BRIEF 11: DRINKS CLUB//PRIMARY RESEARCH//LABEL DESIGN//OUGD603

label design - drinks club
I have photographed some images of label design for spirits that I think work quite well or are interesting.  I thought this would be helpful in developing my drinks club logo or give some input into how I can design the label for the drinks clubs own wine.  As a general observation with a lot of the higher end label designs they print onto nice stock and the shape of the bottle impacts on the overall presentation of the alcohol, these are both things I will consider when designing my own.

 Some of the ones that I came across were quite illustrative and detailed in their designs, I am hoping that my logo is quite detailed so applying it to cream textured stock should hopefully give the desired effect.

Differing bottle types, this can help with the style of design you're going for.  I think this is something that could really add to the design when being photographed.  Perforated edges or detail cut out with the laser cutter could also add quality and detail to the product.

In terms of design being kept traditional and almost classic, a lot of the bottles use quite traditional looking typefaces, mostly serif with the older brands.  Label colours and bottle/glass colours differ depending on spirits etc.

Absolute Vodka has a modern, cleaner style compared to some of the previous designs, they also make limited edition bottle designs that showcase illustrations and use various themes for upcoming dates etc.

WEEKLY PLAN//SELF EVALUATION//OUGD603

evaluating last week: 10/02/2014 - 14/02/2014 plus weekend

weekly plan // 10th-14th feb
monday & tuesday

• prepare for manifesto presentation on tuesday
• unsung heroes poster
• museum of childhood design sheets - blog
• drinks club research
• drinks club design sheets - blog
• meantime tee shirt prep (for screen print)

wednesday - friday

• drinks club designing (blog development)
• museum of childhood designing (blog development)
• clean screen for friday
• screen print tee shirts
• 2 hours ppp

This is what I managed to complete last week off my weekly list.  Even though I managed to maintain my 9:00 - 9:30 starts each day I felt towards the end of the week my plan had lost its direction, hence the things listed for the second part of the week taking a back seat.  After having a tutorial with Amber, mid week I realised there were some things I needed to change and so made a new plan and also changed the direction of some of my briefs in terms of format to suit my portfolio.

over the weekend Emily and I did collaborate on a secret 7 submission which we plan to turn into a series of record sleeves, adding type where we were restricted before.

notes and changes in direction with my practice

weekly plan: 17/02/2014 -21/02/2014

big list:

secret 7

• blog research and design sheets - annotate
• blog development
• mock ups
• extend designs 
• boards
• printing

-

• blog all scanned pages
• write up collaboration brief with lisa
• write up new 'tea' brief 
• blog yoke brief 
• collect unsung heroes primary research for next week
• screen print meantime tee shirts
• clean screen for unsung heroes 

BRIEF 11: DRINKS CLUB//BRANDING AND LABEL RESEARCH//OUGD603

drinks label research & branding

I have been considering the range of products I could create when branding the drinks club.  Amongst coasters, a logo, letter head, business card, manifesto and plaque I think a really important one would be the drinks label.  This would be a perfect format to display the branding.  I have been looking at drink label designs and general branding to get inspiration in terms of style and also ideas to broaden the range of products.

Interesting and detailed design, really like the typeface being used, this is the kind of style I had in mind when starting to put the logo together for the drinks club, a clear modern font.  Stock colour and texture will also improve the design, which is something I need to consider throughout the entire project as I have not yet thought about the impact the stock could have on the overall design.

I think the simple label design on these bottles work really well, I like the torn edge at the top of the label, I think this adds a uniqueness to the brand.  This is a design I feel could suit the image I want the drinks club to communicate.  I think the way the brand is displayed adds to the overall image, the bottles used, the wooden case, this is something I've thought about trying to plan in order to use for my own product range.

Clean label design, like the choice of stock, this adds to the overall quality of the brand.  I think the use of numerical figures being so prominent adds something to the design, this is something I have considered in the early stages of the branding for drinks club.  It would be a nice idea to try and include some information on the labels to do with the brand, in a light hearted way.

'El Montero, is a restaurant located in Saltillo Coahuila, a city very close to the Mexican northern border. 

Its kitchen represents the restaurant's surroundings as it is located on one of Mexico's deserts. El Montero's menu is inspired on regional food, integrating elements from contemporary kitchens. 

The project was developed inside an edification from the colonial period considered national patrimony. The development was executed with respect and care toward its elements.'

Really like this restaurant branding for El Montero.  This wooden painted plaque would be something I'd like to do,  I would laser cut the drinks club logo onto some wood, I think this would be a good format as you can associate plaques and signage with pubs etc.

I think the whole branding works consistently well together, in terms of the colour scheme I would consider using these types of stocks and palettes, this kind of style of tradition meets a modern style of design is something I hope to achieve.  Another process I have thought about would be foiling, as they have done on this branding, I think it'll give the drinks club branding something extra.

the secret bar - foreign policy

'Speakeasies were places for illegal boozing that came to prominence during the Prohibition era in 1920s America. This nameless speakeasy-inspired bar has all the hallmarks of a trendy Singapore bar du jour. There's a storefront location (The Library), hipster bartenders, an art-decor-meets-steam-punk interior, quirky presentation of cocktails like teacups brimming with gin and a secret password to get in. Completing the quirky experience of this name-less brand, menus and business cards are made like secret manuals and recipes, with eccentric scientific diagrams of the concoctions with named parts, and made-up Latin scientific names for the made-up mixing machines.'

