Analysis of Outcomes 14/09/23

Over the course of the project I have been communicating with the client to develop the designs - from the initial ideas and creating a theme all the way up to the final designs - as detailed in some of my earlier blog posts.

Now that the finals have been completed I wanted to get feedback from both the client and potential customers before the outcomes are taken to manafacture.

If the products are taken to manafacture there are things that will need to be done differently. The process would change as although a bespoke hand-etched design works well it is very time-consuming and is not sustainable for mass or batch production. It could work as a limited edition, however for the main manafacture the process would be sandblasting instead of hand etching.

Client

Client's response to finals.

"Looks Professional and highly detailed."

"The otter theme works really well."

"The logo is great - I love the elegance of it and how it fits with the theme of the bottle."

"I can see these designs working well with my business."

The only request from the client was that we look into scaling the designs for different bottle sizes such as a litre bottle as well as the 700cl bottle.

Potential Consumers

The comments from potential consumers were really positive. Overall they all said they would consider buying this product based on the packaging as it was fun but elegant and stands out from other brands.

Some of the feedback I got includes:

"Consider making a presentation box that is front opening to show the artwork."

As this product isn't such high-end, I hadn't considered making packaging for the bottle, however, if the client's business is shipping out individual bottles to customers this would definitely be something to look into.

"These all look amazing! Love the different layouts for each bottle. Maybe consider etching onto the neck of the bottles too?!"

I really like the idea of etching the leaves/vines/branches around the neck and with the hand etching this would definitely be achievable. My only apprehension with this is that sandblasting at the angle required for the neck would not be possible. However, if the company decides it wants bespoke pieces as well, this will be something I look into.

My Review

I think the overall outcomes work well and (especially with the lighting) stand out and are eye-catching. The main thing I would change about the designs is the Cranberry one. I agree with some feedback stating there's "too much going on" as the otter and berries seem to get lost within the etching. I would keep it similar but reduce the amount of etching in the berries and leaves as I think this would highlight the detail in the otter rather than taking away from it.

I would also move the typography up on this design slightly so that it works better with the lighting from underneath.

I like how the logo turned out and think it seems unique and eye-catching - hopefully being memorable to the consumers! I'm happy that I was able to communicate with the client to produce the logo that he desired for the brand. Since going backwards and forwards communicating with him throughout the project I feel much more comfortable showing and talking about my designs with the client and being able to get my ideas across as well as listening to and understanding his envisions in a way that enabled me to produce the outcomes that he desired.

Etching Process - Detail 10/09/23

Adding in the detail was a lot quicker than expected, as I had originally given 1.5 days per bottle but found after doing the outline I could get two bottles done per day.

It was quite difficult photographing the bottle with only some of the detail etched in as it was hard to focus on the etched and outlined parts. This meant I got the lights out to see how it looked and found it much better to take photos as the lights highlight the etching so well.

This is the second bottle half etched in detail. I held it up to the natural light so you can see the details. I decided to do the otter first this time instead of the berries as the berries go over the otter.

Overall the etching process went really well for both the typography and the illustrations on all the bottles.

Etching Process - Outline 07/09/23

I began etching on the bottle using the etching tool shown in post 12/06/23. I started with the typography and then worked my way around to the branches and otter.

At this stage, I just went over the outlines traced onto the bottle.

To begin with, I wasn't sure if the etching was going through so took a damp wipe to remove the paint where I had already etched.

As I etched the outline I continued to remove the paint with the damp cloth as this ensured I was able to see the etched outline and made it easier to see which bits I had already done.

At this stage, the bottle looks messy as the paint is still visible, so are some of the traced lines. However, from the earlier practice run, I knew this was to be expected and decided to trust the process. It is quite hard to see the outlines with a white background due to the lines being so thin.

I washed off the majority of the white paint - not being too fussed about little white specs left as I would be thoroughly washing the bottle later. I decided to hold it against a black background as this allowed for a much clearer view of the outline.

I repeated this process on the other three bottles, finding the outlines to be much more time-consuming than expected. It took a full working day to do all four outlines as I wanted to make sure they were as accurate as possible.