This exercise is all about analysing and working to a brief.

A brief is a problem given to the designer by a paying client which they need solved. It is also a set of “rules” given by the client to the designer that the designer must abide to and work around.

In this exercise I have been given 3 briefs that I have to read, understand, analyse and problem solve by asking questions, research and finally designing outcomes for the client.

Brief 1: Create packaging for Quakers new Chilled Creamy Oats’ product for young women looking for a truly delicious healthy snack. The target audience is young women juggling many jobs and priorities everyday. They like to eat well but also love treats and hate feeling hungry. They like the idea of oats for their natural goodness but find the idea of them bland and unappealing.

I highlighted keywords and jotted some notes down that I needed to remember.

What did I take away from the brief?

After reading this brief I felt like the target audience for this new product is women like me!

The brief is to design packaging for a new “chilled creamy oats” product aimed at young, multi-tasking, busy women who like to eat well, stay healthy and eat natural products but who also like an indulgent treat. The product cannot be bland and unappealing.

Questions about the product?

• The product states it is chilled… could it be microwaved if desired?
• What is the net weight of the product?
• How much is the product going to be retailed at?
• What packaging is the product in? pots? sachets in a packet? sachets in a box? Is the product sold as single units or in a multi pack?
• What is the size of the packaging? Can the packaging be easily carried in a work bag/handbag/car/lunch bag? Can it be easily stored?
• Does the product need to be kept refrigerated?
• When does the new product launch? deadlines etc…
• Is this a range of oats or just one product? How many flavours are there within this range or what is the one flavour of this product?
• What are the nutritional values? (think the traffic light labels)
• Is the product suitable for vegetarians? vegan? dairy? gluten free?
• How natural is “natural goodness”? is the product or product line organic? uses only natural ingredients?
• The client “loves treats” does this mean sugary treats or just a love for trying out new products or luxurious products and a need to buy the product because of its packaging?
• Does the product use sugar or natural sugars such as stevia sugar, honey or Cinnamon?
• When is this product most likely to be eaten? breakfast? mid morning snack? Supper?
• Do you need to add anything to the product? e.g. milk or water

What do I think about the target audience from reading the brief?

I imagine the young women to be in the same age range as myself; late twenties to late 30s. The women I imagine buying into this product would be career driven multi-taskers taking on several jobs all at once and trying to balance a healthy lifestyle. A busy mum also with an active working/mum/social life who again probably has limited time to herself. I imagine these women to be modern, hip, trendy and “in with the times”. I imagine that because they are interested in buying this healthy, natural product that they are health and fitness orientated and take pride in how they look, their general health and possibly cultural factors such as keeping the planet healthy by using organic, natural foods.

I very much see myself in this brief because I juggle 2 jobs and a uni course and more often than not struggle to get a healthy balance between work and life! I sometimes don’t get time to eat and end up binging on unhealthy snacks (treats!) in between shifts whenever I get a spare 5 minutes! I keep trying to hit the gym because I am body conscious and I do like to stay healthy but time does not allow! When I think of this product I think of something healthy but sweet, something that I can easily carry around in my handbag to dip into whenever I have time or feel hungry. I am a bit of a consumers dream; I love fancy packaging! If there was anything being sold for single, independent, career driven women that had modern packaging with bright colours, interesting typography I would more than likely buy into it!

Questions about the packaging design

• What is the budget for this brief?
• Deadlines; When is the product launching and when do the proofs need to be with the client by?
• What colours are to be used? Can I use any colours? Is there a limited amount of colours to keep down printing costs etc…
• Does the company have existing branding? A colour scheme? Do they use a particular typeface?
• What images are to be used? Illustrations? Photographs? Would these be supplied?
• Logo? Does the company have a logo they want included onto the product or is there a logo for this particular line?
• Is there a slogan for this new product or a catch line?
• What packaging is the product in? pots? sachets in a packet? sachets in a box?
• What is the size of the packaging?
• Can the packaging be easily carried in a work bag/handbag/car/lunch bag?
• Can it be easily stored?
• Does the price need to be included onto the packaging?
• Does the fact that the product is “New” need to be made prominent on the product?

