piezo discs inside with capacitors and LED lights. These panels
would have been replaced with the concrete pavement down London Bridge and when
people walk on them as this are as it is very busy the energy would have been stored in
the capacitors and then used by the LEDs which would light up and show people the way
to the market.
Last week I left of with the tagging system from the film I saw and I knew that the batteries
will eventually die out so I would need to find an alternative to the power source so I
decided to look into alternative ways of powering the lights. That is when it strike me that
there was a project I was involved for a short time which used floor panels that would have
been powered by people by just walking on them This is called PIEZO electricity and
theses are little crystals that produce small amount of electricity when compressed. An
example of this technology is used in everyday life object we all have, lighters have them.
Models where you just press the button and light it up. I bough a few Piezo discs from
Maplin Electronics to play with the and see how they work. As it turns out it does produce
electricity when tapped or pressed but not enough to light up an LED so it can attract your
attention to it.
I did more research into this Piezo on the internet and I found a youtube video showing
how one person manages to store the piezo electricity in a capacitor which is connected to
a LED which uses this energy to light up bright. I replicated the circuit used for that it and it
work the way it did on the video.
This was the first time I was involved with electronics in my project and I learned some
basic things like how capacitors work, what a diode us and how it works as well as the
Piezo electricity which is literally fee energy. From that I came up with an idea to create a
series of panels with piezo discs inside with capacitors and LED lights. These panels
would have been replaced with the concrete pavement down London Bridge and when
people walk on them as this are as it is very busy the energy would have been stored in
the capacitors and then used by the LEDs which would light up and show people the way
to the market.
Markets Week 2
Week 2
I got a bit lost with the project last week and spent a few days without any sort of a solid
plan to follow and have not made much progress. At the start of the week three
conversation with my tutor and discussed where I should go with it. It was suggested to
look at the path from a station to a market because I mentioned d that when me and my
group partner were trying to find the market it was quite difficult an dost of the times we
had to rely on GPS devices on our phones. For example I go to London Bridge Station
everyday on my way to college and I never knew there was a market right next to it.
What I did was I took a camera and went to London Bridge Station and took photos every
few meters until I reached Borough Market. That way I could later analyse what is there to
tell you about the market. Quite frankly there were no signs near the station to point you
towards the market so I though it would be an interesting topic to work with a way finding
system for the market, in this case the Borough Market.
I went off to do some research on way finding on the internet to see what’s out there. I was
specifically looking into some interesting ways of tagging the area with lights or paints.
Something that would be quite nice and visible for people and unique in its way. Some of
the practical models I did was to look at a prop used in film “Step up 3D” where they made
a simple battery with a LED light attached to it with a magnet. I found it interesting because
it was a very simple and cheap method of tagging and the way it work was that you could
attach these little LEDs to any metal objects in the area and London Bridge had plenty of
those.
However what I learned from this practical experimentation was that even it was a cheap
method of attracting people to it the battery would eventually die. So it would have to be
replaced every day and if I wanted to stick with this I would need to change it to make it
powered everyday.
I got a bit lost with the project last week and spent a few days without any sort of a solid
plan to follow and have not made much progress. At the start of the week three
conversation with my tutor and discussed where I should go with it. It was suggested to
look at the path from a station to a market because I mentioned d that when me and my
group partner were trying to find the market it was quite difficult an dost of the times we
had to rely on GPS devices on our phones. For example I go to London Bridge Station
everyday on my way to college and I never knew there was a market right next to it.
What I did was I took a camera and went to London Bridge Station and took photos every
few meters until I reached Borough Market. That way I could later analyse what is there to
tell you about the market. Quite frankly there were no signs near the station to point you
towards the market so I though it would be an interesting topic to work with a way finding
system for the market, in this case the Borough Market.
I went off to do some research on way finding on the internet to see what’s out there. I was
specifically looking into some interesting ways of tagging the area with lights or paints.
Something that would be quite nice and visible for people and unique in its way. Some of
the practical models I did was to look at a prop used in film “Step up 3D” where they made
a simple battery with a LED light attached to it with a magnet. I found it interesting because
it was a very simple and cheap method of tagging and the way it work was that you could
attach these little LEDs to any metal objects in the area and London Bridge had plenty of
those.
