This Friday, 11th December will see our class presenting our hand-picked collections – 20 seconds each, for 20 images. If only my vision for this project was 20/20 too!
I'd initially settled on focusing on digital media and showcasing a broad spectrum of existing work by various different designers/agencies which I find brilliant. After receiving feedback though, I think this needs to be further refined and so I'm looking to package it as a collection of experimental work that's self-initiated and commercial pieces that revolve around customisation. Hopefully, this will also provide a good base from which I can create my own 'experiments'.
The Maharaja, the Scientist and the Cocoon
Friday's (20 Nov) visit to a trio of museums started off with the Maharaja exhibition at the V&A. Highly enjoyable and a sumptious visual treat, the opulence and splendour of the jewellery, textiles and even armour definitely left an impression. I was very taken with the amazingly rich detail and the various motifs favoured by the different reigns. Art-wise, I was intrigued by the idea of the Ragamala, defined in the exhibition as "a visual expression of a mood evoked through music". Although exploratory in nature, somehow it hints at a sense of escapism. Interestingly, the majority of these works and the degree of craftsmanship exemplified wouldn't have seen the light of day if it weren't for the patronage of the Maharajas.
A showcase of innovations and inventions amidst interactive learning came next at the Science Museum's Wellcome Wing , the latter, helped by a mix of mechanical and digital installations enticing visitors to participate.
Over at the Natural History Museum's Darwin Centre, even more digital technology came into play with a novel way of saving one's favourite parts of the exhibition via a barcoded card. These can then be revisited online at a later time.
I think a point worth observing is that as more digital components are introduced in museums or simply across general use, user navigation and ultimately, the user experience is key in making the project a success.
Scratch & Win
The main vehicle of the campaign, the Scratch & Win cards were at first developed with the idea to communicate the benefits of canned food in terms of its packaging credo and comparable nutrition to fresh food. However, with Peter's input, these will now be proper promotional tools, where recipients stand a chance to win various (proposed) prizes from 2 cans of organic artichokes to a delectable Waitrose organic canned food hamper.
The reverse of the Scratch & Win cards will then highlight 3 facts, namely from three categories – environmental friendliness, 5-a-day servings and a 10-minute recipe idea. There will also be some copy to drive people to the website to learn more.
The reverse of the Scratch & Win cards will then highlight 3 facts, namely from three categories – environmental friendliness, 5-a-day servings and a 10-minute recipe idea. There will also be some copy to drive people to the website to learn more.
Round 2 – Logo development
In developing the logo for the "Win with Tin" campaign, I've been conciously trying to incorporate some element of the humble can, with the aim of creating a visual punch. The forerunner is the largest one, placed bottom right – comments are most welcome!
Work in Progress – concepts & sketches
Now that the concept is finalised, it's time to develop the campaign visually. Round 1 of sketches starts off with designing the strapline, trying to incorporate the essence of a can into the logotype.
Project workplan
Week ending 22 November
- research consolidation
- concept development
- finalise concept
- design development
- identifying communication channels
- concept implementation/design
- feedback on design
- refining design
- rationale
- boards
- printing of final design
Project outline
"The consumer is king."
In preparing the project outline, I've decided to revisit the brief to dissect it and ensure I had the essential components addressed. Here, I've opted to define "packaging decision makers" as consumers since this group would have the most effect on the demand for canned food.
Brief:
To highlight the benefits of metal as a sustainable food packaging material, delivering healthy nutritious food
To highlight the benefits of metal as a sustainable food packaging material, delivering healthy nutritious food
Challenge:
Consumer perception
– Some of the views of canned food (from the survey I conducted) included "unhealthy", "inferior quality" and "a lot preservatives".
Insight:
– Lack of awareness of nutritional value of canned food.
– People would like to think that it is important that their food is packaged in a sustainable/environmentally-friendly way (survey results: 75% stated more important, on a scale of 4 out of 5) but are probably unaware that buying canned food helps this cause.
Key messages:
From the research I've done, I've come up with 3 main benefits that I would like to communicate in this campaign:
– canned fruit/veg is a convenient way of contributing towards your 5-a-day portions of fruit and veg
– canned food makes for quick, easy cooking (while being nutritious and cheap)
– canned food is eco-friendly (sustainably packaged and doesn't use extra energy to be stored)
Primary target audience:
Ideally, busy adults who appreciate quick, easy meals.
