OUGD504 - Design For Print: Packaging Research

For my info-pack I want some packaging to join every design piece together and make it clearly part of the same information pack. Before designing this I looked into different packaged packs.

This first one has three different types of packaging. These are simple and are made to look like they are going to be posted obviously.

I like these because of the simplicity of them. It shows how little that needs to be done to join products together in a pack.

http://www.behance.net/gallery/Sistema-Single/11948265

This one was interesting as the packaging formats and designs were different, but they all have one sticker on that joins them together. It shows that the packaging doesn't need to be identical on all of them to make them obvious that they are from the same pack.
I particularly like the quality of this packaging. It is of a high quality and finish and looks very professional.

http://www.behance.net/gallery/Uzuri-Classic-and-Seasonal-Makeup-Collections/11065601

This packaging is for a book. This is done in a way that makes book packaging interesting and shows that it doesn't have to be so simple. This packaging shows that packaging doesn't just need to be something to hold the product, it can be a product within itself.

http://www.behance.net/gallery/W-Gift-Pack/11499981

This one I found interesting because of how the packages all fit together to create a shape. This makes packaging more exciting than just holding the products and adds to the visual identity.

http://www.behance.net/gallery/Astrobrights-Packaging/9333731

OUGD504 - Study Task 3: Stock & Finishes

With a focus on Stock, Substrate & 'special' print finishes find as many variants as possible for each of the following areas of design:

• Branding & Identity
• Packaging & Promotion
• Publishing & Editorial
• Information & Way Finding

Branding & Identity

This business card uses embossing to add to the branding. Using this instead of printing ink gives the holder some texture and gives the card a more visually interesting appearance.

http://www.benjohnston.ca/18783/1427357/work/identity-collateral

The embossing on this is a contrast from the one above as it is used for detail instead of information. It is used instead of having a background image/decoration, and makes a more interesting business card.

http://www.behance.net/gallery/Business-Cards-2012/4777951

This UV coating stands out against the background and is eye catching because of this. It gives a professional and contemporary feel to the design.

http://www.behance.net/gallery/Frente/9856791

This business card shows the benefits of duplexing cards. It gives more options for the designer to use, and as shown here, the card has been die cut, but it doesn't affect the design on the back. The strong use of colour also stands out against the black making it all very visually appealing.

http://www.behance.net/gallery/Konstruct/6811803

This is an unusual stock choice for a business card as it is die cut metal. This makes for an individual design which won't be forgotten quickly. It also shows that no colour actually needs to be used, that the stock itself can be the business card, not the ink on it.

http://www.behance.net/gallery/The-Coach-Black-Metal-Business-Cards/10605613

The foiling on this makes it stand out against the white stock and makes it a generally interesting business card to look at. It is something different, and with the simple text makes it very clear and clean design.
http://www.behance.net/gallery/Latest-Self-Promotion/13181685

These business cards are made from thick card, and show the benefits of this. With thick card, colouring the edges is a lot more noticeable and makes it a much more interesting piece of design than it would be without it.

http://www.behance.net/gallery/Chris-Wood-Branding/8227755

Packaging & Promotion

Embossing on packaging isn't something that is generally seen, so the way it is used on here is interesting. It adds a texture to it, all to make it more appealing to the customer. The simple and consistent embossed design makes it look very clean and sophisticated.
http://www.behance.net/gallery/The-Tea-Collection/10565181

Die cutting in packaging like this is quite uncommon. It adds a bit of personality to the packaging and product as a whole. The bold colours against the white work well in making this an attractive product to look at.
http://www.behance.net/gallery/Thompson-Tea-Coffee-Packaging/12379867

Like the packaging above, this uses bold colours against white to create eye catching products, for a generally dull subject area. These designs are contemporary and give a bit of colour to the subject area.
http://www.behance.net/gallery/Epson-Ink-Cartridge-Packaging/5586145

The die cutting used on this packaging makes a change from the standard beer bottle packaging. It gives a bit more of a brand and personality, making the packaging part of the product instead of just the holder.
http://www.behance.net/gallery/The-Mythical-Brewing-Co/12935779

This is a die cut promotional add for a car. This isn't seen much and is a creative way to grab the attention of people walking past.
http://www.behance.net/gallery/Fiat-500-Abarth/10263983

The stock used for the labels on this product is recycled offset paper. This shows a clear interest in sustainable design and the environment, especially using it for something as classy and expensive as this product.
http://www.behance.net/gallery/Hrsz-737/8079491

These are typographic matte wrapping papers. They're very different from the typical wrapping paper found.
http://www.thedieline.com/blog/2013/12/23/typographic-gift-wrap.html

