Tuesday, 16 November 2010

Big Ideas and Metal

Today's learning objectives:

To continue with your understanding of Metals

To discuss your major projects and begin to plan your research

Today's PLTS:

Effective Participators= Try to stay calm and work with others to find a way forward

Self Managers= Think ahead so that you minimise problems

You are going to have a single period of metal theory and then we will discuss your ideas for your major projects.

The metal theory will be a recap of what I asked you to read during the last theory lesson (pages 29 to 33). I will then be setting you the task of going away and looking at the different metal processes that are used to form and shape metal. You will need to do this ready for my lesson next week. I will leave it up to you to research and find out about these processes (I would suggest looking in your As Level theory book!!!). REMEMBER= the exam in May/June will be about the first three chapters in that book so you should be reading them as often as possible!!

You should have brought a few ideas for your major project to the lesson today. I will be asking you to explain them to me and we can discuss where to go next with your ideas. Remember that it is essential to have a real client!!!

Once you have proposed your idea and I have given it the OK, then you can start producing your master slide, a research plan and a mind map showing the ideas that you have thought of.

Hope you enjoy the lesson.

Tuesday, 9 November 2010

8 Lessons Left

Morning.

There are now 8 lessons left for you to complete the packaging project. It has to be submitted by the end of Mrs Knights lesson on Thursday.

Today's learning objectives:
  • To continue with your packaging
  • To begin to design your poster

Today's PLTS:

  • Effective Participators= Try to stay calm and work with others to find a way forward
  • Self Managers= Think ahead so that you minimise problems

You should be continuing with your packaging designs for your chocolate packaging. Remember that you now only have eight lessons left to print out your design, cut out the net and post your sketches onto your blog.

If you need to print out your work then you will need to send it to Mr Simmons across the way and he will print it out. If this is complete then you could be scanning your sketches and posting them on your blog.

Once this is complete then continue with the design of your poster.

Enjoy.

Tuesday, 2 November 2010

Today's Lesson 2nd November 2010

Today's learning objectives:

To continue with your packaging
To begin to design your poster

Today's PLTS:

Effective Participators= Try to stay calm and work with others to find a way forward

Self Managers= Think ahead so that you minimise problems

You should be getting on with your packaging designs for your chocolate packaging. Remember that you now only have one week left to design what the packaging looks like, print out your design, cut the net into that printed piece of work and post your sketches onto your blog.
During today’s lesson you should be completing the design for your packaging. This should be completed and be ready to print out in Mrs Knights lesson (this is because I can’t connect to the printers!!).


If this is complete you could be scanning your sketches and posting them on your blog. If this is done then you need to start concentrating on your poster designs. I would suggest sketching the layout first and then look to put it into Fireworks/ Photoshop.


Fresh.

News Update

I had a brilliant Holiday. I spent two weeks in Doha, Qatar, which is in the middle east. During the holiday I also went to Dubai. Dubai is like a huge Disneyland but for adults. It was a quality.

The temperature didn't drop below 34 degrees during any of the days and the hottest it got to was 42!!! Doha was also amazing and I went to water parks, watched the LTA Tennis finals, watched Doha rugby club play, visited a school, laid by the pool, laid by the beach and read a book (Howard Marks Autobiography)!!

Oh, I also got engaged whilst there!!!

Monday, 11 October 2010

Today's learning objectives:

To continue with your packaging!!!

Today's PLTS:

Effective Participators= Try to stay calm and work with others to find a way forward

Self Managers= Think ahead so that you minimise problems

You should be cracking on with your packaging designs for your chocolate. Remember that you now only have 3 weeks left to design what the packaging looks like create a poster, create the piece of packaging and post your sketches of the blog!!

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? (I suggest looking at the packaging books available in class!!)
  • 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?
  • Are you using Fireworks/Photoshop to create your design?
  • Have you created your packaging design on the computer so that it can be printed out on A3 card?

If you are not that confident in Fireworks or Photoshop then you could complete your designs using a traditional method, such as drawing!!!

I would also suggest checking out Charley Millards and George Mattocks blogs (they can be found via my blog!!) to have a look at what they did with regards to portfolio pages for the Product Identity project.

Catch you round.

Monday, 4 October 2010

Packaging


Packaging is a huge industry. Almost all of the products we use come in some sort of packaging. These items might be something simple and small like an apple or something complicated and large like a wide screen T.V. Packaging can have a huge impact on how well an item sells and every consideration is put into how a piece of packaging looks.

There is however a need to reduce the amount of packaging we use. The most annoying waste of packaging I can think of is when apples (normally 4 of them and of a *Finest variety) in supermarkets are placed in a polystyrene base and then shrink wrapped in plastic.

To be fair, most companies have made a conscious effort to reduce the amount of packaging they use.

The picture above gives some examples of companies who have tried to reduce the amount of packaging they use and the drastic benifits this has had for the environment.

Clockwise from top-left:

1) Coca-Cola 8-ounce bottle: A smaller and lighter bottle (while retaining the same capacity), resulting in reduction in materials used: savings on the material as well as transport costs.

2) Arrowhead Mineral Water bottle: Nestle redesigned the bottle and cap to make it lighter and more recyclable, while narrowing the label by half an inch. This result in a 30% reduction in plastics used (while featuring the extra recess as handle), and less paper for the label.

3) Big Mac packaging: This is a familiar one - The Styrofoam clam shell burger packaging's were switched to the current paper-based ones, making them biodegradable.

4) Crest Toothpaste: P&G introduced a standalone rigid tube for Crest toothpaste, so that there wouldn’t be a need for individual paper-based boxes that most toothpastes now still come in.

Peace.

Theory and New Projects

Hey, hey.

Due to the reduction of time today, we are going to postpone the presentations until Mrs Knights lesson on Thursday. So we are expecting to see;
  • your work on the blog
  • all of your models
  • your finished piece
  • you and your partner presenting your work, explaining your design ideas and decisions

You will not be allowed anymore class time on this project.

So today's objectives are;

  • To begin to understand about metals
  • To begin the new project!!!

The new project is all about packaging. This is a more 'graphics' based project and if you are efficient at Photoshop then it will be an advantage.

Product Identity

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