However what I learned from this practical experimentation was that even it was a cheap
method of attracting people to it the battery would eventually die. So it would have to be
replaced every day and if I wanted to stick with this I would need to change it to make it
powered everyday.
Markets Week 1
Markets project
Week 1
We had been introduced into project which revolves around markets an human interaction
with them. For the first week me and my group partner went around different markets
around London like the Borough Market next to London Bridge, Camden Market and
Covent Gardens markets. We walked around took pictures things we found interesting like
how Camden market uses scooter seats for seating areas for people or how how Covent
Market has its own stands where the sellers can rent them to place their goods for sale
and then lock them up at night. Took videos of people that use the market as well to look
closer how people us them and interact and perhaps a problem could be found later to
work with.
Short presentation of what we found was required to be presented to the rest of the group
and what we found interesting. I showed some of my ideas for possible ideas like using
cargo containers for storage. I said that because I liked the idea of the Camden market
scooter seats for giving one product a new function instead of just throwing them out.
However at this point we should not be thinking about the future ideas too much the tutor
said. Its something that I should learn because I haven’t done enough research to thing
about ideas yet. The design process should be taken from step one to step two and step
three instead of jumping into step four from step one.
Week 1
We had been introduced into project which revolves around markets an human interaction
with them. For the first week me and my group partner went around different markets
around London like the Borough Market next to London Bridge, Camden Market and
Covent Gardens markets. We walked around took pictures things we found interesting like
how Camden market uses scooter seats for seating areas for people or how how Covent
Market has its own stands where the sellers can rent them to place their goods for sale
and then lock them up at night. Took videos of people that use the market as well to look
closer how people us them and interact and perhaps a problem could be found later to
work with.
Short presentation of what we found was required to be presented to the rest of the group
and what we found interesting. I showed some of my ideas for possible ideas like using
cargo containers for storage. I said that because I liked the idea of the Camden market
scooter seats for giving one product a new function instead of just throwing them out.
However at this point we should not be thinking about the future ideas too much the tutor
said. Its something that I should learn because I haven’t done enough research to thing
about ideas yet. The design process should be taken from step one to step two and step
three instead of jumping into step four from step one.
Radio Week 4
Week 4
First thing starting this week I spoke to my tutor about the concept of 3 cuts I decided on
with my prototypes. I made some quick models of the 3 Cut design with white card and
added some colour to where the colours would be to see how it would look. Feedback was
good the design and concept was looking good but there was a lot more to design like how
the radio components would fit in inside. One of the things that worried me was that piece
of card would not be strong enough for the batteries to be replaced or even the switches to
be used. I noticed when the switches were attached to the card you could easily bend the
card and it could be damaged. This is when I realized that the card itself will not be strong
enough for the radio to suit its purpose for daily use. To improve that I made the same
model but this time using 2mm corrugated cardboard and it was strong enough for
switches and other components to fit in and be used without the it being damaged.
I then went off to developing this cardboard structure for the inside of the radio to make it
strong. The outside of it would be made from coloured card with print don symbols for
making it easier to know which switch does what. The cardboard structure underwent a
series of different changes. At first it was a solid object on the outside like the very first
models designed but when I made the outside cover from coloured paper it happened not
to fit each other in some cases. I think because I had the nets cut out and folded by hand it
would not be very accurate.
In college I used the machine Zund which is automatic cutting machine. I hoped for it to cut
the nets accurately and better than I would by hand but unfortunately there were details in
the net that were too small for the machine to cut and instead of making clean cuts it would
ruin the whole net. This is when I made the decision cut the whole net for the radio by
hand.
Once the structure for the inside of the radio was cut from cardboard and fitted with the
radio components inside I started taking some pictures of it suing the same technique
used in company called : Industrial Facility (www.inustrialfacility.co.uk)since I found them
to have great way of presenting their products through simple and clean style.
Once the photos were taken for the presentation I made a quick logo for the Radio to
represent it graphically as a company would. I had a lot of initial ideas for it like using
female head with a Greek name of nature like Gaya. The reason behind me wanting a
female feature with natural name because I followed my style of organic natural aesthetic
design. But I decided to leave that idea aside and work on something else. Once the final
idea for the radio was done I used a combination of orange as the 3 cuts and grey for the
reminder of the radio body. I looked at one of the photos of the front of the radio and
noticed the 3 cuts I made connect with each other and I decided to use that as a Logo
design. The cut logo was simple, colourful which made it eye catchy as well it related to
the main feature of the radio.
