Month: May 2023

Congratulations to the Graphic Design Class of 2023. Now get out there and make an impact!

Click the photograph. See the talent. BE AMAZED!

You can choose any single serving meal of your choice, but it must include at least three food items to constitute a ‘meal’. It doesn’t necessarily need to be healthy, however neither should it be considered fast food. Consider its nutritional value and obviously – its appeal – It shouldn’t look out of place on the table of a restaurant. It can be a meal that can be eaten cold, or requires some basic preparation, and is most likely part of a wider brand ‘range’ on offer. I would recommend you walk around some grocery stores and look at what they have to offer as the initial part of your research (yes, this involves stepping away from Google!). This doesn’t necessarily mean you are looking for an existing single serve meal already out there – You are creating a new one here, with ultimately the legs to spread across a range.

Observe where in the store the single serve meals etc. are placed. They are made to ‘shop and go’ in many cases – Individuals grabbing one on their lunch break, or rushing home after work. They may buy several of them as part of a larger shop or just by itself. Research recipe websites for this type of meal and use those as your single serve choice instead – remember – gourmet, quality… not fast food.

Once you have decided on a meal (and initially you should have several options to choose from), your challenge is to create visually appealing and accurate (name, description, ingredients, logo’s etc.) surface graphics and in particular to create packaging that is in keeping with the brand, innovative, easy to carry, easy to stack on a shelf or hang in multiples. Your packaging must contain EVERYTHING required to prepare and eat that specific meal.

And perhaps most important of all – while visually appealing on the shelves, alongside the competition – it should be constructed, in a way, using materials and resources, that will have little or no impact on the environment. Research recyclable, biodegradable materials (including inks, glues etc.) and look at innovative existing packaging such as the examples below. Don’t be afraid to look ‘outside the box’ (haha, get it?) by researching non-related packaging directions, such as origami.

Deliverables: A fully mocked up final single serving meal packaging. With all surface graphics, images, including all the necessary text required for your particular meal, such as meal name, subtitle (perhaps?), description, ingredients, bar code, required food association logos, if applicable and the *Hyvee logo. While you may not necessarily be able to find/use all the specific materials you want to, try to present your mocked-up concept as accurate to the final packaging as possible and ensure you describe the materials that would actually be used in your evaluation report.

*This would actually be a Hyvee own brand. They are trying to promote an ‘up market’ tone of voice with this particular product and your design should reflect this.

Continue reading “Single Person (Gourmet) Meal”

Once again, OneFire supplied a wonderful final team brief for the Brand Experience students to tackle (in teams). Thank you Jim, Kristie, and Cara for your time and giving the students such a strong ‘real world’ experience.

And congratulations to ‘Team HIRK’ for being the best presentation overall!

Extract of brief:

Background (Describe the market, history, client activity, and competitive environment that is relevant to this project.) Expedient Technology Solutions is a leading Cybersecurity-focused Managed IT Service Provider (MSSP / MSP) serving the Ohio valley primarily concentrating on growing their business in the greater Dayton region. They have been successfully providing these services since 2004 while focusing on both their employees and clients to reshape the IT experience. They are consistently successful by delivering the highest levels of client service while maintaining an enjoyable and collaborative working atmosphere. They highly value each client relationship and take great pride in providing business leaders with responsive and knowledgeable service, a strategic plan to utilize technology to enhance their organizations, and delivery of Stress Free IT®. Their distinctive service-first company culture enables each team member to deliver the highest quality of service that we promise to every client.

Mandatories (What must be included–logo, address, theme, etc.)
● Expedient Technology Solutions company name
● Current Logo
● The client likes their tagline ‘Stress Free ITR’ and today it is not used much, so make it
more prominent
● The current website and overall Brand positioning are relatively ‘bland and are in need of
some updating, this is a conservative business category, but there is an opportunity to
differentiate them from their competitors and have them look more progressive.
● Website recommendations
● Recommendations for an integrated marketing strategy, include–
○ Thought leadership initiative, through the creation of assets (print, video, etc.)
that help to differentiate them from competitors and position them as the ‘go-to’
resource for IT services
○ Lead generation program that will help to grow the number of inbound leads that
can be nurtured over time to become new customers
○ Paid online initiative