Responsive / Collaboration / Re-written brief & Rationale

The Brief / Fedrigoni UK

Inspire Printers across the UK to work with the wide variety of Fedrigoni Papers on offer

Background

The history of our business dates almost as far back as the history of paper in Europe itself. Over the years, we’ve consistently been at the forefront of our industry, pioneering the techniques and processes that make paper the beautiful, versatile medium it is. It’s a tradition of sustained growth and innovation we’re proud to continue to this day. Building on the past. Delivering the future.

Considerations

Create a happy medium between creativity and formalness to suit the actual identity of Fedrigoni

Concept/ Proposition

Communicate that Fedrigoni offer a wide variety of stocks to Printers across the UK, exploiting their art & science that has gone into refining their paper qualities.

Combine a large selection of their papers, display their heritage and explain their price, range and rich history. We aim to do this by layering different types of paper, which would then display an Italian Paper mill when brought together, complimented by text and icons. These different layers could then be applied to different methods of production, 'Bringing your designs to life' is our working title.

Mandatory requirements

Experiment with paper using different processes. Produce a range of design boards clearly stating the direction of our progression along with supporting contextual & practical research taken from both primary and secondary sources.

Deliverables

A publication and supporting promotional material, displaying the versatility of paper in a creative yet formal way, to inspire the use and variety of Fedrigoni paper

Tone of voice

Inspiring and Professional

Target audience

UK Printers, (The general public also needs to be taken into account in terms of building an awareness of Fedrigoni papers)

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PROJECT RATIONALE

What is the problem? 
1.  Fedrigoni want to expand their customer base in the UK. 
2. They want to reinforce the image to cheaper hight quality Italian paper. 
3. They need printers to switch from their existing paper supplier to Fedrigoni. 
4. The product needs to be inspirational, fun but also informative and useful.
5. We have to produce this in a limited time with limited materials .  

We intend to...  Inform, educate and promote to a group of ... professional printers that ... Fedrigoni is a leading high quality paper brand offering great Italian paper at a surprisingly reasonable price. 

In order to achieve this we will produce...
A publication which will contain information on the tenants, history and pricing of Fedrigoni papers. Said publication will contain a Northern Italian scene depicting the founding of Fedrigoni's first paper mill in 1717 against a backdrop of the Alps. Supporting promotional material will also be produced. 

This will be produced using...
Our own sketches and imagination, followed by laser-cutting and screen printing the design into a 20-25 page book.

What is good? Design boards / visualisation of progression

In light of workshops and evaluation by peers, it came to my attention that my focus on insects was far too broad to deliver something informational and valued, one of my peers suggested I could focus my attention on honeybees. After evaluating my research, It became apparent that the information I'd done on honeybee's was a lot more interesting and relevant, especially because it was a contemporary issue shown in articles and news reports.

Below displays a visual representation of my progression...



5 words that sum up the tone of voice

Formal - Professional approach
Engaging - Educational
Calming - Easy to interpret
Informative - Awareness
Stimulating - Exhibition

5 products that you want/ could create

Museum way-finding & signage
Museum blueprint / interior design
Presentational attribute (to hold all of deliverables)
Business cards
Promotional aspects (leaflets, posters etc)
Publishing & Editorial - Supporting literature for event
Paper craft - honeycomb effect

5 words that sum up your good

Interesting
Educational
Useful
Honey
Enlightening
Important

5 words that sum up your target audience

Educational institutes
Students
The general public - visual appeal - 20-30 year olds
Economically concerned population
Nature enthusiasts

Processes

Illustrator capabilities
Sketching work
Screenprint
Spot varnish
Paper craft
Embossing
Laser cut
Construction / planning
Photography

Plan; An Exhibition of

Main focus; Branding & Identity

Other areas of focus; Publishing & Editorial, Information & way finding, Product.

Evaluation of Design boards...

• Well laid out and just the right amount of text 
• Could have laid the images out differently as the overlapping isn't consistent
• Effective layout as each page has been laid out differently it keeps the viewer interested
• What is the relevance of the '±' symbol
• Well used grid throughout and I haven't noticed any misalignments
• Good use of white space breaks the information up
• Need a larger space between the words?
• Well written content throughout
• Should have been printed

• Good use of spatial layout, nor too overcrowded. Interesting 'good' to be focused on, quite random, but the outcome could be something very appealing and interesting
• Effective and creative research examples, especially the paper folds, which look like honeycomb - relevant. Again good white space
• Page3, Perhaps position text on this board in a similar place as 1. Text and image looks best on that board.
• Mixture of idea generation will work well, has potential to be quite effective especially in an exhibition

• Make board sections clearer - subtitles clearer or bolder
• Maybe layout is too different at times and needs to be made more regiment
• Make sure everything is aligned with one another
• Clear well laid out boards
• Too much text to read through??
• Good quality images
• Clear conceptual ideas
• Make titles stand out more from the rest of the text