What would I need to research?

• Who is the client? – Quakers. Research into the company, their background information, their current branding and their current customers.
• Who are the clients competitors? – Who would the client be up against with their product and the designs.
• Research into existing products; What is currently out there already being sold by the client but also by other competitors.
• Research into the target audience through primary and secondary research; word of mouth, surveys, feedback forms, interviews etc..
• Where and how it would be reproduced

Things I would need to take into consideration and remember.

• Copyright
• The clients budget
• Printing costs or any implications
• Deadlines; deadlines for proofs and also final deadlines for print and launch of the product
• To communicate and market the product at young, busy women

Overall this brief reads as quite an open brief to interpretation, however there are many questions left unanswered. It is only when you start asking the questions and thinking about the answers that you see the brief could actually be quite restrictive.

I like the sound of this brief as it feels like it is aimed towards women like myself and I would have a lot of ideas to take forward as I could relate to the product and the target audience.

I feel like this brief wouldn’t particularly push me out of my comfort zone but I would have a lot of ideas for it. I find that I always find it more difficult to work with an open brief as it is like a completely blank canvas open to interpretation that could either be received well by the client or could completely completely the other way!

Brief 2:

Most of us have experienced a long rail journey – we witness the dramatic contrasts of the changing landscape, the inter-connections at various points along the way; various people embark and disembark.. the dynamic is ever-changing and then finally we reach our destination.

This brief challenges you to take a metaphorical journey on the theme of connections. Explore the theme as broadly as possible and take us on a journey that might link, amongst other things – people, events, philosophies, theories, objects, movements, inventions, history, literature etc.. Your journey is only limited by your own imagination and the quality of your research. Surprise us with the juxtaposition of your selected themes but be sure to communicate to the viewer the “connectedness” of the thinking within your design. Define your market and how you will target it.

This brief is quite an open brief. It allows for you to come to your own final conclusions.

The brief wants me to create a metaphorical journey. The use of the word “metaphorical” leads me to believe that I would need to make the final outcome descriptive, poetic – not exactly literal. The use of the word “journey” in itself is a metaphor as the brief does not specify it needs to be a “journey” but just something that shows a route of progression perhaps.

My main question after reading this brief was “What medium does this need to be and where does the end result lead?” I guess the end result would be down to me but the brief does not specify a particular end product that they want, I assume it comes down to my own interpretation.

The whole brief feels like a piece of literature to me or a fine art piece; very poetic. It gives a range of subjects to choose from (again, a very open brief) and asks me to “define my market” the target market for this brief could be anyone! – It would be dependant upon the creative route I chose to go down. The terminology used in this brief again is like a piece of fine literature; with words used such as juxtaposition. Juxtaposition is a comparison of 2 things that might be very similar (such as Romeo and Juliet; the light and dark, the light being the innocence and the dark being the darkness of the hatred within the 2 families) in their ways but show a contrast. It is wanting a lot of detail. The wording “ever changing” is also used; this suggests to me that it needs to be relevant for a fast paced world and in keeping with the times now.

What research would I need to undertake?

• Research into metaphoric journeys
• Research the terminology of metaphoric and Juxtaposition more to give me a greater idea of the meanings
• Research into different media
• Research into ways people communicate, what makes people communicate
• Research into “journeys of life” and the categories that were outlined for me in the brief.
• Research into the literature side; how to combine literature (type) into my piece. How to include images and still have a clear message.

This to me is the most complicated brief out of the 3. I really had to read and re-read again to try and get my head around what the brief is asking of me. There is a lot of detail in this brief, this brief is like a journey in itself! If I was to push myself out of my comfort zone this is the brief that I would choose.

The main outcome that I think the client would want from this brief is to connect people, for people to communicate through the final outcome. They would be taken on some kind of journey whether that be educational, emotional, nostalgic.

Brief 3:

To raise awareness of the risks of underage drinking and contribute towards a cultural change in society’s attitude towards alcohol. The purpose of the Department for Children Schools and Families is to make this the best place in the world for children and young people to grow up… to make children and young people happy and healthy and help them stay on track.