First thing starting this week I spoke to my tutor about the concept of 3 cuts I decided on
with my prototypes. I made some quick models of the 3 Cut design with white card and
added some colour to where the colours would be to see how it would look. Feedback was
good the design and concept was looking good but there was a lot more to design like how
the radio components would fit in inside. One of the things that worried me was that piece
of card would not be strong enough for the batteries to be replaced or even the switches to
be used. I noticed when the switches were attached to the card you could easily bend the
card and it could be damaged. This is when I realized that the card itself will not be strong
enough for the radio to suit its purpose for daily use. To improve that I made the same
model but this time using 2mm corrugated cardboard and it was strong enough for
switches and other components to fit in and be used without the it being damaged.
I then went off to developing this cardboard structure for the inside of the radio to make it
strong. The outside of it would be made from coloured card with print don symbols for
making it easier to know which switch does what. The cardboard structure underwent a
series of different changes. At first it was a solid object on the outside like the very first
models designed but when I made the outside cover from coloured paper it happened not
to fit each other in some cases. I think because I had the nets cut out and folded by hand it
would not be very accurate.
In college I used the machine Zund which is automatic cutting machine. I hoped for it to cut
the nets accurately and better than I would by hand but unfortunately there were details in
the net that were too small for the machine to cut and instead of making clean cuts it would
ruin the whole net. This is when I made the decision cut the whole net for the radio by
hand.
Once the structure for the inside of the radio was cut from cardboard and fitted with the
radio components inside I started taking some pictures of it suing the same technique
used in company called : Industrial Facility (www.inustrialfacility.co.uk)since I found them
to have great way of presenting their products through simple and clean style.
Once the photos were taken for the presentation I made a quick logo for the Radio to
represent it graphically as a company would. I had a lot of initial ideas for it like using
female head with a Greek name of nature like Gaya. The reason behind me wanting a
female feature with natural name because I followed my style of organic natural aesthetic
design. But I decided to leave that idea aside and work on something else. Once the final
idea for the radio was done I used a combination of orange as the 3 cuts and grey for the
reminder of the radio body. I looked at one of the photos of the front of the radio and
noticed the 3 cuts I made connect with each other and I decided to use that as a Logo
design. The cut logo was simple, colourful which made it eye catchy as well it related to
the main feature of the radio.
Radio week 3
Week 3
From last week I when I made a series of different variations of prototypes of my concept
radio net. But because it was too simple and I could not just stay with this design and stick
the radio components in I had to add more features to it. Make it somehow special and to
do this research of existing similar products was required. I begun looking at some design
websites and searching for packaging designs that somehow have similar look as my
models. I was mainly looking for a different ways of joining the card and maybe adding
different features. From my conversation with the tutor last week we spoke about making
my models better through adding features.
Another interesting thing my tutor mentioned was when he asked “why do I have that
many cuts?”. He likes the idea of the cuts I made and models look quality but there must
be something about the design that makes it special and maybe just having 2/3/4 cuts on a
cube will make it special? I think that was the best thing for me to do and start working into
the cubes again but with only three cuts.
The existing models had at least 6 cuts around the edges and the net was quite
complicated and difficult to cut and the end result was looking a bit dodgy in some cases. I
made new models in sketchup with only 3 cuts but this time I used a cube and triangles as
the base shapes to see how they will look and the net for all shapes with only 3 cuts were
very simple and easy to cut out and fold together.
From last week I when I made a series of different variations of prototypes of my concept
radio net. But because it was too simple and I could not just stay with this design and stick
the radio components in I had to add more features to it. Make it somehow special and to
do this research of existing similar products was required. I begun looking at some design
websites and searching for packaging designs that somehow have similar look as my
models. I was mainly looking for a different ways of joining the card and maybe adding
different features. From my conversation with the tutor last week we spoke about making
my models better through adding features.
Another interesting thing my tutor mentioned was when he asked “why do I have that
many cuts?”. He likes the idea of the cuts I made and models look quality but there must
be something about the design that makes it special and maybe just having 2/3/4 cuts on a
cube will make it special? I think that was the best thing for me to do and start working into
the cubes again but with only three cuts.
