PTP - Menu Development

Menu Design.
The Pink Teapot is in need of some new menu's being designed, this is because the the owner, Sonya, is putting up the prices of some foods and drinks, also it was done by Sonya and she wants a designer to 'fix' them.

The Current Menu.

This is the current menu for The Pink Teapot, I thought that is would be useful to see the current menu, to see what their aesthetic is. Looking through the menu I noticed that menu isn't very consistent, there are some parts that are bold, different fonts used on different sides of the menu, and basically I don't really like it and neither does Sonya, who did it herself on word.

 Illustrations.

This is a paninis, it is something that is sold in the cafe, although I think it need something adding, as it just looks like a sandwich right now.

Adding lines on the top shows where it has been cooked making it more clear that it is a Panini.

I decided to use the first paninis as a template and put different filling in each of them that are sold in the cafe.

From my research on cafe menu's (see context blog) I found something that I really liked and think that it could work well in The Pink Teapot.

This is the kind of aesthetic I was going for when looking at the menus for the cafe. Although when putting them together and laying it out I have found that I don't think it would be appropriate for the cafe, it looks slightly childlike and tacky. This is not the aesthetic that the client is looking for, therefore I think that I will try other things.

I think that a constatine would work well for the cafe, although I think that Sonya wants the menus to be laminated therefore I will need to look into whether or not laminated paper will fold.

Using a grid system I have laid out each of the pages in a similar way to keep it consistent. I think that this is more appropriate for the Pink Teapot, it is suitable for the target audience whilst still looking good and doing its job.

This is the menu design digitally produced. Although I thin that I should print off a menu to see what it looks like printed, I also need to print one off to take to Sonya so that she can read through it, approve the design, spell check and check the prices to make sure they are all correct before sending them away to print.

The menu worked really well when it was printed, even when it was just printed out on my printer at home, therefore I am excited to see what they will look like being professionally printed.

I printed it out smaller so that I could see what it looked like being printed double sided as I have a double sided printer, although I think that I need to print off a larger copy, one that is the actual size.

I also printed off a menu that would be the actual size.although the print went wrong as it wasn't in line, but this is ok because it is just being used as an example to show what size the menu will be. The feedback I received from Sonya about the menu's is that they were exactly what she is looking for and there were just a few things that she wanted to change about the wording of the menu, then they can be sent off for printing. 

 Mock Ups.

I have created mock ups for the client to see what they would look like when they are printed before I sent them off for print. Although I have already sent the designs off to print as the menus were one of the mandatory requirements that Sonya needed for February.

Interim Evaluation

Evaluation.

At the end of the final crit for our main brief, we were asked to write an interim evaluation, evaluating the module at this point, from what I aimed to achieve to what I have actually achieved.

When I started this module, I was initially quite worried about how I would do a minimum of 5 individual briefs. At the start of the module the pressure of choosing our own briefs was very high, although I found that when I started actually doing the briefs I really enjoyed the fact that I was able to choose what I wanted to do.

I wanted to do a range of larger and smaller briefs, and I think I did that well as I have larger and smaller briefs for competitions and live briefs. I also wanted to take advantage of the fact that I could choose my own briefs, and do more of the kind of briefs I enjoy doing, rather than things I’m not so keen on like we often have to do with other briefs.

The Body Shop is the main brief I decided to go for, after going through the brief, I decided to change the target audience and adapt the brief slightly without completely changing it. I planned to have my main brief finished by this point but due to the fact that some of the other briefs I started have a sooner deadline. I decided that I would prioritize the briefs with the closest deadline.

I have started doing The Pink Teapot live brief, as the business cards and menu needed doing quickly, I decided to prioritize this brief over The Body Shop as that dealing isn’t for another two months. I have also done one competition brief for Tigerprint and another live brief for an avatar design. I think that at this point I thought that I would have got more briefs done, which means that I need to organise my time better and do more briefs.

This module for far has helped me to develop my skills and develop as a designer. I have found more of what I am interested in. I have also gained experience with working with clients, as I have never done a live brief before or worked with a real client. This is something that I wanted to get out of doing this module, experiencing working with real clients. Overall I think that this module has been a success although I think that I need to work a bit harder and more efficiently to meet my targets.

