Our first Brief...
On day one of the briefing process we were put into 11 groups consisting of 4-6 people in each. I was in group 7. In our groups we had to make a list of 100 issues/ problems a student, who lives in Leeds and goes to LCA encounters.
Out of this selection, as a group, we picked what we thought was out favourite 10. We then rotated these lists clockwise through groups, from then we were presented with another groups top 10, from which we had to pick 3. Every groups top 3 were then put into a hat, and one issue was picked out at random for each of the 11 groups. From the issue we received we had to develop the problem into a How to...
this slowly and scarily became our first studio brief, which we had to combat In a way that would appeal to and Intrigue our target audience.
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'How to survive when your maintenance loan is late'
What is it?
A survival kit containing tips to save or spend less, A 20% lifesaver card that can be used in supermarkets, Vitamins to help those who can't afford to buy fresh produce through freshers, as well as some 'grow your own loan seeds' which actually contain tomato or apple seeds, alongside a packet of typical student food, super noodles.
Who needs to Know?
Students who are waiting for their maintenance loan/ whose loan is late.
Why do they need to know?
To keep them from starving/ having no money to spend on food. To prevent struggle arising with necessities like food.
What do they need to know?
Useful tips on how to save money/ spend less, that they are entitled to 20% off food and drink at any participating store.
What is the tone of voice?
There is a comical and informal tone with a advisory and structured undertone.
How will you know Its working?
Will we record the numbers of cards given out to the amount that are registered online. And also take an estimate of students borrowing from the LCA student borrowing fund before and after the kits are given out.
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Our concept
After answering these critical questions and bouncing ideas between one another I came up with the idea of creating a 'survival kit' that would house more than one product in order to attempt to solve these issues. This seemed like a good starting point as the kit would include products that students could constantly interact with instead of something they would solely read and throw away. We began to wonder what would help students out most whilst waiting for their maintenance loan. Our final ideas were:
1. To create a flyer that would present students with what we (as our own audience) would consider to be the best tips for saving/ spending less.
2. To provide them with our own brand of multivitamins that would act as a substitute for nutrients in the first couple of weeks in case students can not afford fresh produce.
3. A discount card to save money in supermarkets.
4. A packet of super noodles (typical student food)
5. Some 'Grow your own loan seeds', our own apple and tomato seeds for students to grow their own fruit.
all placed into a canvas bag that we will hand out at a freshers fair.
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The Design Process
The first thing that we did was create a running theme that we could use throughout all products in the kit, therefore in the time that we spend separately working on the brief, that when we return to the group, the designs would still relate to one another.
The first idea I pitched is that we should have a consistent theme of camouflage incorporated into the design, creating a semantic link between 'survival' and the products inside the kit. To develop on this idea Adam Garbutt decided it would be a good idea to put some hand drawn illustrations that epitomize a students life, on top of the camouflage. These would be scanned into illustrator and vectorised at a later date.
This is the camouflage pattern we as a group chose to use in our design.
Some Initial sketches that I (Sarah Goldthorpe) came up with.
Jake Sketching up some ideas, of which we used for the final design.
This is the two designs combined to create the signature texture that we will incorporate into each product.
With each member of the group having the design in hand and on hard drive each of us took on a different product from the survival kit. Adam was assigned the bag, Lizzie the flyer, Jake the multivitamins, Melissa the seeds and for myself the lifesaver card.
Research
When thinking about what product I could put in the survival kit that would improve a students life whilst waiting for their maintanence loan, I began to think about and research into what discounts students are offered. So as an outcome I could focus on what area lacks support for students.
Visiting the nus website (http://www.nus.org.uk/en/nus-extra/discounts/) I found there were discounts available for the following, 10% off at a range of retail stores (Acessorize, topshop/topman, burton and asos, further discounts are available with nus extra) 5% off at amazon.co.uk, discounted tickets at alton towers and thorpe park, aswell as a 16-25 railcard and educational discount at apple.
I found that there was a gap in the market when It came to discounts available on food and drink. There are offers for students who hold nus extra cards to gain discount at restaurants such as frankie and benny’s (http://www.nus.org.uk/en/nus-extra/discounts/2011/frankie-bennys-student-discount/) and Pizza hut (http://www.nus.org.uk/en/nus-extra/discounts/2011/pizza-hut-student-discount/). But there were no actual discounts for students buying their own food in super markets. With students having more of a reliance on going out to clubs and purchasing alchohol I thought It would be a good idea to create something that enthused students to food shop, or help them to save during this hard and fustrating time.
I then started to research into a number of cards that have been created in order to gain discount off any purchases.
1. NUS Card - Regularly used by students as it allows an immediate discount from purchases between 10 and 20% in a range of stores.
2. The tesco clubcard - available for everyone to use. This card offers a points collection scheme, e.g collect 150 points (1 point per pound spent) then recieve a £1.50 voucher to spend in store or on some of the services tesco offer. Your clubcard also records the items you buy and sends you offers regarding products you have purchased or purchase regularly.
(http://www.tesco.com/clubcard/clubcard/what.asp)
3. HMV Rewards card - Purehmv is a card similar to the tesco clubcard - not specific to students and open to the public. It goes along with the same kind of reward scheme, collectable points, to redeem thigns such as gig tickets, cd’s, posters, digital music and personalised gifts.
(http://pure.hmv.com/search?q=credit&searchsubmit.x=12&searchsubmit.y=8&searchsubmit=Search/)
We found during the research as being our own demographic audience that we could reflect ideas of f eachother. When discussing the Idea of a card, a discount card that would be somewhat equivalent of the NUS but for supermarkets seemed lsike the best option. When students find themselves in the situation where their maintanence loan is late there are in need of an immediate way in which they can save money. The idea of saving points seemed to prolonged for the immediacy needed.
The lifesaver is a card created for students, that can only be used alongside an NUS I.D card as proof of student status. The card entitles the holder to 20% off any food and drink at the participating stores. (Tesco, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s and Asda). With the average student shop costing between £10 and £30 a week (statistics taken from our group adding our budgets together and finding the average) with and average of £23, it seemed a better save to create a saving of 20% rather than 10%. Students also don’t have to worry what procucts they are purchasing as it is applicable for any food and drink and is still available alongside other offers.
Using the texture above that Adam had layered up in illustrator I began to design the card, cropping the design to a card shaped, containing the designs I though were most appropriate when thinking of students.
I then played with fonts adapting Komika axis and code bold, which the rest of the group then used for their font choices. Komika Axis has the properties of a general comic book font, soft and slanted with an informal tone, Code bold dilutes this with its rounder bowls and counters and more vertical spines. Both typefaces write solely in capitals. I then played with the use of black bars as borders in order to accentuate the design and title. The back of the card breathes simplicity, simply black with a white bar for signature, encorporating the same camo colour scheme. Also consisting of a simple message on how to use the card in store and logos demonstrating what stores are involved (these are owned by the companies, they are not designed by me).
This is the final design I came up with for the card.
Adam suggested that we add a barcode to the bottom of the card to make it easier to use.
Following Are the designs that Lizzie created for the flyer, Jake Created for the vitamins, Adam created for the bag and Melissa created for the seeds.
Lizzy's design for the flyer.
Vitamin label design by Jake.
Bag Design by Adam.
Seed Packet Design by Melissa.
Here Is the survival Kit all put together ready for Progress Crit!
