Wednesday, 13 May 2015

Reflective Report

Work Based Learning 
Reflective Report 

From the beginning of my graphic design degree, I have had a strong indication that I wanted to focus my skills on the advertising and branding side of graphic design. Therefore I wanted to focus carrying out my work placement in a studio that focuses on re-brands and also advertising, or gaining work experience with clients that have put forward a brief for a product to re-brand. By working in a studio or gaining freelance work of re-branding products, I would gain the valuable experience of how things would be run on a day to day basis during projects, like the timeline of when and how fast tasks needed to be completed. Additionally I would also gain experience doing freelance work, as this would show me in a real life situation, the many tasks that I would have to deal with during the project. For example dealing with a client that had a different opinion to mine in the case of the design of the product they have put forward, and how I would deal with that. As well as this it would also show me the amount of work that needs to be done to the highest quality in the short space of time that the clients have set, which would be very similar to a design studio.


In the beginning I started enquiring about work placements at design studios through emailing the companies themselves about whether I would be able to volunteer to gain some more experience. I emailed a number of studios and agencies in the local areas, however the studios that got back in touch through email said that unfortunately they wouldn't be able to take any volunteers at this time. However I didn't give up on finding a work placement, as I then decided to expand my search for of design studios further than the local area. This ended up with me searching in the areas of Liverpool. I continued with the same approach of first emailing the studios. Some of the studios got back to me in the immediate days after, unfortunately they were saying the same, that they wouldn't be taking any volunteers on at this time. But a few of the studios did say they would keep hold of my information, so that I could ring up later in the year to see if their position had changed. Which I will do, because even though I was unable to get a placement here at this time, I still believe that this would be extremely beneficial to me in the long run to gain more experience, as this is never a bad thing. 


However although this was a set back for me, I wasn't giving up on gaining the experience that was needed for me. Fortunately I was given the opportunity to gain the experience that was needed through freelance graphic design work. This was a fantastic relief for me, as I had had the setbacks of not being able to gain a work placement in a studio. However I had been given the opportunity of gaining the experience in the other way that I wanted to which was freelance work. Although the timing of this wasn't the best as I had a number of other big deadlines coming up in the weeks that I needed to be working on this freelance work. It gave me the opportunity to test myself as to how it would be in a design studio, as I would have multiple projects ongoing at the same time. Therefore it would give me the chance to make sure I was fully able to cope with the timelines of each project, which would obviously be very difficult for me, but I wanted to give myself the ultimate test, which this would be. 



After I had very greatly accepted this piece of freelance project, I got straight down to work. The company that this work was for was called ‘Honey Bee-z’. The work that they wanted doing was to completely redesign the product which was honey. They wanted there labelling as well as the jar itself to be redesigned, as they were not seeing the projected sales that they were hoping for when their product hit the shelves of the supermarkets here in the UK. The ‘Honey Bee-z’ honey is currently being sold in ‘Home Bargains’ however consumers are turning away from this product as the labelling as well as the design of the rest of the jar is not up to the standards of its competitors. However this product was of a much better quality than its competitors, but customers were going for the cheaper, lower quality honey because there jars looked more appealing to the eye. The plan of action that was set forward by the client was to increase the sales of the ‘Honey Bee-z’ honey by completely changing the design of their jar, making it more appealing of the eye for the customers , in addition to making them aware that the ‘Honey Bee-z’ honey was a much better quality honey than the rest of its competitors. 


To start off with this project, I first set out to do intensive research on its competitors not only in the ‘Home Bargains’ stores but also other honey products that were doing well in terms of sales. By doing this it meant that I was able to see the types of designs that other companies were using, and whether this was the main focal point as to why there sales were at a better level. Furthermore I also wanted to look at the level of designs that the more premium high-end honey companies had designed there products. As this is what was wanted for the ‘Honey Bee-z’ product, to be seen as a higher end, premium quality honey compared to the competitors. 


After my initial research into existing honey brands and there designs, I then started to create some initial ideas to take to the client. These were just very basic designs that were shown, however it gave me a better understanding as well as a better idea as to whether I was in the right area with were the company wanted to go, and whether we were on the same page. We agreed that the designs were in the right area to what they were wanting, however they still wanted that extra something to make their product stand out from all the rest. This was something that I totally agreed with. After this correspondence I took all of the opinions and information on board, and went back to designing something that would best represent the ideas from this conversation.


After taking everything that was said in the previous conversations on board, I came up with a few new and different ideas show the client. These designs were not totally different to the first set of designs that I showed the client, but they did have in my opinion that little extra edge that the company was looking for. We agreed that this was the path that we wanted to go down in terms of the design of the ‘Honey Bee-z’ honey. But we continued to talk through additional segments of design, which might benefit and help the design along even more. This talk was very helpful as I went on to create the final design from this conversation. 


The design that was eventually decided on being the on that would be taken forward was a design that I was very happy with. This design included a honeycomb type effect on the bottom of the jar. One thing that was agreed was to add this effect to the top of the jar as well, as we both agreed that this would give the jar that extra special something that was so desperately wanted by the company. This design featured the honeycomb effect like I have said, however the shapes that were used for this effect were cut out so that customers would be able to see the honey through the labelling and design of the jar. I done this as I felt it give the design that extra special edge that would make it stand out from the competitors. After further correspondence with the client, we decided to take this idea even further. As we talked through using this cutout technique on the packaging as well as the actual jar of honey. We decided on using it on the whole of the packaging, this resulted in the customers being able to see all the information on the jar even though it was in its own special packaging. By doing this it shown consistency in the design as a whole, and again added more to it in the process. 
I also came up with the idea to create a special three pack design for the jars of honey, this was something the client was very excited about, therefore I went ahead with this idea. I again used the cutout technique to a certain extent with this packaging as I cutout a piece of the packaging so you could see the front of the jar more clearly. Additionally I also added bees around the packaging to again give the customers a clear view of what they would be buying. 


After the design of the honey jar itself as well as the packaging for the product, we discussed the possibilities with the advertising aspect of the project. After several conversations we determined that the best way to advertise this product would be to think of something fun and quirky that customers would be able to relate to. As a result of this I came up with an advertising poster that I thought would be best to promote the company and its product, and give it and them the best exposure. The design I created featured the jar of ‘Honey Bee-z’ honey in place of a beehive in a tree, with bees flying back towards the tree and the ‘Honey Bee-z’ honey. With the caption ‘See what all the Buzz is about’. After showing this to the client we agreed that this would be a great way to advertise the product. 


I am extremely happy with how my work based learning has gone, although I was disappointed at first not to find a placement in a design studio I still feel that I have gained invaluable experience with this freelance project. It has taught me a lot of how the day to day running of a project would be, and I still feel that this is the career path that I would like to continue with. Therefore I will continue to try and gain more experience during the summer months by finding a placement within a design studio, or more freelance design work. However I do feel that I would be better getting a certain schedule set up during future projects, as although I did complete all of my projects on time, there were certain stages during this project were time was tight. This was because I was also juggling projects and assignments for university therefore I had to make sure that my time was always being spend wisely.  


Bibliography
[online] [accessed 16th February 2015]
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