EVALUATION, FOCUS, DEVELOP – Key questions in the process of project development

I decided to use this structure from an earlier module to evaluate my progress at this stage in the brief.

EVALUATION

What is the problem?
Panamax want to launch their brand of paracetamols in the UK

What subject/area of study are you focussing on?
Pharmaceutical promotion through layout design for packaging solutions

To what depth are you investigating this area/subject? Is this sufficient?
I have researched into the brand itself to recover information in the form of product reviews from the general public. I also looked at existing brands and the packaging they had. I found that the existing brands used an array of light colours, including blues, yellows and whites. I didn't want to get too bogged down into what pharmaceutical packaging should be, but I wanted to be conscious of it, as my product would sit along side it. I also had to be aware of the types of packaging and how mine should conform in some way to health and safety such as quantities of tablets and how they should be packaged.

What is the form and amount of your research to date?
I wanted to do questionnaires but I wondered what benefit they could truly have. I had some opinions that I collected from another website but I didn't seek any views as this is not a british product yet. As stated before I have made in roads into finding an appropriate design style and also looking at existing pharmaceutical products and take ideas from them on colour usage and perhaps stock choice.

What visual material do you have to work with? What media/format is it?
I have looked at all print based work for this brief, which has not been a conscious decision, that is just how it turned out. I will look at screen based material in the future but I have only looked at print delivery for now. I wanted to set an instructional tone with my work for this brief so I looked at Swiss graphic design which is really technically accurate and simple in form. Swiss design is an approach I like and I felt it would fit the brief and the target audience. The choice of sans serif typefaces adds to the instructional tone of the work. I've looked at both historical and contemporary and I feel I have got a lot from it.

Is there an appropriate amount of work for the time you have had to develop it?
I think I am applying myself in the right areas but I think the first week or two cost me just because I wasn't decisive enough, that said I wanted to make sure I had good foundations to work on and not go off and start making uninformed decisions.

If there isn’t why is this? How could you improve your work-rate?
I find it hard to get ideas down on paper that are accurate to what I end up with on screen. I can draw quick layouts that make sense to me, but I do most of my development on screen. In the first few weeks I told myself not to use a computer and that slowed me down a little. I don't know how I could speed up my work rate, I just need to think more laterally, and come up with ideas quicker.

What is your timescale? When is the deadline?
I have tried too and will continue too set deadlines with the use of my action plans. The deadline overall is Thursday 27th, which is a day before the module hand in. I will have deadlines prior to that where I will expect myself to make decisions and I will work within the deadlines I set myself.

What is achievable in the time available?
I feel that I have enough to work with at the moment, but enough is not enough sometimes. If I do finish what I started I will look to develop my other ideas and submit them as alternative propositions digitally. My biggest concern is printing my products and boards, so space will be booked prior in the digital dungeon.

What methods are you using to evaluate the progress of your ideas?
Crits have made me think about my ideas, as I have presented two or three different sides to this, before taking on board what people have said and worked around what opinions and issues they had. I don't have specific methods to evaluate my work, but I do look at my ideas in a general sense at the end of the brief. Having said that, I believe I will deliver the right resolution as my audience and design decisions have been carefully thought through and I feel they link well enough.

FOCUS

What are you identifying as areas worth developing further?
I have a clear concept that I am developing which is mainly focussed on print. I feel as though that is going really well and I am having fun with it. I need to try some colour variation and try out some different layouts but I am happy with what I have.

What are you trying to communicate?
I am communicating to the binge drinkers of today that you can get all you need for recovery from panamax, and that there is no need to try to create your own hangover concoctions.

What audience have you identified?
Young working class adults.

Who are they?
They are sociable people who drink regularly. They go out atleast once or twice a week. They enjoy the night before but not the morning after. They are busy people and want a quick fix for their hangover.

What problem(s) have you identified?
That the range I create will not be diverse enough. They may not be as much variation in the work as I want.

How do you intend to solve this (these)?
I want to look at panamax branching out to include other products or creating an alternative line for another target audience. This is less about fulfilling all the criteria, this is more about showing how the brand can applied to different formats and different target audiences.

What further research does this require? (What, where, who and when?)
I want to do more visual research to get some more ideas about how I can change this for the better and develop solutions that show my thinking beyond the brief. After all if I can sell this concept to a potential client, then I could get more work for myself.

DEVELOPMENT

Have you moved on from your initial starting point. If so how and why?
I think I have. Before I didn't really have a target audience, I was faffing about with possibilities that simply existed and didn't really serve a purpose to anyone. I thought that I was going to end up with a massive rebranding brief and creating technical packaging solutions, but that was not what I wanted to do. I wanted to work with type and layout and apply that to packaging. So I turned the brief around to suit me.

What methods are you using to document this development?
Paper, blog, software to develop my ideas digitally.

What processes will you need to use to develop your work?
I need to use the textile area for print finishing and I need experiment with whatever stock I can find.

Do these processes require workshop access?
Print resource, and computer suites and textile area for screen prints

When do you intend to access these workshops?
Print - I need to book space in the print area for packaging and final boards
I also need to screen print some of the packaging finishes -