The labels & packaging for these wine products uses a mixture of spot varnishing & Foiling. Foiling for the main diamond, and spot varnish for the triangles behind. This makes for a classy, clean and sophisticated design.
http://www.pseftogas.com/portfolio/adamantinos-wine/

Publishing & Editorial

The use of emboss on the hardcover makes for an interesting cover. The use of this is much more interesting than typical hardcover books and distinguishes it.
http://heydays.no/project/heydays/

The use of embossing for detail on this publication reinforces the attempt at making it a classy publication. It balances out the gold print well and makes for an interesting pice of design.
http://www.blow.hk/?p=2106

The stock used for this publication is newsprint, so that it appears like a broadsheet. The stock is quite a cheap one, but countered with the bold colours it works very well and has a contemporary design feel to it.
http://www.iwantdesign.com/

Using die cut in this way for a publication is quite uncommon. Creating an image with it makes for an interesting front cover and proves to make a much more considered outcome.
http://www.tudesignoffice.com/171677/2033957/books/special-issue-of-taiwan-design-expo-2013

In contrast to the publication above, die cutting has been used throughout this publication as the basis of displaying the starting page to each section. Using this process over coloured stock makes these pages stand out and be eye-catching to the viewer.
http://www.lujiani.com/portfolio/4532/

This publication uses black foiling on black paper. It makes for an interesting quality added to the publication which wouldn't be achieved if it was just printed on in ink.
http://www.behance.net/gallery/City-investment-collateral/10161559

Information & Way Finding

The emboss added to this design is small detail which makes the overall design much more interesting. Without it, it would just be a black card with gold writing, but the attention to detail with this embossing adds more of a complete look.
http://www.mariancourie.com/?projects=nespresso-emboss-invitation

Instead if printed ink/stickers on the wall, this way finding system uses plastic cut outs to identify the locations. It means there is a wide variety of colour, shape and size while still managing to stand out against the wall colour.
http://www.behance.net/gallery/INTO-University-of-East-Anglia-way-finding-signage/5670559

Many information & way finding systems aren't created using simply paper, with them all looking for a more innovative way of presenting the data. However, using paper isn't necessarily a bad thing as this information booklet shows. It allows for a large amount of space to be filled without taking up much room at all.
http://www.behance.net/gallery/Atlas-of-the-World-Wide-Web/9927611

The brown card used in this makes the design seem organic and more considered than if it was just printed on white stock. The brown makes it relatable to the content in which it is using, showing it is a carefully considered element of the design.
http://www.behance.net/gallery/Join-us-in-the-Woods/7175353

The die cut of this information booklet adds an interesting element to the piece. It gives the front cover another layer and instantly makes it more interactive for the viewer. The strong contrast of colours also makes it stand out.
http://www.behance.net/gallery/Exploring-Singapore/8325667

The use of metal isn't one often used for displays such as this. It makes an industrial look for the designs, but with the modern design it makes it contemporary at the same time. It contrasts well against the dark background and makes for an interesting piece of design.
http://www.blow.hk/?p=2524

OUGD504 - Design For Print: Flow Chart & Information Design research

After deciding on the direction of my project, I looked into the areas of flowcharts used in design and information graphics in general to help give me an insight into how things are displayed and how I could apply some of this to my own designs.

Flow Chart

For flowcharts, the example below is the most interesting one I found. Flow charts aren't used often in design by the looks of things, more designers seem to be using information graphics as a whole and doing a variety of different things on one page/publication instead of using flow charts. The flow charts that were used were just for their thoughts and for conceptual ideas, not for the final outcomes.

Those that did use flow charts are using a variety of images/text to illustrate the steps instead of using just text, which is what I want to do.

The example below was used for packaging and was the closest example to what I wanted to do with my flow charts.

These are much smaller than the ones that I will create, with less options/questions. I like the minimal use of colour on this and how simple everything is, with a clear start and finish.

http://www.behance.net/gallery/Feeling-the-Flow-chart/11281127

Infographics
For an example of infographics I chose the following book as it has a number of different ways to display information in and interesting and sometimes illustrative way.
I prefer the ones which are primarily text based in this book as the ones which are image based are completely about the image and haven't got much thought into the text elements in it.

