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The Kelpie Dreamers

Week 12 - Fleshing Oot the Final Ideas!

This week we started off by trying different concepts for the labelling to see how it looks in different styles. Starting with rough sketches to come up with ideas before making it digital, we looked at using the colours from the logo with a range of different illustrations to balance out the design, as well as seeing how the border looked in different ways. From printing a few copies of the label I then tried different ways the foiling could work. I like how the silver foil brings emphasis to certain parts of the design to help make them stand out. I experimented by getting two colours of cotton drawstring bags printed to see what effect they gave to the packaging as a whole. I feel the white bag works best as there are too many shades of grey on the other bag. The belly band works well with the bag design however, from the feedback I will experiment to see if a different format would work better. Although we were met with the news that both Flux and Knightingale Crafts were unable to manufacture the Ootcuts due to practicality of manufacture, it was still great to receive feedback from them and hear that they really liked the concept at hand. We also managed to finalise the sets of Ootcuts, trying them out in bigger builds to gain deeper layers and even more personality!

We collaborated on finding different tasks for the daydream believers slideshow and trying to find a tone through graphics and wording that would fit the daydream believer style. These tasks are still being developed, whilst trying to find overlaps between them for an easy flow, and hoping that we may get a chat with some teachers as well to see their take on the tasks and the challenge!

Some Further Details! Keep on Dreaming!

The Kelpie Dreamers

Week 11 - A Quick Wee Update!

Over this past week we began to focus in on trying to layout tasks and a flow to the Daydream Believers side. We've kept the tasks as open as possible for ease of altering and trying to come up with ways to make it a little more informal for the students that would take on "Creating Scotland's Obscurities", a lead in to making and trying to generate their own creations for Scotland's main and local landmarks! This could be adopted in many lessons or disciplines if interpreted differently so their could be outcomes within creative writing, art and design or even geography and modern studies, keeping it open! With it being based around a younger demographic, it would be nice for them to reflect on what makes their Scotland, trying to filter that wee glimmer into the merchandise they choose to create.

Coming up with the tasks, we're trying to think of best ways to lead in and exit into the next stages, whether that be through a video or a sort of "homework-ish" task to have an idea as to what they might expect from the next part!

Through starting this it's been nice to reflect on our own creations and developments, to see where we started and how the idea as a whole have came to be.

As well as starting this, we've been in further contact with suppliers and wholesalers to see how we may be able to reduce to the costings of the Ootcuts product and packaging, and are eager to hear how this may change the design or solidify our choices.

With our final idea coming to the forefront, it still has been beneficial to test out some of our concepts, even though the pricing may be significantly higher, it's nice to try these out to be happy with what we've been creating!

The Kelpie Dreamers

Week 10 - A Mixture of Kelpie Dreamers...

From this week, we refined a breakdown of the product to send to potential manufacturers to see if there was a way of bringing the costings down that were tested the previous week and discussed that the pricing range could be within the £15-£20 mark. We were in discussion with Flux, JBoult Designs, and Knightingale Crafts, with each company showing traits that could accommodate for the Ootcuts and hopefully can bring them into production. A wee photographic shoot was done to test them at night, which replicates the colouring of the beasts well and solidifies that choice.

This then mixed into the Daydream side, firing the ideas out from chats and meetings, to see the process as a fluid path. Overlapping and taking segments from our journey, trying to route map our way through and looking back. We're hoping to reflect most of our process through the tasks so that it's nice ease in for the people that would hopefully use the pack itself.

Working on the label I altered the frames making everything more curved and link back to the product, removing the grid to create more freedom amongst the design making it less dense as a whole. I also simplified the logo to make it easier to recognise and understand. Having a chat with Elliott from Napier helped me to get a fresh perspective from a graphic designer. I edited the backstory across the whole belly band instead of having the text on one box also experimented with having the backstory on the bag. I also looked at redesigning the pattern on the bag to make it softer and link back to the product. Later on, in the week, I started to create a prototype of the bag and label and then later looked into pricing.