3 possible topics for my thesis

The theme is sustainability. As a graphic designer, my main goal is not only to create beautiful things, but also help on protect our planet. After I explored on a few past thesis papers about sustainability,
I have some basic ideas of what I want to write for my own.

1. Recyclable/ Reusable packaging

I am inspired by Japanese's packaging and wrapping skills. Some of the products' packaging is made with 100% nature materials that can be reuse or recycle, sometimes the product can be both visually appearing and functional, also benefiting the environment.

2. Materials that can dissolve in the nature

The Sunchip packaging was very inspiring when I discovered it a few quarters ago. It can totally dissolve in one's backyard in a few weeks after they dispose it; it can greatly reduce the amount of trash that are produced everyday in our life.

3. Packaging that use lesser material and clever use of material

Puma's "smart box" is a great example for this topic, the designer used the least amount needed for the packaging. It is a shoe box also a bag, instead of making one shoe box and one bag, the product is both.
Lately, ALDO shoes are doing the same as Puma's smart design.

3 possible contest that I may enter

1. Love Your Body 2013 Poster Contest

For this contest, I will have to create a new project for it. I am think to build up a body shape by text, and using texts like "beautiful", "full", "love", "round", "curve",etc. I want to make the texts really bold, cartoonly, with bright colors, to emphasis the "shape" of the body.

2. Miami Beach International Fashion Week Poster Competition 2013

For this contest, I also have to create a new project for it as well. Since I haven't done anything poster relating to fashion in the past.

Entry Link

3. Typography Day 2013 Poster Design Competition

I think this would be a really fun one since I am always loving typography. For this poster I need to elaborate deeper on different typefaces and style in order to figure out which direction that I am going to go for.

THESIS RESPONSE 4

Biomimicry + Graphic Design Learning From Mother Nature By Alec Formatin Shirley

I really appreciate how the thesis layout was well-designed and there are many imageries involved, it made the paper much easier to read and follow.

Despite the organization of the content and the well-designed layout, I think that the first part of the thesis was a bit too long. Shirley spent a good amount of text talking about science, which I thinks she should emphasis more on the relationship between the science part with graphic design.

Yet I think that she did a really good job at the middle and the end of the thesis, she not only gave examples of how to design wisely in terms of completing the life cycle; she also explain the theory behind it. She reminded designers's job is not only to design something that looks appealing to consumers, but also being functional and durable. Other than that, the product should be able to "give back" to the nature after it is being used.

Reading this thesis paper definitely helped me on developing my own, it was very informative and easy to follow. One thing that I may be do differently from hers is that I would divine each part into sections and titled them, I think that way makes information easier to absorb for the readers and overall it would be more interesting to read.

THESIS RESPONSE 3

The Re-branding of Naturalism: Through use of Activism By Bebe Besch

As I am interested in writing my thesis about sustainability, I am excited to find out about Besch's paper.  The introduction was really great that it connects graphic design and the issue together, he explained how it is a designer's responsibility or power to advocate the "message" in order to change people's mind. One of the quote he brought up was really powerful, "if you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem".

First he introduced the definition of "green" advertisement, some of the advertisements on the market, however, are misleading. They try to trick the consumers about feeling good to buying "green" product but the products weren't really sustainable.

As he went on in his thesis, his arrangement of information started to get not as organized. I think that he could have create more clear steps, may be by putting different topics in different sections. Yet I found when he talks about how positive message works better than negative messages. I often think that using facts or numbers to scare the audience would work better than sending a "we are okay" message. He states that using a message that showcase a positive outcome would be more powerful.

I can see that Besch is very knowledgeable about the topic, and she was suggesting a lot of different approaches that may be hard for the readers to follow. I think what she could do to improve is to divine her thesis into different sections, that way it is easier to read and understand.

Refined project proposal - project 2

Client
Oakland Chocolate Co, LLC

Location
California

Company
The Oakland Chocolate Company makes Jamaican Origin chocolate. Their chocolate are handmade, remains high quality and extremely popular. The cocoa beans are shipped to California directly from Jamaica, they have their own supplier in Jamaica which remain a close relationship with the candy maker. The candy maker, Nancy Nadel, uses the Jamaican cocoa beans and ingredients from her own garden to flavor the chocolate. The cocoa farm in Jamaica is planting new cocoa trees that they are moving toward an organic way of farming, and the beans are going to be fairly traded. The company is aspire to help Jamaican small farmers form a cooperative to build a new organic fermentary with a green energy drying facility, and market their cocoa beans to other chocolate companies as well as providing beans for the fine chocolate collection of their company.