The Big Idea:
Amongst the concepts I've developed, I think that the strongest is "Win with Tin", where my aim is to get people to associate more positive notions about purchasing canned food. The biggest hurdle in championing canned food in my opinion, is the negative way people feel about it currently. Thus, I've decided to position canned food in a way that allows people to realise that they're benefiting while simultaneously contributing to the environment; making them feel like they're already winners.
Communication channels:
– 'Scratch & win' cards relating key messages, directing to campaign website for more info
– ambient media (ideas still being developed)
– website
And the prelimary results are in!
Interestingly, when asked what would make the participants buy more canned food, the following top 3 answers in order of popularity were:
- better quality
- more recipes associated with canned food
- packaging appearance
Making Contact
So. With pluck aplenty, I've attempted to get some information from Canned Food UK and Sainsburys this week.
For Canned Food UK, I was interested to know:
For Canned Food UK, I was interested to know:
- the success of the current campaign with James Martin so far
- how effective promoting canned food had been via schools and teachers (under the Education campaign)
- what other communication channels had been used previously to promote canned food
- the plans that are being developed for future campaigns
- if there were plans to involve the big-chain supermarkets in promoting canned food
- the major challenges that Canned Food UK face in promoting canned food apart from consumer perceptions
- considering promoting canned food as part of the drive to be more environmentally-friendly or even as a convenient source of fruit or veg towards the '5 a day' campaign as cans are easily recyclable – and if not, why?
- the success of Sainsburys Organics (SO) range of canned food since the redesign in 2005 by Williams Murray Hamm
- any increases in the sale of canned food since the recession
- the major challenges facing Sainsburys in the canned food department apart from consumer perceptions
More Posh Nosh
More browsing around in Harvey Nichols and Harrods yielded more stylish tins of tea, coffee and biscuits, but also those of sugar, assortments of sweets and mints as well as stuffed vine leaves. Also to be found were cocktail salts at Harvey Nichols – definitely more tempting a purchase than Harrods' tinned ox tongue.
What's resonated as a common link is how the aesthetics have been treated across these variations of the humble metal can. And it's probably highly likely that these are reused instead of merely being thrown out.
The Can Conundrum
So what comes to mind when people think of canned food?
I've created an initial survey to help gather these insights.
http://www.surveypirate.com/Survey.aspx?surveyid=7730&hash=-ZcoRwb4qqnUUs08HZUMxw%3d%3d
And in the meantime, I came up with a sketch to illustrate a sample of opinions from friends.
Posh Nosh in a Can
During Friday's mapping exercise, I'd suddenly recalled that caviar and foie gras are usually sold in cans. Considering these carry a premium price-wise, maybe there's a perspective here that needs to be explored.
A visit to Selfridges Foodhall yielded a whole list of items that are sold in metal cans or tins, listed in the graphic above. Not only have the packaging of these items been designed tastefully, they were mostly sold at a higher price than their cardboard or plastic counterparts. Who knew that a small can of king crab could fetch £24.99?
Man + Can = ?
What exactly do people think of canned food?
Post-mapping thoughts, the next step smells suspiciously of a survey needing to be cooked up.
Mapping for Metal Food Cans
Results of the mapping exercise done last Friday.
More questions than answers!
futurefarmers
"A fertile approach."
In the hands of Futurefarmers, this translates to tackling anything from database development to interactive installations to packaging and anything in between. They've even nurtured their very own Artist in Residency Program which serves as a springboard for collaborating with other creative practitioners.
There's a liberal dose of the whimsical in their work which I'm attracted to, along with a certain playfulness – be it a project to use water more efficiently, creating 'lunchbox labs' so that schoolchildren can help to scrutinise algae strains or a virtual social network for kids based on the concept of a treehouse.
It appears that they've been able to reach a happy medium in cultivating both art and commercial design projects, and yet craft solutions to meet social needs that are able to draw out a sense of warmth. Perhaps most importantly, a lot of it just looks like it's grown out of a desire to be fun!
AllofUs
From the factory that is AllofUs, comes an assembly line that sounds like a playground for creatives to crank out everything from art installations, museum exhibitions, interactive furniture, to solutions for healthcare and learning environments. Next to this list, their other work in web, retail and brand identity design sound almost humdrum.
An endless source of inspiration, what's really arresting to me is that this is a firm that's not shy about flexing its R&D muscle, with a unit solely dedicated to its pursuit. Having had a chance to commission them to work on a project, I was also thoroughly impressed with the blog that they set up for clients to monitor their progress, and more captivatingly, their research and thought process.
It's almost as if there is a certain quality of determined, quiet engineering behind the sleek, polished end-products which make it look so achingly effortless. Or in other words, too many of darn-i-wish-i'd-thought-of-that moments.