http://www.behance.net/gallery/Guidebook-to-Sustainia/7153661

OUGD504 - Design For Print: Commercial Costings

Costings at LCA
The print room prices

Digital print room prices

General costings

Digital Printing vs. Offset Printing

• A digital printing workflow has several advantages over offset printing in terms of cost. 
• Digital prepress costs are usually lower than conventional prepress because the digital workflow eliminates many of the manual operations of conventional prepress. 
• With digital printing, there is no need for steps such as process photography, manual stripping, and platemaking, although preparing print applications on the computer and processing them through the RIP may still be time consuming.
• In terms of print output for the shortest runs, digital printing has a definite advantage over offset printing because there is no extensive setup required in preparing the press for the print run. 
• Conventional offset presses require a lengthy makeready time, which adds a considerable cost to the total price of a short run application, therefore the cost per piece is much higher for the smallest print runs. 
• When using offset printing, as the quantity increases, the price per piece decreases. When the quantity is large enough, the price per piece is lower than a digitally printed job of the same quantity.
• The point at which it becomes more cost effective to use the traditional offset printing process may vary substantially, depending upon the application.
• When determining a cutoff level in which digital printing is a better choice than offset, you must consider the type of application that is being printed. 
• Except for the smallest press runs, it is difficult to compete with offset printing costs when, for example, the job is a static, single sided document, in a quantity of 1,000 or more. 
• If the application is a multiple page, full-colour report or brochure, in a quantity of 500 or less, then digital printing is often the best choice
• A premium is usually charged for digitally printed variable data applications. The simplest applications are often priced 25% higher than conventionally printed jobs. Complex digitally printed variable data jobs are often 50% more expensive than conventionally printed jobs.
• If a finishing mistake occurs on a small quantity of pieces contained in a static application, there is usually enough of an overrun so that a reprint is not necessary.
• With a digital workflow, document files can be sent anywhere in the world to be printed near the location where the application is needed. Transferring files saves time and reduces the cost of shipping because the application is printed near the point of distribution.

http://digitalprintingtips.com/printing-tips/t--543/digital-printing-vs.-offset-printing-costs.asp

With digital printing, there is usually a one-off set up fee and then the cost of printing each copy depends on the length of the book. So if a book is 150 pages long, it might cost £3.50 a copy to print.That’s excellent! So you can sell your book at £6.99 and make a profit? Well, yes and no... you can sell the book direct to people through a your web site, by hand or perhaps through a local shop, but try
and sell it through a bookshop and you’ll get a shock. Bookshops make their money by taking a percentage of your cover price, often as much as 60%. So suddenly your £3.50 per copy print price doesn’t look so healthy. Sell at a 50% discount to a shop and you’ll only just break even.
Litho is far better if you want to get more books at a smaller unit cost. The downside is that you have to make a larger investment to do so.

Lithographic press (litho)
Printing hasn’t really changed a great deal since Gutenburg gave us the printing press in 1468. Technology has allowed modern printing presses to produce millions of copies of a page in a single day, but the principle of applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon paper, thereby transferring an offset of an image, remains the same.
These days a printer creates a set of ‘plates’ which are used to press the image onto paper. There are initial costs involved in creating the plates and setting up the press. This means a litho job can be expensive and take time, but for large print runs it remains the most efficient process and also boasts superior quality and finish.
Pros

• Most cost effective for large print runs (500+)
• Unrivalled print quality
• Most flexible in terms of printing stock, inks and finishes
• Can print up to A1 size

Cons

• Long turn around time
• Expensive for short print runs

Digital print press
Digital print presses are essentially very big and very fast colour laser printers. They can handle some heavier papers and cards but offer nowhere near as much flexibility as litho print. Digital is good because it is instant. Jobs can be turned around in a day if need be and there are no setup costs which means you pay for what you print.
These days the top of the range digital print presses offer very high quality - almost comparable to a litho print job. However, not all printers have the latest top of the range digital presses. In fact unless you are very lucky, digital will give you a noticeable drop in print quality and colour will almost certainly not match.
Pros

• Most cost effective for small print runs
• Print on demand
• Very fast turnaround times

Cons

• Noticeable drop in print quality
• Less flexibility than litho print
• Can only print up to A3 size
• Other print processes

Large format inkjet
This is an excellent solution for printing things like one-off exhibition banners and translucent window graphics. However, large format printing can be expensive.

Screen printing
Screen printing is a highly versatile printing technique. It can be used to print on all sorts of materials from plastic to metals to cotton t-shirts, and many methods can be used to print special colours such as metallic colours or suedes or glosses. 

http://aaronrussell.co.uk/legacy/choosing-the-right-print-process/

Links to offers for printing

Screen printing: http://www.thebluecoat.org.uk/content/print-studios

£14 per printing session

Screen printing: http://www.londonprintstudio.org.uk/print-studio/open-access/

£25.50 per printing session

Book Binding: https://www.bookprintinguk.com/?gclid=CPS86qqM-bsCFafnwgod_z0Arw

Options:

Examples of quotes

Hardcover book quote - expensive

Hardcover book quote - cheap

Softcover book quote - expensive

Softcover book quote - cheap