Target Audience
People that enjoys quality food, not only the product also the visual appeal.
Female and Male, aged 20 to 50

Problem
They don't have a logo. Design on the website does not work very well for their branding, the branding is not strong.
The brands struggled to represent who they are visually, they do not have a strong mark or packaging that suits their price and story.
Their packaging design does not fit their price point, their truffles can get quite expensive (2 dollars per piece) but there is not according packaging for the products. Most of them are packed in regular plastic bags.

Solution
To create a strong mark, aesthetic packaging design for the product.
Create identity that represents who they are, which set them apart from their competition.
Make advertisements that is attention grabbing and memorable.

Goal
Expand the company's range of costumers, making them stronger on the market.

Tone
Colorful, strong, bold, organic

____________________________

Research about Jamaican chocolate, cocoa beans, and culture

Jamaican Chocolate

Facts about chocolate

Jamaican culture

Jamaican chocolate facts

video "The Source"

Rough proposal for project 3

For the final project, I would like to create an app for iphone or ipad.

I do not have a lot of interactive pieces in my portfolio so I would like to make a really strong app interface as my final project for this class.

Rough proposal for project 2

potential client
Mukilteo Chocolate

Port Townsend Chocolate Company

Blommer Chocolate Company

Euphoria Chocolate

The Oakland Chocolate Company

Target Audience
People that enjoys quality food, not only the product also the visual appeal.
Female and Male, aged 20 to 50

Problem
The brands struggled to represent who they are visually, they do not have a strong mark or packaging that suits their price and story.

Solution
To create a strong mark, aesthetic packaging design for the product.
Make advertisements that is attention grabbing and memorable.

Goal
Expand the company's range of costumers, making them stronger on the market.

Tone
Elegant, clean, simple

Design Competitions 

1. A' Design Awards Competition
http://www.graphiccompetitions.com/multiple-disciplines/a-design-awards-competition

 2. Love Your Body 2013 Poster Contest
http://www.graphiccompetitions.com/multiple-disciplines/love-your-body-2013-poster-contest

3. Design For (Your) Product Lifetime Challenge
http://www.graphiccompetitions.com/students-only/design-for-your-product-lifetime-challenge

4. Gentletude Design Award 2012
http://www.graphiccompetitions.com/graphic-design/gentletude-design-award-2012

5. Tapirulan Illustrators Contest
http://www.graphiccompetitions.com/illustration/tapirulan-illustrators-contest

6. Communication Arts Design Competition
http://www.commarts.com/competitions/design

7. D&AD White Pencil The White Pencil is awarded to a creative idea that changes the world for the better; galvanising the community around a single pressing global issue. http://www.dandad.org/dandad/white-pencil

8.ito jakuchu inspired designboom in collaboration with DA - japan design association - promote an international art + design competition. participation is open to applicants from every country in the world, to professionals, students, and design-enthusiasts. free registration required. http://www.designboom.com/weblog/cat/8/view/22108/ito-jakuchu-inspired.html

Rough Timeline for Projects

Project 1 - Beer label (logo and packaging)

wk 1
proposal
research
thumbnails + sketches (logo + packaging)

wk 2
comps (logo)
sketches (packaging)
moodboard
collect research, ideas, inspiration for case study
more research if needed

wk 3
pre- final (logo)
2 comps (packaging)

wk 4
final + refinement (logo)
final + refinement (packaging)
mock up packaging for testing

wk 5
final packaging due
case study due
presentation

__________________________________

Project 2 - chocolate packaging (logo, packaging and a few ads)

wk 3
proposal
research
thumbnails (logo, packaging)

wk 4
sketches (logo + packaging)
research more if needed
moodboard
collect research, ideas, inspiration for case study

wk 5
comps of logo (at least 2)
comps of packaging (at least 2)
thumbnails (ads)

wk 6
pre-final logo
mock up of packaging
sketches for ads

wk 7
final logo
final packaging
comps for ads

wk 8
refinement of logo
refinement of packaging
final + refinement of ads

wk 9
final packaging due
final ads due
case study due
presentation
__________________________________

Project 3 - Mobile app or Ipad app

wk 6
proposal
research
thumbnails

wk 7
sketches
more research if needed
moodboard
collect research, ideas, inspiration for case study

wk 8
comps

wk 9
pre-final

wk 10
final + refinement

wk 11
final project due
case study due
presentation

Reading response

*The book hasn't arrive yet, so I will be working on it as soon as it arrives.*

Project 1 proposal

potential client
Fremont Brewing

Big Al Brewing

Two Beers Brewing

Schooner Exact Brewing Company

Emerald City Beer Company

Target Audience
Beer drinker, female and male aged above 21 to 50, who enjoys high quality beer.

