COP 3 - Module Evaluation

Overall, I have thoroughly enjoyed this module and feel I have really developed my skills as a designer in the modern world.

Researching in depth into topical issues such as gender and identity has really informed me deeper about this subject and I feel as though I have had my eyes opened to a wide range of different opinions and views. I have enjoyed researching into gender and looking at theories and stereotypes - even if they have been sexist and offensive at times. It has been interesting to look at such widely discussed and controversial issues such as gender fluidity and queer theory - I feel as though I have been informed not only as a young person, but as a designer too. Thorough research allows you to view the world in different ways.

I have found it really fun putting my theoretical research into play during my practical investigation, and it has been interesting putting theories into play during my design work. I have found the design work really engaging purely because I have been so interested in the theoretical work - I have found it has really pushed my design work along and kept me engaged. Food packaging is a particular area of interest for me so being able to write about it as well as put my own ideas into play has been something I have really enjoyed.

I feel like I can move on from this module with a greater and deeper not knowledge not just of food packaging, but of other useful elements such as designing for gender - and gender issues in general. This is definitely something I would like to revisit and look at again in future projects.

COP 3 - Ethical Considerations

There has been a level of ethical consideration during this project as it has dealt with sensitive topics such as gender and identity. 

Throughout my theoretical work I was careful to not speak from a biased point of view and made sure I did not discuss any personal opinions during the essay. I made sure I discussed each element of gender fairly and gave a rounded view when talking about particular issues. 

I took extra care not to appear as though I agreed with any comments made during my theoretical work and looked at any issues discussed as an outsider with an open mind.

In my practical investigation I lightly played on stereotypes from the research undertaken, but made sure I was not displaying or demonstrating any sexist or offensive views in my designs. 

I believe I have approached the project well and have made considered and ethical decisions when discussing sensitive areas theoretically.

COP 3 - Project Statement

I believe my theoretical work and practical investigation link very well together and work alongside each other really nicely.

I started my essay by discussing gender and how it is portrayed in today's society. I discussed masculinity and how it can be seen to be in 'crisis' recently, especially in the media. Mark Latham, Anthony Clare and Grayson Perry all featured in my theoretical work as I discussed their views on modern masculinity. Similarly, I talked about femininity and how it has evolved over the years - and how it is now more of a stereotype of a women's role from the past. Following this I briefly discussed modern issues such as gender fluidity and queer theory, talking about how we can move away from stereotypical gender roles and break boundaries. This discussion on gender really informed my work as I was able to take lots of information away and put it into practice in a design sense. A stereotype would be that women spend more time in the kitchen than men, and men are less interested in cooking. I hinted towards this stereotype in my designs in multiple ways, one being naming the women's brand 'Lucy's Kitchen'. Adding a name gave it a personal, hand-crafted feel and the word ‘kitchen’ alluded to the idea that the food was fresh and homemade, something that research suggests women find appealing. Similarly, I added elements on the men's packaging to highlight quick cooking time and the 'no touch, no stir, no fuss' sticker highlighted the ease of cooking. 

In my theoretical work I then went on to discuss 'man foods' and talked about products such as Yorkie chocolate and HP sauce. In this section of the essay I looked at how different products can be aimed at particular genders, and mentioned how Galaxy and Cadbury's Crispello chocolate is very much marketed towards women. It was informative to look at different ways products can be branded and marketed in order to appeal to particular genders, and I took a lot from this when it came to designing my own products. I was intrigued by the way products such as Yorkie and HP Sauce focused on the 'Real Man' demographic, where everything was based on being 'real'. I used this idea when I came up with the brand name for the men's product 'Proper Grub Food Co.'. ‘Proper’ was added as an informal British term, which implies that the food is ‘genuine’ or ‘real’. ‘Realness’ is something that Grayson Perry discusses in his book The Descent of Man, where he implies authenticity, genuineness and legitimacy is the ‘pinnacle of hetero masculinity’. I also felt that having ‘Co.’ at the end of the name added an industrial element that again hinted towards a more masculine feel.

In the 'Designing for Gender' section of my essay, I looked at research into the type of design that appeals most to each gender. Research suggested that women prefer free-flowing, curved or rounded shapes whilst men typically prefer more geometric shapes such as squares or straight-lined shapes. I also talked about how men respond better to cool tones and achromatic colours such as black and grey, whilst women generally prefer lighter and warmer colours. Knowing this, I chose to use a circular plastic tray to base my women's sleeve around, which was translucent white in colour. For the men's sleeve, I chose a black, rectangular shaped tray. I followed this pattern for the actual sleeve designs themselves, using darker, more earthy colours for the men's designs and lighter ones for the women's. 

