Following on from my Problem Solving Hell, I have started from the beginning in a way, but following on from my to do list.

The first thing I done was talking about how the weather affects the mood of humans. I used an anecdote from the Easter bank holiday weekend, when the entire weekend, we had amazing weather, it was hot, the sun was out. This made people happy. Everyone was going out, enjoying the sun, going to the beach, going shopping as work was very busy (I work in retail, at Matalan). Over social media, MEMES were created such as

‘Little bit of sun and everyone in the UK think they are on an all inclusive week in Tenerife. Just seen a woman come out of Home Bargins’ wearing a bra top and flip-flops. fucking mental.’ There are two other MEMES that I have put into my sketch book.

I found a website, and it gave a few points about how/why the weather determines our mood, and what happens.

1. a lack of sunlight can make us sad
2. cold temperatures can create physical lathery
3. the sun being out makes us spend more money
4. rain just makes us miserable.

I decided to create illustrations for these four points, anything that came to my head when I thought about the points. These are the pages.

 

I wrote about my experience with vitiligo, and what treatment I had as part of primary research. I won’t rewrite what I wrote as it will be a bit repetitive. However, I thought that it would give more of an understanding of why I am doing the topic, because I am going through it myself, as I thought it would be more emotive then doing something that I haven’t got. I am hoping to be able to fully my timetable exactly for the next two weeks to be able to gain a qualification from the course as I have struggled an immense amount.

I am writing this blog as an overall. I have not done any blogs since I have started the FMP. I wrote them in word, but not uploaded them. These are the blogs that I started to write, I wanted to include them during this because it is essential that I show that I did try before my ‘hell’ started:

Tuesday 12^thMarch:

Today I felt a bit better with the project, I wanted to just try and get into it as I felt this would be better than worrying about potentially nothing. I was creating some analysis for some of students work that do packaging design. I thought by creating a more in depth understanding of how to analyse work. I also found some interesting packaging design campaigns such as how to package eggs. I thought that would be useful because of how many inventive ways that they went around packaging a simple object such as eggs. I thought I could use the same incentive to be able to package makeup, and be able to be a lot more creative in the way I think due to the inspiration. Another campaign I found was the Nutella campaign. This was where they used an athorightm to create millions of different packaging for the Nutella jar. I thought this was a advertising campaign to get people to go out and look and find different designs. I included the comments as there was a lot of positive comments, but a lot of negative comments and therefore creating a discussion about the brand. I found another article about whether brands are taking the packaging process seriously, however I haven’t had time to actually annotate this work and will do it in due course. I found an artist that designs packaging for businesses, and is a freelancer. The name of this artist called Holly McAlister. I thought her work was quite unique and interesting and the work looked amazing professional and therefore I thought I would have a page about her work.

 Thursday 14^thMarch:

I had my first conversation with my tutor today. I have had to start again. The research I was doing was a bit too broad, and I didn’t really have a subject. My subject is vitiligo, as I have the conditional, and felt that it is really known or spoke about, and therefore I thought I would try and educate about the condition and try and help the people that do have it, perhaps gain a bit of confidence from this. The work I have done so far is staying in my book, but I am just starting from the beginning, going through the NHS pages about vitiligo, drawing how I feel vitiligo is, and creating some sort of educational background for myself, more in-depth that I already know. I don’t have the condition bad, I have it fairly mild, but I thought that even though I am mild, it still affects me especially when I go on holiday abroad because that is when it is very noticeable.

Monday 18^thMarch:

I had a massive off day today, in regards to how I was feeling about the project and the course, and therefore I had to take a day off to try and get myself together and try and get my head straight. This was a problem that I encounter as my head wasn’t functioned to be able to do the work and therefore I lost a day in the studio. However, sometimes these days need to be taken to give yourself a rest.

 

About my Probably Solving Hell:

Two weeks before the Easter 3-week holiday, I was starting to realise that the creative industry was not for me. I felt like it wasn’t what I was destined to do. During my A-Levels I had two strengths, in my business/ICT the more academic subjects, but also my media and photograph. I felt like at the time of applying for the foundation course, my creativeness was my overall strengths, so I followed that route. I started to fall out of love with design, I was struggling, I was really lost in the whole FMP requirements.

