D&AD collaborative brief with Thomas SquireThe Brief.

Traditional French fragrance houses are steeped in a rich history of style andimagery. L’Artisan Parfumeur wants to break with this convention. Their latestcollection is uniquely based around bottled emotions. Your challenge is toshowcase this range by breaking the rules of conventional perfume packaging.

Required Deliverables:- Show designs for both graphics and structure across the four scents.- Show pack elements / supporting

materials to bring your idea to life.- Create a name for each fragrance.- Bottle and pack designs for each of the four scents should be shown as a range and rendered on a white background.- Show mood boards / inspiration materials for your concept.

The collaboration part.

Though it wasn’t the first collaboration ever done but it was surely the most challenging and more professional one indeed. The first day that I heard about ’choosing a partner’ and ‘thinking who would you like to work with’ I made a decision instantly. We had just finished the PPP group project and for the first time ever I worked with a very different group of people - Thomas was one of them. I really enjoyed working with him, tho we had absolutely different design approach but we had both that

conceptual thinking and that was one of the reasons I ask Thomas to collaborate with me. I knew he will keep me in order, always up to date and fill in all the missing gaps. I knew I can rely on him and trust in him. I was very excited when Thomas agreed to work with me (I even had a small ‘fight’ over him) and so we started our creative journey. To be fair at the beginning (in my opinion) we both had doubts ‘is this going to work?’ but when the whole thing started we realised that we both full-fill each other. His design neatness and my creative craziness worked hand in hand with each other. I think it just proved the rule that opposites attract and go well together. I was ‘let’s go and do it’ and Thomas was ‘let’s sit down and think this through’. We both had our challenges but when it came to concepts and design decisions or solutions - it

was like magic. We both worked on the concept and developed it together. I trusted Thomas with the designs, layout and type and he trusted me with making of the bottles, patterns and photographs. I think we both went that extra mile when it came to ‘finding out, calling and talking to the right people’. Thomas organize the bottle samples by contacting real perfume bottle distributors and just asking and I went and find out about the materials and wood production methods and possibilities. I was really happy about Thomas time-management and leaving some time for me to f**k up (as You always do when you experiment). It was very scary when a week before the deadline - we had finished everything and just had our final photoshoot. I uploaded the files and set them out to Thomas. The reply was ‘Greta, where is the other half of the pictures?’ (just let me make a remark that we took pictures in the photography studios with their cameras, which after uploading the files I brought back). I checked the files twice and came to the realization that I only (for some mystical reasons, even after talking to the photography tutors Marcus and Phill, we couldn’t figure out what really happened) had half of the pictures (the s**tier half as well. The only thing I was thinking ‘Thomas is going to kill me’. So after 30 minutes of trying to find the files on my computer I finally had to tell Thomas that that’s all I had on my computer. And after a 5 minute break (and this is when I

realised that Thomas is an amazing person to work with), he just wrote ‘ok, go in to the photo studio tomorrow in the morning, try to get the camera back and if that fails book a slot in the studio and we are doing a re-shoot’. Prepare for the worst but hope for the best! Collaboration - done deal. After we did the re-shoot and the pictures came out even better that the first time - we were both happy and pleased with ourselves. We are already looking forward for future collaborations (which are sooner that expected). I think I couldn’t have had a better collaboration.

Why did you choose to do this brief?

To be fair it wasn’t a very tough decision. When we looked through all the D&AD briefs this was the one that could exploit both of our skill sets. It was challenging and asking for innovation within packaging, not only that but the brief was asking for strong conceptual thinking. We chose the brief accordingly to our strengths and interest. When we went into the session with few other briefs the L’Artisan Parfumeur was the one standing out instantly. We didn’t even had to discuss that much as well, because we both already had ideas for it.

What were your aims for this brief (what did you want to get from it)?

I think in an early stage we made a

decision that whatever we will do we will not play it safe. Go for the outrageous, crazy, innovative ideas but will make sure that they fit the brief. We also agreed that we are going to push the boundaries and work hard as well as consistent. And we wanted to have that ‘putting the EXTRA’ which we did. We also decided that we need to make this whole project experience different. We chose methods of production that we had no idea about, we went out to the shops and did our primary and secondary research, we tried to approach the brief differently and decided to try and combine French heritage and modern design together to create innovation. We really wanted to make something that was unique and definitely not in the stores (YET). The other aim was to have a strong concept that would be seen in every little detail we did.

What challenges did you have?

At the beginning of this collaboration I thought that the biggest challenge for me is going to be working in a partnership - apparently that wasn’t the case. I think the biggest challenge was attention to detail. As a designer that is one of the most important traits but when you are working under pressure and there are two people in the team it becomes harder to track and keep record of each thing you consider. I also thought that communication

is going to be a problem (I even made Thomas to get skype, apparently that wasn’t very helpful because Thomas does not use skype) but we chatted through messages, calls, facebook, e-mail. I never had problems contacting Thomas. Another challenge was working in a such high level professional standard. It requires absolute concentration and attention. So what happens if there are flaws? How do you work around it? That was the biggest problem maybe. If you do make a mistake but there are no possibilities to ‘fix it’, how do you work around that? Magic skills with PHOTOSHOP.

