Color theory

This weeks learning activity contained three tasks. First we were to explain in our own words what the two different color systems RGB and CMYK was, and then make use of Kuler and develop four different color schemes. RGB 

• This is an additive color model, which means that when you add color you get a darker result. It begins with white and ends in black. The color is created of light reflecting from a surface.

CMYK

• This is a subtractive color model, witch means that when you add color you get a lighter result. It begins with black and ends in white. The color is created of light moving directly into the eye.

Kuler color schemes

Monocromatic

Complimentary

Analogous

Triadic

The second task this week was to use a color photo of my choice, and create the following color effects; Sepia, split toning, Andy Warhol-effect, and one freestyle, color effect of my choice. I really struggled with the Andy Warhol-effect photo, since this is something I have never tried before. I am not really happy with the result, but deadline is approaching and I am out of patience on this assignment. The freestyle photo ended up with being a black and white filter, with high contrast and light. I ran out of ideas, and figured that I would stick to something simple on this image.

Original image

Sepia

Split toning

Andy Warhol-effect

Freestyle (Black/white, with high contrast)

The third and final task this week was to design a book cover. I chose the book “The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery”. The cover had to contain the book title and the authors name, and express naivety, honesty and harmony. I had to use color to express the desired effects. I decided to use the color blue to express honesty and harmony, and the soft shading from white to light blue is to express naivety or purity. I wanted to do so much more with this assignment, but my illustrator skills are just not good enough yet to get my ideas out. So even though I am pleased with my final result, this is one of the assignments I will do again in our repeat week.

Simpend

You heard me, Simpend! That is now a word, made up by me And in case you didn’t realize already, it means simple and bended.

Our assignments this time, was to first choose to words from a list and arrange the words so they express their meaning. Then we had to make up our own words, and do the same thing with this word. I started off with making a lot of sketches, not really complicated stuff, but more scribbles of ideas and positioning. The ideas I liked the most I drew again but more decently.

Now it was time to do some seriously Illustrator work, and time flew by as I struggled with making my ideas go from paper to screen and finding the perfect typeface. After several hours of work, I was ready to upload to wordpress and call it a day. I decided to read the assignment one more time to make sure that I hadn’t forgotten about anything, just to realize that I had made a big mistake. It clearly read in the assignment text that we were not to use horizontal/vertical scaling, and all of my compositions had undergone this treatment. I had no other choice than to start over, and do it right. So after even more hours of work, and anger towards Illustrator, I´m finally ready to post my results.

I decided to post everything I did, the sketches, the first and failed compositions, and the final three compositions. Here we go!

Sketches:

Failed compositions:

Final compositions:

Creating a logo

For the last two weeks, I have been struggling with my mandatory assignment, designing a logo for a new chocolate brand who’s trying to enter the market. It has to be simple and recognizable, timeless and preferably not more than 2-3 colors, and it should contain a symbol/ figure/ ornament and the name of the brand.

The first thing I had to do was to define my target group. I chose women in their 30s, and focused on the working woman, who wants things to be healthy, easy, efficient, and have high quality. I wanted to design a logo that looked elegant and fresh, without necessarily being luxurious and sensual.

I have probably mentioned this before, but my knowledge and experience with adobe illustrator is not that good. Things got a lot easier when I bought my Wacom tablet, but I still find it hard to get my ideas out of my head and on too the screen. It´s getting better, after spending an unhealthy amount of hours practicing each day, but I still have a lot to learn!

Another thing I really struggled with this week, was to be more active on the forum online. I know that it is really helpful to ask questions along the way, both to other students and teachers, but getting started was a big issue for me. I didn’t want my questions to seem stupid, and I didn’t want to post something in the forum just to post something. After two reminder emails from out teachers, I put my worries aside, and wrote something. I got answers, and it turned out that someone else was wondering about the same things as me! After this, the ice broke, and now I find it a lot easier to be active on the forum.

With 6hours left to deadline, I think I’m happy with the logo I have designed. The only thing left now is finishing my report, and delivering the assignment. And then get started on the learning activities.. But first, coffee!

Understanding positioning

The second learning activity this week was to learn more about logos and positioning. We were given three logos and was asked to answer some questions about these.

 

Look at the following logos and explain in your own words what you consider their position to be.

