Further Development

Below shows further developments of the front designs for the recipe kit, these designs use the illustrations that Shana has sent over which were created by an Illustrator she had commissioned. I loved the quirky, playful aesthetic of the illustrations so was I happy about being able to use them within the recipe kit designs.

Shana has now sent over the new Bourbon Streat logos which will be used on the designs, as well as a Bourbon Streat brand guideline document, this meant that a lot needed changing in the recipe kit designs in order to follow the new brand guidelines. This was a little inconvenient as I'd already started working with the original colour palette that was sent over and a secondary font of my choice (it was mentioned to just use any simple font for text that isn't headlines or titles).

Shana asked if I could have something mocked up by the end of the week to show her, which I agreed to as I have developed designs for each flavour.

Today I have spent the day developing the Bourbon Streat recipe kit designs following the new brand guidelines; using the new logos, updated colour palette and new secondary font.

Below shows the brand guidelines for the logo, colour palette and fonts:

Below show the updated recipe kit designs following the new brand guidelines.

The image below is a photograph that Shana sent through of a piece of packaging that Itsu use, she really liked the design for the back because of the way that the protein, veg and toppings are communicated and mentioned that she'd like the back of the recipe kit designs to be similar.

Obviously my designs shouldn't copy Itsu, but instead use other brand packaging as inspiration and references when needed. One of my peers mentioned that the protein, veg and toppings could be displayed as a pie chart which I found interesting. Below shows 2 versions of the pie chart (flat and with 3D effect)

However, I felt that the pie chart looked too out of place so I decided to go back to the original idea of using a quarter circle divided into 3.

Below shows the developed design for the back of the recipe-kit design using the Itsu packaging that Shana sent as inspiration. I'm not 100% happy with the design at the moment, I think the type with the piechart needs work as well as the placement of the illustrations. However, I may experiment more with the piechart idea and then ask peers which they prefer.

I have been recording how long I have spent on these designs, so far I have spent around 9 hours as a whole since starting. The estimated time that I gave to Shana (client) was 12 hours, however I mentioned that this might go over as the colours and fonts needed changing which took up more time than expected.

How to write a Studio Brief

Difference between title and brief/the rest: title is short and basically states what it is, the brief explains the title in more depth. The more information on the briefs the better, consider who your audience is, the research, the outcome, everything you know you should include.

Content considerations:

• Research
• Experiment
• Development
• Type and layout
• Photo quality/editing
• Preparation for print

Production considerations:

• Paper stock
• Print method
• Bind method
• Materials
• Mockups/experiments
• Finishes
• Printing- how and where

Mandatory requirements must always include design boards, evaluation, blogs and then depending on the brief and outcomes there will be additional mandatory requirements such as finished physical production, collaboration, ethics form etc.

Lookbook Developed

I have now started to work on the pages of the Bratz lookbook. The lookbook will consist of 32 pages (16 double page spreads)

Order:

1. Cover
2. Introduction page- copy-write about the celebration of Bratz and each look that will appear throughout. Contain the Bratz slogan 'The girls with the passion for fashion'
3. Jade profile page
4 .Jade punk chic
5. Jade NYE
6. Sasha profile page
7. Sasha night out
8. Sasha date night
9. Poster 1
10. Cloe profile page
11. Cloe vacation
12. Cloe prom
13. Yasmin profile page
14. Yasmin shopping day
15. Yasmin winter glam
16. Poster 2
Back

Below shows some initial designs and layouts for the look pages, each page uses a different layout with photograph collage and illustration combined, each layout is different in order to communicate the different personalities of each Bratz and the different look shown.

Below shows initial designs for the profile pages, the profile page contains an image of the Bratz, her name, her personal Bratz logo, a short description about her, and her motto. 

The profile pages uses photographs of both looks, one is the main photograph on the left hand side which focuses on the face, the other image is the other look in low opacity in order create contrast and make the overall page look more funky and interesting.

The two pages below are finished look pages that I am happy with, I will continue to work on more pages as Clare sends the illustrations through.

Chat with Clare

This afternoon I met up with Clare again to discuss further ideas and to have a general catch up about the Bratz lookbook. I mentioned that I have started to come up with some layout ideas now for the lookbook and Clare has started to create the illustrations which look amazing as they're so accurate to each dolls outfit from the photographs.

Discussion:

• Clare will also create some illustrations of little icons and the clothes on their own to use throughout the lookbook, this was an initial idea we have discussed before
• Stickers at the back of the lookbook would work really well as doll/teen magazines back in the day used to sometimes come with stickers as well as the free posters
• Would be interesting if the lookbook used the same thin plastic wrapping that typical doll magazines would come packaged in, these would often contain freebies inside- the stickers could be in here! look online for some of the thin plastic wrapping
• Begin to further order and structure what is going on each page in the lookbook

Below shows my sketches of layout ideas for each page that I showed Clare and discussed in more detail, each page uses a different, funky layout which relates to the different personalities and style of each Bratz doll.

