Evaluation

So, a final reflection on the work I have done this year. Even though this project has given me a number of stressful occasions I can honestly say it has been one of the most enjoyable projects I have undergone. Having taken part in a D&AD brief which introduced me to the unfamiliar world of packaging design, I gained new respect for how beautiful the discipline was. Before D&AD I was quite content with producing a campaign that raised awareness about people with phobias. But having surrounded myself with packaging with the Pitch & Sync brief it was difficult not to fall in love with creating hand-crafted containers which were both conceptual and beautiful. When returning to my EMP
I immediately changed my idea and decided to go with producing conceptual packaging that would help people overcome their fears. 

After the initial research phase I had to immediately delve into thinking up initial ideas. I remember struggling to do this as I am an extremely indecisive person. I really had to dig deep to try and figure out what I wanted to gain from this experience. I realised that I just wanted to help people and somehow give back to the community. That’s when the idea of helping cure fears came about. I did a lot of research on different types of phobias. At first I thought it would be interesting to look at weird phobias which were edging towards the funny side. But I then realised that not many people would have these uncommon phobias and if they did it would probably be a very serious case for them, thus making my job difficult because I would have had to have been very sensitive about the subject. Having had a tutorial about my matter I decided that keeping to more common phobias was the way to go (even though I couldn’t imagine in my head how it would be interesting at the time). 

I began seeking help with common phobias by setting up a survey, collecting the results and analysing them. I found that a lot of people associated phobias as something negative. Only one person wrote that they used their phobia as a strength and explained that facing it only help shape her into a better person. This answer really stood out to me and inspired me to try to make a phobia seem like a positive, to encourage people not to run away from it but face it with some
help (from me!). 

This was a real turning point for me as it made me see my project in a new light. Before this, I thought I had really hit a brick wall and there was no turning back. From here on I began thinking of companies I could collaborate with to promote and use my comfort boxes. After narrowing my fears down to just 3 (fear of flying, fear of the dark and fear of needles) I began thinking of ways I could link the 3 to make a collection of boxes which would appeal to a wider market. I considered a number of outcomes but it became apparent that fear of flying just wouldn’t fit in with the other 2. I decided that it was more ideal to put my efforts into the 2 other fears and do a really good job rather than make 3 mediocre boxes.

I started coming up with ideas for branding my new comfort box concept.

I immediately knew that, because I was dealing with children and my box was meant to comfort them; I had to include a bear someway or another. I began drawing logos incorporating the shape of a bear. The logo started off looking very 2 dimensional, I soon realised that this didn’t go well with my 3D packaging design. I used mixed media to try and get that realistic 3D feel but it wasn’t until I made furry ears that things started to really take shape. Not only did I scan in the ears and use them in my logo for my posters and leaflets, I also sewed them onto my packaging lid so they acted like the ears of the box (the logo bled off the box net, linking it to the sewn on ears to look like an actual bear). This was quite time consuming but I am very pleased with the result and I don’t think my box would ever be the same without the charming, cute ears. It makes the user experience a lot more pleasant too, being able to touch and feel the soft box will surely calm a child down, and if not, at least intrigue them.

Creating the posters at the beginning proved to be quite a tough task because I was neither motivated or had the correct branding to work with in order to produce believable and well designed pieces of work. I knew I had to really get the branding perfect first. This was on some level difficult because I did go through a phase of constantly wanting to produce boxes, so I knew I had that under my belt (because I knew this would take the longest out of all the jobs I had set myself). 

I remember thinking that everything I produced at the time was going to be my final idea; especially with the packaging design. This was very naïve of me and I should have known (from experiencing the D&AD brief) that my first packaging mock-up would be far from the finished product. But with every mock-up I did I was able to improve the design and make an even better version next time so every stage counted even if it was just a small dimensional tweak. 

Overall I have enjoyed this brief greatly and I wouldn’t change much about it except giving myself more time to further develop my Personalised Comfort Box (produce objects to go inside the box to help distract children during vaccinations) and experiment with more materials to produce the boxes to a better professional standard. I have learnt quite a lot from this experience and I hope to be able to work on more packaging projects in the future to improve my knowledge of the subject.

Finalising Box Packaging

Outer Packaging for my box to keep comfort boxes safe:

Easy to carry

Recyclable

Tab to keep lid shut

Allows room for ears to stick out

Final Comfort Boxes + Leaflets:

Box Making Process

Box Experiments

I thought that because my Bedtime Comfort Box needed to include a solar light, I decided looking at the net for this (the more difficult box) would be a wise move. I had trouble picturing how I would incorporate the light into the box, but after a few sketches, I managed to illustrate something that could possibly work.

