Taking my idea of Capitalism and Consumerism from my essay, I would like to show how graphic design can enhance the idea of consumerism by promoting the sale of products that perhaps do not live up to their graphic presentation.
I have decided to show this by packaging a low-quality, inexpensive, plain t shirt in packaging that makes it 'desirable'. I will determine what is desirable through this page of research. I am suspecting that presenting it as a branded tee from the skate culture will deem it as popular but also a more 'rustic' / vintage style will also work.
It can be argued that this new t shirt culture is based around hype and respect for the companies & designers themselves as opposed to the products and designs. It can also be argued that these plainer components are bought to achieve an entire look in it's whole, and the users see this look deserving the expensive price tag. Overall, we can see design playing an important role in, what the users see fit as justifying a perhaps average quality, almost plain item as a more desirable item for a worthy price.
Example brands
HYPE
Of course it goes without saying that most buyers will purchase because they like the design itself but it comes with a little irony that a brand named 'Hype' lives up to it's name.
There are also lots of more complex designs, but I am focussing on the more plainer designs to evidence my reasonings. There are lots of blank spaces, sometimes only the name is placed on the whole of the design.
Stussy
Another example of a brand that although sells more complex designs, boast themselves on an array of very plain designs.
BEST clothing, Leeds
More examples of this style:
OBEY
Companies like OBEY have a really interesting manifesto - the idea of which is the idea of propaganda through their art campaigns isn't obvious, just stating the name, but with hidden meaning. Unfortunately, it can be noted that as a company they have grown manically since their inception and have become possibly another brand name to some of their users.
ONLY
Alibaba Really rough research into costings
A simple search on Alibaba suggests that these brands could acquire these plain t's from $0.001 - $5.30 per unit (depending on how many were purchased) as a rough example. If they were purchased at $0.001 per item and sold for $26.00 each, like one of the designs listed above, the price different could be from around 500% increased or 26,00,000% increase!
Of course, this is a very rough example, as I'm sure there are shipping costs, printing costs and distributing costs incurred. But one costs implication I want to dwell on is the design and printing cost, as this is a result of my discipline. Examples of blind purchase in real world:
Via Topman.com
Another website offering a blind purchase scheme. This idea revolves around the hype of the brand, the trust of the brand, the excitement around 'luck' rather than the products themselves.
My design idea:
To emphasise my idea of selling a product based on it's marketing and it's presence through graphic design, I am going to keep my t shirt totally plain, and focus on it's packaging. I am going to look at more trends in aesthetics and packaging ideas.
Many are packaged in tins...
Or presented like food...
Or mostly in non-sustainable containers.
This sticker over the perforation is a disposable feature of the packaging design.
I like the idea of the packaging being disposable or not sustainable to reflect on the consumerism surrounding this culture. Perhaps the packaging would be 'ruined' once opened to reflect this further. I also like the idea of having a 'collect them all' scenario, meaning the user wouldn't get full benefits if they didn't purchase the full set.
I have decided to brand my company in the style of Mcbess because it's a really contemporary, fresh style that I really admire that from what I've seen, appeals to the audiences established so far.
McBess artwork:
Similar styles:
Cartoon characters with hollowed eyes, shapeless limbs, usually monochrome and often freehand contrasting with gridded styles are all characteristics of this style. I can't find it's name! I don't even know if it has one!
Design Ideas research -
With the idea of 'indoctrination' the name of my 'company brand', I started to look into the idea of political and social influence through communication for my packaging.
In terms of lack of sustainability, a canister would be a really appealing way of presenting the design. But unfortunately the idea of the tin can has already been presented lots of times in t shirt designs in this style so I wanted to look further into it. And so I got into Pneumatic Vacuum canisters as they represent information and communication as they usually hold classified information that isn't trusted to be sent digitally. For these reason they are used in high security places such as banks, political houses and even in the White House!
This overly deep ethos for my company will create mystery, interest and hype around my proposed company and will be an interesting talking piece around my products, however basic they are.
I have been having a look on eBay at possible canister purchases:
Although I want the packaging to be more costly than the product itself, I didn't want it this pricey as I don't have a very large budget for my project ... I will keep looking!
***
As of the last post in this topic I have been searching far and wide for a pneumatic vacuum canister and have FINALLY acquired one! After asking very politely to the staff at a large supermarket in town, they very kindly gave me one of theirs.
I have decided to go with a monochrome colour scheme overall so am painting the lid black.
Update - 30th April 2014 - Change of canister
Ok, so after much debating with myself, I have decided to change the canister completely and just use a plain coffee tin because of it's ...unusual... shape. Today I also started on the logo and graphics.
1st May 2014 - development of graphics
Today, I fully developed all of the graphics for the tin from start to finish, firstly completing the logo.
But because I wanted to do my packaging in the style of McBess/ Johnny Cupcakes, I wanted to take direct inspirations from the cartoons themselves as well as the modern artists work to make sure I had my own ideas.
Koko the Clown sings 'St James Infirmary' in the 'Snow White' episode of Betty Boop.
I ended up not taking such a direct reference from this cartoon but it definitely served as valuable inspiration for my skullhead character.
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