However, in my theoretical work I discussed how gender stereotypes can be taken too far, and instances such as Stonemill Bakehouse Wellbeing Bread line were mentioned. They used pink for the women's bread and a dark brown for the men's. The men's product was a hearty barley and rye bread fortified with magnesium, whilst the women's bread was a milder hemp and quinoa blend with 30% less dough used. After an angry backlash, Stonemill apologised for the products and discontinued their production. Research suggests that when gender stereotyping is taken too far, it patronises and alienates consumers. For this reason, I tried not to be too obvious with the decisions I made for my own designs, staying away from the typical 'blue for boys, pink for girls' approach. I used implicit cues in my packaging to hint at gender, rather than actually using 'for men' or 'for women'. This resulted in effective gender marketing without being sexist or stereotypical. 

Overall, I believe my practical investigation reflected everything I had learnt and discussed in my theoretical work, and put lots of points of discussion into play physically. 

COP 3 - Evaluation

 Overall, I feel my designs worked really and were extremely informed by the research undertaken in my essay.

The main aim of the project was to demonstrate how the exact same product, the same meal with identical ingredients could be branded and packaged in two different ways in order to appeal to either a male or female audience.

A number of techniques and features were used in order to target each gender and when the designs are placed next to each other, you can see a clear differentiation between the two, despite the inner contents being the same. Each small element adapted in the designs all combine together to create two very different sleeves.

The women’s sleeves used lighter colours, more rounded shapes, script style typefaces, descriptive language and highlighted sustainable and eco-friendly elements such as organic produce and free-range eggs.

The men’s sleeves were vastly different - using much darker, earthier colours, geometric shapes, strong capitalized typefaces, simplified language and highlighted elements such as quick cooking time and high protein content.

I believe focusing on these unique features has allowed me to effectively target each gender in different ways. Research undertaken for my essay has greatly helped me understand how to design for gender and appropriately choose colours, shapes and typefaces. Research into consumer buying behavior according to gender also really helped me when it came to choosing what to include within the designs.

The laminated finish gives the sleeves a professional and finished look and helps make them look believable alongside other products from the market.  Careful choices regarding colour and type also meant that the designs looked polished and refined when comparing them to real life examples.

To improve, I would have personally liked to have used a glossier varnish when laminating the sleeves, however this would have produced difficulties in folding the designs on this small scale.

COP 3 - Differences - Comparing Designs

Differences between the men's and women's designs; 




Brand names - men's is simplistic, 'real/genuine' which men like - women's is based around handmade, home-cooked nature, word kitchen relates to this.








Both products are free range and organic, but only the women's designs feature this information. It is not present on the mens.




The men's designs feature small 'bullets' of information on the front regarding cooking time and ease of cooking. This appeals to men as research suggests they want to spend as little time in the kitchen as possible. I have not included these on the women's designs as it is less of an importance to them (stereotypically).










Descriptions of products - men's is a lot more simple and non-descriptive, women's includes descriptive words and extra bits of information e.g 'free range' 'low fat'.






Hierarchy of information - nutritional data is bigger and main focus on back of women's product as research suggests women are more interested in the nutrition of food and how it benefits them. The nutritional data is smaller and less significant on the men's design as men are less likely to look at this sort of thing.







Illustrations - men's are more freehand, simplistic and scrawled, which matches the nature of the chosen typeface. The women's are more considered and detailed - which reflects the hand-crafted theme of the design.

COP 3 - Final Products

Men's finished ready meals.

Women's finished ready meals.

Close up of men's lasagne sleeve.

Close up of women's macaroni sleeve.


Underside of men's macaroni cheese sleeve.


Underside of women's lasagne sleeve.

COP 3 - Sleeve Production

I decided to print the final designs onto some matte card that was as close as possible to the thickness of a real ready  meal sleeve.

Once printed though, the designs were too matte, and I wanted a glossy finish so decided to laminate them.

The technician in the print room advised me that if I picked a high gloss for lamination then the net may not fold properly when piecing it together, so instead I chose a matte gloss finish - similar to a satin finish. 

Cutting the net out with a craft knife proved too tricky as the card was too thick, so I just had to use a steady hand and some scissors instead! In industry, the net would be die cut for efficiency and precision.

I had to use a craft knife on the women's designs for the small holes at either side where the edge of the plastic tray came through.




Nets after cutting out - just before putting together.

I glued the nets together using a glue gun - I just put a small bit of glue onto the glue tabs - not dissimilar from the technique that would be used in the industry. 

COP 3 - Women's Final Designs

  

Following some feedback on the women's designs, I adjusted a few things to refine them.

I reduced the size of the flick on the M and seperated the M from the C - this refine the design and made it easier to read.

I added 'free range' to the lasagne rather than the 'organic' on the macaroni - this showed differentiation in the products and stopped them looking too similar.

