OUGD402 - Studio Brief 1 - Sloemotion Packaging designs

After getting an email through college about an opportunity to design some packaging for a company I jumped at it. I really enjoy designing packaging and I'm always looking to improve. Also I haven't really worked with clients before so I wanted to experience this. So I sent some initial design ideas based off what they had asked for: an update to their previous chutneys, gift boxes and chocolate boxes. First of all I focused on the chutneys, they wanted something that would fit in with their newer design by a design firm, whom they couldn't afford anymore. 

Their updated design with new logo and colour scheme.

The old gift boxes vs the new.

So I started with the chutneys as I immediately had an idea for them. I thought that each flavour should have a corresponding pattern as well as colour relating to the main ingredient. So I mocked it up on illustrator. I wanted to create an effect like having a gingham cloth on a jar with these patterns. A kind of home made feel to them, which is friendly and inviting.

When they responded they seemed to really like my designs but they said that they had a no label look in mind, which is one that is printed directly onto the jar or onto a clear sticker. So I played around a bit more, removing the red circle so the patterns shone through. I also added a tamper seal to it - as they had requested one - connecting it to their "life on the hedge" design used on their new bottles.

At this point I was told that it was me and another person from LCA - a third year in graphic design - and we could collaborate, with her doing the chocolate boxes as I hadn't even begun to design them and me doing the chutney designs. We were invited to visit their little factory in Malton - just North of York. I learnt a lot about the company from the visit, that they were quite a small but successful business, stocking lots of the local stores. And also saw how they made their products, we even tasted their range of liqueurs which were all gorgeous.

After the tour they got us together and gave us their opinions on both of our designs so far. They said that they liked my designs - however they worry that they are too far from the new bottle design, with a different typeface. So they advised to change this to match. Also the patterns weren't on the bottles so they couldn't be on the jars either and the ribbon was a bit too twee. Initially I felt that they were taking away all my personality from the design. But I learnt a lot from this experience as I realised I wasn't creating a design for myself, like I do at Uni, I was creating it for a client, and whatever they want you need to give them. So with their feedback at hand me and Ida, the third year, created a range of designs for them to choose from. Below are the ones I designed for the chutneys and gift boxes while Ida designed the chocolate boxes. We were given just 4 days to do this so I did feel rushed and very stressed but we managed to send them off in time for the Friday morning deadline. 

Only now we played the waiting game. We didn't hear from the clients for a week, when I emailed to see if they had received the designs and if they had decided on the best ones they told us that we were competing against the printers in house designer and that they couldn't complete their designs for the deadline that they had set, so they were waiting for their designs to come through to make a decision. This was the most frustrating part of the experience as we ended up waiting for almost 3 weeks before they decided to give up on the printers who hadn't sent them any designs within that time. This was good news as it meant that our designs will be used. 

Now, the process is still on going, it is now a conversation of design ideas back and forth to the client via email. The deadline to send the files to print is the 14th of May, so I have given myself a challenge with the workload and deadlines we already have at the moment. But I feel like once it is done it will be a fantastic thing to have in my portfolio and I will be proud to just have something that I have designed being sold on a shelf somewhere.