Collecting different stock, and then using them to experiment with box designs:

First batch of packaging designs. Originally was going to use holographic card for the inside to reflect light better but decided to use tiny mirrors instead because they seemed to do a better job.

Leaflets

Small enough to fit within the boxes, acting as a snippet of information for the consumer.

poster

Personalised Comfort Box- Fear of Needles

 

Bedtime Comfort Box- Fear of the Dark

Logo

I definitely want my logo to be mostly hand-made to give a friendly and welcoming tone. Not one hundred percent sure what materials to use. Need to experiment more.

I began by scribbling ‘Comfort Box’ using my graphics tablet to see what effects I could come up with. This gave me the inspiration to create a logo which in turn had a raw, natural feel to it. I started drawing a simple bear shape because to children this would be the one general object that would offer them comfort and ‘safety’. I then went through a phase of having no eyes on the bear and then the nose and eyes making up the letters in ‘Comfort Box’. I tried mixing the logos with different colours but nothing really stood out to me. The brand name became lost within the logo.

Four logos with the most potential:

Further Development:

 

Experimenting with different mixed media and finally scanning it in. Tried changing the colours because they were too contrasting and harsh. Paler colours definitely work better for the tone of voice I want. 

The final logo was created using homemade ears using a softer fabric. I played around with the feathering tool to make the logo a lot softer than its original scanned in equivalent. The text, I used a scribbling technique but inverted it so it used the negative to show the letters. Overall,a all the styles used were chosen to make a softer and more friendly logo.

Branding My Box Idea

I needed to be sure who my target audience was to be able to start branding my boxes. I figured that for the 'fear of the dark' and 'fear of needles' boxes, these would be for young children. Whereas for the 'fear of flying' this could be for children, but usually children love the idea of travelling so it may be more targeted towards nervous adult flyers. I really wanted to link my boxes together so that they would become a collective. This would mean the graphic system would have to be simliar. At this point I decided to drop 'fear of flying' from my chosen phobias to look at and just concentrate on the other two.

After contemplating a number of brand names, I finally settled for COMFORT BOX. It is not too patronising but has a soft and friendly tone to the definition of ‘comfort’. I Can imagine a children’s product named this and something a parent would approve and want to buy for their child.

From this point onwards I started looking at different typefaces that could potentially work for the friendly tone of voice I wanted to get across:

My Chosen Fears

Fear of Flying

Fear of flying is common. Your own doctor can prescribe mild tranquiliser which can often assist the nervous flyer to overcome the anxiety associated with air travel. A number of organisations run special one day courses designed to reassure the apprehensive passenger and make the thought and act of flying a pleasant experience.

British Airways supports the course run by AVIATORS which includes a short flight of approximately one hour, conducted by a highly experienced BA training captain, following preparation by an eminent clinical psychologist.

As part of the ‘Aviators’ course I could create a box that the passenger can take on the hour flight to further help them overcome their fear of flying. Afterwards if they wish to do so, they can also use the box on real plane journeys so they can be comforted and content when facing their fear.

Fear of needles

Some people develop this fear as a result of a previous bad experience, for example it taking more than one attempt to find the vein. Others may have seen or read about injections or having blood tests and may have not fully understood what happens. It can also develop if negative feelings are picked up from someone else, such as a friend, brother or sister, or parent.

The PLAY SPECIALISTS of GOSH have a number of different ideas of how to tackle the problem. They have years of experience in preparing children for hospital tests, operations and procedures.

I could create a box that would distract children when they have vaccinations at school to make the experience more pleasant for them.

Fear of the dark

Children only start to be afraid of the dark from the age of about two when they start to understand the concept of fear, and their imagination develops sufficiently to picture the monsters under their bed.
A nightlight may be the perfect solution, but if they insist on keeping it light on, it may be more suitable installing a dimmer switch which can gradually be dimmed over time. It is important the child is able to get used to falling asleep with household noises. If the child is terrified of the dark, it is advised to tell them that it is very usual for people to be scared and then a safe night light can be installed.

I could use this opportunity to design a night light which can help children overcome their fear of the dark. It will need to be one that will gradually become dimmer as the night goes by to save energy and effort.