DBA / Identity

Mr Potter's Marvellous Blends is aimed at 35-50 year olds who have disposable income, yet are still working and may need that extra boost to help them throughout the day. The identity is a mix of traditional and modern methods that compliment each other - linking to the infusion of nootropics within the long-established beverage, tea.

As the product is quite expensive we opted for packaging that is suitable for loose-leaf tea but also luxurious.

The clear glass body allows the buyer to see the loose-tea which will make them feel more confident in the product as the nootropics may put some people off. It also allows for interesting designs and the different mediums can have different design treatments applied to them.

The logo comes in two parts - the signature and the stamp. Mr Potter's signature is the main logo, but we have also created a "stamp" which can be placed on the lid of the packaging or elsewhere to show the seal of approval by Mr Potter.

To compliment the story of Mr Potter and his background, we thought it would be suitable for the packaging to display lots of different plants. We designed a label that will fit around the tin but leaves the front open for the buyer to see the tea. 

Each flavour has an emphasis on a different time of day. The illustrations show this, with breakfast tea being set in the morning, green tea in the afternoon and camomile at night. This is the recommended time to drink that specific flavour as the effects of the nootropic compliment different activities. 

Mr Potter's story will be presented in a small booklet on the handle of the tin. Each flavour will have a slightly different colour scheme on the cover to match it's packaging: 

Breakfast

Green

Camomile

Everyday Something / Week 2

This week I was asked to create some icons based around the words "role model", "architect", "motivator" and "S.W.A.P". I was given some rough guidelines on what the client wants for each icon and a reference file including the colour scheme and style.

Outcomes:

I was also asked to create another set of posters for the shop. I created a woodland scene with 3 main animals including a deer, owl and fox:

I also worked on a 5-year-guarantee logo which will be featured in a brochure for KWC taps. I worked on this over a few days and produced over 70 different designs:

Overall I had an enjoyable two weeks and got paid for my experience. I sometimes felt like there wasn't enough work for me to be getting on with, but I am grateful for my time at Everyday Something and felt it has broadened my experience within the design industry.

Everyday Something / Week 1

The first week at Everyday Something has been beneficial in getting a new experience at a different kind of studio. I was made aware that alongside Everyday Something, James also runs two shops with his brother. One of my first tasks of the week was to create some new children's poster designs for their online shops. I had total control in what the theme was and the approach taken towards the look of the posters.

I started to create a 'scene' with various elements but James pointed out that it could be more beneficial for the business to separate them into different posters that work as a set.

Ocean Scene

I took elements from this image and created 3 separate posters:

James was keen for me to create various sets in different habitats, so I spent until wednesday working on 6 other posters: 

On Thursday and Friday I was given various other odd jobs to complete, including creating a 5-year guarantee symbol for a brochure about taps. This week has shown me a different atmosphere of studio. Everyday Something is more function over form when compared to my experience at Oslo. 

DBA / New Concept

After the feedback we received we decided to go for a new approach.

We stuck with tea as our product because from the feedback it was clear that the DBA judges liked the fact it was a universal and social activity. We decided to change our target audience to a more professional, high end range. We're aiming to create something that would be sold in stores such as John Lewis, Waitrose and M&S.

Aiming at the 35-50 year old demographic we created Mr Potter's Marvellous Blends, an all-natural nootropic infused tea which helps middle class working people keep their motivation up throughout the day. The branding will look quite traditional to appeal to the older audience but also have a modern twist to supplement the nootropics. Mr Potter's tea will come in 3 flavours to begin - Breakfast, Green and Camomile. Each tea will have a complimentary nootropic that will boost the natural properties that already reside in drinking tea.

Mr Potter's character is also integral to the brand. His story will feature on the packaging  to encourage the audience that what they are drinking is safe and helpful. Mr Potter is an accomplished botanist that understands the properties of plants.

"Formally a budding botanist, Mr Potter took his love of plants and began experimenting with their natural properties as rejuvenative experiences for his friends and family, now with years of fine tuning he offers his services to you in the form of his favourite beverage, tea. These tea’s are expertly blended with organic nootropics to boost your daily experiences, inviting added energy, focus and other wonderful properties into the day."

DBA / Feedback

During the feedback, I was on placement in Bradford but other members of my team pitched our idea so far to the DBA members.

Our concept is to put the nootropics in loose leaf tea, using different flavours for different types of nootropics. For example, a camomile tea will include natural nootropics that help you sleep. We thought of having an underlying concept of Greek Gods accompanying each flavour, and the name of the brand would be Teaós, a play on the Greek word for God - Theós. We each came up with some logo ideas to be shown for feedback.

My logo ideas

The DBA members liked the idea of using the nootropics in tea as it's a very universal and social activity, although they felt that the idea of using greek gods was quite gimmicky and wouldn't hold up with our target audience of 35-50 year olds in the middle class. Moving forward from this feedback we need to come up with a new name and approach to the product. We envision the tea to be a high-end product, sold in department stores such as John Lewis and Harvey Nichols. We want to target a specific age range where functionality can start decreasing and insecurities about age begin to set in. The aim of our product is to ensure the buyer that using it will aid their daily life.

Moving forward from the feedback we need to re-think the name and approach of our branding and come up with a strong concept that will connect with our target audience.

DBA / Initial Ideas

Our initial idea for this brief is to include the nootropic into something that already exists into peoples lives, so it doesn't seem like much effort to incorporate it. We discussed products such as coffee, tea and chewing gum.

The target audience we would like to appeal to is 35-50 year old working professionals. This target age range could highly benefit from nootropics as they will have busy lives and are most likely starting to feel the first effects of ageing.

We firstly looked into coffee but research into this field resulted in quite a few brands that have already produced slick, professional resolutions to nootropics within coffee. Examples include the Hackers Brew and Kimera Koffee:

After discovering these brands, we thought it was more appropriate to create something that hasn't been done before. We looked into tea and found there wasn't much on the market at this time. 

Our idea for the brand would be to have a high-end loose leaf tea infused with nootropics to appeal tot eh 35-50 year old market. Tea is a professional drink that is highly associated with British culture. We wanted our audience to feel empowered while using our product, and we thought of using Greek Gods as the main part of our identity. Each kind of nootropic will be associated with a different God, and the name of the brand is Teaos - taken from the Greek word Theos (which means God). We all worked on logos in time to get feedback from the DBA judges on Wednesday. 

Oslo / Week 2

This week I have spent my time at Oslo creating logo's for a new recording studio called Blackout. The brief was quite open as they haven't got an existing logo or identity to work with. I decided to try and create something that resembled the classic record but wasn't obvious or cliché. I also wanted to try playing with the word Blackout and coming up with a clever solution to visually communicating the brand.

Having 1 day to focus on the same resolution was quite repetitive and draining, as was last week. These are the limitations of interning for 1 day a week as there isn't enough time to be given new projects but working from 10am - 6pm on the same logo feels unnecessary. 

buttercrumble / meeting

Buttercrumble are a creative agency working in Leeds. I noticed that they were coming into the university to give a talk on networking so I decided to look into them a bit more. Looking at their website I started to become excited and realised my work could fit in very well with what they're doing. The night before the talk I decided to email them asking whether they would chat with me.

Buttercrumbles latest project on their website -
an illustration for Kvinde magazine.

Upon reciving their email I was delighted to hear that they already followed me on Twitter! As they are already fans of my work this encouraged me even more to meet with Buttercrumble and discuss an internship or collaboration.

After the talk at college we met at Opposite cafe to discuss collaborative projects. They said they would be happy to pay me for my work and would benefit from some help in the upcoming months as they are very busy with projects. I told them that after my 2 week placement in Bradford that I would be happy to discuss the collaboration in further detail with them.

DBA / briefing

Nootropics
A nootropic is a drug that improves mind functioning and productivity. There are many different types of nootropic that can effect you in a range of ways. The brief is to create a new nootropics brand, considering target audience, packaging, concept and campaign. Feedback will be given on the 15th February and the final 20-25 minute presentation will take place on the 28th February. You should work in groups of 3-5 for this project

I will be working with Rhys, Jack and Lo on this brief.

Oslo / Week 1

This week I have been creating logos for Community Central, a company that helps the community by helping people into work etc. They are funded by various projects including a cafe. I was given a starting point of a geo-pin to work into the design and spent the day creating different variations of the logo:

I found spending all day on the same logo quite repetitive, but this was useful experience as it showed me how life can be for a new graphic designer in the industry.