The concept and outcome.

The concepts for all the packaging, names, product and any extras l’art de contradiction’ (The art of contradiction). We noticed by looking at all the scents that they were opposites of each other so we decided to use it as our main focus. We came up with four names based upon nature and more specifically ‘beautiful disasters’. There were four scents and tho the brief asked to target it to both men and women we decided to split into two for men, two for women because we thought the scents suggest that. The male scents we called them ‘Dark Flame’ & ‘Silent Shock’, the female - ‘Gentle Storm’ & ‘Serene Flux’. Then we started looking into bottle designs and what we could do with it and came to decision that even the bottle itself has to

be a contradiction. We chose the material to show the idea by using wood and glass that are very different mediums and have absolutely different feels. While wood absorbs, glass reflects. When it came to packaging we had quite a discussion because we still wanted to show the French heritage but incorporate the modern design style. We went for the packaging being white from the outside and patterns from the inside. Than we thought but where is the ART side of this whole idea. And that’s how we came to the decision of having it perforated and tearable. It brings in a individual experience of creating your own unique pattern while tearing the packaging. Combines it with innovation and different

way of seeing packaging as a piece of art that can only be used ONCE. After you open the box and take it out- the package is almost gone. We pushed it a bit further and thought of ways of promoting it online, also POS and a smell tester that is white before you use it but when you spray on it a pattern appears. At the end we only submitted the tester because extras are good but you don’t want your main idea to be left in the background.

Me and Thomas working on the final boards

Childrens Biology and Chemistry olympiad logo design (Lithuania)The brief.

To create a visual and memorable identity for the childrens biology and chemistry olympiads. It was a self initiated and basically ‘found’ brief. While I went home for a week back to Lithuania and visited the capital I learned about this organization called ‘The orange’s’ (color) and they do these amazing events which they have very poor designs, so I asked would they like any help form a designer and OF COURSE they were happy and wanted the

help. The only problem I did have with this brief was that I didn’t realise that the deadline from after I came back to Leeds was a week after. So the first one was the Chemistry olympiad and that didn’t bring me any serious problems. I wasn’t trying to be ‘crazy’ as I usually am, I actually just went with the basics and really tried to simplify and clear the logo design, because the ones before were very ‘crowded’.

What problems did you have?

Communication. It was a big issue, it’s not the first time I worked with lithuanian people and there usually is never a problem but this time. The girl started the chat through facebook and shared some of the information there, than continued through e-mail (there was one exciting thing that she used dropbox to share the folders of previous years with me,

that was very useful) than one day she got my skype and then started skyping me, so all the information was scattered around everywhere. It wouldn’t have been a problem if there weren’t name tags, and timetables and all sorts of extra designs to do (lets say a periodic table) and then when the information got lost and the communication broke down that when we started having issues with deadlines. From the start I had to do the full set of Chemistry, Biology and Physics - at the end I did the first two and I have no idea what happened with the third one because when I sent the last design (which they like, as the first one as well) asking to send me the rest of information of the next deadline - it just went quiet and then a week after I got an email that they were so busy running the events that someone from their department just did a biology logo at the spot with a message that they still

should like to have the last logo design, but seeing that there is no future in this collaboration and that I failed the first part of my aim to make the design consistent which was the main problem in previous year (not even mentioning that for each year the RE-DESIGN the logo without no need really). I remembered Simons session about free work and realised that it does suck you in and drain you out. I just wrote a polite message that there is no need to continue the collaboration as there are clear communication errors.

The final outcome.

I always thought that branding isn’t my strongest point that’s why I wanted at least one of the brief to be about branding or even more specific logo design. I think if you are not very good at something - you need to practice it more or at least give it a try. For the final logo designs I focused on clarity, visual symbols and audience. I was glad that people got the visuals even without understanding the language, that’s how I knew that they worked and represented the olympiads clearly.

Secret 7Overall.

The brief was to create a 7 inch vinyl cover for ‘Elton John - Bennie and the jets’. It was a one day brief that I really enjoyed doing, just because I haven’t done any illustrations on illustrator for a while. I did a really limited amount of researched that mainly was listening to the song over and over again. But after reading a bit more about the song itself and the 70’s pop scene. My aim for this cover was to portray the meaning behind the lyrics and satire attack on the 70’s music industry. I wanted to keep the visuals colourful and fun as the song seems to be when you first listen to it. After doing some research finding out the ‘The Satire’ of the song made me think of including the duplicity that i felt when listening and after researching more into the song.

The Kennedys Project (Amsterdam)The brief.

Answer chosen questions/statements in a format of a pdf:

1.Create a short film about something or someone important2. Show us something you invented3. What has been the biggest mistake of your life?4. Take a picture of yourself with a famous person5. Send us a link to your favourite place on the web.6. You have a million Euros to donate, where does it go?7. Attach a creative CV.

8. Show some samples of work.

Why did You choose this brief?