 

 

Coca Cola

You can find coca cola all over the world, and it it the worlds largest soft drink company. They stick to the original product worldwide, but often adapt their range to fit the local demands. Not only can you buy coca cola in stores everywhere, but you can also buy it in almost every bar and restaurant you visit. The advertisement of the company had always been an important part of the development, giving the customers a “history” with the company. The first thing to appear in my mind when I think about coca cola, is refreshment and relaxation, witch is the most used slogans for the adverts. Even though they are a multimillion company, it still feels like home for a lot of the customers, almost like an old friendship.

 

 

Volkswagen

Volksvagen was originally designed to be the car for the average man. The marked was filled with luxury cars that not everybody could afford, so they came up with Volkswagen the “people´s car”. Today, almost everybody has heard of or seen an Volkswagen car, and it is the worlds second largest car manufacturing company. It is still an very affordable car, and they are sticking with the original idea that this is a car that will give you great quality for a lower price. From the beginning the company realized that printing ad´s would not sell cars, but rather focusing on the current customers, nurturing them and keeping them happy would result in a good reputation and the customers would most likely choose Volkswagen when they had to buy new cars. Today the company still focuses on the customers, with great guarantees and customer service, all though they also advertise the products. 

 

 

Visa

Visa proves to me that even though you are a well known company, with a very well known logo, you can still make changes to it without destroying the brand. Visa originally had the blue and gold logo “the flag”, but in 2006 they made a change into a word mark logo with the blue text and a simple white background. This change can only be done if you have a really strong positioning, witch Visa absolutely has. I was no even aware of this change before i read about it online. I still knew what visa was, and still thought of the same things as before when I saw the logo.

 

 

 

Apple iPhone

 

Describe its brand identity.

• As I see it, the brand identity of Apple iPhone is; Easy to use, personal, for everyone, hight quality.

What do you think its positioning is currently?

• Apple iPhone had a really strong positioning. With its easy to use system, sleek design, and brilliant apps, its no wonder people choose this phone over others available. To further enhance their positioning of being one of the most sold mobile phones, they come up with new models every year or two. This keeps the interest of the customer, and increase economy of the company. 

What do you think the strategy for this specific product was?

• Steve Jobs did not like the fact that they had to work with Motorola to offer iTunes to mobile phones, Jobs felt like they could easily make their own product, and be the only ones to offer any apple product on mobile phones. He ended the collaboration with Motorola, and announced that a new unknown phone was on its way. Another important thing for this new phone, was to include the touch screen, without the pen for navigation. Using your fingers would be much more user friendly. 

What research do you think was done by the company who made it?

• Apple researched all the mobile phones on the marked, and made a list of all the things they were lacking, and what things did not work. They also wanted a phone that was compatible with all the other apple products, like the iPod. They wanted the phone to work as a music player, computer, and phone at the same time. All of this in one phone, but still user friendly. They came up with the iPhone, a touch screen phone with iTunes and Safari internet browser. This phone, unlike the others on the marked, was to be used by only one hand. This made the device smaller, and easier to use.

How does the Logo fit in with the brand identity?

• The logo, an apple with a bite taken of it, is simple and elegant. It is said that the colors in the original logo was to make it more friendly and personal, and in the same time represent the fact that color screens was a new thing. It is also said that the bite of the apple is to represent a “byte” in computers. But some say it is only to make the apple look like an apple, and not a cherry. The logo today, the sleek and simple apple, represents high quality and modern design. But at the same time you get a feeling of friendship, and personality, because of the well known apple design. 

 

Understanding ideals

For this weeks first learning activity, I had to visit a well-known retail outlet, and answer a couple of questions after my visit. 

I decided to visit ZARA, because I love the simple and elegant feeling of the brand. The fact that they never advertise, depending only on brand identity and sale promotions, is a good enough excuse for me to learn more about the brand. 

What brand identity element are they using in their logo?

• They are using a simple word mark logo. They are using a custom typeface, black letters and a white background. is is simple, yet elegant, effective and recognizable.

What do you think their brand ideal is?

• Great affordable quality, offering high end fashion for a lower price. Keywords; Elegant, simple, sophisticated, affordable.

How do they remain true to their brand ideal within their shops?