The existing models had at least 6 cuts around the edges and the net was quite
complicated and difficult to cut and the end result was looking a bit dodgy in some cases. I
made new models in sketchup with only 3 cuts but this time I used a cube and triangles as
the base shapes to see how they will look and the net for all shapes with only 3 cuts were
very simple and easy to cut out and fold together.
Radio Week 2
Week 2
The week was about working on the idea for the radio and from the practice last week with
the cubes cut out from paper I decided to make something that followed my old style of
design which was organic. During Foundation in Rave last year I developed liking for
designing objects for its aesthetics and natural design. Mainly random looking sculptures
that look appealing and then apply function into it. Same thing happened in this case for
this Radio Project. The brief was to design a radio from cardboard or paper on a single
net. What I did first was the cubes we did last week and then modify them somehow.
I worked with sketchup first on my initial ideas for the look of the radio. I made a simple
cube in sketchup which is a 3D software and then cut off its corners that way I created
random shapes. In sketchup there is also an option to flatten the 3D objects to get a net.
Once different shapes were done and nets were finished I had them printed and cut out
and folded to make a real 3D object.
This is a new thing I done here combination of sketchup designing and actually cutting the
object out. Normally we would have to use the Adobe Illustrator and Zund machine to get it
cut out but the way I done it is quicker. I later showed the designs the designs to my tutor
and discussed the objects I made. I told him that I took the idea from the cubes we done
last week and the reason I made those random cuts around the corners is because I felt
like I created a unique design. However the tutor asked “WHY” I made those cuts? I
usually follow random ideas... This was the first thing that came to my mind and I liked it
and I though I should go with it. The models made were beautiful from the feedback and
next step should be developing it further and giving it more features.
The week was about working on the idea for the radio and from the practice last week with
the cubes cut out from paper I decided to make something that followed my old style of
design which was organic. During Foundation in Rave last year I developed liking for
designing objects for its aesthetics and natural design. Mainly random looking sculptures
that look appealing and then apply function into it. Same thing happened in this case for
this Radio Project. The brief was to design a radio from cardboard or paper on a single
net. What I did first was the cubes we did last week and then modify them somehow.
I worked with sketchup first on my initial ideas for the look of the radio. I made a simple
cube in sketchup which is a 3D software and then cut off its corners that way I created
random shapes. In sketchup there is also an option to flatten the 3D objects to get a net.
Once different shapes were done and nets were finished I had them printed and cut out
and folded to make a real 3D object.
This is a new thing I done here combination of sketchup designing and actually cutting the
object out. Normally we would have to use the Adobe Illustrator and Zund machine to get it
cut out but the way I done it is quicker. I later showed the designs the designs to my tutor
and discussed the objects I made. I told him that I took the idea from the cubes we done
last week and the reason I made those random cuts around the corners is because I felt
like I created a unique design. However the tutor asked “WHY” I made those cuts? I
usually follow random ideas... This was the first thing that came to my mind and I liked it
and I though I should go with it. The models made were beautiful from the feedback and
next step should be developing it further and giving it more features.
Radio Week 1
Radio Project
Week 1
During this week we looked at some presentation prepared by our tutor that showed how
every product is presented on paper by technical drawings. Something I had done during
my A levels so I knew how to do a perspective drawings and orthographic.
We also had some practical exercises for few days when we had to cut out boxes from
paper using scalpels and neatly stick them together with magic tape. Again it is something
I done before during A levels for Graphic Design so I do have hours and hours of practice
with a scalpel so I can quickly ad accurately cut out anything I want. I noticed some of my
collogues using scissors to cut the cubes out and the end result wasn’t as pleasing as it
would be done with scalpel.
The cubes we done were stacked together so we could draw them. Might not seem like a
great exercise but as our tutor requested we had to use clean lines. No feathering (instead
of one straight line you do a lot of rough lines) this was the t ask and we had to keep in
mind that this is how the designers work in real life. I saw my tutors do a really quick
drawings and they would only use single lines which did create an impressive feeling. It
would make sense to have such skill present world is moving forward we now have
computers that do perfect drawings but if you are in meeting with a client and all of a
sudden you decide to change your design by his request you could make a series of quick
sketches to quickly communicate what you think.
Last thing we have done during this week was to practice some photography methods.
