Wednesday, September 28, 2011

find & share: packaging





brand: suave
product: men body wash
target audience: men who recognize their own need for washing, and the occasional (or frequent) woman who facilitates the washing of a man.
mode of appeal: ethos by way of dale earnhardt junior's recommendation.
experience audit: i liked the subtle curves of the bottle, and the color seemed appropriate. the colors are certainly the loudest aspect of the current design. the consumer pops open the cap and sniffs it almost immediately. there is factual information to be found on the back, but it is secondary to the front. this looks very similar to most soaps and shampoos for men.
survey says: "well, that guy loves it. and he has nice hair. shampoo. refreshing. blue. men. gradient." (it isn't shampoo.) & "dale earnhardt jr. looks constipated. that's offensive. it says refreshing. it's blue, like they always market to guys. and silver. which they also always market to guys. it's boring. it's suave body wash."





brand: westcott
product: geometry math kit
target audience: moms and dads purchasing school supplies, the kinds of kids who buy their own school supplies.
mode of appeal: ethos by way of teacher recommendation and westcott's age as a company.
experience audit: i was drawn to the foldover package with the snap. this package is noticeably, awfully, bland. the consumer flips it over, and then unsnaps it and experiences the inside as well, pretty rapidly.
survey says: "a plus! it's plain. blue and grey. very dull. it's a geometry math kit with a drop shadow. it lists angles. it's got a ruler and protractor." & "it's informational. it's boring. it's math. it's covered in numbers. it's blue and silver. sterile, scientific. it's a geometry kit. it's got a compass."



brand: whiskas
product: temptations
target audience: cat owners, particularly those who want to treat their cats but don't want their cats to get fat.
mode of appeal: pathos by way of cartoony narrative.
experience audit: this package is very loud with ridiculous looking cartoons on it. the bright yellow with those drawings are quite potent. the consumer flips it over quickly because the front read doesn't take long. neither the front nor back are terribly informative, although they both contain some level of information. these are a little floppy, so you have to be careful to stand it upright.
survey says: "friendly, comic. it's bright. called temptations. there's only one photograph of the treat itself, everything else is illustration. it's crunchy outside and soft inside. it's food, but i don't know for what." & "looks like a dog. the treat is crunchy outside and soft inside. it's yellow, bright, offensive. these are cat treats. it's got speech bubbles or clouds or something. i don't know why. it's by whiskas, it's called temptations."


brand: heaven
product: red devil shorty
target audience: cigar smokers, particularly new, who want a nice cigar but don't want to smoke all of it.
mode of appeal: pathos by way of mythology.
experience audit: this label is beautiful. i'm drawn to the narrative form in the tiny, perfect image. the consumer automatically smells it as soon as they've admired the label. there is no additional information given on the individual cigar. perhaps on the box instead, given that its intended context is in a box with a set of its own, or at least surrounded by other brands of cigars.
survey says: "red squiggly lines, little image that i couldn't quite process. has people. a cigar. it says red devil. cherry something on the bottom." & "it's a cigar i guess? called the red devil or something. very nice little illustration. packaging seems warm and inviting, which is good for a cigar. cherry flavoured? not a lot more experience around it. has the barcode. i wanna open it."



brand: self expressions, a division of maidenform
product: the i-fit bra
target audience: ladies with a bra cup size between an "a" and a "d" who feel that they may need some level of additional padding and lift.
mode of appeal: logos by way of infographic. 
experience audit: the dainty little infographic really drew me into this package on that small pink label. the colors are bright and poppy. the consumer turns it around and holds it to their chest to inspect if/how it might fit. given the bra's shape and hanger, the back of the label doesn't reveal any necessary info. the infograph is somewhat novel but other than that, this fits unnoticeably in with all the other bras and  labels.
survey says: "this looks comfy and soft, it's purple. (n/a.) this is an a-cup, because it's circled. it's got an obnoxious pink 'new self expressions' thing. the tag has a girl in her bra on it." & "it's got a happy girl in a bra. she must be happy because her boobs look nice. the label is pink. it's called i-fit. it's pretty boring. there are diagrams of the padding."

Monday, September 26, 2011

folly ads

 

these are my first three attempts at a newspaper ad utilizing the imagery from my poster. as i understand it,  when a poster gets chosen, that designer then must work out two other touchpoints for their mini-campaign: a newspaper ad, and a billboard. i chose to work first on newspaper ads. tomorrow, we find out whose posters are chosen. scary!

Sunday, September 25, 2011

final peter nero!



here is where my folly poster has ended up! i'm really pleased with it. i was having a lot of trouble with type, and my imagery was just a little too flat and unfinished. i completely redrew all of my images to include better detail and specificity, and to heighten the angles, allowing my type to integrate more effectively and more interestingly. 


on a less formal note, the most exciting thing about my choice to use a bird imagery is how many different reads there are for its meaning. i began with the metaphor of piano keys being related to birds, and in this, you can see an allegory of music spreading its wings: music taking flight. then, there's the speed and agility of a bird, the lightness of its movements like a master's hands across a piano keyboard. there's also the read (my original intention, back in the rhetorical matrix) of the literal magical transformation from instrument into dove, this ability nero has to make magic from music. the dove itself, of course, is wrapped up in its own connotations as well: it's a stately bird representative of peace and love. the pianodove, then, is a symbol of the flight of music, the magic, when played by an artist as talented as nero, and the powerful good that can come from it.