Brief 2 // Yoke // Curating

As it has started to get closer to the opening night, it was time to start getting everything ready for the exhibition space. As my dad was making us some frames, walls, hanging toppers and provided us with some extra lights, I have been sorting that side of things out.

Collecting all the things together and trying out each bit has been good to see how each element is going to come together and work within the space to create the overall feel of the exhibition.

The wooden toppers are going to be on the prints which are hung from the frames, these will hold the prints in place and attach them to the fishing wire we are using to hand the prints. In order to get some idea of how these are going to work and look, I tested them out with some stock I had laying around.

Some initial inspiration of curating the exhibition space, gave us the idea of creating these wooden toppers and the way in which we would hang the exhibition artwork:

The toppers that we made, with some stock in to show how the artwork will be presented within the frames.

Brief 2 // Yoke // Poster

As we have been spending alot of time down in the print room getting all the prints done for the exhibition, we decided to print the poster which we would use to advertise the exhibition.

This was an obvious choice to make as the whole exhibition is on print. To keep it inline with the exhibition further, we decided to do a two colour print, using similar colours to the prints we had been doing.

The poster was primarily to advertise the opening night, but also to advertise the whole exhibition and the running time of it all. Using the fonts and branding we created at the start of the project we designed a poster together.

The idea of the poster was to use the names of the people that submitted as the base layer, this was for two reasons, the first it shows how many people are involved and that its a wide spread of artists involved as there will be foreign names in and amongst it all and secondly by having peoples name on the poster they will look at it to try and find their own name. The top layer would be the information about the exhibition - this would include opening night details, a brief description of the exhibition, exhibition full running dates and where it is held.

I created a first draft of the poster:

Top and bottom layers of the poser

Layered poster.

We felt that when the two layers came together they didn't work that well together as when apart. The information on the top layer get lost with the names in the background and it feels all too much together. The poster needed more room within it for the eye to wander and look around, there isn't enough white space to allow for this. But this did give us a basis to design from, it just needed to bit a little bit more thought out with the placement of the two layers, especially for when they come together. 

Top and bottom layers

Layered poster

When it came to printing the design, we used GFSmith 270gsm Grey stock, which had left over from the invites we did at the start of the project. This stock was great for screen printing onto as the thickness was good for handling the amount of ink and not curling. We decided to use black as the base colour and overprint with a fluorescent orange. 

The result of the poster were:

We were happy with the result of the prints and the finished design looked great as a screen print. We have placed these posters around the college and left a couple down at Vernon Street print room also. Again this should hopefully get some more attention and get more people down to the opening night.  

Brief 2 // Yoke // Week 2 - video update

On the first week of printing the work for the exhibition, we started to document the process through videoing certain parts of it. We have carried this on throughout the rest of the time and with it getting closer to the opening night, we thought we would put together another video that shows some more progress.

The first video we did, was received really well and worked well as a promo tool, this one would be more of an update and show the progress we have made with the printing. I think doing this sort of promotion works well on our behalf, but also is a great way for us to document this process of the brief as without these, there would be no evidence of us printing the work and the time and effort that has gone into it, because it has been really intense getting all the prints ready for the exhibition, especially in 2 weeks!

Brief 2 // Yoke // Leeds-List Article

From working with the Corn Exchange, we got contacted from the people that organise the lettings for the Corn Exchange. They contacted us to ask us if we would be happy for Leeds-list to write a review on the exhibition and it would be previewed on the website.

We were really happy with this as it would get us some exposure and hopefully get the word out further about the exhibition, opening it up to even more people that what we knew. In terms of the article, we were asked to provide some images and the rest would be done by them, so we were a little out of control of it. When the article was released on the website, the review was great, it reads really well and puts across the whole concept behind the exhibition in a great way. We were really pleased with the result of it and hopefully it will get us some more attention.

You can read the article here:
http://leeds-list.com/culture/preview-dialogue-at-the-corn-exchange/

Brief 11 // Manifesto // Final Images

From creating the manifesto and each of the individual cards that explain my manifesto, I produced these and printed them, creating the pack. From creating the small pack, I have decided to use a black metallic bubble post bag, this fits in with my own branding and also protects the package.

Brief 2 // Yoke // Preparing the exhibition space

From choosing the original space within the corn exchange, there were a few things that we wanted to do in order to make best use of the space for the exhibition.

The main area that needed attention was the floor, it had previously had carpet laid down on the floor and when this had been taken up the carpet glue was still stuck to the floor, this needed covering as the the floor looked a mess.

We took one morning last week, with a help from a couple of others within the year to paint the floor white. It didn't take as long as we thought and after two coats, it was covered and looked alot better, the space was pretty much converted.

Brief 2 // Yoke // Video Promotion

Throughout the time we have been creating products and starting to put things together for the exhibition, Eve has been videoing selected parts of the process. As a way to document the whole project and show the process that we have been through to create the final exhibition, we are going to produce a video at the end.

Through the process that we have been doing these past couple of weeks, we have collected a few different video shots, which we thought would be great to put together and create a small promotional video for the opening night. This includes clips of us creating the invites, submission and preparing the exhibition space.

