Experimenting - Kenya Panoramics

I did this work outside of lesson time as I had seen some panoramic circle images like these and wished to product some of my own. To create these little 'planets' I dragged a image into Photoshop that I had took myself in Kenya, below is a picture of the safari we went on whilst in Africa. All these images featured are my own photography and are from my trip to Kenya.

I then create a new document and dragged the same image into it. I flipped the image horizontally as this ensures when the two photos come together there is no line and the joint is seamless when it becomes a circle.

I went back to the first document and dragged the second horizontal image in so I had both images on the one document next to each other.

The next step I followed was to merge the two layers and rotate them 180' degrees so that they were upside down. As if you don't rotate them you will create a tunnel instead of a planet circle.

Then go to Image Size and change the Height to the same as the Width number. This turns the two images into a squished square. This ensures that when it is a circle the image is perfectly square and there is no need to adjust it.

Finally go to Filter, Distort and click Polar Coordinates. This will create a panoramic circle which looks like a planet and can create beautiful eye catching effects. I did this numerous times for a variety of images.

Emulation - Jam Labels

Below is the image that I aimed to emulate, and is a design for Jamie Olivers brand of jams and condiments. I chose this as I found the labels simple but quirky and interesting at the same time, also I though that I could adapt the simplicity and add in my own style to brighten them up.

Firstly I started deciding on names that I could add so to create my own labels but in the style of these. I created a page and wrote down a variety of names including different condiments like marmalade, honey, jelly etc.

I then did a range of type including script, sans serif and capital and lowercase in the alphabet. This was so I could create my own words when on Photoshop.

I also experimented with drawing doodles of fruit and different shapes so I could include them on the labels to add my style and make them more exciting and colourful.

I then scanned the images into photoshop and altered all the 'Levels' so that the document was pure black and white. Using the magic wand tool removes all the white so that you can copy elements on the document, without it having a white background which enable you to colour the pieces in.
After turning each scan black and white I created a new document and began to

create each label using the text and drawings I had created by hand. Below is a couple of screenshots of the working progress of the labels. As you can see I began colouring in the elements to make them vibrant and represent the fruit which is in the condiments.

I then began copying text and coloured imaged onto a separate document which I used to create the six labels on.



I used rulers on this document so to ensure each label was the same size. This was so I had equal space for each label as it them makes them look professional and not uneven.

When I had designed the six labels I printed them off in high quality so to ensure they were clear and then colour were vivid. I then used a guillotine to cut them so that they had straight and crisp edges.

Here are the finished label designs. I then had the idea to stick them to jam jars to obtain the effect of them being real products which will make them look more professional.

I then stuck the labels on jars and photographed them separately. Below is a couple of examples of the jars.

I uploaded the photos onto my computer and dragged them into Photoshop so that I could change the colour of the jars. This was because I did not have any of the right coloured jars for the labels, so to make my labels more realistic and unique I used Photoshop to edit the colour of the jar to the right colour of the product on the label. I used tools to change the colour such as Colour Balance, Levels, Selective Colour, Brightness, Vibrance, and experimented with the Saturation to help edit these labels.

Here is the final photo of my jam labels. As you can see I have edited the colour of the original dark red colour jam to a colour that applies to the product described on the label. This makes my final piece look more realistic, professional and eye catching as it looks like the real thing. Also doing this helped improve my photoshop skills as I have never intended to completely change the colour of something but I have learnt to do so through experimenting with the tools in Photoshop with this project. I have also improved my drawing skills with type as I have drawn most of the type which is shown on the jars.

Writing to a professional designer

I decided to write to a girl called Corinne Alexander. I saw her work when looking for inspiration for food packaging, and discovered her work ''Petite Eats". I loved this piece of artwork as I really liked the hand drawn elements on the packaging and how those drawn doodles of food represented what was in the packet and the gorgeous script title which was hand drawn.

Here is the work by Corinne which is called 'Petite Eats', which is the work that inspired me to contact her and find out more about her work.

Below is the email I wrote to Corinne. For example the questions I asked were; where she gets her inspiration from, how she came up with the ideas for it, if she has any advice for me, what program she works with etc.

10 facts about food packaging

A Proposition

After deciding to do the subject of food packaging I then chose one idea from my brainstorm of foods. I chose to do packaging design on chocolate as I feel this could be an interesting and challenging design as there are numerous shapes and designs to package chocolate. 
I wrote a proposition as you can see below which explains my aims, ideas, target audience and design inspiration for my project. 

My idea is to create chocolate packaging based on countries that produce cocoa beans which make chocolate. The countries I have selected are Africa, Asia, Australia and South America. For the design I will be using elements from each of these countries to create a design for my packaging, E.g. Australia - kangaroos, boomerangs, koalas, art, aborigines, digeridoos, crocodiles etc.

Food Packaging Ideas

I decided for this unit I wanted to create packaging for a food product. I started from the basics and brainstormed ideas for both sweet food and savoury food. As you can see I have a page full of ideas which I can choose from and pick the one which I think would be the best to design.