Studio Brief 02 - Practical - Development

Concept - 

For my practical investigation for this module I will be designing an small range of merchandise for Laynes Espresso (hypothetical client). I will be creating a range of merch/products that fit the customers interests and needs which will help them to 
become more invested with in the brand helping to grown the coffee community in Leeds.  

By having a range of product that is different to the normal I am hoping that it will this will help to attract a larger target audience. If people are wearing t-shirt and tote bags around Leeds it will help to spread the word to the people who maybe aren't as aware. This will help the business to grown and widen their target audience. 

Ideas for merchandise - 

• T-shirts 
• Tote Bags 
• Barista aprons 
• Cork coasters 
• Tea towel 
• Reusable mug/cup
• Cup/mug for home
• Loyalty card
• Gift cards 

Merch development - 

I started by looking at the more obvious responses, in this case the t-shirts and tote bags would be the most appropriate merchandise to create for the target audience. I wanted to make the designs as relevant as possible to the coffee shop, so I thought about what I think about when I go to Laynes, first thing that popped into my head is what would I order. The most popular drink is most likely a flat white, this is a coffee beverage that a lot of people wouldn't know the difference between flat white and latte so I thought the best way to show this would be through showing the ingredients.

I have tired to keep the design as simple as possible, by using the the smaller Laynes logo on the chest, I felt that it needed this logo as without this the t-shirt would be lacking identity. On the back I used simple type setting that is very legible, but it done in a style that will appeal to the fashionable audience. I looked at two different typefaces, first is Bluu Next which is bold slap serif that is a little different to what people might be used to but i believe this adds to the design. The other typeface that I looked into is Apercu a very clean sans serif type that is very popular among the design world. I am slightly leaning towards this design as I feel that it works better with the name of the coffee "flat white" as it is a very flat and simple typeface, which also makes it very legible. 

T-shirts:

  

Tote bag:

Again I have tired to keep the design simple, with these two smaller tote bags I am proposing that there is not over complicated design. I have simply used the logo, I also decided to design a larger tote bag that would be more expensive but there would only be a limited run, these would by first come first served. The idea of the smaller tote bag would be to always have in stock, so the simple design is there so that the brand can be always be represented by customers who want to own one. 

I used both logos as I felt that it could give the customer option as they are slightly different styles and they would appeal to different types of people. In terms of material I think that he bag would be standard tote material which is affordable and means it can be sold at a low price it would also come in two colours, black and natural.  

Style/design two, as mentioned I wanted to design a limited edition tote that would be done as a small batch. These totes are larger, better material and different design making them more expensive. In a cafe like Laynes a limited edition tote would sell very quickly as the customers appreciate sort of thing, it links very well to the interests of the audience specially the more creative customer. 

The design on the tote, Laynes is known for doing a coffee known as a split shot and it has been part of there menu since they opened in 2011 so it is very much a Laynes special. After seeing them post about this on their Instagram there would be no better way to advertise/celebrate this drink by putting a simple illustration of the drink on tote bag. I

For those who are unaware of what the drink is I have added a brea down of what it is, similar to the "flat white" t-shirt. On the other side it also features the Laynes logo so that people are aware of where they can get such a drink. 

Kitchen Towel:

Thinking about products that people would want to use and the most obvious would be t-shirts and tote bags (in the case of my target audience) as coffee is a drink that people will generally drink at home as well as out and about, I thought that a kitchen towel would be good idea as people can either use it or what I have seen some people do it display them in their homes. 

For this kitchen towel I thought about creating an illustration of a french press or some sort of coffee equipment, but I did not think this was very unique to Laynes many places have got similar designs like this or it has been done in the past for prints/infographics...there are many online. 

After some brain storming I realised that laynes has a very interesting store front, with large windows and nice wood paneling. As I had already used this very simple line illustration style for the tote bag I thought that I could continue the style and illustrate the store front to go on a kitchen towel.   

Feedback:

I received positive feedback from my t-shirt designs, the main question that I wanted to know was which is the most appropriate to take forward. Most of the people that asked agreed with me that the best design would be the sans serif type as it likes better to the name of the flat white, they also said that it des help to link in with current san serif font trends and it could be more difficult to red the serif type. So from this I will be using the Apercu design as it is the most popular and most relevant. 

I also wanted to get some feedback on my design of the "split shot" as I wasn't sure whether I had come up with the best representation of it. I got some very good constructive feedback, many said they thought it worked well as a design on the bag but they didn't like the lines on the espresso and this should be changed. It was suggested that I try and make the the lines curved to try and represent the crème, I gave this a go but I felt that it did not suit the simplicity of the design. By leaving the design for a while and then revisiting the design I found it was easier to come up with adjustments, this is when i was able to change the espresso design. I made the cup smaller and added a thicker rim, this made it look a lot more like an espresso and i was able to keep the simplicity of the design also.  

The feedback I received about the kitchen towel idea was very positive as I there is very clear justification behind the reasoning for putting a design on a kitchen towel. The design that is on the towel also make sense, the only improvements/feedback that I got was that I shouldn't use the logo twice on the same side, I should either not have another logo or have a logo on the back of the kitchen towel but fairly small. 

Final ideas: