What do I want to communicate?

I want to communicate to the public and educate them on the difference between locally grown goods compared to goods imported from abroad. I want to show how the people themselves can no longer feel helpless in the fast ever-growing global market, but by making small choices in what they buy could be beneficial not only to themselves but to their local community too. 

How will I communicate this?

I will create a brand which will be featured in stores across the country. It will be an independent brand that will only sell goods from British or local farmers, these foods will be fresh and organic and will be priced at a standard price to ensure its cheaper than its surrounding competition. I want to produce the packaging for different types of goods such as meat, fish, bread, vegetables, dairy and fruit. The branding should be clean and minimal to reflect how the goods themselves have not been tampered with but present themselves as they are.

Where will this be communicated?

This will be communicated in local shops Tesco, Sainsbury's and the Co Operative. I chose these three supermarkets because they are already established and have many stores throughout the UK. My research has revealed these companies are currently suffering from the impact of the emerging popularity of Aldi and Lidl therefore need something new with potential to build up the trust and loyalty from the public again. It could influence the public to shop at these stores if they believe they are making a small impact on local farms and communities.

I started off by trying to draw various animals in Illustrator keeping that minimalistic theme. At first I found it difficult and thought the animals had too much detail, I then redrew the animals is a much more cleaner and simpler way which i thought had more of an impact. I didn't want the animals looking too realistic as some members of the public may find it distracting and off putting. Keeping the design minimal and simple makes them more appealing and informal.

The typeface I chose was called Arvo. I found this was more suitable to what I was trying to achieve as it resembles the typeface you would find on a typewriter giving it that more down to earth feel. It has the formality of a serif font however the brackets on the typeface make it more playful and trusting. No fancy embellishments or different thicknesses within a letter, it presents itself clear and to the point which is what I am trying to communicate within the products I will be branding. 

An idea I had was to use brackets within the branding as it could represent that there is no hidden ingredients, chemicals etc but only what is presented on the packaging. However I decided to scrap this idea after doing some research on existing branding products and finding it had been done before.

After finalising my drawings of the animals I then positioned them with type inside a box. I thought the very aesthetic of the design worked well as it was simple yet effective. I chose to name is 'British Beef' etc to keep the message clear and easily understandable to any age. The box around the design brings the concept together and presents it how it is, it focuses your attention to the content of the boxes which is the most important part.

I then added colour to the designs which I thought suited the product it was selling. Fish usually being blue as its from the sea or rivers, the chicken as the main colour that represents chicken is usually a mixture of orange and yellow. Finally the beef is pretty obvious because the colour of the meat is red and thats what people associate the meat with. I tried to keep it simple and use the products connotations to my advantage.

I then began by trying to illustrate the other products that will be featured in my brand. Again I tried to keep a consistent theme of using the products connotations to help me decide what colour would be best. The illustrations are simple and effective however I think with more time they could have been improved to replicate the products themselves in a stronger way. As I was pushed for time to get the designs done I feel the milk and fruit illustrations could be improved. The milk I stuck to using a glass of milk which I thought would be a safer route to take than illustration udders of some sort which may be off putting to the public. The fruit I think could have been better represented than just a plain apple but overall I am pleased with the way the illustrations turned out. The meat and fish illustrations I focused on more because they were the main products I wanted to promote to the public as they are usually more expensive.

I decided that the tagline British Beef was too boring and not exciting enough. I jotted down a few ideas which is where I decided for the line "ITS ONLY BEEF". I think its communicates a less serious message but is informative at the same time. No chemicals, no hormones, no hassle, just beef.

I quickly mocked up some posters I had created in response to the my product branding. I tried to keep a consistent theme throughout the posters so people can recognise the branding and be more aware of the products presence in shops. The one thing which I have accidentally left off on my designs is where to find the products, this s vital information for the posters to do what their supposed to do so I am going to make some alterations to make it clear to the public on where to find these products. 

http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/aug/14/five-imported-foods-we-can-source-locally-in-the-uk

The Guardian also had a good article on food that is produced in the UK and where is comes from. This shows that we do have a good variety of foods, given the right market skills and technology these businesses could thrive and make a small difference to our economy, its a start anyways. 

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/feb/24/uk-will-need-to-import-over-half-of-its-food-within-a-generation-farmers-warn

Another screenshot from The Guardian. This type of statement really puts things in perspective, yes globalisation may have its benefits and trading internationally will cut costs on the price of goods and commodities however, the fact that there seems to be no consideration to UK businesses or the farming culture is just ridiculous. Farmers who've held their lands for generations and kept the country fed are now on the verge of loosing their businesses. Yes trading from the international market may produce cheaper goods but what happens when there are a few farms left in Britain? We simply cannot be left in a state where our country could not sustain itself say, if the global market was suddenly cut off. Now thats a scary thought.

Following through my idea for my practical I began by trying to find farming businesses in the UK that are still thriving and could help produce food for the whole country if needed. 

