Final Project Analysis Post

ORIGINAL TIME-LINE:
revised

Week 1- Research: What magazines would I want to work for? What do I want to focus on? Search for content: recipes,stories, ect.  Research beverage packaging for ideas.
Research beverage packaging for ideas, look at favorite magazines for inspiration.

Week 2- Begin editing magazine content/establish rough comps for spreads. Decide on product to do package design for.
Decide on product to do package design for (kitchen utensils), research kitchen utensil packaging.

Week 3- Continue work on spreads. Incorporate images, color, typography.
Create Identity for my company (Garden Grown) Choose typeface, colors, and Eco-friendly ideas for packaging (chipboard with twine)

Week 4- Work on packaging design. Create theme, color scheme, look for new concept in packaging
Choose imagery for my packaging that works well with the name. Live trace images and work on finalizing the design. Start deciding on which utensils to use and what image would work best.

Week 5- Continue work on packaging.
Refine package design, purchase utensils from store (had to use some that I hadn’t planned on because they were the only ones that worked). Chose “Real Simple” to use for inspiration and re-design for my magazine, and bookmarked all the pages that I really liked.

Week 6- Begin finalizing spreads as well as packaging design.
Printed packaging, had to resize them to fit utensils, re-printed packaging.  Poked holes and used twine to hold utensil on packaging (completed package design.) Worked on cover design for magazine and began contents page.

Week 7-  Begin test printing on spreads and packaging and fix mistakes. Test packaging on live product.
Re-worked cover with new image and gave it my own style rather than going with the “Real Simple” look. Started writing content for contents page, and found stock images to go with the content. Started taking pictures of my packaging.

Week 8- Incorporate the packaging design and product into magazine spreads.
Re-work cover again with new image and typography. Finalize cover (magazine is now called “Garden Grown”, and is the magazine for the the garden grown company) and work on contents pages. Place photo of package design into contents page.

Week 9-  Re-print and finalize all aspects of project.
Finalize the contents portion of the magazine. Work on business card and letterhead to include in identity. Presented work to class and got feedback.

Week 10- Finals
Finalize the business card and letterhead and turn in!

I was super excited about this project when I began, and I still am, but I think that all the other things that have been going on have taken so much out of me that I haven’t really put enough time into this project. I have always been passionate about cooking and I thought why not combine something that I love to do with something that I love to look at and read ( Real Simple) and go from there. I remembered some spatula packaging that Paul Mazzucca had shown us in the fall term and I thought it looked like a fun challenge; so here we are!

I did a decent job of staying on track in the beginning, even though I began with the project I thought I would end with). Eventually the end of the term began to look so far away and the things that needed to be turned in right away in other classes began to take precedence. ( Just being honest :/ I know that if I had referred back to my timeline more often, I would have definitely been more on track. At the end of the day, I really did put a lot of time and effort into my two projects. I am really happy with the turnout and in the end, I know that it wasn’t realistic to create a whole story and design to put in the inside of the magazine, so I decided to create a business card and letterhead for the company instead.

Packaging & Magazine

1. 
   Original ideas, beginning images, ect.

2. 
   Final project images
3. Did you do everything you set out to do? I didn’t get to create my own story for the inside of the magazine, but I did do a business card and letterhead which was not in the original plan.
   
4. What were the challenges? The magazine was definitely a challenge. I really like the Real Simple style and in the beginning it was really hard to get away from it and make it my own. Coming up with my own copywriting was a challenge as well…
   
5. What went well? Not so well? I had a lot of fun doing the packaging, and not as much with the magazine, but in the end it was really hard to find utensils that fit my packaging and now I know to find those first and create packaging that fits those than vice versa.
   
6. What did you learn during the process? Same as #5. Some steps should have come before others and I need to think it all out better in the future.
   
7. What would you do differently? I would definitly spend more time on the magazine section of the project. I originally thought it would take me longer to do the packaging because I had never done any before, but I was wrong.
   
8. Compare your feelings/perceptions at the start of the project to how you feel, now that the project is completed? I was super excited in the beginning about designing the magazine, maybe even more than the packaging, but I like the end product of my packaging better than the magazine. This is probably because it’s more resolved, and I can hold it, whereas I never  did print any of the magazine.
   
9. What grade would you give the project? I would give myself a A-  Even though I didn’t complete what I had originally planned on, I tried to make up for it in another way that was realistic for the end of the term.
   

Advertisement