• Nice + & _
• Boards are clear and well presented, well researched into all aspects of project
• Could have printed out?
• Clear layout

Photography Workshop / Refresher

During this session we were taken briefly through the basics of a Canon DLR. Touching on a camera's; Aperature, Shutter speed and ISO and how they must be adjusted for different environments. I decided to look at the basic 18-55 mm lens and then had ago at the Macro lens. Because Luke Rossiter was in the same session as me, we thought it would of been a good idea to take photographs with our group collaboration in mind, it was a good time to experiment with perspective and see how we could apply any of our learnt techniques for when it came to the photography aspect of our project. It was a useful experience and has given me motivation to use the studio in the future.

What is good? Workshop 3

For tuesday, create 5 presentation boards outlining my 'good', my range of 'good', the formats I'd like to use, and the process I would like to use to communicate this. This research will come in very handy for the 16 page booklet we have to develop that will be showcasing our content. On Tuesday we will also be writing out our developed brief.

During this session we had to analyse our chosen products in terms of their production. The discussion between peers would hopefully enlighten the more plausible routes of my design direction, in terms of design this session was focused on the formats and processes of our selected images.

5 things I don't know about my products, that I need to find out!

-How you successfully fold stock without damaging the surface of the paper or breaking the ink.

-How long would it take to plan the development of a similar container?

-Did it take numerous attempts before the final product was cut/ arranged (how time-effective would this approach be?)

-Do you need specific machinery to print clear labels onto glass or could it be done in the confinements of college?

-Where I could get a similar print quality at an affordable price?

-How to print a varnished spot colour

5 processes to explore...

Paper craft

Construction

Spot varnish

Perfect bound / Coptic stitch

Emboss / De-boss

Evaluating one of my chosen products...

The bad// 

-The implication of honey bee's doesn't seem strong enough when the box is closed up.

-It doesn't really seem that practical, given it's scale and contents. Obviously it's more realistic and representational at the proportion but in essence its housing poster/ info graphic designs.

-The actual design of the product is quite bland, baring no visuals.

Improve; Could of been presented in a slightly smaller and better depicted container? Incorporate the concept of honey comb on the exterior.

The good// 

-Creative

-Different/ Original concept

-Functionality, as the viewer takes each slide out they'll be imagining the concept of honey, before they even see what's on each slide!

-Contemporary approach mixed with traditional outcome, works well, visually pleasing

From this exercise and the workshops we've undertook this week, we'll be pursuing the project in a more focused manner in order to turn what we've learnt...into a brief that we can answer.

We have been given 5 lenses to research our theme through...

- A brief history of...

- A collection of...

- An introduction to...

- Things you need to know about...

- An exhibition of...

What is good? Task/ Examples

Task 1

After identifying the different aspects of my chosen subject matter I set myself an investigational task, broadening my research and making it more coherent in terms of what I'd like to produce...

The task was to identify different examples of Branding & identity that somehow related to my direction and also bring in different types of print that I'd possibly like to incorporate in my design process...I brought in items that incorporated methods such as; silver foiling, embossing & spot varnish.

My direction at this moment in time was to promote & produce an exhibition that exploited the benefits of insects and their wonderful little lives through an event held at a museum, this meant I could produce and investigate signage/ way finding, publishing & editorial, promotional attributes & actually develop an identity for my exhibition through branding...business cards etc.

Publishing & Editorial

I'm really intrigued with this approach to design, although it lacks communication in these examples it produces something that makes you stare & try to decipher what it's all about. I really think a contemporary design approach would also suit my current concept.

Gradients, something I've always liked the look of, but never used! If I was going to incorporate gradients I'd need to consider my target audience and what I really want to communicate through my identity, this is because gradients can often be overpowering, stealing the show. So I need to think...is the focus more on the information I'll be collating or the visual side of my exhibition?

In terms of design, the photograph above and below have very opposing themes despite being the same book, so how has the designer achieved this mutual connection?

The front cover looks very illustrative, bright, exciting whereas the one below is very formal and clean cut...but in my opinion it's worked because of its contemporary aspect permeating throughout. The descriptive label is consistent with the inside type layouts and the curved edge of the pages compliments the exciting side of the publication through each page.

Museum exhibitions/ branding

Again, the contemporary aspect is prevalent in all of the museum branding I've came across. They're simple and to the point...often made more diverse through their use of photography and type decisions.

I thought this use of branding was very unique in the sense that it didn't have to change anything for its way- finding...apart from the aspect of colour. You can clearly see that they're all different areas/ types of a museum. I really think I should incorporate a similar approach for my way-finding because it acts as a constant signifier to the audience, making it easier for the audience to navigate and make sure they're still in the same exhibition.

