3rd Year Reflection

The third and final year of Visual Communication is coming to an end, being the first year to experience a BA Hons in Visual Communication at the AUCB. I feel this final year has been the most important year in terms of self development as a designer. I feel ready as a graduate to approach design agencies and companies. This year has been a tremendous successes in terms of work, the first unit really pushed me and challenged me mentally and technically. I was extremely pleased with the final outcome, received an offer from Monsa to publish the piece of work in their latest eco packaging book. Work was also featured on Good.is and Lovely Package, I had completely underestimated the popularity of this piece of work. I received so much feedback and constantly receiving emails and blog comments from designers and the public. From people saying I should approach supermarkets to members of the public wanting to buy the labels themselves. Following an email from a Victorinox Swiss Arm representative commenting on how much she loved the concept and final piece I entered their prestigious  sustainable design competition. Putting myself up against MIT, St.Martins, Domus and other top design universities around the world. This will be a great start to my career if chosen to progress to the top 7. I will find out if I have made the top 7 on June 1st so check back to see the results.

Following this project was our FMP (Final Major Project) this was a chance for us to express our creative flare and unleashing our full potential. Initially I found this quite a daunting prospect, our three years at university now being condensed into three months work. We had to write our own brief and learning agreement, detailing our aims of what, how, who and why. Placing our subject within a theoretical framework that would allow us to achieve a thorough, meaningful and in-depth outcome. My final piece reflected me as a designer, highlighting and pushing my technical skills and ability. My outcome shows my packaging, typographic, branding and digital skills picked up from the past three years as a Visual Communicator. What’s more I now feel ready for the design industry and can’t wait to start my new job on Monday!

Entered Victorinox Sustainable Design Competition

Received an email from a marketing assistant at Victorinox Swiss Army regarding my vegetable packaging. She came across the design on GOOD.is and really liked my concept. Noticing I was a currently a student she pointed me towards their current student sustainability competition. Competition looks tough St.Martins, Domus and MIT are just a few of the universites entering the competition……but you never know. Click the logo to see the competition website.

New Website!

New website is now up and running! This will feature a selection of my work similar to that of a portfolio.
See it here!

Poster Design – Waitrose/John Lewis

Brief: Your design should be totally original, colourful and eye-catching and reflect the Bonus theme, remembering that it represents the whole partnership, including both John Lewis and Waitrose. It should be portrait in orientation and must include a blank circle for the sticker carrying the bonus figures, which will be added in March. Below is my response to this brief.

E-Creation Live Brief

Received an email from Neil informing us of a workshop at the EP with E-creation. They had a few project ideas and wanted to run through them with us. The idea being we give them feedback and opinions on their current ideas.

ISTD: Not Just Fleurons – Final Outcome

 

 

 

 

 
Through experimentation and innovation I have developed a form of packaging that is 100 percent biodegradable and recyclable. If the packaging is discarded it will have a positive effect on the environment due to the seed embedded biodegradable paper. The twine used to secure the product and label is natural cotton and 100 percent biodegradable. The labels themselves have been produced using a laser cutting machine. This eliminates the use of harmful printing ink, as well as giving the packaging an esthetically pleasing organic look and feel.

My initial intension was to inspire people to start gardening and reduce unnecessary waste by looking at alternative processes and materials. Having researched gardening and environmental issues I felt I somehow needed to bridge these two subjects. Having noticed just how unnecessary supermarket fruit and vegetable packaging has become I decided I would focus my attention on that. Not only is this a growing problem but it bridged the gap between gardening and environmental issues. It brought the question: How can I inspire people to start growing fruit and vegetables at home? Having undertaken various questionnaires and surveys I noticed a very high percentage of people buy their fruit and vegetables from supermarkets. This gave me the idea to show people just how simple it is to grow their own food, using packaging as a method of communication.

Our Exhibition at New Designers

Spent the day yesterday manning our Visual Communication stand at New Designers. Really good experience and great to gain a bit of inspiration. Got to see all my possible competition following graduation from university. Some amazing work featured in the ‘year on’ stand, some D&AD winners and nominees were showcasing their work. Overall I felt our stand was definitely one of the best Visual Communication stands out of all the universities.