Problem
The company struggled to stand out from their competitions based on their design.

Solution
To create a new identity for the company that provides a vivid message to their consumer, about the quality of the brewer, the history of the place and the sophistication of the taste.

Goal
Create an identity that tells a story.
The goal is also to create a clear and memorable identity for the company so that they can stand out from their competitions and appeal to consumers.
Besides, I am also challenging myself to create something different, to show how diverse I can be as a designer.

Tone
Bold text, strong mark
Incorporate wood, or other textures in design

Inspiration
http://www.taphandles.com/

Thesis ideas

I have always concerned about sustainability, and how being a graphic designer can help on the issue. For my thesis, I would like to explore on eco-friendly and recyclable packaging and design materials.


Some sites that I looked at so far
http://jayce-o.blogspot.com/2011/04/50-eco-friendly-recyclable-packaging.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/24/business/companies-pick-up-used-packaging-and-recyclings-cost.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

http://greenliving.nationalgeographic.com/ecofriendly-packaging-materials-2743.html

Sun Chips
http://greensmartstrategy.blogspot.com/2010/03/disposable-sun-chips-bag.html

Puma shoe boxes
http://www.puma.com/cleverlittlebag

The Coca-Cola company
http://www.thecoca-colacompany.com/citizenship/packaging.html

"How to Wrap Five Eggs" Japanese traditional packaging, using natural or reusable materials to wrap products to reduce waste

Different ways to wrap things using a cloth
http://www.recyclenow.com/what_can_i_do_today/furoshiki_japanese_w.html

Thesis Response 2

By Gina Mazany

In Gina's paper, there are parts that are losing touch with design, yet she managed to plan her thesis well in offering a question and gives an answer. She first introduced a series of advertisement that gave fake promises to the consumers. Most of them are sending a message that says, how one can turn into be attractive, popular and have a better life with consuming their product which hardly will come true. Gina suggested the advertisements should uses a different direction in terms of marketing, instead of selling fake promises.

She showcases a lot of examples of how other alcohol brands managed to promote their product using a completely different strategy. Instead of selling a "better life", being popular in your social group and sexual appeal, they use unique packaging, promoting the brand's speciality and setting them apart from their competitors. Instead of just making the bottle looks nice and pretty, it should resembles the company's history and the product quality.

Gina gives a general idea of the modern approach of alcohol advertising, or how to sell the "deadly sin" products. I thought she could use more creativity and sell us her unique approach that she come up with, that would make her paper even more promising and memorable.

Thesis Response 1

The Mixed Sense by HongPhi Tran

I really enjoyed reading HongPhi's thesis, it is fascinating and informational. As a graphic design student, I am always interested in branding and how a brand is more successful than the others. In her paper, she introduced the term "synesthesia" which is a sense or emotion that will be evoked by another stimulation. She explained her idea with many examples,  I could relate to what she is saying really well, for example, the Coca-Cola bottle. The unique shape and design of the bottle is recognized worldwide, even when one is blindfolded, he or she can still recognized the product by its signature packaging design. She said the key to many successful business and brands is that many of them "linked" their brand to the consumers with more than one sense. She talked about the unique smell of PlayDough and Crayola Crayons and how people can easily recognized their product.

One interesting thing that she mentioned in her thesis is that one loyal costumer of Nokia phone accidentally change his cell phone's language from English to Chinese, and he could easy change it back to English because he knows the user interface so well.

Overall, I am inspired by reading her thesis and I found it very true and convincing, especially by providing a lot of facts and life example that anyone could relate to.

Project 1 idea

I want to use the opportunity to work on projects that I don't normally have a chance to work on; what I lacked in my portfolio now are interactive work and packaging. For project 1, I am thinking to make packaging for beverages. I, however haven't narrow down my ideas yet, I am looking at a lot of bottles, cans, cartons' design and inspiration at this point.

Some examples that I looked at
http://lovelypackage.com/blossa-12/ http://lovelypackage.com/eleia-x-bast/ http://lovelypackage.com/bagante/ http://lovelypackage.com/table-wine/ http://lovelypackage.com/naked-beer/ http://lovelypackage.com/coffee-talk/ http://lovelypackage.com/student-work-caleb-heisey/ http://lovelypackage.com/firefighter-vodka/ http://www.thedieline.com/blog/2012/10/4/happy-national-vodka-day.html http://lovelypackage.com/student-work-anders-drage/ http://www.thedieline.com/blog/2012/10/2/ritzling.html http://lovelypackage.com/student-work-mara-rodriguez-2/