Tutors showed us how to make a simple background and how to set up lighting. From
what I learned during this session is that best effect seems to be done using two large
sheets of paper. One for ground and one for wall/background. As for lighting there were a
few combinations on how to set it up but from my practice during the day I noticed photos
taken during the day with natural day light look the best.
Week 1
During this week we looked at some presentation prepared by our tutor that showed how
every product is presented on paper by technical drawings. Something I had done during
my A levels so I knew how to do a perspective drawings and orthographic.
We also had some practical exercises for few days when we had to cut out boxes from
paper using scalpels and neatly stick them together with magic tape. Again it is something
I done before during A levels for Graphic Design so I do have hours and hours of practice
with a scalpel so I can quickly ad accurately cut out anything I want. I noticed some of my
collogues using scissors to cut the cubes out and the end result wasn’t as pleasing as it
would be done with scalpel.
The cubes we done were stacked together so we could draw them. Might not seem like a
great exercise but as our tutor requested we had to use clean lines. No feathering (instead
of one straight line you do a lot of rough lines) this was the t ask and we had to keep in
mind that this is how the designers work in real life. I saw my tutors do a really quick
drawings and they would only use single lines which did create an impressive feeling. It
would make sense to have such skill present world is moving forward we now have
computers that do perfect drawings but if you are in meeting with a client and all of a
sudden you decide to change your design by his request you could make a series of quick
sketches to quickly communicate what you think.
Last thing we have done during this week was to practice some photography methods.
Tutors showed us how to make a simple background and how to set up lighting. From
what I learned during this session is that best effect seems to be done using two large
sheets of paper. One for ground and one for wall/background. As for lighting there were a
few combinations on how to set it up but from my practice during the day I noticed photos
taken during the day with natural day light look the best.
Freshers week 4
Week 4
As a group we started discussing some of the storyboards that we did for the NUS app.
One of the group members had hers story board of how to use it in order to get medical
help done a good and detailed design that we all agreed to use for other categories. Aside
from the discussions we all been giving jobs to work on today and over the weekend. My
job is to make three posters that will advertise the nus mobile application. So far i found
three interesting photoshop tutorials for posters that i could use to adapt my ideas to it.
Over the weekend i started working on advertisement posters for nus and designing travel
section of the nus app. The posters were a straight forward task done in photo shop using
tutorials from psdtuts.com . However the tutorials available from the website were only
used as a temple since the theme of individual tutorial was different and the nus theme
also differs. For example one of the tutorials showed you how to make a poster for phone
advertising which I adapted to advertise the app a the main selling point by putting an
iphone in the centre as the biggest graphic surrounded by smaller images of features that
the app offers services to like discount on travel, clothes and health services. Same thing
was done for remaining tutorials by just using the styles shown to you I adapted each one
to suit my needs.
The other thing i had to design was a travel section of the app by creating the graphics
that could possibly be used in the app as well as how it would work and what it could offer.
I first started sketching out possible options and step by step guide on how you could use
the travel section in the app so starting from welcome screen and end up in a map
showing you the direction to your destination.
once the draft sketch was done I started working in photo shop and once I was done and
had five screen shots of the app I looked at it and it wasn’t too clear even for me. The idea
was confusing and did not seem to help so I decided to rework it in that way to make it
clearer. I think once I put myself in a situation when I needed to use this part of the app it
wouldn’t make much sense because by looking at each screen I didn’t know how I got to
this step. I went back to sketching and redone the whole service for this section and once
the photo shop screen were done i think the travel section looks much clearer and in
addition I came out with an ideas too add to it.
As a group we started discussing some of the storyboards that we did for the NUS app.
One of the group members had hers story board of how to use it in order to get medical
help done a good and detailed design that we all agreed to use for other categories. Aside
from the discussions we all been giving jobs to work on today and over the weekend. My
job is to make three posters that will advertise the nus mobile application. So far i found
three interesting photoshop tutorials for posters that i could use to adapt my ideas to it.
Over the weekend i started working on advertisement posters for nus and designing travel
section of the nus app. The posters were a straight forward task done in photo shop using
tutorials from psdtuts.com . However the tutorials available from the website were only
used as a temple since the theme of individual tutorial was different and the nus theme
also differs. For example one of the tutorials showed you how to make a poster for phone
advertising which I adapted to advertise the app a the main selling point by putting an
iphone in the centre as the biggest graphic surrounded by smaller images of features that
the app offers services to like discount on travel, clothes and health services. Same thing
was done for remaining tutorials by just using the styles shown to you I adapted each one
to suit my needs.