Contemporary way-finding...

I undertook some research into design drawings because I really like the developmental effect and 'rawness' of them, as you can see from the images below, they'd look great produced through a programme such as 'Illustrator'. The developmental effect also lends itself to the content side. Making it easier for the audience to visually see each part of the insect in a sort of break down.

All in all this was a pretty good task for me, I didn't really have a solid idea as such, just an awareness of where I'd like to go and this really highlighted what I needed to investigate further in my design context. I also took on some advice from my peers and have thought about producing an exhibition around bee's as oppose to insects because of their drastic effect on our world that so many people are oblivious too, after sharing my research with my peers, they found all of the information about bee's and honey more valuable and interesting. This would make the exhibition more targeted specifically and means I'd have to develop a new string of research.

The print based items I'd brought along were a talking point for our products, even though none of this is set in stone, it was good to have an idea of what I'd like to experiment with.

At the end of this session we were given the task to go away and look into different formats of design which are appealing our professional practice. Now that I'd changed my idea, and made it more specific, it would be easier to find things that were more strongly related to my theme. The new idea also gave me stronger branding opportunities because of its specificity.

Task 2

Research/ 5 formats that appeal to me in terms of my personal professional practice...items such as packaging/ boxes...Japanese binding, DVD cases, way-finding possibilities...stock...

I also need to think about factors such as;

How long would it take to put together in the studio environment...

What production methods would you like to use with it?...

Feasible outcomes...

Analyse products in terms of:

Target Audience

Context - where

How people interact with it

Stock

Special Production Methods

Given the nature of my event I needed to decide on a target audience, the audience would dictate the attitude of my designs and I wanted to stay away from anything cartoony, I wanted the exhibition to be possibly aimed at both male and female, between the ages of 20-35 year olds. Honey Bee's is a strong subject matter which means it's been done before in different formats, I needed to do it completely different! Out of all my current research, the following publication was one of the stronger pieces of design I came across. A large majority of design work on bee's had a very young appreciation factor (as you can see from the screenshot below), it was more to attract rather than to inform and educate.

I've chosen to include this publication in my examples because it successfully demonstrates the contemporary and modern design approach I'd like to pursue. The editorial side of my concept would act as a book you buy from the exhibition that displays the most important factors of my research, it could also aid the viewer when they're walking around the exhibition...

Due to the fact people would 'buy' the publications, I could include different finishing techniques...possibly spot varnish...creatively tie in with honey?

Amazing concept; Would it be a feasible outcome in the time I've got to produce my deliverables? I'd love to take the raw concept of this idea and use it for a different purpose, it could act as a holder for various objects...

Proposal; Display all of my deliverables in a creative manner and give the viewer a real feel of the exhibition. Each honey slide could contain objects such as...the publication, way finding/ signage, creative hand crafted materials, the possibilities are endless but first I need to undertake a lot more research and organise areas I need to look into.

Although I've included these examples, I wouldn't be primarily supplying honey in my deliverables but products that promote honey, products could play on the principle of honey jars etc. Idea; for example, If I was to go down an info-graphic route, I could fill a jar with info graphic representations. People would interact with these during their walk around the museum?

Hand-craft// Due to my recent investigation of paper craft for the responsive briefs, an idea sparked when I thought about honey and the way the honeycomb is made up of layers. I could include a 3 dimensional representation of the honeycomb, displaying the bee's workflow or something similar, at this stage everything is just an idea.

Info-graphic cards/ quick turn-around, straight to the point, doesn't seem to be a relevant use for them in terms of how the audience would interact with them...feasible outcome; incorporate into signage, each section could have an introduction by the display etc...

In terms of investigation I really need to broaden my scope of investigation and see if they're are any pre-existing museums based around my subject matter just like the one displayed below....

This example displays what I don't really want to do; use basic info graphics that appeal to a large target audience, I want something contemporary but striking in terms of its delivery of information.

Binding...

Wooden arts exhibition, contemporary, unique...I've chosen to look at the wooden aspect because it could be a creative feature that could communicate the wooden hives beekeepers have developed to store honey...

Coptic stitch used along side a wooden front and back cover. A coptic stitch is used when a publication uses more than one signature, to create the stitch you put each signature on top of each other and then sew down the edges of them to join them together and join them to front and back cover. This is an open book binding technique and also leaves a nice pattern within the stitching that is shown. 

Screw posts provide one of the easiest methods for binding documents, especially extremely thick ones. Sometimes called Chicago screws or Chicago screw posts, these small document fasteners are usually made of Aluminium. 

The stock consists of mount board and a long horizontal piece of paper, probably quite cheap to produce because it would be a one print run for the inside content! Would be a pretty fast turnaround time because it's quite a straightforward process, could be used as promotional flyers? flight of the bee?