Galina London - Creating Gift Cards.

Another product I wanted to create was gift card as I thought it would be a good asset to the collection. I didn't want to use the regular card I had been using for the rest of items as it wasn't a suitable material for a card like this. I managed to source a stock that was black with a slight sheen that was perfect for what I needed. I then drew out a selection of designs to take to the laser cutter, I used a few as I couldn't tell which would be most successful. I also used a few different laser settings like cut through, emboss and raster, to get some varied effects. My favourite used cut through on all sections as I found the other made the detail quite illegible. To complete this product I was initially going to use white in the centre but I found that again the velvet really suited.

Galina London - Creating Receipt Holder.

As an additional branded product I decided to create a booklet to hold the purchase receipt. I feel that this is a really high end item to include that would only be expected from this style of brand. I continued using the black card and simply adding the laser cut logo that linked with the current products. I then looked at adding the pocket where the receipt would be held, I wanted this to be able to hold it securely whilst being a shape that would completely show through the laser cut space without gaps. Once this had been worked out I measured it and took the shape to the laser cutter for it to be cut out accurately and then secured in place. I really like the use of the velvet as it definitely gives a luxury feel and by making it the right shape looks great showing through the empty spaces.

Galina London - Creating Gift Boxes.

I started by drawing two nets that related to two popular bag sizes on Galina's website.

To start the construction of my gift boxes I went to the laser cutter, this allowed the net to be cut out very precisely which was very helpful and definitely sped up the process. I also used the laser to cut out the logo shape although this was a slight problem on the wide card as it got very dirty on one side and there is burn marks the other.

Once the boxes were stuck together the fit really well and I was really happy with the shape and size. In terms of scale I like how the logo shape is quite large on the white box and takes up a lot of the shape. I feel that the black box looks great with my all black label.

Finally I experimented with putting a background behind the laser cut shape. The first is black velvet although this isn't that visible so it probably isn't worth while doing it and on the other I used white I would do this if I decided to go with my black and white label colour option.

R.T Millinery - Emails 4.

Galina London - Label Construction.

I have now began to start constructing my labels. I felt this was necessary because when I was doing everything digitally I was struggling to imagine how it would actually look. To emphasise the luxury angle of this brand I bought some velvet effect paper in three shades: burgundy, black and grey as I felt these colours represented the work I had done so far the best. I wanted to continue the concept of using the laser cutter so I applied this design to the velvet.

I then had a variety of different labels and I also bought some paper in corresponding colours and experimented by laying them on each. Some pairings were definitely more successful than others, for example I hadn't really thought about using white as a background but I feel it looks really crisp. In contrast with the grey and pink combination that feels really hard to look at.

I then moved on to incorporating the type aspect of the logo and experimented further with the selection of colour ways. After doing this I found that I really didn't like the options using the burgundy card as it looked to intense and heavy. Again I really like the white designs, I liked both the burgundy and the black but I feel that I will continue mostly with the black velvet.

Some further development has been done I have looked at printing on a black card, I feel I prefer this as it seems more sophisticated and also follows some previous designs that I did.

M&S Picnic - Creating the Scene.

Initially we started this process by drawing out accurately on Illustrator the chosen template so we would have something specific to work from. We also picked a colour palette that could remain consistent throughout the design.

Next the characters were added as this was something solid that we had to work with. After this we added aspects of scenery so that the illustrations had something to work with, we included lochs and mountains to emphasise the Scottish highlands. Colour was also experimented with as we felt the green as a block of grass was very garish, but also when it was changed to a darker colour it looked very murky, especially when combined with the turquoise.

To move on from this we decided to alter the colour scheme to make it more bright and playful as we thought this would suit the style of illustrations. By enhancing the turquoise it immediately brought it more to life. As we continued from this point we decided to work on the scenery before adding the characters. Hills were added onto the horizon and also tree's and foliage to add detail and interest. We kept these shapes very in keeping with the people so that they could interact together and look like the same piece. Finally we looked at adding spaces where type could be incorporated.

The next aspect we looked at was type, we drew out a selection of options but this was decided as the most suitable. We likes the fun appearance and also the appeal of a hand rendered type. Although when we began incorporating this into the composition it became clear that it didn't work, the lines were too fine and it was to decorative which meant that it clashed with all of the other items.

To move on we then looked at a new hand rendered typeface, again we loved the style especially with it in red as we felt it really brought the composition to life. Even though we still had a lot of problems as first of all the type was initially on a slant and some of the characters didn't match in terms of letter height etc. To help this we completely re-worked the type so that it fell on a straight base line and everything was consistent, but even after spending all this time it still didn't work as we'd hoped. It was hard to put the lines of text together and get it to fit aesthetically on top and beneath each other.

Because of all the trouble we'd had with hand rendered type we then decided to experiment with digital fonts. This made things a lot easier as we didn't have to worry about composition as everything fit together better as the type was regulated. We decided to use a bold font with a slightly decorative edge as the main title as it was eye-catching and also subtly worked with the theme. To add to the layout and also to add a description we used a much more simple type in a smaller size to create hierarchy. We felt that this layout worked really well when we applied it to the template and also continuing with the red colour definitely enhanced the appearance of the overall composition.

Once type was eventually finalised we could then tie up the loose ends of the illustrative aspect. We wanted to add more recognisable Scottish landmarks so we created images that would represent a Scottish castle and Princes St Gardens. I feel like these are a great addition as they are things that are instantly recognisable to the audience. Finally we just added finishing touches to the water aspect so that the bottom of the composition was as interesting as the top.

We are really pleased with our final design and are happy that we put so much effort into readjusting it to get it just as we wanted. Hopefully once all the boxes are created the scene will be as clear as it is digitally.