The other thing i had to design was a travel section of the app by creating the graphics
that could possibly be used in the app as well as how it would work and what it could offer.
I first started sketching out possible options and step by step guide on how you could use
the travel section in the app so starting from welcome screen and end up in a map
showing you the direction to your destination.
once the draft sketch was done I started working in photo shop and once I was done and
had five screen shots of the app I looked at it and it wasn’t too clear even for me. The idea
was confusing and did not seem to help so I decided to rework it in that way to make it
clearer. I think once I put myself in a situation when I needed to use this part of the app it
wouldn’t make much sense because by looking at each screen I didn’t know how I got to
this step. I went back to sketching and redone the whole service for this section and once
the photo shop screen were done i think the travel section looks much clearer and in
addition I came out with an ideas too add to it.
Freshers week 3
Week 3
The task for the start of this week was to bring in some draft posters, logo and designs for
a nus card. The two posters I did were inspired by the resent student march that took
place in London due to the increase in fees. I tried to use that event to represent the angry
students by using a Godzilla monster shooting a beam at the head quarters of the people
that support the increase. i used that metaphor because its a big thing for students and if
you seen the news you could see how violent he students got on that day and what they
did to the hq. Another poster is similar in design but this time i used an angry boxer
wearing graduate hat to represent the students and on the other side David Cameron
wearing boxing gloves. The style of the poster was made in old fashioned way similar to
boxing posters done in 60s. t achieve the quick effect i used a damaged textured paper
image as background and heading styling that go diagonal. Same as in the other poster i
choose an image of an angry person to represent the students to reflect their feelings.
I also did some research into business cards design since that’s another main thing we
going to do after the logo to advertise nus. I mainly did the research on the website
because it had a good collection creative ideas done in different styles. Looking back at
the previous research a lot of people managed to recognize cards like oyster by its design
as well as colour even if all the text was removed. When researching possible ideas i was
mainly concentrating on the shape and material the card is made of because that way it
could be more unique and recognizable. I found cards made from aluminium, clear cloudy
plastic to be most unique as well as these that hadn’t been the usual rectangular shape
but had its corners cut off for example or had design cut out from the centre.
the next step was for today was to show the presentation we made as a group with all the
ideas to the rest of the class to get some feedback back. We were told that the card itself
could be integrated into a debit/credit card and every tine you make a payment using it a
little percentage goes into cumulative nus bank account savings which the can be used for
a bigger purpose.. Another idea that was put forward was to have public screens set
around London on which plees of help or problems of students could be displayed for the
public to see. However then this idea transformed into a a service where students could
make requests for help. So for instance if i needed help with solid works software
someone could meet up with someone that could help.
Later on the week we had a trip to design museum to look at the fashion and architecture
exhibitions they had. Personally i found it difficult to find anything of great importance to
the project however there were a few exhibitions that cough my interest
on the fashion floor it was all to do with concept and communication of ideas buy sketching
and painting. Since my interest does not lie in fashion design i did however looked at how
the designers communicate their ideas by using different techniques like screen printing,
textures and colours. Some of the fashion ideas had textures done by objects other than
paint brush like to mimic a shoe texture the artist used crocodile skin to achieve it. Aside
from textures I also looked at colours and shapes since one of my interests is organic i can
find inspiration in a lot of things which includes fashion conceptual work. The reason is
because most of the fashion is aimed at females then the paintings must consist of
naturally looking figures with curvy shapes. I also really like how the work is thin and curvy
creating this attractive look.
on the architecture floor the exhibition mainly consisted of small scale models which were
made with great quality which involved a lot laser cutting. From one of the foundation
projects i discovered that i enjoy working on large scale models which related to that
exhibition because i can see that buildings can be made to be done in such small scale
with a lot detail in them to transfer the idea of the designer to the viewer. Aside from small
scales models there were sections of materials used for some structures so i had a look at
them and see what the feel and what they offer through their look.