Below are two of Clare's illustrations, the first image is Jade's punk chic look and the second image is Sasha's night out look, I'm extremely happy with both of them and can't wait to see the rest of them when they're done.

Jade

Sasha

All the Briefs- Extended Practice

I have now completed writing the 10 briefs. YCN and additional competitions I am doing haven't been released yet so these are left blank for now, as well as the collaboration that I have planned with Nikita for after Christmas as that's when we said we would meet up to discuss the brief.

These briefs might change throughout the year so I'll keep making changes to them as they develop.

Bratz Typography Research

I have started to research further into typography for the lookbook and posters. Typography and text will mainly only be used on the cover, intro page and the 4 profile pages- additional language might be used on the actual Bratz look pages, however these aim of these pages is to focus on the different looks and closer outfit details so they'll be more photograph and illustration based.

I managed to find the actual font that is used in the original Bratz logo which was great! The free font was found on a cartoon website which has a section purely for Bratz:
http://www.cartoonwatcher.com/bratz/bratz-free-fonts.php

This font will be used on the cover and the profile pages (for each Bratz' name and possibly further headings on the profile page) and on the intro page heading. It might also be used on the rip out posters to create contrast with the imagery.

Bratz font 'Funkhouse'

Original Bratz logo

Practical Decisions

Since I got the green light for my practical idea from Dom in yesterdays tutorial, I can now start to actually create the designs and take my research further with my main idea.

When brainstorming ideas for my practical re-brand, I researched into 3 main brands which I felt would be appropriate; MDH spices, Pattu and Vasant Masala (see blog post 'New Practical Idea- Further Research). The aim of the re-brand is to show the brand/packaging in a way that doesn't use stereotypical imagery- a design that is more culturally appropriate and looks further into the history and stories behind each spices and the ingredients- creating more cultural awareness.

The brand that I chose to re-brand is Vasant Masala as they focus on Indian spices of high significane (spices that are needed in almost every Indian/Pakistani dish). I also felt that the Vasant Masala branding was too stereotypical in terms of colours, the logo, additional imagery and Middle Eastern typography.

The 3 spices are chilli powder, turmeric powder and coriander cumin powder. I will also re-design the logo that will be used on each packet. Additional promotional posters/banners may also be created for the re-brand.

Moving forward, I can now start to research further into these 3 specific spices in terms of their history, where they are grown, plants that they are picked from, the specific areas in India and Pakistan that they come from and the process of creating the powders.

Lookbook Photograph Edits

I have now finished the Bratz doll outfit edits. From my initial ideas and research, I decided to edit the Bratz dolls using fake backgrounds relating to the outfits in order to create scenes and scenarios relating to the look. This makes the photographs look a lot more realistic and fun, as well as making the Bratz look like actual people with the real life background scenes.

All of the backgrounds images have a slight blur on them in order to make the Bratz doll stand out more and create contrast between the two images, the backgrounds would look less aesthetically pleasing and effective if they were in full resolution.

Yasmin

Look 1: Casual shopping day- edited using a background scene of a high end fashion shopping mall, relates to Bratz slogan 'Bratz, the girls with the passion for fashion'

Look 2: Winter glam- edited using photographs of outdoor snowy scenes in parks, snowy white aesthetic used in order to match the white top and fur in the outfit.

Cloe

Look 1: Vacation- Edited using background photographs of a beach/island with sunny natural light

Look 2: Prom- First photograph edited using glamour party balloon and fairy light setting, colour of the background uses cherry red to match the colour of her lips. Second photographs uses blue spotlight on her as she is prom queen.

Sasha

Look 1: Date night- Edited using cosy, soft hearts pattern background in order to communicate romance and cosiness. Image 1 shows Sasha and her boyfriend in a romantic setting, whereas image 2 focuses more on Sasha's look alone, the hearts in the second image match her top.

Look 2: Night out- Image 1 shows Sasha getting ready for the night out using props such as makeup and a hairbrush. Image 2 shows Sasha on the actual night out afterwards.

Jade

Look 1: NYE- Edited using a sparkly purple background which makes her outfit, also communicates lights and confetti which are NYE party appropriate.

Look 2: Punk Chic- Edited using background scenes of graffiti and punk poster collages.

I really enjoyed editing these photographs and creating all of the different scenes and I'm really happy with them, I really enjoy editing and creating collage work in general. I also asked peers on which images they preferred as there were a lot of rejected versions of each look, I narrowed the images down to the best ones.

I can now start to create layouts for the look book and start adding the content in. I will contact Claire soon to see how she is getting on with the illustrations so we can start placing them with the photograph edits in the lookbook and posters.