vending machine...

where is my vending machine....? oh no~

window?

last thursday... I realized that some of maps on the package does not show enough of the snack inside (especially Japan and Italy because of their long and thin geographical shapes)..
so I tried quick changes and made some prototype.

my findings are

1) showing actual food through transparency window isn't a good idea

you have no control over the location of the snack. it also does not look good if you see the broken snack inside. (rejected)

2) having window shaped snack photo on the package. YES. with wider/bigger window
you can see the "part" of the snack well. if the photo is beautifully taken, no problem of location or broken pieces.

BUT still "part" of the snack can be shown, not the whole. you can't still find out what kind of snack it is before you actually try it. I found there is no big difference between having photos in the long and thin map form and in a wider/bigger window form.

I will admit that there is a difficulty to know what snack is inside, but isn't it the attractiveness of mail? you don't know what's inside until you open it! :-p

I have to make sure my description is tasty enough to persuade them to try it.

Hana's biscotti ~ !

I baked some biscotti :-)
anyone want some?

it is Whole wheat, basil flavour, almond + cranberry biscotti !

naming snack

To come up w/ interesting name, I did some research and some brainstorming

so final names are,

Triple happiness - chinese mixed dried fruits & nuts ( dried orange, peach, peanuts) since they symbolize happiness in chinese culture

Stickie Trickie - Japanese mochi with edamame paste.. it is sticky and also abit tricky to eat!

Scent of basil - basil flavour Italian biscotti. Basil means love in Italy.. so like the movie ' Scent of a woman' :-)

Kimchi Kick! - Korean kimchi flavour rice cake. the spicyness of kimchi kicks!!

Oh honey! - Greek yogurt with honey and walnut. They traditionally eat this before their honeymoon... ;-)

Fully packed - Indian Lentils and coconut flavor nutrition bar.

Just got tanned! - Baked potato chips with Spanish olive oil

prototype + more sketches

I made some changes, and printed it. As I worried, some types were pretty small.
I made prototypes which was quite fun! decided on format. some snack package had to be get larger to contain actual snacks in the package..

After then, I asked my bf (is not relate to any design major) about my design.
He said, the drawings around the logo did not work for him cause it interupted his focus.
keep it simple works better for him which I agreed LATER...
He also mentioned to put more details (descriptions)..
other than that he liked it.. of course..kk

meeting w/ Tak

so right before meeting Tak, I gave some changes to the background: make the lines
less visible at the end.
Changed collaged stamps to flags..

While I was talking to Tak, I realized that the typeface I used before seemed to work well
by itself without the Asian look like symbol.
Since my design was so stripy, I thought this simple but yet strong and stamped treatment will
work well with overall design. He said the type treatment for the name of each snack and description work quite well. Also mentioned I should consider rename each snack to make it more fun and appealing to the youth. Suggested to give some dark atmosphere around corners to make it.. more.. !!!!!!

oh! and PRINT !!!! and CHECK!!! if the type is too small~

more sketches

at this point, I was really not sure what I was doing.. lost confidence!!!!!!
some feedback from Chloe and Marie :-) thank you!

-maybe too stripy (logo, background, and side)
-the stamp doesn't get along with other illustrative/vector images
-greek one (round shape) should be consistent with other design

logo refinement + layout sketches

meeting w/mentor

-keep the energetic feel of logo
-use contemporary type -> stamp effect
-use real photo for window (content can be messy, you don't want to show it)
-change colour for the slanted lines ( it does not fit with the overall colour pallete. look like a flag)
- make the "be sticky with" type bigger
- work on hierarchy
- creating stories through map
- creat texture, visual atmosphere (pattern, flag, logo)

layout exploration

- hierarchy testing sketches




- package sketches


After meeting w/ Don, I realized that I was going so traditional w/ my design..
no more youger or modern look at all!!!
The logo looked like Asian...
find the balance between modern and traditional or representational.
w/ 'origin' is my letter concept still working?


I had to make changes.. refine logo, layout style..

logo exploration

Since I was suggested to change "express" to "origin" for my brand ( I also thought 'origin' sounds better and more connected with my brand than 'express'), I started do some logo explorations.

origin
-start, beginning, point, opening, birth, root
Healthy
-growing, strong, energetic, fresh, exciting
multicultural
-colourful, variety, unity, harmony
intersection
-meet, across, connect, unity, synergy


I kind of liked the bottom one with the symbol....tried to make it like it was stamped.
The symbol had the feel of going further, energetic, begining, growing, strong, exciting, connect, unity...

phase 3 presentation feedback

Since the last presentation, I have not posted any process yet.
Maybe it is time to!

