OUGD 503 - Responsive: Individual

For this brief, I wanted to create something that is based around the paper, avoiding printing if possible. After having looked at various things that Fedrigoni have done for themselves, as well as the ways in which other people had designed things for Fedrigoni, I decided that some sort of paper crafting would perhaps be the best route to go down. The main idea that I had was to create a calendar that focuses on perspectives and the paper itself.

From some things that I had seen, I wanted to try and create something that used layers in order to create something interesting. When thinking about a calendar, I decided that I wanted to try making a word from layers of shapes. To create it I created this on Illustrator:

The way it would work is simple, these are all cut out to create three separate sheets of paper that appear as though they are just random shapes and lines. However, when these are then laid out on top of each other, it would create this:

I thought that this could be a really creative and interesting idea that would perhaps be something different to what everyone else was going to do. So I printed this and cut it out by hand to see if it would work:

They are very delicate, but when I create the final ones I would use a much thicker stock to give it more strength. 

Overall, I think that the idea could definitely work and I want to experiment with it more to see what I can get out of it. I will need to create a stand for it in order for it to work, and I think that in order for it to be easy to use some sort of tab system will need to be used. I tried to think of various ways that a stand could work as well as create some alternatives of the layers.

My initial idea for a stand would be like this:

This seems like the simplest way to get each piece to stand up, but I want to see if I can think of anything else that would work:

After much thinking and experimenting with different ideas, I feel that the image below is probably the best way to get each layer to stand up in front of each other:

If I was to produce something like this, I would need to create tabs in order for the user to be able to handle them better. I quickly created the alternative ideas for the tabbing system:

The bottom example would be for if the layers were to be pulled out from the side. The image of the top shows how it would work if there was more room underneath, allowing each piece to be further into the stand. I got the top idea laser cut and quickly made a small stand for it to see how it worked:

As the paper is fairly weak it bends and doesn't stand up straight which ruins how they align and makes it much less legible. I also got some more alternatives laser cut to see how they work. The one at the bottom makes the most sense as it allows it to be handled without the risk of breaking or tearing it.

As I was already using the laser cutter, I decided to quickly design a stand that I thought would work. This meant drawing out my idea and working out the measurements etc. as seen below:

From this, I managed to produce this stand:

It is very simple and rough, but will help me figure out what works best as well as showcase my idea more efficiently. Now that I have a proper stand, I decided to get my cards laser cut again, this time using more durable and colourful stock in order to see how the final thing could look:

As you can see, this works much better. Now you can see exactly how it would work and read it easily. You do however have to be viewing it from the correct angle otherwise it doesn't work, which is something that I will have to take into consideration by perhaps making the stand angled.

I started thinking about packaging and other ways of creating something without the use of any printing. Instantly, I thought embossing. This allows me to showcase the paper whilst avoiding any printing, and so I got the Fedrigoni logo laser cut and tested it by embossing the same stock I have used for the cards above:

It has worked slightly, but not very well. This is something that I would like to come back to and experiment with further if I choose to use it within my final outcome somehow.

IDEA CHANGE:

Despite receiving praise from my peers I feel that my final idea as shown previously is not appropriate to the brief and doesn't successfully answer it. It wants the calendar to focus on functionality whereas mine is all about aesthetics. I want to start the brief again, keeping the idea of avoiding printing onto the Fedrigoni stock. This meant going back to the drawing board and trying to think of another idea:

I had the idea to create a book that was made by duplexing the Fedrigoni paper inside normal paper. I decided to try sticking sheets together to see how it would work. As you can see from the images below, the paper sticks together well when flat and almost seems as if the blue is printed. However, as soon as it gets bent the white paper creases and un-sticks itself, as seen in the bottom image:

This meant once again going back to square one and after having drawn out numerous different ideas and concepts, I finally had one that I really liked. It involves the combination of Pantone and Post-It notes, two things frequently used by both printers and graphic designers. I kept the design very simple and clean, making mock-ups constantly to see how it would actually look and feel:

As I had my idea pretty much sorted, I just needed to actually design the calendar. Here are my stages of development leading to my final outcome:

The image above shows my final lay-out. In order to make sure it worked and looked right for the entire calendar, I just changed the information for another day:

I still really like this lay-out and think it works very well. As I had already created a few mock-ups I decided to create one now using my new final lay-out. I also used yellow stock for the top sheet to get more of a feel of how it would look, as shown below. I really like this outcome and think it is very suitable for the brief, as it is based around functionality whilst also being very aesthetically pleasing and appealing to the target audience.

Here is the entire month of January:

Now that I have my actual calendar, I needed to create a simple piece of packaging that would contain it. I kept it very simple and made a mock-up to ensure that the sizes were right and it worked with the calendar. Here is the packaging:

Here is the mock-up, with the mock-up calendar inside it:

I really like this idea and think the two things work very well together. Whilst printing my packaging, there was a print error and I got this out of it. Think it is quite interesting:

All that was left now was to create the final thing. This just meant printing all of January and sticking different pieces of paper onto it, thus creating the impression that it was displaying all of the new Woodstock paper range. I then re-printed the packaging and stuck it together as if it was to be sent out. Here is the final outcome, the images have been chosen to represent the whole thing; starting as how you would receive it, then being opened and removed and finally showcasing the main feature of the calendar.

All there was left to do was create design boards in order to submit. I wanted to keep this really simple and I felt that these photographs successfully displayed my entire concept and design. And so, my design boards consist just of these images really large. Below are the final boards I submitted to YCN, as well as screen shots of the submitting process:

Submission: