Week 5

For the upcoming project, we were tasked to redesign a series of products. The project I had chosen to redesign was the package for Oreos, one of my favorite things to snack on. I figured this would be a pretty good package to redesign as it has been a popular product for years and has went through many redesigns and styles. For my redesign, I was planning to redesign the package to have a superhero theme to honor Stan Lee's birthday (December.) I had looked at a Creative Brief and answered the series of questions that it asks. Below is what I hope my new redesign will accomplish.

• User and target audience groups
• Aimed towards the general audience of both genders.

• Brand attributes, promise, and mission
• To create and maintain a fun brand while creating a delicious superhero-themed cookie that the entire family can enjoy. This superhero themed redesign can be used by those enjoy the Oreo brand.

• Competitive landscape
• Chips Ahoy!, Keebler, Famous Amos, Entenmann, etc.

• Business Objective
• This product is meant to pay homage to comic book writer Stan Lee. It will encourage those to appreciate, understand and hopefully view his work as a creative writer. 

• Creative Strategies
• For this product, I plan to create original superhero designs for the cookies themselves. The superhero Oreo themed cookies will not have pre-existing superheroes. These cookies will wear accessories such as bandanas, masks, and other items. 

• Comparisons
• The goal of this product is to make the audience perceive the superhero themed cookie as a fun and unique spin to the Oreo brand. In addition, it will make the consumer aware of Stan Lee's contributions to creative writing and superheroes.

Week 4

Based on a lot of valuable feedback that I had received for my previous design, I took the idea and completely reworked what I originally had. I was told that the patterns were off, using an actual raspberry wasn't very effective, location of type and so on needed improvement. I decided to just start fresh while keeping the same idea. This time, I didn't do much of a design on the back as the original product was pretty simplistic, and I didn't want to put in illustrations for the sake of filling space. The product itself is very "grandmotherly" and clean, so I tried to reflect that through space, font and clean graphics. Below is the new version of the product in a mockup.

Week 3

Below is my final design for Bonne Maman Raspberry Preserves. I tried to make it more modern, as the original style was completely blank and outdated. I had strayed away from using vector images for this project and used free-to-use stock photos of raspberries and edited them. For the front, I had grabbed a picture of a raspberry and sliced it in half, adding a juicy effect to convey the freshness of the raspberries used in the jam. Since the name "Bonne Maman" itself translates to grandmother, I still tried to give it an "old" and comforting kind of feel through the typography on the front. The product itself is all natural, so I felt like that may have been something important to include on the front. For the back I had done something similar, although I had used a pile of raspberries instead. Here I had used accurate nutritional facts and followed the same kind of style on the back as I did the front.  For the lid, I felt like there wasn't much I wanted to do with it, as most lids don't really have a design. Since the front and back of the label I had created are already simple, I felt as if adding a design or text would have been out of place.

Week 2

After the scavenger hunt, I had found a product that i'd like to redesign. It is "Bonne Maman Raspberry Preserves". I had no prior knowledge of this product existing, and after looking at the design which is pretty much nonexistent, I figured this would be a great opportunity to do a redesign. After talking with classmates and doing background research myself, I had learned that this product is made with only natural ingredients. I designed to incorporate this into a lot of my sketches by illustrating nature, plants and the farms these most likely grow on. The term "Bonne Maman" means Grandmother. I had also decided to use this to my advantage, giving the top and design itself a very "old-fashioned" and nostalgic feel yet modern. Below are my sketches along with the die cut of the jar itself. Since it is a jar, the die cut itself isn't as complex as a cereal box for an example.

Reading Responses

1. What is the authors' point in opening the introduction by discussing common household products?

The reason the author had discussed common household products in his opening was to show how
hazardous some materials are in everyday products that we use. It’s to make the user question what
we buy and consume, and how it affects us and our families.

3. What word do the authors use as a realistic alternative to the word "recycling"?

The alternative word to “recycling” that the author uses is “downcycled”.

5. Which statement is NOT an example of recycling as we know it?
d) Collecting rainwater for household use.

7. Which statement is the best explanation for why sports shoes are produced outside the U.S.?
b) There is less regulation on toxic fumes in the countries where they are produced.

9. Why are books problematic to recycle?

The paper that we are used to contains materials such as wood pulp and cotton fiber. These
materials cannot be recycled infinitely like synthetic “paper” can.

11. What material is this book made out of?

The book is made out of plastic resins and inorganic fillers, also known as “synthetic paper”.
This material is waterproof, durable, and can be broken down and circulated infinitely. 

13. Who should be responsible for creating products that support the Earth?

The author states that humans themselves are responsible for creating products that support the Earth.

15. What is Bill's occupation?

Bill is an architect.

17. What does Bill finally realize about design?

Bill realizes that design must have a purpose and an intention.

19. What words best describe the environment that Michael grows up in?

Micheal grew up in a family of literature and philosophy scholars. He was able to attend college
and had soon began to protest big companies due to their negligence towards the environment. 

21. What is the goal of Germany's Green Party?

The primary goal of Germany’s Green Party was to take care of the environment.

23. What does the owner of Ciba-Geigy encourage Michael to do?

After explaining how displeased he was with Micheal’s actions he decided to work with him instead,
offering him business advice relating to his agency.