End of Module Self Evaluation

1.  What skills have you developed through this module and how effectively do you think you have applied them? I have developed my web design skills a lot, I have never done it before and I have found that I really like creating websites, and find it very therapeutic. It is something that I think I want to learn more about as we only learnt the basics for this module and I would like to know more. Doing this module allows you to experiment and think further than what you usually do, for example, the different methods of printing and the different effects they make, also I would never have thought about web designing and coding until I had to create my own website, and found I really enjoyed it.
2. What approaches to/methods of design production have you developed and how have they informed your design development process? I think that I have also developed my printing skills further, as prior to this module I had never done flocking or foiling, and it had made a huge benefit to my print book, and is something I will consider more in the future when I am designing. Doing Design for Print allowed me to look further into the different methods of printing, and make me see that there is more than just digital printing and screen printing. Also looking into the commercial side of printing is also something I have never done before, and finding out how much things cost to produce commercially interested and will help me and guide me in the way I design.
3. What strengths can you identify in your work and how have/will you capitalise on these? The strengths that I had had through this module is the patience I have had when coding my website, if I were to code it again knowing what I know now, I would be able to get it done in a few hours. If I had more time I would have liked to develop my website more and change a few things about the way it looks, but as I had more briefs to do I wasn’t able to do this. Although after producing my website it gave me a better view on how to design my website. Therefore when it came to doing my Design for Print and Web, I found it a lot easier to actually design my website.
4. What weaknesses can you identify in your work and how will you address these in the future? The weaknesses in my work is organisation. Although last year I was leaving things until last minute, this year I have found that I am getting all of my brief done, and leaving blogging until last minute. I have now learned that I should be kind to my future self and blog as I go, as although I don’t like blogging, its something I need to do, and putting it off means that I just forget some of the decisions I made, which make blogging harder to do. Because of my bad organisation and the fact that I did a lot of my brief for Design for Print and Web over Christmas which meant that I printed a lot of my stuff off at home and just used digital printing methods. If I were to do it again I would plan my time better so that I could use screen printing for this brief so that I could print cream onto blue, for my business cards.
5. Identify five things that you will do differently next time and what do you expect to gain from doing these? For my next module, and the current modules that I am doing, I am going to blog as I go so that I don’t get so stressed close to hand in and rush my blogging. As well as blogging as I go, I want to create smaller blog posts that are more specific, rather than really large posts, as my blogger crashes quite often and loses my work, therefore if I had smaller posts, not as much work would get lost when it happens. When designing my website, I designed it so that it would be easy to code, if I were to do this again I would have designed my website better in the first place, as its not as aesthetically pleasing as I would like. I am also going to organise my time better so that I can get the most out of each brief, as I would have liked to use more methods of printing for my final 100 brief but I ran out of time. Although looking back at this brief I think that having flocking or foiling may have been inappropriate for the collection I made, but could have been relevant for the making of a different collection in the same shop. Another thing that I have learnt from doing this module is that I actually enjoyed coding and if I were to do the Design for Web and Print again I would have probably done a website for my brief, but because I started looking into what I wanted to do for this brief before I finished my web, so I chose to do print. Although I am really happy with the print side of this brief, I think that if I had more time I could have attempted to code my site.
6.How would you grade yourself on the following areas: (please indicate using an ‘x’)  5= excellent, 4 = very good, 3 = good, 2 = average, 1 = poor
	1	2	3	4	5
Attendance					x
Punctuality					x
Motivation				x
Commitment				x
Quantity of work produced				x
Quality of work produced				x
Contribution to the group				x
The evaluation of your work is an important part of the assessment criteria and represents a percentage of the overall grade. It is essential that you give yourself enough time to complete your written evaluation fully and with appropriate depth and level of self-reflection. If you have any questions relating to the self evaluation process speak to a member of staff as soon as possible.

Digital Publications

 

This is the digital version of my format book, without the screen printed cover or screen printed logo on the back page.

This is the digital version of my colour book, without the screen printed cover or screen printed logo on the back page.

This is the digital version of my stock book, without the screen printed cover or screen printed logo on the back page. Also after it had been printed digitally, I placed all the different examples of stocks.

This is the digital version of my production book, without the screen printed cover or screen printed logo on the back page.

This is the digital version of my process book, without the screen printed cover or screen printed logo on the back page.

This is the digital version of my finish book, without the screen printed cover or screen printed logo on the back page.There is also different finishes in this book such as flocking, foiling, embossing, lasercutting, perforating and duplexing.

Final Website Design boards

These are my final design boards for Design for Web.

Print Final Design Boards

These are my final boards for Design for Print.

100 Final Design Boards

These are my final design boards for '100 Things To Do'.

100 - Final Prints

PTP - Business Cards/Stationary

Business Card Designs.
The business cards are one of the main deliverables which need to be designed for February at the latest, this and menus need to be designed for then, ready to print. This has been my main priority during this brief as it has a much sooner deadline. The business cards had to include the name, address, phone number and opening hours.

Development.

I decided to create small icons to represent the logo, location, phone number and a clock for the opening hours. I think that this could work well, although it depends on how much information I will be putting on the business cards.

I think that it would be a good idea to use the illustrations of the characters I created on the business cards as Sonya is the face of the business.

I definitely think that it would be appropriate to use pink in the business cards, as it is the main colour in the cafe, obviously. 

I decided to play around with different layouts for the business cards, trying out using the icons and different coloured type and backgrounds. The client suggested that I create a few different business cards so that she can chose which one she prefers for the business.

Here are the fronts and backs of the business cards that I took to the client. She was looking through them and found that she wanted a design with the character on the back and the information about The Pink Teapot on the front.

This is the design she has chosen. I think that this would work really well for The Pink Teapot, its reflects the personality of the cafe really well. Although I did decide to change the typeface of the information to Arial, as I think apple chancery is harder to read, and I just prefer Arial.

I have decided to mock the business cards up so that I could give Sonya a better idea of what they would look like in person. After doing this she immediately sent off for 500 business cards with this design on them.

Stationary.

After creating the business card, I found it really easy to create the letter heads and notebooks for the cafe as I just followed the same aesthetic as the business cards. Sonya wanted some notebooks for each of the three main staff including the owner (Sonya). I think that using Arial as the typeface works a lot better, and it consistent with the business cards, and will also be consistent with the menus. I think that using each of the characters on the front of the notebooks will establish the different between each persons notebooks.

The letterheads also follow the same aesthetic as the business cards without using the spotted background, as I don't think that it worked well with the polka dots on the letterheads.

Mock Ups.

The Stationary all work really well together. I think that have different notebooks for each of them will be a good idea as they currently all use the same one. I am really happy with the busienss cards and stationary I have created for The Pink Teapot, they reflect the personality of the cafe really well.