Brief 2 // Yoke // Submissions

After putting the time and effort to get the exhibition out so people knew about it and getting the other years involved throughout the college, we managed to get a lot of submissions. In the end we have about 140 submission, which is great and bodes well for how well the exhibition will actually go. 

These are a selection of some of the submissions which we received, printing them out black and white for screen printing the designs and also so we could match the different designs together. 

From the designs above, we started to print the designs. From selecting a variety of stock and inks that all work as a set, which have started to produce a body of work which in our opinion is great and should look amazing within the exhibition space. 

To carry on the printing process and creating the body of work for the exhibition. We have decided we want to be more ethical and recycle as much as possible, this will help with the project as screen printing has a lot of waste. Doing this will also keep the cost down for ourselves. 

We intend to recycle as much stock as possible, finding stock around the studio and from people that may have some spare, cutting this down to the sizes we need will create a fresh piece of stock ready for us to print on. Also with the inks for printing, we are going to use already mixed inks from previous people. 

Brief 12 // 21st Whisky // Information Leaflet

As the whole branding and concept behind the whisky brand and aesthetics is about the making of whisky and how each whisky type has differences in the making process. I thought including information about that within the packaging could be something interesting for the user of the product to read. It can also include more information about the brand and maybe be some sort of nice gift.

Along with this I didn't want to create just an ordinary A4/A5 booklet, plus this format wouldn't fit within the packaging, but it had to be something that would fit to an A size, so if it was a real company it would be cost efficient to produce these. Keeping these factors in mind, I started off with the A3 format and tried out different ways in which this could fold down to make something that could be used as a booklet and fit within the packaging.

In the end the format that worked was one in which the A3 was folded in half to make two A4's this was then folded again to make A5 and then folded again to make a tall and think profile. To open it out it reads like a book, which works well for the purpose, this did only take up one side of the sheet, so to make best use of the paper, on the reverse I will print the process poster and this will act as a nice gift to the user and advertise the brand further.

Again as each of the products are slightly different and they are each individually designed to a set of colours and icons etc, I kept inline with that for the design of these leaflets. One for each of the products that is specific to each one.

Single Malt Whisky. 

Cask Malt Whisky

Blended Malt Whisky

Close up of each section:

 

This acts as the front and back cover of the leaflet. For these two sections only I have used the solid block colour along the top and bottom, this identifies which product the leaflet is for and relates to the label of the packaging on the bottle. 

When the leaflet is first opened, the user will see this as a spread which is the equivalent of an A5. This displays information about Draff and the range of products. Then more specific about each individual product that the leaflet is for.  Using the Draff logo and icon for each product this makes these pages more interesting to read. 

The leaflet will then open again and show to show the process illustration, this takes up an A5 again. Each part of the process is numbered as in the page next to it, each step is described and wrote as to what happens within it. Like on the bottle label, the illustration is highlighted in the section of the process that makes it different to the others. 

The final page within the leaflet is the description of each of the steps of the making process. This outlines the main things that happen in each step and how they it all creates the final product. By having this information within the leaflet it will hopefully educate the readers and make them more interested in the product and brand. 

Brief 12 // 21st Whisky // Packaging

After looking into some different packaging types and how the normal whisky packaging is made / constructed. I came up with some different ideas for how the packaging would work as a product and as a net.

Deciding on the packaging in which the front acts as the opening and open out to show the product front on. I felt this was the best way to do this, because it is different from the norm and makes it a little bit more interesting, once the front panel has been opened the bottle will be front facing and will be seen straight away. Lastly the small information booklet that will be included within the packaging will be inside a small pocket on the front panel door, when it is opened this will be presented to the reader.

From using the packaging that the empty whisky bottles I am using came in, I could use these as a net to work out the net I needed for the packaging.

4 panels at:
- width - 85mm
- height - 210mm

This will make a rectangular box for the whisky bottles. The design that will go on the packaging is created from the design elements within the labels and process illustration. Front and back panel will have information about the product, the two panels will have the process illustration.

Single Malt Whisky packaging

Blended Malt Whisky packaging

Cask Malt Whisky packaging. 

As you can see from the packaging, each product has its own individually designed box. The information is all the same, but the colours are changed so that they are consistent throughout all the brand. I had to adapt the process illustration slightly to fit the format, it had to be spread apart a bit more so it fit the tall and thin profile of the packaging. 

On a whole I think that the packaging works well and is directly related to the labels and the rest of the branding of the product. By keeping consistent colours, information and aesthetics across all the products, it makes a coherent product range and builds a strong brand. The aesthetics are simple but bold and show the concept behind the brand, which is all about the process of making the whisky. 

Brief 12 // 21st Whisky // Packaging Research

Now the bottle label design is complete, I need to focus on the packaging for the bottles. Each packaging is going to use the colours of each bottle, but the format of the packaging and design need to be considered to create the best possible result for the packaging.

Looking into some existing packaging from whisky brands, it has helped me think through the packaging and how it could work.

These are some examples of the type of packaging that I am looking at, I think having a simple box that opens in an interesting way, or folds down in an interesting way will be the best way forward. The design from the labels will come though the the box and I intend to use the process illustration heavily within the packaging, as this is the main visual element of the brand. 

The box itself will probably be a plain colour, this will work with the colours of the brand and each of the products.