One of the reasons “If you are selected as one of the 6 participants, it’s time to pack your bags and move to Amsterdam. Wieden+Kennedy will cover the expenses for your travel, provide accommodation for 7 months and a minimum-wage salary.

Additionally, the participants will have a designated space in the office, will be provided with computers and software and will be granted access to Wieden+Kennedy Amsterdam’s facilities (recording spaces, kitchen, gym, art studio, fruits, veggies, garden and loads of coffee).”

The second reason was that I was feeling a bit worn out so I had to give myself a big challenge and a huge aim to aspire

to. This project gave me the possibility to experiment with new media and just play around with the ideas and most importantly make things happen quickly! When I decided to do this brief I had two weeks to spare. On Sunday I decided I am going to do a video, created the concept, drawn out storyboards, thought of what I will need and who I need to ask for help ( A LOT OF PEOPLE) and had two weeks planned as never before. My notebook was filled with to do lists and places I need to be at times I need to be in and people that need to be with me there.

The Video.

‘There are many important things in life. Some of them are big such as love, passion, joy, friendship....but then again small things are important as well’ - that was the opening line of the video which

grows into a drama or a search for toilet paper, I’m sure we all had situation where we are stuck in the toilet and realise there is no toilet paper - it becomes a serious problem at that point and time. The process of this video was quite difficult considering that D&AD was on the go and I still had to do the other 7 points of the pdf and THE PDF, it was fun tho. I realized that if I want I can be more than organized. I organized all the equipment (I didn’t even know it existed at that point), had a chance to meet Matt the video guy (downstairs, next to James), learn how to use a canon D1000, how to use light in film (and not to burn curtains), learn who can I rely on and who will help in need, go to Suzanne’s place many times

and play with her doggy, use a handheld camera stand, film in many different places that i never thought I will ever be filming in (toilet), learned how to record sound in the sound booth, James (mac suit) helped me out learning music software and create my own soundtrack, which I absolutely loved doing, also use final cut for final editing.All of that in two weeks time, having other things run on the side.

Other questions.

I looked at each question or statement as a small brief that is telling them a story about me. I did the photoshoot with Charlie Chaplin because if he was alive that would be the person to take a picture with. It is

very strange the way I have been introduced to his world and his movies, through small accidents in absolutely fascinating places. The main reason I chose him was that he makes people laugh and that is what he does and I appreciate people whose aim in life is to make people smile through what they do. The creative CV was a quick turn-around. I just had to have it at that point and time, there wasn’t too much time to think about it. But now I am developing it further, sometimes it’s good to just get it out of your system and then you will improve upon it. It was quite hard to choose samples of work that I wanted to show The Kennedys.

https://vimeo.com/63094252

Snask Easter Video Greeting Card in collaboration with Suzanne Moore

Overall.

I did a small gif christmas card to Snask and while we were sitting at Suzannes we saw that they put it on their blog, so decided why not do something for easter. It was an example of how sometimes a quick idea can become real in just a day. The deadline was really short because we came up with it a day before Easter weekend started. We made a small plan in a day with a list of all that was needed and the next day I brought in a hair dryer, we doodled on the sheets of paper, figured out how to put the icing in the chocolate egg, broke one egg, made another one, sat Suzzane in front of the camera, did the hair and started melting the chocolate egg on her head. What seemed a ridiculous idea came out to be a really funny easter video for Snask and they loved it.

The Penguin Children awards.

Overall.

Another small but really fun quick brief that thought me an important lesson - always double check the DEADLINE. I was pretty happy with the final outcome and so it happened that I missed the deadline by two hours. But the process of making the cover was fun, I bought some fresh flowers and decided to make the book quite natural, and I always wanted to try and work with real flowers that turned out to be harder than I thought, still managed to create a pattern and take a picture than work a bit on my hand rendered type just by scanning in sheets of paper with drawings and doodles. Did some visual mock-ups so the book cover would have a dimension.

‘Syllabus of Jazz Flute’ by Remigijus (Utrech)

Overall

The brief was to create a visual representation for Remigijus final project for his graduation year dissertation hand in. The deadline was very limiting. I had three days for a 106 page spread. I kept the grid and layout simple and did these more playful and colorful intos into each chapter. It possibly was the first time I had to deal with so much information and try and understand it in a short period of time. I am going to be payed for the design job and there are future poster waiting in the line as well that are going to be for his band final performance show. I have never before felt so much pressure and responsibility. I really enjoy working with Remigijus, I have worked with him in the past and am really glad that he keeps coming back to me as a client. It is very lucky to have a potential long-term client relationship with a musician because there is always a need for graphic design in the music field.

Where do I go from here?

I will be continuing on working with real clients and live briefs and com-petitions in the future there is already a list lined up that I have already started working on but won’t be able to show for the Responsive module hand in.

- a website for a art & design student Egle Sestakauskaite in Leeds university- ‘End of Year Show’ for Leeds college of art in collaboration with Thomas Squire- Benji Turgel (Photography Newspaper) collaboration for the final hand-in- Talia Welka (Photography book) collaboration for the final hand-in