The Brief
Graphic Designers have to be able to evoke visual representations of flavour and smell with specific target audiences in mind while also adhering to legal packaging requirements. This task will allow you to explore the expanding field of bespoke and short-run beverages. You will also develop your skills further in Photoshop and Illustrator to create at least one functional and UK consumer-ready soda package with the intent of it being rolled out to UK supermarkets. Your final design will be mocked up on a can to enhance the packaging designed and will feature on your portfolio website.
My Work
For my soda can design I wanted to follow with a design with merging colours, by using a colour picker I found colours that fit the same theme and weren’t too different from each other. I brought these into my photoshop document so I could use these colours in the shapes I’d be using to create my design. I started by placing my assigned coloured circles into each corner of the screen making them overlap each other. I then used the smudge tool to merge these colours together to create the effect that they’d been mixed into each other, I also ensured within this process that there were no white gaps left. Following this, to add the name of my drink I had originally planned for it to have a yellow background behind the name, to do this I added a yellow square in the middle of my pre-existing mixed paint design, again, I used the smudge tool in an attempt to blend the square with the rest of my colours. Finally, I added the name of my soda drink on top of this with a font I had found when making my mood board, I decided to stick with this font as I believe it represents my can well with the idea of it being relaxed and easygoing.
This is the product that came out of my initial design, I didn’t like the way it looked, I believed it looked bland and the yellow in the middle looked out of place, in an attempt to fix this, I tried adding in brighter colours over the pre-existing colours to try and lighten the image, I also added white lining to were my colours met each other and added white scribbles underneath my text, this was the result of me trying to fix this.
Still, I was not happy with this design concept, I believed it looked busy and didn’t portray my soda business the way I wanted it to. After numerous attempts of me trying to fix the yellow background I came to the conclusion that it just wasn’t working and neither was the extra coloured lines I had added, the only thing I liked from my new additions to my design was the white scribbles behind the name on my can. I went back to my pre-save of my background and started again. I added a white scribble within the middle of my mixed colours and placed the name on it with the same font from before. This was the result of my new update to my design.
Even still, after these further adjustments, I still wasn’t satisfied and felt like something was missing. I went onto my mood board research and found I hadn’t added my tagline or any ingredients so using the same font, I tweaked the original idea of the tagline I had originally created and added this to the top of my design as at the bottom I wanted my ingredients and alcohol percentage in the same place and my tagline did not correspond to this. So using the same font but in a smaller pt, I added these adjustments. I made my tagline slightly bigger than my ingredients and how to drink the drink even smaller and my alcohol percentage being the smallest. I did this because it shows the order of hierarchy and what I want the consumer to see first when looking at my design. This is what the result of these adjustments came to be.
Just before I was about to bring my final design into my mockup, I decided that I wanted to make the middle of my image with the name of my product bigger to clearly show that it’s the most important part of my can and what I want the buyer to see first. To fix this I made the scribble behind my text bigger and higher the pt of the name, finally after these adjustments my design was finished.
With these additions made this is what I believed was going to be my final design for my can.
When reviewing my final product I started to think about the future of my brand and how I would make additions to it and expand it. I found that I had made it difficult for myself if I were to make different flavours it would not be clear to the consumer what flavour this would be as my colours would not correlate to the flavours and would all be random colours. To fix this, I went back into photoshop and began to change the background of my design to two colours that would blend into each other and correlate with the flavours. For example, I made the flavour strawberry and grape have the colours pink and purple blend into each other making it clear to the customer when having all varieties on the shelf that they are different to each other and already give them an idea of what these flavours may be. By making this change I would not run into a problem of what colours I should use when making a new flavour for my drink.
Final Comments Of The Finished Product
In the end, after many adjustments and changes, I really like how my design for my soda can ended up, I believe it suits my brand and what it stands for, being carefree and relaxed. It doesn’t look too busy but it also doesn’t look too bland exactly the look I was going for. I like how much I critiqued my design and kept going back until it ended up looking exactly how I imagined it too. I like how my design isn’t too bold and vibrant but still finds a way to catch the eye because of its different colours and hand-drawn design. If there were to be something I would change about my design I would attempt to make my drink suitable for all audiences, this would mean making an alcohol free range in an attempt to reach younger audiences who cannot drink my drink as it contains alcohol.