Mini earth
For this project, we were tasked to design a ‘tool’ that can be used to reconnect with nature. To begin with, I thought openly about the areas of society that not only interested me, but also that were at risk of being overly disconnected with nature. Starting the project by thinking widely and openly was of great benefit to me as it helped me refine my ideas into projects and also made sure my head wasn’t cluttered with many concepts at once. Looking into city life and my own experience with moving to university, I felt motivated and passionate about focussing my design around that.
speaking to my sister massively impacted my project. My sister moved from a small town with lots of trees and wildlife, to the centre of Edinburgh for university. I felt like finding out more about her experience of moving and her feelings on the lack of nature and home was key research for deciding how my product should impact a target market.
After hearing that my sister misses’ home, I decided to sketch some ideas revolving around that concept. Very quickly I came across a frame holding a miniature landscape of a place from the users past. Although I was conscious that I had come to this idea early on, I decided to follow it and see if it led to something interesting. In hindsight, I would have liked to explore other concepts in more detail, though I am very happy with the design I ended with.
I was very interested in making the landscapes personal and unique. I feel like I achieved this with the addition of an online editor, as it allows the consumer to form the landscape how they please. If I had more time though (partially due to my operation) I would have concentrated more on making visuals and examples of how the editor may look and work. I do though feel like my web design layout and presentation looks fairly realistic, and also follows a colour/style theme that is seen within all aspects of the project.
Around half way through the project, I was confronted with the decision of whether to focus on a commercial project or a personal one. After much thought, I decided to base my project around a commercial scheme as I felt like it would give me more avenues of work to go down such as web design and packaging. I do see the benefit of surrounding the product around a single person though, as that would let me cater the product to their wants/needs.
I knew the logo was a vital part of the design as it is the focal point of the company. I knew I wanted to incorporate a tree somewhere within the logo, though I could not decide what colour would suite it best.
I opted for the contrasting blue and orange design as I felt it used up more white space, it included the company name, and it had a lot more going on than the plain orange one. I did really like the orange design. I thought it stood out and was really easily recognisable – though I’m glad I didn’t choose it as I don’t feel like it reflected the product and the morals behind it.
During the project, I had to get an operation and thus halted my progress for over a week. During this period, I thought a lot about my project and found that the landscape itself would be a perfect texture to use within my graphics. This is when I decided to add it to the background of my web design homepage, and I am really satisfied with how that looks.
Overall, I am very happy with how my product looks. I feel like the product itself successfully works as a tool for reconnecting with nature – as it reminds people of happy memories within nature. I also feel as though the branding works well to convey a natural and homely styled company, partnering well with the feelings I hoped it would surround. I do though feel as though I rushed into making decisions without considering alternatives, so if I done the project again I would explore more options. I also think that had I been fit and well throughout the project, the quality and mass of my work may have been better/larger as I would not have lost motivation or drive.
To conclude, I am very happy with the work that I have produced considering what I have endured within the project.