I added some pasta shapes to the lasagne that I felt best resembled the product itself - this was to help tie in to the the pasta tube illustrations featured on the macaroni cheese packaging.

I described the lasagne as 'made with low fat beef and three layers of free-range egg pasta' as opposed to the simplicity of the men's 'made with 3 layers of pasta, beef bolognese and cheddar'.

I added an organic and free range badge to the front of the women's packaging - these were not present on the men's as research suggests they care less for this sort of information - even though they still applied for the product inside.

The cooking instructions were the exact same for both genders, however the typeface Geosans for the women's was a lot lighter and gentler than the capitalized men's version.

COP 3 - Men's Final Designs

After some feedback, I made some final adjustments to my designs for the male packaging. In the end I chose to go with the handwritten style type version rather than the 'Pub Grub' style version - this is  because after showing the designs to a variety of men, different ages and opinions, they all said they would be more included to buy the one with the illustrations on - purely because it looked 'cooler'!

I change the colours of the design slightly after feedback it looked too Halloweeny. I made the grey background much darker, to an almost black - it helped the white text really 'pop' out. I also adjusted the shade of orange to a darker, more rusty tone. This helped reduce the 'halloween' orange tone and looked more rustic against the dark background.



I added another circle onto the front of each sleeve - 'high protein'. Research suggests men are really interested in food with high protein content because to them high protein = more muscle mass. Both beef and cheese are high in protein, so this was appropriate to add to each design.



I also added a bit of texture to the overall designs - I used a vector image of a rough texture and made it slightly lighter than the background colour. I felt this stopped the background from being too flat and resembled a leather/stone texture - again relating to masculinity.

  

COP 3 - Crit Feedback

Crit Feedback on designs so far;

-Men's colours - bit halloweenish? Orange too orange?

-American diner style type - looks good as looks like a pub menu - relates to 'pub grub'

-Consider class for designs - own brands vs. M&S

-Formal audience or not?

-Don't have the M and C touching on the women's designs - separate them

-Flick on M looks too big - reduce

-Get a man's opinion on men's designs

COP 3 - Women's Version 2

Overall, I was quite happy with the original designs for women's sleeve, however there were a few things I wanted to change and add after some feedback from my peers.

I made the text smaller and added a line underneath - I felt this stopped the type 'floating' in the middle of the page and also the pink helped link the 'lucys kitchen' in better.

I also made the 'organic' smaller - I felt it didn't need to be as much of a focus as the main text, although I felt it was still important to include it.

I added a description of the product underneath the line that read 'made with free-range egg pasta and a light cheese sauce'. This was totally different to the men's which read 'made with a rich and creamy sauce and melted cheese'. The descriptions I chose for each design based on a variety of stereotypes and views on each gender. For the women's I highlighted the free-range nature of the pasta and described the sauce as 'light'. For the men's, I described the sauce as 'rich and creamy' and put added the fact that 'cheddar' was included.

COP 3 - Women's Version 1

The first version of the women's designs was extremely different to the men's.

I had chosen to base the whole thing around a curved/rounded tray as research shows women prefer these sort of shapes to geometric ones.

I chose to have the 'macaroni cheese' really quite large int he middle of the circle in the typeface 'Chasing Embers'. I loved the rustic/organic feel of the typeface and felt it worked really well to target a female audience.

I added the word 'organic' above the macaroni cheese - this was to highlight the organic nature of the product to the audience. Research suggests women are more concerned where food comes from and how 'healthy' it is - which is why I chose to highlight this element on the women's designs without even mentioning it on the men's.

I arranged the information on the back of the sleeve in a very similar way to the mens - after all, the ingredients and the product inside were the exact same!

However, I chose to make one quite significant change - I swapped round the hierarchy of the nutritional data and the ingredients.

I chose to have the nutritional data above the ingredients and in a box as research suggests women are more concerned about the nutrition of the product and how it will effect them - this was opposite to the men's designs.

Similar to the men's designs, I used a crayon brush tool around the information as again, it worked really well with the Chasing Embers typeface - except this time I put it in a rectangular box style.

Although research shows women prefer rounded, curved shapes - I wanted a more serious and formal tone surrounding the nutritional data, so chose to have a rectangular box around the info as I felt it had a more serious appearance.

COP 3 - Men's Version 2

  
For the second version of the men's packaging, I went with the handwritten style typeface and illustrations.

I really loved how this looked and was certain I preferred it to the American diner style typeface version.

I felt with this version, it was easier to tie it all together using the crayon brush tool. By pure luck the nature of the brush was almost the exact same as the typeface I had chosen, which made it a great way to keep add continuity to the sleeve design.


The second version of the sleeve included all the same details and elements that the first version did, except they were slightly adjusted to match the different typeface style etc.

I changed the line around the ingredients to the crayon style to match the illustration on the front - same with the outline around the information on the front.