Thursday 24 October 2013

OUGD504 - Design Production: Web Task 1 (Getting Started)

Today we were briefed on our first task to get us started with the web brief. Phil read through everything we need to cover within this session and then we were asked to go in to the studio and start working. We were asked to consider a variety of questions regarding our website:

Part 1
  • What is your subject matter?
  • What are you trying to communicate?
  • Who will be/could be your audience or end user?
  • What will be the most appropriate/effective form of content?
  • What is the function and purpose?
We were also asked to consider what sector we would be designing for, for example:
  • Pharmaceutical
  • Health and wellbeing
  • Sport and fitness
  • Music industry
  • Travel and tourism
Working as a pair/group of four, we discussed all of the above questions. First of all I started by writing down my initial thoughts.


I then decided to try and move away slightly from plastic packaging, and perhaps make more connections with the environment or environmental issues. I did this because I am currently finding it hard to decide which route to take. This is because I ended up finding a lot of my research on plastic packaging quite dull, unless I was looking at case studies or the sugarcane process. 


When reviewing my options, I actually found the sugarcane process really interesting, and I think it is something I could perhaps build a website on. I would have to carry out some further research for it to be successful and well informed, but it is a possibility.

Other ideas are illustrated in the diagram above. I thought about creating a website based on how people can reuse their plastic packaging, by making jewellery perhaps, clothing and even gardening objects such as turning a bottle in to a functional plant pot.

I also thought that creating a website which illustrates a clear timeline or journey could be a lot of fun as well. As it would be quite interactive for the user, who could click on different infographics to read the relevant information about that stage in the process. This could easily be applied to sugarcane and it could also be applied to other plastics, allowing the user to make a comparison and seriously consider the material they would use in their business to produce certain goods (the audience in this case would be established companies).

On the other hand it would be worthwhile creating a website for students to use, so that they could be made aware of the implications their designs could have if they were to ever be involved in/working at a company where they don't necessarily consider sustainability and the environment.

I could even go down the route of creating a website making comparisons between plastic and other materials which can be used for packaging. However I think this would get too complex and the information would become too vague. Whereas if I focus on plastic I can look at the environmental impacts as well as health concerns, then give the user the solution of sugarcane as a more sustainable option.

Sugarcane is not only used for packaging but it also helps to reduce negative environmental impacts and so my website could also address this.

Part 2

For this brief I aim to explore the issues surrounding plastic packaging. I aim to create an informative and educational website for either current graphic designers, or companies who specialise in packaging design. I think this would be a beneficial website to design because it would make designers aware of the possible implications of their packaging design, before actually producing it. 


No comments:

Post a Comment