During the presentation I got suggested to work

on colour : make it more fresh, young
on brand name : origin fits better than express
Don't forget my audience, they are teenagers
my design seemed to target older audience
look at existing mails, pen-pal (Post secret)
personalize each package (use animals, patterns)
slanted stripes look like France flag or barbershop (change the color)

theses were all good comments! Thank you everyone!!

visual exploration

this is where I am going for now..
I just got a good feedback from Kamilla about my brand name and I think I will think more about it but for now, I will just stick to "express" for tmr presentation.. maybe I am too into letter concept right now which kind of limiting myself. not sure.

logo exploration

-stamp like
-simple
-quick
-energetic
-young
-distictive/recognized right away

Mail graphic inspiration

-Windows!!
-red+blue slanted lines for international envelops
-stamps
-handwriting
-express! stamps
-faded colours
-yellowish envelopes

confirm shapes + snacks

Korea - Kimchi flavour rice cake(craker like)
Spain - Olive flavour baked potato chips w/ lightly salted
India - Lentinsil+ coconut flavour nut bar
Italy - Whole wheat herbal biscotti
Japan - Zunda mochi (mochi with soy bean paste)
Greek - Yogurt with honey and cranberry
China - Assorted dried fruit+nut (lychee+)

naming

Since I did not think my first brand name "(o)rigin" would fit with the mail concept, I started writing another lists of words that relate to my project.

And I came up with "express"


express 1
verb
1 community leaders expressed their anger communicate, convey, indicate, show, demonstrate, reveal, make manifest, put across/over, get across/over; articulate, put into words, utter, voice, give voice to; state, assert, proclaim, profess, air, make public, give vent to; formal evince.
2 all the juice is expressed squeeze out, press out, extract.
PHRASES
express oneself he had difficulty expressing himself communicate one's thoughts/opinions/views, put thoughts into words, speak one's mind, say what's on one's mind.

express 2
adjective
an express bus rapid, swift, fast, quick, speedy, high-speed; nonstop, direct. antonym slow, local.

express 3
adjective
1 an express reference to confidential matters explicit, clear, direct, obvious, plain, distinct, unambiguous, unequivocal; specific, precise, crystal clear, certain, categorical. antonym implied.
2 one express purpose sole, specific, particular, exclusive, specified, fixed.




even though the word "express" seems to be a very common word, I think it really tells what my brand is all about.
-Quick/rapid = vending machine's quality
-Communicate/reveal each country's characteristics(flavor) and value to users
-Expressing cultures
-Explicit/distinct = originality , clear message to the users

last saturday 2

In spite of having good ideas in the last post, as you can see, I struggled.. no fresh striking idea..
I looked at my "package design inspiration collection" to generate new ideas and I found this concept truly fits with my project.




am I too honest to say that I got inspiration from this? I thought that making packages as letter really suits for my overall project! I decide to go on with this idea.

-Since the youth are all using emails, text messages, etc they have never or quite few experiences of getting mails in hand. I thought this experience of delievering letters/parcel will
excite the youth and they will appreciate more.

-you send letters or parcel to your friends usually or even you build friendship through pen-pal.
I think mail concept will help build more relationship between the user and other culture in a warm and friendly way.

-who would not excited by getting mails? I always love to get mails. I love the hand feel and stamps; everything that I see, touch, and smell(?) I want to give life to my package design.
more humanized and intimate.

last saturday

On saturday, I had to make big decisions! I had to decide whether I would stay with the automat format of vending machine, the cultural snack selection I'd updated, and ideas for my package designs.

Since I realized the importance of the package design, I had to develop my basket to something else. For the automat idea, the greatest thing was that the user actually can see the food through the window and also the automat format is quite new to the usrs. I wanted to keep it.
However, as I developed and sketched my package designs, I realize that there are so many restrictions working with automat format in terms of maintenance for freshness(since my new selection of snacks is daily+fresh food). Also, I found it is kind of meaningless to design package for such vending machine.

So I decide to go back to my first idea that I proposed in Phase 2 presentation..
I came back to the idea to work with ordinary vending machine with snacks that can be storaged for longer period.

So I started sketching some ideas in the last photo at the bottom.
I still wanted to keep the window idea to show what is in the package.
I had conversation w/ Chloe, and through the conversation we came up with good ideas (big thanks to Chloe!!)

-use the window to shape each country which will become the illustration for my package.
-arrage every package in a way that will make a certain image overall, so that the user wants to collect every product in order to make a poster out of the experience. (map of the world, logo image)

last friday

I was working on designing my vending machine on last friday. I tried to have the feel of retro but kinda did not work out. I was having difficult time to mimic the style.

At the end of the day, when I checked my e-mail from my mentor, I was like "@-@...."
what he suggested me was so true. he said,

- the focus is relying very heavily on the design of - and interaction with the vending machine.
- the real experience is the interaction with the product.
- After the food is payed for and the customer is holding the food, that is where the 'real experience' begins... Outside of the food, how much will a single color basket with the country's name printed on it add to that experience? Is there any keepsake from that experience?
- colours should be more edible
- not to be bound by the cliches associated with that era. add to that influence so that you
create something fresh and new.

This comment really helped me pause a bit and realize what's more important thing to do for my project. I totally ignored the value of packaging and later experience with the product outside of the food..how should they feel when they get the package? it should be exciting, curious, friendly, fresh. the basket will not help them feel in this way.. I had to stop working on the vending machine and rethink what's my primary goal through this whole experience.. what experience is more meaningful than other?