dtam

check out this guy [http://www.dtam.co.uk/] really sick. from what i understand i think he's a lecture at huddesfield uni.

flexography web printing

Research for packaging.

Pad printing

again some research for the process of how my chilli glove will be printed.

ballon printing

Thought i'd look at how balloons are printed, this will give me a idea of how my glove will be printed. This is a custom made 1 man screen printing station with a built in air compressor.

commercially produces blister packs

this video shows how blister packs for medicine, tablets etc are made. This information will inform the way my blister would be made if it was produced commercially.

Trip to the printers

Today i went to a printers called KJ print which is based in Crosshills west yorkshire, Its a smallish firm which specializes in offset litho they have 3 machine's, 2 CMYK full colour, 1 with a finishing and one without. They also have a 2 colour machine which is used for spot colours and duotone prints. The machines can produce up to 2,000 prints a hour.

It was interesting to see how the machines looked in real life and i was very fond of the smell of inks.

Most of the runs that they do are between 10,000 and 30,000 so the plates for printing were etched onto polystyrene rather that aluminum plates which are used for high quantity runs.

Another thing that i found interesting was the cutting and folding machine that they had. This folded and cut the prints after they had been printed. It looked very similar to a letter press and after talking to ken about it he told me that a lot of old letter presses can be converted into folding and cutting machines, foil stamping machines and embossing machines.

I liked the idea of this as the big old letter presses look so much more exciting than the new style printing machines. I suppose it's also good to put something back to use rather than it just sitting there gathering dust. The one ken has was converted by company in Bradford.

The machines were down stairs in the 'workshop' area. Up stairs they had a proofing team who set up the artwork and do little bits of design and amendments to artwork if needed. There was also a in house accounts bit, so the whole business was in one building.

Ken also told me about other types of printing which was good to find out, he said that flexography was mostly used for printed labels and that the quality of print was not as good as litho. He also spoke a little about gravure printing which is mostly used for doing high quantity fast runs, so things like newspaper supplements and magazines are often printed this way.

Here's some pictures i took of the machines, i intend to use the information gathered and pictures for my 16 page print production booklet.

Full colour litho machines

This is the machine that makes the styrofoam plates.

Letterpress converted into a folding and cutting machine. ( can do di-cutting with this too.)

Give up art

This design studio is something i just found after looking at a previous post on this blog. They are responsible for the record sleeve design and whole idenity of apple pips a small independent record label.

As you can see on the previous post i noted that i liked the di- cut process that was used on the record sleeve and the stock used. Matt on the out side and dark grey and bright green on the inside and glossy.

I took a look at there website and found that the other stuff they did used various printing methods such a di-cutting and embossing etc. I also found out that the head honcho there went to london school of print, which im sure helps him create these different and tactile designs.

Here's the link for there website and some of my favored work.

{Botiga - the luxury destination club - needed a stunning brochure to communicate with potential new members. Working with their existing brand guidelines we created this compact and covetable brochure. Featuring a blind debossed logo on the 8 page cover; with a singer-sewn, drawn-in text section, and belly wrap. We also provided full copywriting and retouching services.}

Headhunter limited edition vinyl sleeves

tempa the client here decided they were going to press this on to coloured vinyl, to show the colour of the vinyl give up art designed the sleeve so it (again) had a cut out, this way the vinyl colour could be seen and there for you could tell which record it was even though the sleeves are very uniform.

Tropicana rebrand

I saw this video on ad age's video site on you tube and felt it was a good example of packaging design and how the audience reacted to it.

Tropicana have tried to re- brand there original image of a orange and straw, to a glass of orange juice. I felt that the concept behind the actual design was strong but the finished article was not as strong as the previous one. The change to the packaging was quite dramatic and made the brand of juice look quite cheap much like value or economy brands of orange juice. I think if the final design of the packaging was done in a similar way to before and kept more of a premium look it could of worked.

It's a good example of how re-branding a product that already has such a strong identity is a hard task. I shall use this information to inform my design of re-branding Sainsbury's chili packaging. The task is slightly different as i feel that the packaging for chili's in general is quite weak and does not represent the product very well. It has also made me think about how the final design will be per-trade and if such a dramatic change could affect the sale of the product for the worse rather than the better.

More vorm

Another version of the annual report done by VORM. This time its has been printing on a old printing on a printer roll of paper. this was done to give the impression that the data was continually collected over a period of time it started at the begging of the paper and ended at the end of the roll.

Just really like the layout and look of the design again another different way of showing collected data

that is visually engaging and interesting compared to just written data.

Vorm

I came across this work whilst on the net from a leeds based designer, Ashley Colbeck who's goes under the alias of vorm. I think this is a good way of showing data visually, making it much more

engaging to look at rather than just plain written data it also make the data much

more easier to understand.

I also think the layout is very clean and contemporary even though it is from 2007.

I feel i could use this as a reference for the layout brief and in the what is good

brief.

Print research

Another find i found in manchester as well as the record below its a booklet for a chinese arts exhibition, really like the design but thought it was also a good opportunity to show a good use of foil on a print document.

Print research

Not connected to any of my work but does show a good use of di cutt. Perhaps it's something i could use in my book or even in my chilli packaging.

More Reasearch

I found a patient pack i received from when i had my shoulder operation and started to look more at prescription medications and non over the counter goods. They tend to be less in your face and more clinical and clean looking lots of white and maybe 1 or 2 colours. I also feel the small print information gives the design a very formal look. There is also a lot of use of logo's and pictograms which is something i will include in my design.

Miss used medication

Just looked at some medication packaging, For miss used medicine to link in with my chilli packaging. I want to give the idea that my product is not to be miss used much like medication, even though most medication is not used in its 'correct' way.

TDR

This is some work from the designers republic. The text layout reminds me heavily on medical forms and paraphernalia. I would quite like to use this style of layout on my design.

http://www.chadhagen.com/

These are some prints by http://www.chadhagen.com/. These prints are to illustrate analog controls. I layout and colour scheme's are amazing. These are the kind are colours tones i intend to use on my packaging.

Inside Info

..... On the medication in side a box. Printed on a light weight stock and in one colour its very formal and informative, looks a bit like a business contract or data.

I like how its folded and fit's in the box it gives the consumer something to touch and open.

Net's of packaging and ways of printing

Boots own brand paracetamol-Full colour CMYK. Maybe a little small for box i intend to design.

Anadin - 2 colour spot with 3 tint's of green. Again I think this box might be a little on the small side.

Embossed on the back to produce a raised logo and braille.

Nurofen express - 5 spot colour silver, yellow, green, red and black. This box has the kind of proportion i want to be looking at.

Also featuring embossing (Braille and Logo) which you can see on the back of the packaging.

This brand of Paracetomal Uses a 2 spot colour consisting of 3 tints of blue and black.

Again the packaging has been embossed for braille user's.

Over the counter medicine packaging 2

I noticed the braille on the packaging with i though gave a good tactile feature, I also noticed the embossing of the LOT number and the EXP number. I feel these two thing could be incorporated into my design and also use different finishing methods which explores the brief.

Medical packaging-Over the conter products

Here's some packaging of pain killers that you can buy over the counter, compared to the prescription medication it has more colour's and graphic's on which is aimed to catch the consumers eye. I feel that this gives the impression that the drugs themselves are not to be taken as seriously and cant do as much harm if not used in the right way.

Exsisting Chili Packaging - tesco

This is the packaging from Tesco's , again the same boring food packaging but there is a little bit more information included such as hint's on how to use. It also has the best or easiest to warning.