At college we worked in groups again into our nus project discussing the aides we had and
trying to narrow it down so we can finally go in one direction. We decided to concentrate
on nus smart phone app that would allow the user to find the necessary information like
how to manage your finance or where to find the nearest doctor in case of an emergency.
we made a list of services the app could offer and tried to think of any situations to present
those categories as storyboards to show it next week during the final presentation as the
end product.
The task for the start of this week was to bring in some draft posters, logo and designs for
a nus card. The two posters I did were inspired by the resent student march that took
place in London due to the increase in fees. I tried to use that event to represent the angry
students by using a Godzilla monster shooting a beam at the head quarters of the people
that support the increase. i used that metaphor because its a big thing for students and if
you seen the news you could see how violent he students got on that day and what they
did to the hq. Another poster is similar in design but this time i used an angry boxer
wearing graduate hat to represent the students and on the other side David Cameron
wearing boxing gloves. The style of the poster was made in old fashioned way similar to
boxing posters done in 60s. t achieve the quick effect i used a damaged textured paper
image as background and heading styling that go diagonal. Same as in the other poster i
choose an image of an angry person to represent the students to reflect their feelings.
I also did some research into business cards design since that’s another main thing we
going to do after the logo to advertise nus. I mainly did the research on the website
because it had a good collection creative ideas done in different styles. Looking back at
the previous research a lot of people managed to recognize cards like oyster by its design
as well as colour even if all the text was removed. When researching possible ideas i was
mainly concentrating on the shape and material the card is made of because that way it
could be more unique and recognizable. I found cards made from aluminium, clear cloudy
plastic to be most unique as well as these that hadn’t been the usual rectangular shape
but had its corners cut off for example or had design cut out from the centre.
the next step was for today was to show the presentation we made as a group with all the
ideas to the rest of the class to get some feedback back. We were told that the card itself
could be integrated into a debit/credit card and every tine you make a payment using it a
little percentage goes into cumulative nus bank account savings which the can be used for
a bigger purpose.. Another idea that was put forward was to have public screens set
around London on which plees of help or problems of students could be displayed for the
public to see. However then this idea transformed into a a service where students could
make requests for help. So for instance if i needed help with solid works software
someone could meet up with someone that could help.
Later on the week we had a trip to design museum to look at the fashion and architecture
exhibitions they had. Personally i found it difficult to find anything of great importance to
the project however there were a few exhibitions that cough my interest
on the fashion floor it was all to do with concept and communication of ideas buy sketching
and painting. Since my interest does not lie in fashion design i did however looked at how
the designers communicate their ideas by using different techniques like screen printing,
textures and colours. Some of the fashion ideas had textures done by objects other than
paint brush like to mimic a shoe texture the artist used crocodile skin to achieve it. Aside
from textures I also looked at colours and shapes since one of my interests is organic i can
find inspiration in a lot of things which includes fashion conceptual work. The reason is
because most of the fashion is aimed at females then the paintings must consist of
naturally looking figures with curvy shapes. I also really like how the work is thin and curvy
creating this attractive look.
on the architecture floor the exhibition mainly consisted of small scale models which were
made with great quality which involved a lot laser cutting. From one of the foundation
projects i discovered that i enjoy working on large scale models which related to that
exhibition because i can see that buildings can be made to be done in such small scale
with a lot detail in them to transfer the idea of the designer to the viewer. Aside from small
scales models there were sections of materials used for some structures so i had a look at
them and see what the feel and what they offer through their look.
At college we worked in groups again into our nus project discussing the aides we had and
trying to narrow it down so we can finally go in one direction. We decided to concentrate
on nus smart phone app that would allow the user to find the necessary information like
how to manage your finance or where to find the nearest doctor in case of an emergency.
we made a list of services the app could offer and tried to think of any situations to present
those categories as storyboards to show it next week during the final presentation as the
end product.
Freshers Week 2
Week 2
At the start of second week we spoke to out tutor and presented the research to him to get
some feedback and some suggestions on what to do next. We looked at some student
organisations such as NUS – National Union of Students which is responsible for how
students are treated within the country. We looked at them because they were not present
during the open day of the freshers week. They had no stand and we didn’t understand
why. They are there to make sure we have the best time studying over the years and due
to their absence we though about changing this and doing something about it. Therefore
concentrating on NUS for this project was the our next objective.
