Its that time again.......

Its that time of year again where we all decide to set ourselves a New years resolution. Well this year apart from the usual ( healthy eating, exercising more, shopping less, winning the Lottery etc) I have also vowed to make time to update this blog at least every week.  However before I do this I must fill you all in on what's been happening in the world of Rachel Eaton.



So since the last time I spoke to you all I have successfully completed my FdA in Graphic design. However the last term was very stressful what with entries into D&AD, YCN and my final major project.
The first of these projects to be completed was the YCN. After many long hard days  trying to whittle down the thousands (not literally but it felt like thousands) of possible briefs I finally decided upon a brief that I felt excited by. The brief was to re-design the packaging, point of sales etc for 'Doritos' corn chips. They wanted the packaging to be fun and reflect the product. The factor that I felt made 'Doritos' different from other snacks and crisps available on the market was the distinctive triangular shape which come in a variety of bold flavours. I wanted to embrace this distinctive triangle shape which make 'Doritos' so original. So I came up with this..............

After creating the newly designed triangle packets I decided that I would design an advertising campaign to run along side it to make people aware of the new shape. I decided to place the new packets into environments that use a triangle form, I also considered the flavours when picking these environments. For example the ‘Cool Original’ acted as a mountain, the ‘Tangy Cheese’ acted as a pyramid in Egypt and the ‘Chilli Heatwave’ acted as a volcano. I then added the slogan ‘It’s all in the shape’. I wanted the adverts to be fun, so I decided to use people making funny, tourist typical poses used when taking a photograph.

As a point-of-sale I thought it would be good to do something that would fit in with the advertising campaign. For example the ‘Cool Original’ flavour packets could be placed in mock-up freezers, the ‘Chilli Heatwave’ could be placed in mock-up ovens in supermarkets that provide freshly cooked/baked food and the ‘Tangy Cheese’ could be placed with the fresh cheeses in the cheese counter. This would be very fun and eye-catching as they would not be in the normal places you would find crisps.   

The Second project to  be completed was the D&AD. This also meant picking one project out of about a million. However, I finally settle on the brief for Hamleys. The brief was to design an interactive window display that would draw people out from the streets. They wanted the window to entertain all ages.

  After a lot of research I found out Hamley’s has been around for over 250 years. I therefore wanted to show this within the interactive window display. Through thorough research I became inspired by the likes of Wallace and Gromit, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and an artist called Rowland Emett. I love the way they all use old objects to create artistic inventions. This inspired me to create a time line out of toys. In window one I have used very old, traditional toys to create a busy, active  window display. The intention was that there would be many different inventions all going on at the same time. As an onlooker this would mean  there would be a lot to look at and get involved with. For example they would be able to look into the massive magnifying glass to look up close at the enlarged images on the slide reel. Window two follows the same approach, however, it uses modern technology and toys of today. The idea behind this window is that the robotic arms would be constantly moving around and playing with the modern toys. This will create the same busy, active display as window one, but in a more technological way. Again as an onlooker there would be a lot to interact with. For example they would be able to look into the 3d glasses to watch the 3d film/image. I wanted the window display to attract both children, guardians and tourist. This meant the window display had to attract a range of ages and languages. The  fact it is a completely visual (No use of words) will help with the tourists also the use of old and new toys will hopefully help the age range. It would be nice for the children and adults to notice the differences between the toys of the past and the toys of today. This interactive window display will be very interesting and fun to interact with and I think it keeps in with the fun, vibrant and playful attitude  that Hamley’s as a store bring across to their market. I would hope this Window Displays will help with the enjoyment of a Hamley’s experience. 

The last project ever for the course involved creating my own brief.  I decided to re-design take away packaging. I have always found many flaws with take-away packaging as it is not generally design orientated.  I wanted to make take-away packaging fun and exciting. 

  Through research it came apparent that Chinese packaging had the most faults and is not as design orientated as some other take-away packaging. I looked a lot into the Chinese culture and found out the Chinese food sold in England is different to the Chinese food sold in China. This made me start to think about having an English/Chinese experience take-away. To create the fusion of both English and Chinese I wanted to introduce two traditional elements which would represent both countries. To represent China I decided upon the Pagoda. Whilst researching Pagodas it became noticeable to me that they looked like they were boxes stacked up upon each other. This gave me the idea about having the packaging in a shape of a pagoda. The idea is that each box contains one meal. They are then stacked up to create a pagoda shape. The top box (the roof) is where the sauces and such like are kept so that they are separate and kept upright. The idea is that the boxes are then connected by some ribbon so that it can be carried and no excess bag is needed. The blue and white pattern on the packaging is the English element to it. The inspiration came from the patterns on bone china. Whilst researching bone china it became clear that many of the illustrations contained Chinese/Japanese elements. This seemed to fit in well with the Chinese/English experience idea. The packaging will be made out of cardboard and therefore will be recyclable.

After a few stressful months I took a well deserved holiday to Malta. Whilst visiting the capital Valletta I came across some interesting back streets which had plenty of Character. This gave me an opportunity to do a bit of photography and got some great shots. Let me know what you think. 

I just want to wish everyone the best of luck with whatever New years resolutions you have all chosen. Keep a look out to make sure I'm keeping to mine. I only have one thing left to say and thats Happy New Year!