Morning all and welcome to 2010. The next decade is a big one for you guys. It is possible that in this decade you will gain your A Levels, go to University, get a degree/s, get married, have children or buy a house!!!! Scary I know, but it just may happen......

Less of the sentimental rubbish and lets get back on with the work!!!!

The first thing I want us to do today is to mark someone elses work. The reason for me making you do this is to allow you to see how much you have done, or not done in some cases, in relation to your peers. You need to mark a persons work against the specification as stated in your As handbooks. Give your peers work a mark based on the progress they have made. This will allow them to see how much they need to do to get a improve their grade.

Remember that the official hand in date is the 7Th January (that is Thursday!!!!)

Once your work has been peer assessed then you may continue with the work in order to get it ready for the hand in on Thursday. The pages that me and Simmo are expecting to see are as follows;

• Hyperlinked Contents Page
• Analysing the situation (This should be your Situation, which is the 'background' information for you product, and your Design Brief)
• Moodboard
• Timeplan
• Research Plan
• Existing Products
• User Data collated and analysed (this might come in the form of an interview with your client, emails which you have sent to your client or surveys you have carried out. The information you collect then needs to analysed)
• Environment Research
• Primary Materials
• Research Analysis

Best of luck and we look forward to seeing your work on Thursday.

In my absence!!!!!!

Although I am in school today, I will sadly not be in attendance to your lesson. I might not be 'in' but I believe you have plenty of work to carry on with!!! If your thinking "what work have I got to do?", check the posting below..........

Remember I know all, like a Jedi Knight, so be warned if I sense your not working!! Let the force be with you........

As Major Project

So.... a week later and you should have an idea of the project you will be doing!!!! (we hope!)

Deadlines.....

The first deadline is your first Thursday lesson after the Christmas holidays (7th January 2010). For this hand in me and Mr Simmons need to see the following sheets in your e portfolio;

• Hyperlinked Contents Page
• Analysing the situation (This should be your Situation, which is the 'background' information for you product, and your Design Brief)
• Moodboard
• Timeplan
• Research Plan
• Existing Products
• User Data collated and analysed (this might come in the form of an interview with your client, emails which you have sent to your client or surveys you have carried out. The information you collect then needs to analysed)
• Environment Research
• Primary Materials
• Research Analysis

Sorry to say it but you haven't got an awful lot of time to complete it all. Including the 2 week Christmas Holiday you have just over 5 weeks!!!!

Keep strong gang, Mr T

As Major Project

Well gang, your packaging projects should have been handed in and completed. Me and Simo will be marking them over the next week or so.

So onwards and upwards......

Hopefully you will have been giving some serious thoughts to your major project. What you choose to do for your final project is an open choice. However, here are some key pieces of advice when deciding what you are going to do for your final product.

1. Find something that you are interested in!!

2. Find a real client!! If you find a person/company that actually needs something to be made then it will help you when you are carrying out the research for your product. It will also allow you to carry out an end of project interview with the client to get their view point of the product you have made.

3. Remember this A Level, not GCSE!!! It is not advisable to 'make up' a client. Neither is it OK to simply say "I'm going to make a CD rack"!!! And no Boxes!!!!!!

4. Ensure your portfolio pages are compact. Do not use a larger font just so you can fill up a page!!

The most successful products that are made at A Level are those that are simple and solve problems.

There is a lot for you to consider and we will be discussing it further during tomorrows lesson.

Peace.

Willy Wonka

Welcome back to school!!! You should be cracking on with your packaging designs for your chocolate. Remember that you now only have 2 weeks left to design what the packaging looks like and create the piece of packaging. You may want to think about the following issues:

• Are you going to redesign the logo?
• Are you going to reconsider the colour schemes of the brand?
• Are you going to rename the company?
• What needs to go onto a piece of Food Packaging (bar code, ingredients, etc, etc)?
• What is your packaging going to look like?
• Have you found an appropriate net yet?
• If so, have you tested it by making a model?
• Have you drawn the net on Pro Desktop so that you can cut it out on the laser cutter?
• Have you created you packaging design on the computer so that it can be printed out on A3 card?

There is a lot to consider and not much time....... Good luck!!!!

If your struggling for ideas just take inspiration from this fella and I am sure you will be fine.

Research

For the Identitiy Project, see the Packaging Post which I posted on the 25th September 2008. Have a look at it to gain some idea of the importantce of packaging. Also research some famous pieces of packaging and branding that currently exist on the market today.

Product Identity

Assignment 3

You are required to develop an existing piece of packaging and accompanying advertising poster for a product of your choice.

The aim of the assignment is to assist your understanding of the power of advertising and the affect it has on the consumer as well as developing your style to produce a quality graphic product.

Deadline: End of the Second week-term2

Criteria

You must produce an A3 poster for your product that includes the product name and slogan.

You must produce a new style of packaging for your product that includes imagery, appropriate labelling and above all, ease of use.

The final surface development must be produced using the laser cutter in conjunction with a standard laser printer.

You must produce 3 pages of design work that demonstrates your design progress, from initial concepts through to final concept.

You are required to post your design work on your personal blog.

Assessment

10 marks awarded for the quality of design work posted on your Blog.

30 marks awarded for the completed packaging.

10 marks awarded for the quality of the advertising poster.