Above shows screenshots from the websites I found of farming businesses that are still up and running in the UK. It shows that they are just as enthusiastic on developing as a business and expanding their market in the UK and globally, if branded correctly I'd like to see these businesses thrive in local stores as I think its important that people support their local communities and the businesses within those. A lot of imported goods are sprayed with pesticides, pumped with hormones and other nasty chemicals to prolong the best before date and enhance colours and flavourings. However if I produced a brand which only sells goods from local farmers and businesses then the food would be organic and fresh making it healthier and beneficial to the publics health. 

M&S

After visiting M&S it gave me a good insight on the shopping experience and how branding works within that. Along the many isles, customers aged at least 25+ would be studying various products making their analysis and decisions on what they want to buy. It seems there was no real popularity to certain types of brands however there was quite a selection of different meats, fish and other goods. The branding ranged from stylish black packaging with gold metallic ink to the more simpler cheaper branding such as the plain two colour vectored packaging.

The way the products were stacked I noted were not exactly enticing. The bright lights from the store do not appear to hit products that are stacked in the shelves, therefore leaving the majority of the products in darkness and not that exciting. This isn't a good way to present goods and could contribute towards the lack of appreciation the public have towards branding. The size of the shelves themselves also looked very cramped, obviously trying to get as many different products as possible out there to compete with other supermarkets.

This has gave me a good idea on how to present my mock up my brand for it to be clear and understandable to the consumer.

The trip to Aldi was as satisfying as I thought it would be. The store experience was a lot lest pretentious and more about the goods themselves. The shelves were stacked in the original boxes which reduces waste and staff time, the products themselves seemed to go in some form of order starting from bakery leading onto fresh fruit and veg, then finally different meats and other selections were available towards the back of the store. They seemed to have no specific brands but a wide selections of brands and some were from British farms which will be beneficial to local communities. 

The branding for the products themselves were not that much of a high quality, however this did not seem to influence or inform the consumer at all. I believe if there was a product that was straight to the point and gave clearer information on where the product had came from, and what exactly had been pumped into the product. I think for my practical I need to produce something that will more informative to the consumer about what exactly the product is.

I really love the simplicity of the design and is something I feel has influenced my practical the most. The use of the clean vector illustrations on the plain background is very simple yet effective, the message is clear and communicates it well. This would be useful to my target audience as it will be easily understandable to almost all ages. 

This project caught my eye simply by the use of the bright colours, although they contrast they work together extremely well to make and impact which is something I need to consider for my own branding. Whatever I brand must stand out from the shelf and capture the target audiences eye for them to look into the brand further. The bright colours work well with the simple hand rendered type, if there was more illustrations it would look too much and be distracting from what the branding wants to communicate. The different selection of boxes do work well together and have gave me ideas on the format of my packaging and if it would be suitable for my practical.

I must say this is one of my favourite branding ideas I found on Behance. The designer has used the animals and cleverly illustrated where the certain cut of meat is from which not only informs the audience what the product is but educates them on where its came from on the cow. The two colour theme throughout strengthens the project as it does not distract you from what the brand is communicating and what it has to offer. This is something I am definitely taking on board when it comes to designing my own brand, I find the most minimal design is the most effective.

This is another successful branding project I found on google. The use of the brown paper goes very well with the design itself which isn't too distracting. The label looks almost screen printed as the type is not fully clean, this works to its advantage as it suits the very down to earth theme throughout the packaging. It also shows you the meat inside with a transparent film, this is something I should consider when it comes to designing my packaging as I'm still unsure whether to show the meat itself as in some cases people like to choose which meat they want by appearance. The use of the brown paper however would come in with my concept of helping the environment as the products could be packaged in recyclable paper, or paper that will decay naturally and could be used in a compost mound. 

This design however I think lacks excitement and information. The simplicity of the designs work well but I think the look of the design is too simple and boring. The vector illustration I am a fan of as I believe it has potential but the rest of the design lets it down. It would not stand out from the shelf from competing products therefore I need to create something with a little more impact and excitement.

This project has a lot more too it than the illustrated designs in the centre. The information is clear and understandable whilst the whole theme of the design illustrates and communicates where the product is from which I think is a strong concept. I would have never thought blue would work so well but the colour gives the product a sense of trust and quality, it has a more soothing atmosphere and is not too in your face. This is something I am taking on board for my design as I want it to stand out but not look too tacky. 

Finally this is the last product branding that I chose which I thought communicated where the product was from very well. The simplicity of it is not too overbearing and very informative in the most effective manner, this is something I am taking on board for my own designs as I want it to be clean and minimal yet still make an impact to stand out on the shelf from competing products.

Overall the research for product branding has been very useful and effective. I now have more of an idea on how to approach my practical and hopefully I can execute it in an appropriate yet interesting way. As I feel illustration vectors is something I enjoy doing I think it will be good practice to try and see what different effects I can get drawing out the different animals. I still want my practical to have colour and energy, this I think will be the key element on making the brand stand out from the other competitors on the shelf.