With a core proposition of “Alcohol leaves you (or your children) vulnerable” the campaign will urge parents to talk to their children before they consider drinking to help avoid vulnerable situations. The messages to young people will get them to think about the effects of drinking.

Creative ideas should use the campaign identity “Why let drink decide” to extend the campaigns reach and specifically target young people aged between 13 and 16. We are open to ideas about the media or format you think is the most appropriate to reach the target audience.

This brief to me feels like a hard hitting campaign. One that would need to be “hammered home” but one which would also need to be tread lightly because of the age of the children involved with it.

From looking at the brief it seems that there are 2 sides to it; the first being a campaign to try and communicate for the children and the second being a campaign for the parents/guardians and carers. Overall the main target group is the parents. The brief seems to be about effective ways to communicate the risks of alcohol to your children.

The brief states that there should be a “cultural change” that is not a quick overnight shift in behaviour, this would be a ongoing campaign. The campaign would need to be very strong. I recently found a post by a designer on Instagram which I felt was a harsh reality, blunt yet hard hitting message but one which communicated the problem perfectly and really would make people think. I have included the screenshot I took of this below. A similar campaign could be used nationwide in certain hotspots to highlight the issues… particularly around teenage haunts such as parks and estates.

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The client works closely with families and also schools. From my experience of working in a secondary school I know that campaigns are also effective when used within a school environment. Workshops, leaflets and letters to send home are the best way to hit a lot of your target group.

This brief also reminds me of a piece of homework I did for English when I was in year 11… My best friend was dating an older lad who was a bit of a trouble maker, she used to worry me when she was with him because he was bad news!! I wrote this sonnet (the homework was to write a sonnet!) about the effects of us potentially being in a car with him behind the wheel! I rewrote it out in my old diary because I think I was impressed that the whole piece was written perfectly with 14 syllables per line!! I managed to dig this one out – It’s amazing I still keep all my old stuff!

I might have been a bit of a tearaway in my teens but I definitely had my head on my shoulders! ;p

What research would I undergo?

There is a lot to research within this brief. You are not targeting one group, you are targeting 2 groups of 2 different age groups who communicate in completely different ways.

• What makes children want to drink? (mental health issues? peer pressure? issues at home? boredom? curiosity? social media? TV?)
• What are the facts, figures and statistics of under age drinking?
• What are the long term health factors? (mental and physical)
• What situations could the child be left in to make them vulnerable? (with peers/sexual/bullying/accidents/drink driving)
• Drink Driving? the target group does hit 16 year olds who are close to driving.
• What are the best ways to communicate to teenagers? social media? magazine content? apps? posters? physical items? free giveaway “promotional” items?
• What is easily accessible to teenagers and what places would they visit for the campaign to be targeted at? (e.g. posters in cinemas, takeaways, youth clubs, etc)

The main objective of the brief is to educate parents on educating their children and closing the door on communication barriers.

A good example of a recent campaign by ITV is the “Get talking” campaign which is aimed purely during TV advert breaks when families are sat together to encourage each member to talk about something they feel is an issue.

https://youngminds.org.uk/get-involved/campaign-with-us/britain-get-talking/

The objective of this brief is for there to be happy and healthy teenagers and for offering and creating a “safe haven” a safe place where questions can be asked with no judgements made and they can be answered confidently and comfortably. The campaign should be about “getting down with the kids” using child friendly language and using teen lingo to get on their level. It should be about educating them but without it feeling like they are being lectured. Scenarios using people of their similar age would be a good idea to recreate incidents that could potentially happen in vulnerable situations and also if it was a big budget nationwide campaign the use of celebrity endorsement using idols the children look up to would be a good choice.

The campaign should really highlight how parents/carers and guardians can protect their children and monitor what they are doing/behaving without it being intrusive. It should be factual and offer advise and support if needed.

**Update 06/11/19 – I found these in my local pub last night which I thought were a good idea and a good communication tool, getting men to talk to each other but doing it in a direct way by advertising it on a beer mat.

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I feel like this would be a difficult brief to tackle. It would need a lot of strong ideas. It would need to be approached carefully also; It needs to be hard hitting yet soft for the young teens.