I had a long chat with my tutor I have been assigned, and spoke to her about my problems that I was facing before we went on Easter break for two weeks:

 

• I didn’t want to go into the creative industry anymore.
• I am struggling with having my own brief, and not being passionate about anything in broad as a title.
• I was struggling with having no structure, nothing to follow apart from my own words.
• I felt lost in how to start the project, felt like everything I was doing was wrong, not actually doing the correct route.
• I just don’t know what I was doing.

 

At the time I spoke to my tutor, I was still in the mind frame to try and complete the work, I felt like the conversation really helped me. This was the advice that I received and I was to do during the time off:

Through the note taking, we were talking about vitiligo and trying to connect different, unusual but interesting points to the topic. My tutor thought it would help with the design process, and my thoughts,

 

Note Taking:

• The sun – vitamin D, in the sun in when my vitiligo really shows,
• Sun = keeps us alive, warmth, global warming, plants/animals.
• People are happier in the sun – mood vs weather
• Body positivity and confidence = instagrammers = makedasiychains and bodyposipanda
• What is my audience and why? Teens/adults?
• My past experiences
• My thoughts and feelings towards being diagnosed

 

To Do List:

• Create a page on the mood vs weather
• Create a page on the instagrammers – makedasiychains and bodyposipanda
• Personal experiences, a letter to my 15 year old self from the future
• A before and after comic strip
• Creating content for the Instagram page.
• Collecting different data
• Feelings about being diagnosed now and then
• Find someone with vitiligo and talk to them

It wasn’t until a week into the Easter break that I realise that I just can’t do it. I didn’t do any of the work, not from the list or at all. I know that was a very silly mistake as I am paying for it now. I started to apply for apprenticeships and full-time jobs in insurance and finance. During the half term, I met with employment agencies, and planned interviews. I also worked a lot at my retail job in Matalan. I felt like I preferred actually working in a job, then doing coursework-based work like the FMP. I was in a really difficult position. I had interviews that fell on the days that I was supposed to be at uni, after the break, and I ended up missing 4 sessions, which ended up being two weeks. The interviews, I have had one unsuccessful one, and the other two I haven’t heard back from. The plan was to leave as soon as I get a full-time job, I wanted to leave, I felt miserable. I am extremely worried about coming back as I felt like my head wasn’t in the right frame of mind.

I have returned today, 29^thApril, and had a proper in-depth conversation with the overall tutor of the course, and we spoke in detail about how I was feeling, and how to go on from here. I have 2 weeks to try and get my work up to standard, as I have near enough done nothing. That is a challenge in itself. I am extremely far behind. My tutor has really put things into perspective for me, about how to overcome this, has set me set tasks to complete by the end of the week, and to try and support me as much as possible due to being so far behind.

Since being back, I have done some of the to do list that I was set before the Easter break, I have tried to do it. However, I don’t want to focus on the research to much as I am going to end up having no content at all, and I think I would prefer to have more of my work getting done, and showing and proving to myself that I can actually do the work.

I have created my new timetable that I am going to follow to the point, I am going to be working extra on the Wednesdays and Fridays that we aren’t registered to be at uni. I am going to take advantage of every free time that I get, as I have two weeks to try and get my work up to as least a pass standard, and to actually get a qualification out of the year that I have done.

I feel like now, writing this towards the end of the day, I feel happier. I feel a lot more confident, and I am really going to push myself as I actually have been through hell this past month, with my head being all over the place. However, I don’t regret having the thoughts, I am glad I had them, as I have eventually overcome a really difficult situation. I am proud of myself for going through what I have, having time and space to realise what I was going through and then coming back, with a fresh mind and thoughts, and trying to finish what I started. It is hard, but I am going to try my absolute best.

Monday 29th April   Had a well needed chat with Olly   Writing a 1000-word blog discussing/explaining the problems that I have experienced this past month.   Writing a new timetable and follow it   Researching the mood vs weather, and creating illustrations for them all. Research instagrammers that look at positivity and confidence.   DO A BLOG POST HALF HOUR BEFORE THE END OF THE SESSION!	Tuesday 30thApril   Researching packaging, and nets in the library and on the internet.   Researching vitiligo campaigns if there is any.   Research instagrammers that look at positivity and confidence.   Try printing some nets off and seeing how they work – how can I create my own?   DO A BLOG POST HALF HOUR BEFORE THE END OF THE SESSION!	Wednesday 1stMay   Come into uni, and spend some time working on the work from the past two days.   Any artist research, at least 3, don’t want to spend too much on research.   Take photographs at home, of interesting objects that could symbolise vitiligo, shapes/patterns that could relate. (this can be editing)   Create a page in my book of objects that I could photograph, and why? Why did I pick this, and just create a range.   DO A BLOG POST HALF HOUR BEFORE THE END OF THE SESSION!	Thursday 2nd May   Continuing with the packaging net research, printing them all and looking at what designs are interesting, and unique.   Look at the sort of packaging that vitiligo creams come in. How can I make them more interesting?   Create an illustration pages of what comes into my mind of patterns that could relate to vitiligo.   Print all of the photographs that I have taken, and include them in my sketchbook as evidence before I used them .   DO A BLOG POST HALF HOUR BEFORE THE END OF THE SESSION!	Friday 3rdMay   Start creating some designs, using the photographs that I have taken on Wednesday, and start creating the packaging.   Start creating some awareness posters for a potential al Instagram set up, or even a booklet.   DO A BLOG POST HALF HOUR BEFORE THE END OF THE SESSION!	Saturday 4th May   Working: 11:30 – 8	Sunday 5th May   Make sure all the work that I have done this week is up to date, before Monday.   DO A BLOG POST HALF HOUR BEFORE THE END OF THE SESSION!
Monday 6th May Start creating some designs, using the photographs that I have taken on Wednesday, and start creating the packaging.   Start creating some awareness posters for a potential al Instagram set up, or even a booklet.   After every design, print off and stick into my sketchbook, and create the box.   Get Olly to look at the work from the past week, how am I doing (make sure I include this in the sketch book.   DO A BLOG POST HALF HOUR BEFORE THE END OF THE SESSION!	Tuesday 7th May Start creating some designs, using the photographs that I have taken on Wednesday, and start creating the packaging.   Start creating some awareness posters for a potential al Instagram set up, or even a booklet.   After every design, print off and stick into my sketchbook, and create the box.   DO A BLOG POST HALF HOUR BEFORE THE END OF THE SESSION!	Wednesday 8th May	Thursday 9th May Start creating some designs, using the photographs that I have taken on Wednesday, and start creating the packaging.   Start creating some awareness posters for a potential al Instagram set up, or even a booklet.   After every design, print off and stick into my sketchbook, and create the box. DO A BLOG POST HALF HOUR BEFORE THE END OF THE SESSION!	Friday 10th May	Saturday 11th May	Sunday 12thMay
Monday 13th May:   Talk to Olly about where I am at, what am I doing right, what can I do to improve the project during the last week of the FMP.   Create more content. The photographs from Wednesday should be enough.   DO A BLOG POST HALF HOUR BEFORE THE END OF THE SESSION!	Tuesday 14th May   Make improvements, do more experimenting, maybe with paints . DO A BLOG POST HALF HOUR BEFORE THE END OF THE SESSION!	Wednesday 15thMay   Make sure my sketchbook is up to date, even the irelvant work from the beginning. Make sure the book is neat and tidy.   DO A BLOG POST HALF HOUR BEFORE THE END OF THE SESSION!	Thursday 16thMay   Get all my work printed off, the final bits of work.   If I have ended up doing an Instagram page, make sure that the content has been uploading with the appropriate hashtags. If anyone has made comments, include the feedback in my book and blog.   DO A BLOG POST HALF HOUR BEFORE THE END OF THE SESSION!	Friday 17th May   FINISHED!	Saturday 18thMay	Sunday 19thMay

 

Today was the first session at university where I was doing my FMP (Final Major Project). I have created a plan before I came back of all my notes about the project I want to complete, which is designing a makeup brand, and creating the packaging for this. I wanted to do this because I wanted to be creative, in designing my own documents. I want that packaging was the best way to do this. I thought about doing it on either vitiligo which is a skin condition, or either acne/spots.

These are my notes that I prepared before the session started:

Questionnaire Plan Notes:

What would be a good makeup brand to cover:

• Vitiligo
• Acne
• For the less confindent
• Just for students

What colours appeal to you more:

• Red
• Blue
• Green
• Pink
• Yellow
• Other ……..

What type of ethos do you want your makeup brand to have?

Are you loyalty to a certain makeup brand?

What is your favourite makeup brand and why is that?

Do you like the limited-edition designs that the makeup brands bring out?

Business Plan Information:

Ethos:

Slogan:

Make up brand name:

Colour:

Design the type of typography:

Research into acne and vitiligo

Logo

Remembering to highlight key information when taking it from the internet, copy and paste and also include the website on tracing paper and stick into the book.

Photography Design ideas:

Do some spaghetti photoshoots to edit

Bubbles

Feathers?

Crystals?

Research:

• Health websites on vitiligo and acne
• Mood board on makeup packaging
• Mood board on packaging itself
• Label research that gets put into bottles
• Where to find bottle samples and box samples
• How to create type – practising copying type
• Practise coping packaging designs
• Colour wheel page
• Make up brands ethos
• Against animal cruelty makeup / vegan / organic
• Research page on each make up brand that I like
• Take photographs of my own makeup, for the type of packagaing.

Page Layout:

Mind map on creating a makeup brand

1. Explanation of what I am actually going to do
2. Creating a packaging – Packaging mood board, talk about some of the photographs when sticking them down, discuss the features (2 pages)
3. Websites that show packaging design, tips/hints anything
4. Where I can find sample materials for the project, look on eBay, email businesses, include this in the sketchbook
5. Create a label mood board, information that they have
6. Go to Superdrug/boots or go on the website, and take photographs of the packaging talking about them
7. Create a makeup mood board – discussing features
8. Create a makeup packaging mood board – discuss features
9. Research into the makeup brands that I like and talk about them – this includes photographs, ethos, features of the brand any designers
10. Research packaging artists and their work, talk about it, perhaps do some artist responses
11. Audiences, page on that
12. Research into medically vitiligo and acne, the appearance of these, how they look, how they make young girls feel, talking about how I have vitiligo, but I also have spots
13. Colour wheel, colour research
15. Research into type, and all about the history of typography
16. Create mood board, copy them physically and digitally
17. Research into logos, and history
18. Create mood board, copy some responses
19. Look on the websites from the proposal form and start to print them off and include
20. Graphic posters mood board and explanations
21. Artists that do graphic posters, and do some responses to them, do a few artist pages

Random Reminder Notes:

First will be all the written aspects of the brand, such as the name, the colours, tone, the feel, what I want my business to represent

Then designing the logo

Then designing the typeface

Then creating the packaging – experimenting with different photographs for designs.

Printing physically, combing it with bottles and labels, start taking photographs

Buy some cheap makeup, that don’t mind getting ruined to create some sick photography

 

I thought I would start off with designing a mind map about all my ideas, I wanted to be careful on my presentation.

I thought that creating a mind map will help me try and overcome my thoughts as I felt a bit overwhelmed by the entire process.  At his stage, I was becoming quite stressed as I felt lost and confused through what I was actually doing in my project. I decided to email my tutor who I am assigned with as I felt that it was too urgent to wait until Thursday when I would see her in person. I felt that doing this, allowed myself and my tutor to understand that I was actually struggling, and I was able to received the help and advice that I actually needed.

The email that I received actually gave me some reassurance that I’m not alone and that it is natural to feel this way. I tried to forget about my problem before there is one as I could be overthinking it. I think I will struggle because there isn’t a structure and I am used to a set structure, so that is going to be something that I need to overcome. I am going to be designing calendars because I feel that this will help me massively if I plan what I am doing on each day.

I created a mood board of generalise packaging as I felt that this would be a good starting point. I was analysing the actually photographs and explaining why I liked them, in a very simple way.

 

 

This was more of a presentation and information day about assessment week and about the FMP. This was a really in-depth conversation, which did go on for ages because it was so vital and important. I have made loads of notes about them both and being prepared.

This was just an extra bit of work, which was just looking at what live briefs are about, and having a feel or what they would ask you to do. This wasn’t an essential bit of work, but we were just asked to have a look and try and complete one. I found this really hard as I was stressing about the FMP, and stressing about the catch up of work to be able to do this.

I did have some lengthy chat with one of my tutors which was about an hour because I wanted her thoughts on the FMP and just get some more guided information on a 1-1 basis.

I dont think we have been given back information from when we done the packaging brief, and therefore I dont have my evaluation yet, but when I do get it I will update on the blog. I did win as a recognition from my tutors because of how well I done in the project because I was very conscious of using my sketchbook because I ddidnt know how to do it, and the whole concept worried me and I would always get behind in it. However, during this brief I just went for it, and completely allowed myself to get caught into my sketchbook, and I actually did enjoy doing it that way. I think I was just worried because I always done the sketchbook after the brief, which is such a bad way, but I wasn’t used to it.

Majority of the session was talking about our FMPs and going over very important information about that, which I have included in my notebook and all the notes get relooked at to get my head around the idea of an FMP.

I have combined the two days up, as these were very similar days in what I did. which was looking on wirelines for a new net.

I had to copy the net shape which took quite a few hours to get it right as I couldn’t add anything such as text or photographs using the internet one, so I had to completely create one from scratch with the correct measurements, and size, and being able to fit my content onto it. This was fun because it was something that I haven’t done before, and it was using my skills digitally but in a new way which I have never done. Although it was time consuming and took a lot of time to do it, I was impressed with the final result.

I printed off a spare blank net and tried to make it so I could see physically what the net would look like which I have included into my sketchbook.

This is the final net that I used. I still think I could have done better, I wanted to create more than one design, but because of how long it took me to create the net I didnt get a chance too.

Today we had two different workshops: Ollys creating a packaging from recycled materials, and Soofs packaging nets experimentation.

This is the work I created from the recycled material creation:

I decided to try and draw some creations in which I had in my head, onto paper so show that I am trying to use my drawing skills. Our group was the last to do the recycled material task, and this was harder for us as we couldn’t find any materials. I found some cupboard and I decided to use the ball as the middle of the flower, and the packaging created the flower petals and the box. I thought this was quite creative and interesting. The actual petals was actually a flap to get the ball in and out.

I didn’t like doing this brief as this isn’t the sort of thing I am interested in, I don’t like doing the physical and 3D design of things. I like to have all my work digital.

Soofs brief was of herself finding a net on the internet, going through how to use it on illustrator, going through steps onto how to include content onto it, and to print it out and fold it and see how it actually looks, whether it was too big or too small, or whether the packaging actually didnt work. This was my practise net:

 

I then just done some internet looking at different nets, I was looking on a website called direlines, which I am going to remember for Monday as I have run out of time during todays session to look into it closely.

We had a visit from Angela today. Angela came in to go through the Library of Things brief with us.

We was given a huge piece of paper, and we had to create 16 different logos. We had to put the paper as a grid, and each box would have a different logo on. We had about an hour to do this. After we done this, we went around the room and we each had 3 ticks, those 3 ticks was to mark our favourite logos on everyone work. We could either put 3 on 1 logo, or spread the votes across the variety of the 16 logos.

Here are the 16 different logo images:

 

After this was done, we was then able to spend the last hour or so off the session creating the most popular scored logo.

I actually didn’t go for any of the logos that I created, I did try and create two of the most popular ones, but I really didnt like how it looked, and therefore I decided to create a new idea. These are my logo designs:

 

 

This was the actual logo that I created and I loved. I copied the way a willow tree would look, and I played around with the layout of the tree, and duplicated it, and changed the colours, layering and changing the filters effects. I wanted to be experimental with the logo because the logo I feel is one of the main parts of the brand. As the brand is reasonably new and small, I wanted to make sure that the words of the brand was on the logo, and then eventually remove the text, and leave the logo as the trees.

This is the logo:

 

 

The also 45 minutes of the session was going through peoples work on the board, and talking about peoples favourites, and how they came up with the logo, and improvements that they could take.