As a group we started to discuss what is our next step towards the project. We discussed
different ways to make nus more appealing. We discussed ways to improve existing one
and one of the way was to look at some of the cards that we have in our wallets already
and look for features that make it stand out. Cards like hsbc debit card or oyster card did
really stand out thanks to its colours and logo. Other reasons for this card to stand is
because millions of people use them in their daily lives and because both cards are
supported by a wide rage of advertising that surrounds us.
from the discussions about the cards that we have arranged to design a few drafts of
cards, logos and posters for Monday to have something to work from.
Last thing we did for the day was to compile a list of questions about nus like "do you have
nus card" the reason behind this questionnaire was to collect some data about how many
students in the college have got nus and how many don’t. Also to ask their opinion about
nus logo.
The results showed us that 18 people don’t have nus card but they did heard about but
either they didn’t wants to pay for it or could not bother to get one which tells us that the
card itself does not offer much apart from its discount. Also everyone we asked said that
the logo was boring or could use more styling to it.
At the start of second week we spoke to out tutor and presented the research to him to get
some feedback and some suggestions on what to do next. We looked at some student
organisations such as NUS – National Union of Students which is responsible for how
students are treated within the country. We looked at them because they were not present
during the open day of the freshers week. They had no stand and we didn’t understand
why. They are there to make sure we have the best time studying over the years and due
to their absence we though about changing this and doing something about it. Therefore
concentrating on NUS for this project was the our next objective.
As a group we started to discuss what is our next step towards the project. We discussed
different ways to make nus more appealing. We discussed ways to improve existing one
and one of the way was to look at some of the cards that we have in our wallets already
and look for features that make it stand out. Cards like hsbc debit card or oyster card did
really stand out thanks to its colours and logo. Other reasons for this card to stand is
because millions of people use them in their daily lives and because both cards are
supported by a wide rage of advertising that surrounds us.
from the discussions about the cards that we have arranged to design a few drafts of
cards, logos and posters for Monday to have something to work from.
Last thing we did for the day was to compile a list of questions about nus like "do you have
nus card" the reason behind this questionnaire was to collect some data about how many
students in the college have got nus and how many don’t. Also to ask their opinion about
nus logo.
The results showed us that 18 people don’t have nus card but they did heard about but
either they didn’t wants to pay for it or could not bother to get one which tells us that the
card itself does not offer much apart from its discount. Also everyone we asked said that
the logo was boring or could use more styling to it.
Freshers Week 1
Freshers project
Week 1
First project of this year and we were put into groups to look at Freshers week. Freshers
consists of few days when people party together and have fun with each other form the
college 1st years to get to know each other better. We first meet each other quickly within
the grouped and then started looking into what freshers is and who takes part in it. We
found at through grouped work that not just students take part in freshers but people who
work in the clubs, pubs and even police officers and taxi drivers etc.
In o2 there was a open day from companies around the London that offered a series of
foodie bags and discounts etc. As a group we went there to get our hands on some of
these goodies they were hanging out and ask a few question to the people that work there
what they wanted to achieve from giving us these freebies.
Once we got the information from these people and we went to analyse what was inside
the bag. Started dividing the leaflets and offers into thing we really find useful and thing
that are just useless for us. We noticed a lot of the leaflets were just discounts for music
and clubs nothing that we students could find useful for or studies. Therefore we started
questioning whether freshers is really useful in a way to benefit us for long time during our
college time.
Week 1
First project of this year and we were put into groups to look at Freshers week. Freshers
consists of few days when people party together and have fun with each other form the
college 1st years to get to know each other better. We first meet each other quickly within
the grouped and then started looking into what freshers is and who takes part in it. We
found at through grouped work that not just students take part in freshers but people who
work in the clubs, pubs and even police officers and taxi drivers etc.
In o2 there was a open day from companies around the London that offered a series of
foodie bags and discounts etc. As a group we went there to get our hands on some of
these goodies they were hanging out and ask a few question to the people that work there
what they wanted to achieve from giving us these freebies.
Once we got the information from these people and we went to analyse what was inside
the bag. Started dividing the leaflets and offers into thing we really find useful and thing
that are just useless for us. We noticed a lot of the leaflets were just discounts for music
and clubs nothing that we students could find useful for or studies. Therefore we started
questioning whether freshers is really useful in a way to benefit us for long time during our
college time.
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