• They stick to what they believe in. Keeping it simple, with black and white interior, giving you the feeling of luxury without costing you a fortune. The stores are always well stocked, and clean. Unlike other low-end stores, ZARA is always well organized, and you never see clothing lying around on the floor. 

Evaluate the customer experience according to the brand ideal.

• The moment I step in to this department store, I feel happy. The music is relaxing, everything is in perfect order, and I immediately see at least ten things I need to buy. I always feel very sophisticated shopping around in this store. It could be because of the high quality of the clothes, and the fact that all the clothes are divided into sections of color. And the best thing is that I can afford to shop here!

Evaluate the visual display of the products according to the brand ideal.

• As mentioned before, the interior is simple, black and white. The clothing racks are silver, and hangers black with a silver hook. They have big floor to ceiling mirrors around the shop, and this gives an even more luxurious feeling. The lights are perfectly angled to highlight the clothes, and the accessories are perfectly displayed in between the racks of clothing. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I had to “cheat” and use a photo from the internet of the entrance of the store. I took this and some other photos with my SLR camera, only to realize that the cable I needed to transfer the photos to my computer was missing. But I will make the best of the situation, and give you three photos from my iPhone, and add some more photos when I find the cable. 

Juice up

New week, new learning activities. This time I was challenged with the task of illustrating a fruit juice label, something I thought would be really easy. I was very wrong about that..

My week summed up, has been a lot like this; Sketching, tearing up paper, getting angry, drinking coffee, and back to the start. I had real difficulties with the creative process, and I was so obsessed with making the perfect drawing every time. But things got better, and I finally understood why we were told to draw that many scamps. When I first got the hang of it, it was almost impossible to stop. A lot of the sketches had the same basic ideas, just with different placement of the text and different shapes. 

I decided I wanted to keep it simple, since I don´t have that much experience with Illustrator, and I wanted the name of the product to be the main focus. All in all, I´m pleased with the final result, and look forward to learning more in illustrator.

 

First sketches and ideas (that survived the anger fit):

 

 

 

Final result:

 

Step aside uncle Ben!

This weeks last learning activity was to design a hole new packaging for rice. By looking at what was out there, I had to design something new with the help of the SCAMPER-method. 

One of the things i absolutely hate about rice, is that you have to buy so much at a time. There is boil in bag packs to help, but you still get enough rice to feed the entire solar system. The other thing I hate about rice, is that it takes forever to cook. With next to none cookingskills, and no patience, I decided to design the new packaging for the lazy and small eaters.

 

My prototype sketch

 

 

My inspiration was the yoghurt packaging, with the granola on top. I first wanted it to be made of carton for the environments sake, but by combining the package with the serving bowl, I needed something more water resistible. The main part of the packaging will be made of recyclable plastic in a white color with logo and instructions. The rice container on top will be made of a see trough recyclable plastic. 

The idea is that this new rice will contain one perfect portion of rice, and be a easy and fast way to cook rice. Just take the lid off, fill cup with water, put rice in water, attach the lid and microwave. 

 

Teaspoon challange

Whay do you get when you take an ordinary teaspoon, and apply the SCAMPER-method? When I did it, I ended up with a piece of jewelry, a necklace. I really struggled with the simplicity of the spoon, and the fact that it only has two parts, the handle and the spoon part. But at the end i managed to make something out of it! The thing that helped me the most was the realization that the SCAMPER steps can be interpreted in different ways, that it is only a creative tool.

 

My final product looks like this:

 

S– Substitute something

• I substituted the idea of a spoon, by making a hole new product out of its basic shape.

C– Combine with something else

• I combined the spoon with a leather string and ended up with a necklace.

A– Adapt

• I adapted the end of the spoon by making it flatter and adding ornaments.

M– Modify/magnify

• I modified the spoon by bending it over the middle. This bent part now works as the “holder” of the necklace.

P– Put to other use

• Instead of a spoon, I now have a necklace. It is also possible to make money clips and tie claps using the same basic procedure.

E-Eliminate

• I eliminated the function of the ordinary spoon. It is no longer useable for eating soup and stirring tea.

R- Reverse/rearrange

• I rearranged the shape of the spoon by bending it. It is also possible to reverse it by bending it i different directions, this will allow more variety in the collection of new products.