I chose this branding example because it is by one of my favourite design studios - foreign policy, it also relates to 'drinking.'

This is something to think about when designing drinks club invitations, to laser cut a certain area of the envelope, to either have the logo appearing on the cover, or to have the logo made visible when sliding the invite out of the sleeve.  I also want to use black stock so should consider the printing and what colour inks would be suitable.

I think designing coasters is an important part of the drink club rebrand, however apart from laser cutting wood to get the desired effect I don't know, I would have to explore the various printing options for this.  Three or four different designs all including the logo would work best as a set.

I don't know wether it would be necessary to have a drinks menu as this isn't something thats been required as part of the branding, however it could be a nice addition to the range.  Or something more lighthearted like a drinks club etiquette.

BRIEF 03: ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS//SCREEN PRINT TESTING//OUGD603

screen printing testing:
After exposing our screens we decided to do a test run to see how the images would turn out.  After exposing our screens we came across a bit of a problem with one of the screens.  Whilst being exposed some of the emulsion from a previous screen had been left on the screen exposer which meant when ours was done being exposed and we took the printed paper image off the screen part of the paper had stuck to it and it took some of the emulsion off with the screen.  We thought this would cause problems with the final print so before setting up or having to re expose the screen we did a test run to see the outcome.

We first tested with the yellow paint which actually made it hard to tell whether the exposed screen had actually been too affected to continue.  We then added some streaks of orange paint to the mix to see whether this would allow the blemish to show up more and whether we would have to change the screen.

Emily and I were quite happy with the tester and decided that the blemishes and imperfections actually added to the overall print and would not be worth wasting the time to expose another screen, especially when we were pleased with the results.

WEEK PLAN//TIME MANAGEMENT//OUGD603

weekly plan // 10th-14th feb
As of monday we have seven weeks left until the easter holidays begin, I thought making a weekly plan with targets that need to be met at the end of the week would be crucial to helping me achieve what I need to with the little time we have left.  Every week on the friday I will assess whether I have completed the set goals and make new goals for the following week on sunday.  Time is vital at this stage and I feel without a new organised way to structure my work load I will find it hard to complete everything to the best standard it could be.

monday & tuesday

• prepare for manifesto presentation on tuesday
• unsung heroes poster
• museum of childhood design sheets - blog
• drinks club research
• drinks club design sheets - blog
• meantime tee shirt prep (for screen print)

wednesday - friday

• drinks club designing (blog development)
• museum of childhood designing (blog development)
• clean screen for friday
• screen print tee shirts
• 2 hours ppp

BRIEF 03: ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS//DESIGN DEVELOPMENT//OUGD603

design development - preparing designs for screen print
images:
After looking through the bank of images we had collected and searching for appropriate quotes these were the final two images we decided would work best in terms of capturing the feel of the show, how they fit with the quotes and what they would look like screen printed (colour and layout between type and image.)

quotes:
We selected two quotes that we feel would fit with the images properly and would also work within type and image.  For the picture starring the both of them we have decided to have the catch phrase, or one of the most well known quotes from the show, 'sweetie darling' and for the Patsy image: Darling, if you want to talk bollocks and discover the meaning of life you're better off just downing a bottle of whisky. At least that way you're unconscious by the time you start to take yourself seriously!

Colour: In terms of colour we have decided to try and base the choice on the Ab Fab logo which consists of four colours, purple, red orange and pink. Emily and I discussed using purple ink for the quotes on both posters, we think out of all the colours, with it being the darkest, it'll be most appropriate for the written part of the design, we also felt this could give the designs more of a consistency to work as a pair.

For the half tone image we have decided to do one in pink as this is quite a colour associated with the shows logo and also the orange because we thought the orange and purple would compliment each other. As well as feeling the red wont be quote suitable for images of people.

prepping images for screen printing:

black and white half tone images, in terms of type something fashion inspired, vogue style, high end fashion, pistilli etc.

designing print: testing colour, typefaces et.

We started off laying out the quotes using Prada, as it resembles a kind of high end fashion typeface, we used the colour swatch from the logo to start off.  Originally we wanted the text in purple and the images pink and orange, however the orange halftone image didn't work very well for the photograph.  We found the purple worked better as it gave better lighting and more definition to the faces (left poster) but the orange typeface over it still didn't work - due to what we thought was typeface and colour scheme.  The right design featuring just Patsy, we though suited the pink half tone, also suits the character - again the both of us agreed the colour and typeface didn't work.  The quote was too long and so awkward to position over the image in a way that worked - I thought you need to be able to see more of her and it over layered the character in a messy looking way.

 We decided to change the typeface as something wasn't right about Prata, and also to ignore the colours for now as this wouldn't matter when actually printing, this was just to get a rough idea.  We felt italic looked better straight away - because it was a quote but also because it suited the images more.  We also decided trying to place a long quote on the image of Patsy didn't really work and the quote was short enough for the type of impact we wanted the designs to have.  The quote also fit perfectly with the photo.

 We tried changing the quote to see if we could get it to read any better, we felt the word darling should be in italics because of the way its said, however having the rest of the quote not italicised didn't suit the image as much, even though it read better like this, we felt as a whole the design worked better with it all in italics.  We also tried to do it in reverse so all of the quote except the word darling was italics, but that still wasn't as strong as the original.

I also tried using bodoni italic in caps lock, at first I thought I preferred it in lower case but I feel as though there is something that works with this - more so a high end fashion magazine spread or an article, I think it also depends on colour - the black text is probably helping create that kind of editorial elusion.

 This is a bit more what we had in mind - obviously the colours will be completely different depending on what we choose in the print room, I think this is something we can decide on more whilst actually doing the process - as the outcome will be a lot different to what we design on screen, in terms of colour.

BRIEF 03: ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS//VISUALS AND QUOTES//OUGD603

Visuals:
We wanted to collect images that we thought would work well with type being placed on.  When first discussing the direction of the brief we had decided a fashion typeface (vogue typeface, pistilli etc.) would suit the style of the show etc.  These are some visuals that we have collected that could be the potentials.

Patsy: Darling, if you want to talk bollocks and discover the meaning of life you're better off just downing a bottle of whisky. At least that way you're unconscious by the time you start to take yourself seriously!

Patsy: Anyway, I just have to tell these tragic, little wannabes, do you know what I tell them? I say, 'darling, just stick your fingers down your throat, hack off your tits, keep taking the tablets and don't come back until you're looking like something!' Y’know?

Edina: Who bloody needs 'em? Upper classes, who bloody needs 'em, sweetheart? They're all inbred anyway, aren't they?

Patsy: Yea, just a talking neck! Most of them have done away with features altogether! They have to marry a bit of common every now and again to ensure bone development!

Edina: Bloody hell, Patsy! Wash it this time, will you? Anyway, darling, who was it you were with last night?

Patsy: Oh, he was just a windscreen washer I picked up at the traffic lights...

Edina: Oh.

Patsy: Buns so tight he was bouncing off the walls.

Edina: God, I hope you're not inviting that bloody, bollocky, selfish, two-faced, chicken bastard, pig-dog-man, are you??

Patsy: Oh you little bitch troll from hell

Edina: Who bloody needs 'em? Upper classes, who bloody needs 'em, sweetheart? They're all inbred anyway, aren't they?

Patsy: ..And I'm partial to an injection of adrenaline straight to the heart.

Eddy: We'll go on public transport, Pats. Patsy: Are you mad? I've got nothing to wear on public transport

Eddy: Lacroix, sweetie! It's alright, isn't it? You know people will think, "Wow, it's a Lacroix!"

Patsy: Come on! Stoli, babe!

Patsy: Liquid lunch for me

Eddy: When somebody deliberately over-educates themselves out of the possibility of useful employment, I take issue.

Philosophy

Edina: Anybody can use Public Transport, Sweetie.

Patsy: Darling, if you want to talk bollocks and discover the meaning of life you’re better off just downing a bottle of whisky. At least that way you’re unconscious by the time you start to take yourself seriously!

Saffy: Get through? Mum, you’ve absolved yourself of responsibility. You live from self-induced crisis to self-induced crisis. Someone does your hair, someone chooses what you wear, someone does your brain, someone tells you what to eat and three times a week someone sticks a hose up your bum and flushes it all out of you!

Edina: I’m sorry if that sounds selfish, sweetie, but it’s me! Me! Me! Me!

Patsy: Time is like a stretched elastic band. You can’t let it go or it’ll come back and take your eye out.

Saffy: You cannot find yourself through massage!’

Edina: ..if you’re a bloody psychic psychologist how come I’m always having to phone you?

Culture

Patsy: Meg Ryan, movie star?! I’ll be the judge of that.

Saffy: Major motion pictures are made, huge concerts have been put on stadiums. I mean, for God’s sake, 500,000 were mobilized in the Gulf and a war fought and won in less time without everyone included having a nervous breakdown and being sent flowers. It cannot be that difficult.

Edina: Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Darling, every troop didn’t have to contain Yasmin Le Bon. The generals didn’t require big hugs after every maneuver and the whole thing did not have to be coordinated to rap and Japanese avant-garde bag-pipe music because, you know, darling, I think if it HAD, the outcome might have been rather different, don’t you? Hmm?

Patsy: What the hell is the difference between a painting done by a person who wishes to paint like a child, and a child’s painting?

Patsy: Eddy look, can I get away with this mouth?
Edina: Only in L.A., darling.

Edina: I don’t think that “Kylie Minogue chokes on vegetarian sausage after all-night not-drinking binge at safe celebrity nightspot” has quite the same ring about it.

Patsy: Could Julia Roberts’ lips get any bigger? It looks as if she’s giving birth to her own head!

Bubble: ‘Stylist’? Oh I’m too rich and famous to ask for my own free clothes will you do it for me? Will you be my stylist?