Something I have found difficult in projects past was the decision of what I should base my project on. This has caused e a great deal of hassle and usually ended up in my choosing a subject I was not fully interested in, or really had the desire to study and research it. So this time, I decided to stop faffing around and just pick a subject that was simple and that I already had a strong opinion of. In choosing slippers, I had something that was simple, unique and close to my heart, being a serial slipper wearer, indoors and out. It also meant, when it came to the ‘package and…’ section of the brief, I had something practical to base my work on, and a topic that will hold my interest for a full 4 weeks. Already a big step on from my previous work. So my title became slippers are good because they are comfortable, warm and inexpensive.
Initial research was simple. The idea of packaging a product throws up straight away the impulse to see what is already being done, which with slippers was a simple task – look in shops and see what’s there. In this I found a problem and solution. In 99% of stores there really is no discernable packaging for slippers, just shoe hooks which then hang on racks. The solution then is to simply package slippers. At this point my reason for choosing slippers began to evolve. As a wearer of slippers at various functions including university, work and to play sports, my focus shifted to promoting the idea of wearing slippers anytime, anywhere, which sat well with re-packaging as I was effectively trying to pass off slippers as general footwear, which obviously come in boxes.
Through a research questionnaire, I ascertained that over 90% of people wouldn’t wear slippers in the same way I do, but should there be an opportunity, such as a wear slippers to uni/work/school/play sports day, the majority would. So my target was to package them in a way that would encourage change in the way slippers are worn.
So I started to try and come up with different ways of packaging and promoting my product. For me, this is where I tend to have a problem, and this project was no different. What usually happens is I spend so much time on deciding the form of the object I’m designing, when it comes to the actual design stage including text, colours and font development, I have very little time in which to do it. Another problem I have is to have these grandiose multi-faceted ideas that begin to overrun the project as a whole; basically I bite off more than I can chew. With this ‘what is good’ brief, I managed to stop myself before it hindered the progression of my project. So I had ideas for standees for the slippers, promotional posters and other promotional material, and spent still probably too much time on the form of the box, but in the end I decided it was best to concentrate on the one item – the box – and to just pick a form and go with it so I had more time at the design stage.
As per usual my main weakness is recording and documenting my work. I still haven’t got into the habit of regular blogging, and I tend to process ideas in my head rather than in physical form. Now I have the facilites at home, regular blogging will be far easier to get into, but I still feel I could’ve done better in this project.
I didn’t really try and new processes, and didn’t have opportunity (because of my own scheduling) to work on some of the processes i am already comfortable with, though for certain parts of this project I would have liked to, for example, with the final box I would’ve liked to have screen printed it. I have been able to work more on my software skills as so far I’ve only occasionally worked on Photoshop and Illustrator.
I feel like my final product has fulfilled the terms of the brief rather well. I would’ve like to have continued looking into the various other ideas I had, to produce a range of related products, but on its own my shoe box works well. With regards to promotion of the slippers I fell that the wrap around I designed could’ve been more informative, but aside from that I think it disguises slippers as general footwear in an interesting way, while clearly promoting the particular activity.
Overall, through this brief I’ve managed to rectify many of the mistakes and issues I’ve found in my earlier work, and learned to enjoy my subject and my work far more.
5 things I would do differently next time
record and document my work more efficiently, especially on my blog
show my idea paths and constant evaluation of my work physically
don’t get distracted by outside influences
be more influenced by outside design ideas
continuously research throughout the project and not just at the start