 

Marketing

By sending prototypes to several jewelers and shops, people notice the new product. The packaging, a sleek box with company logo, and a folder with product information and contact info.

Commercial

Take untraditional and interesting photos of the product and post to Pinterest, Instagram and similar sites. This would keep the commercial costs down, so we could make more prototypes. Also send free jewelry to popular youtubers to get more free commercial.

 

SCAMPER-Method and McDonalds

In this assignment we were told to research McDonalds, and it´s history. The assignment was to find out how the fast food chain used SCAMPER to become what it is today.

Before I start blabbering on about SCAMPER, I should give you a short introduction to what it is. It is a creative brainstorming technique. It is based on the notion that everything new is a modification of something that already exists. The seven steps of SCAMPER is;

S Substitute

Remove some part of the accepted situation, thing, or concept and replace it with something else.

C Combine

Join, affiliate, or force together two or more elements of your subject matter and consider ways that such a combination might move you toward a solution.

A Adapt

Change some part of your problem so that it works where it did not before. 

M Modify

Consider many of the attribute of the thing you’re working on and change them, arbitrarily, if necessary. Attributes include: size, shape, other dimensions, texture, color, attitude, position, history, and so on.

P Purpose (Put to other use)

Modify the intention of the subject. Think about why it exists, what it is used for, what it’s supposed to do. Challenge all of these assumptions and suggest new and unusual purposes.

E Eliminate

Arbitrarily remove any or all elements of your subject, simplify, reduce to core functionality

R Reverse/Rearrange

Change the direction or orientation. Turn it upside-down, inside-out, or make it go backwards, against the direction it was intended to go or be used. Modify the order of operations or any other hierarchy involved.

 

 

My challenge would be to find good examples of this method in the history of McDonalds. I went trough the timeline of the history, and marked out what I thought was good examples of SCAMPER use. I decided to only use three of the seven steps as examples, because these three steps seemed to be the ones they really put to action.

S- Substitute something

• McDonalds changed the way of serving food by substituting the delivery of food to the table, for a self-service counter. You find the menu at the counter, and order/pick up everything here.
• They substituted the normal restaurant kitchen and made it into an assembly line to gain maximum efficiency.

C– Combine with something else

• They started collaborating with Disney to get children to buy Happy Meals. Free gifts inside for the children, good commercial for Disney.
• Ronald McDonald was created as an mascot to gain a family-friendly image. Later on the Ronald McDonald house was created, a charity to help sick children and their families. 

A– Adapt

• In catholic areas, where the burger sale dropped on “meat free fridays”, they introduced a new burger, the Filet-O-Fish. This allowed the catholics to eat at McDonalds, even on fridays. This burger was later made available in every restaurant. 
• The customers had made it clear that they wanted to sit down and eat, so McDonalds installed indoor seating in all of their restaurants. 
• In 2003, they adapted to the new health focus of society, and started a global marketing campaign to promote a new healthier and higher quality image. The campaign´s slogan was “I´m loving it”, and this slogan is still used today.
• McCafé was started to please the coffee lovers everywhere, and you can now find a McCafé in almost every shopping mall in america.
• McDonalds is adapting alot, all the time. They always try out new things to put on the menu, and quickly change the things that don´t work. 

 

Little riddles on the wall

This weeks first challenge was to solve a couple of riddles. I tried to solve these in a creative way, even though some of them were really easy to solve.

• A man is replacing a wheel on his car, when he accidentally drops the four nuts used to hold the wheel on the car. They fall into a deep drain, irretrievably lost. A passing girl offers him a solution that enables him to drive home. What is it?

Answer: She suggest that he should take one nut from each of the other three wheels to fasten the fourth wheel. This will enable him to drive home.

• Two Russians walk down a street in Moscow. One Russian is the father of the other Russian´s son. How are they related?

Answer: Female Russians actually exists , so my guess would be that they are the father and the mother of the child.

• What occurs once in June, once in July and twice in August?

Answer: The letter U appears once in June, once in July and twice in August. 

• Six drinking glasses stand in a row, with the first three full of water and the next three empty. By handling and moving only one glass at a time, how can you arrange the six glasses so that no full glass stands next to another full glass, and no empty glass stands next to another empty glass? What is the minimum number of moves to solve the puzzle?

Answer: