Main Project: Label

I decided to mock-up my label design with all the information needed as my previous prototype was stripped back to just the front label and the QR code on the back. I used the dimensions from the original label and have laid out much of the information in the same way, as a way to analyse the aesthetics and see if there are any areas I can simplify.

I have used a darker orange than in previous designs to bring it more in line with their current colour scheme, and have enlarged the orange area. The 'Worcestershire Sauce' subtitle on the front is out of the orange square to show that it is a different entity, as it could be changed for other products such as the garlic sauce.

The QR Code and recycling information are also featured on an orange background to make them stand out against less visually important information such as ingredients and customer care elements. As visibility has been a major factor in sustainability schemes I feel this is justified and also makes the QR Code stand out more as that is the main selling point of my design.

I have included all the elements from the back of the label except the recipe ideas and a little on the history as these can be included on the mobile app or website and give more room to promote that and the sustainability themes. The rest of the data is less expendable and some is required by law and must remain.

Main Project: Peer Assessment

This week was the peer assessment, and I received some positive feedback on my design and research work to date. On the whole my work was well-received, and the following areas of achievement were highlighted:

• 'Incorporated recycling and green design together'
• 'Good research in design'
• 'Great design ideas'
• 'Thought about sustainability a lot'
• 'Modern, as in it's current and fashionable'

It seems that the group liked my designs for the reasons that I have chosen them, the eye-catching nature of the logo which incorporates sustainability into the heart of the company and the modern and youthful style to attract a younger generation of consumers. I also received some useful pointers to help develop and improve the design further:

• 'Show some completely different idea alternatives - two & symbols are a bit confusing'
• 'Research more in sustainable things'
• 'I liked some of your initial ideas more than your final design' (shown below)

• 'Possibly generate a couple more initial ideas'
• 'Show how it developed to final'

These opinions showed concerns that I had perhaps chosen my final design to develop too early in the design process and didn't consider many alternatives at an initial stage. This is a correct assessment of my work as the ampersand was at the forefront for the design process, because I thought it could become an eye-catching symbol of the sustainable redesign and incorporated into advertising strategies. I should have considered more design options earlier on, but the fact that the design I'm working with is well liked gives me encouragement that I settled on a viable design. One point mentioned that they preferred the style of logo shown above to the one featured on the bottle.

Both of the logos are to be used in the campaign, but maybe I could make better use of the more linear design on the bottle packaging too. The reason I plumped for the simplified version is it's simplicity and visibility from distance but I will mock-up some more alternatives and try out other permutations.

Sustainability at the University of Worcester

We received a talk about how sustainability issues are dealt with at the University of Worcester, which provided a useful insight into how a large organisation sets about working environmentally for the future. Some of the points covered include:

• The World Resource Institute's emissions classification:
• Scope 1: direct emissions
• Scope 2: emissions of purchased electricity consumed by organisation
• Scope 3: all other indirect emissions
• These show the large amount of data that the organisation has to collect and measure and then set about trying to change, which can be a long and difficult process.
• UW started to measure this in 2006, and re-examined their targets in 2010.

The University intends to achieve:

• 5% per annum reduction in scopes 1 and 2 from 2010 to 2015
• 3% per annum reduction from 2015 to 2020
• reductions in scope 3 to match

Relevance to the Main Project

The majority of the university's carbon footprint comes from commuting of students and staff, and therefore publicising their aims and encouraging co-operation is paramount to their aims. Visibility of schemes and alternative transport choices is vitally important, and I feel this ties in to my designs for Lea & Perrins, using the environmental imagery to be the eye-catching part of the packaging. The materials could all be widely recyclable and sourced sustainably, but if the consumer doesn't know then the product will still end up in landfill.

Main Project: Lea & Perrins Factory Visit

Factory Exterior

Iconic Orange Doors

I was fortunate enough to be able to visit the Lea & Perrins factory in order to gain a valuable insight into workings there and increase my knowledge of the product and its history, which I felt would be of great benefit to the design process.

The factory was purpose-built in 1897, and you get an impression of that history from the architecture of the building, and the striking doorway featuring the autograph over the bright orange doors.

Barrels

This image shows the barrels in which vegetables are pickled in the first step of creating the sauce, of which there were hundreds. Onions and garlic are pickled whole for over a year, and the whole vegetable is used, even the skin. As Lea & Perrins are moving to adhere to the Heinz Corporate Responsibilities, they are aiming to become a zero waste to landfill company and using whole garlic and onions is a part of that.

Once pickled, the concentrated liquid becomes the base of the sauce while the residue is composted or made into powdered flavouring, and the same is true of the anchovies that are processed to extract the fish oil. Old cold sauce is also used to cool the hot sauce.

Loose labels

In terms of packaging design, we were talked through the way that the cap is pushed down onto the glass bottle with force and not screwed to make it tamper-proof. Loose labels are attached to the bottles in the factory using a thin coating of adhesive, and so alternative labels could be substituted and attached with no change to the labelling system. Bespoke caps and packaging, such as the special edition bottles, can be packaged in another facility.

Main Project: Alternate Materials

Since I started the design process, I've wanted to create a rustic, natural look for the label and I want to find a second use or environmentally beneficial usage for it once used. The 'Twist' packaging is inspirational, using post-consumer waste but also including a net to create a bird-feeder  which I feel is an example of design going the extra mile.

As Lea & Perrins is used in cooking, creating an equivalent of the bird-feeder for the kitchen was an option. However, the packaging in this case won't be much more than a label, and due to the paper I want to use, I don't feel that it will be sturdy enough to create anything long-lasting or used outdoors.

Case Study: Harmless Packaging
http://www.harmlesspackaging.co.uk/

Harmless create a range of fully compostable packaging, sourced responsibly and sustainably. Their products are derived from potato or corn starch which absorb carbon dioxide as they grow and can be industrially composted to re-enter the life cycle. The EN 13432 standard is a series of checks that a product must go through to ensure that it will compost fully and won't leak toxins into the ecosystem. This includes the fact that the product must bio-degrade into water, carbon dioxide and biomass rather than just breaking into pieces.

Relevance to the Main Project

I would want my product to meet these specifications, and maybe be beneficial to the environment once used, so perhaps could be infused with added nutrients and minerals. Using technology such as the QR Codes to encourage people to start their own vegetable gardens, the label could be composted at home and so help improve peoples' own environments and encourage healthy eating.

I toyed with the idea of adding tomato seeds to the paper, so that people can just add it to the soil and water it to grow their own tomatoes, which I felt linked to one of Lea & Perrins main uses, cheese on toast. However, I found out that the seeds would probably die before they were likely to be used in that way and so I scrapped that idea.

Session Task: Sustainable Packaging Case Studies

A research task was set which has led to my exploring another avenue in terms of materials. The case study I looked at was 'Twist' (http://www.twistclean.com/), a manufacturer of environmentally-friendly kitchen supplies based in Boulder, Colorado. They use renewable natural loofah and renewable pine cellulose to make their sponges, which will disappear completely when buried in the soil within seven weeks, and wanted equally environmentally-friendly packaging.

Designer Teresa Forrester used post-consumer waste and soy-based ink to create the packaging, but Twist wanted to include a second use to minimise landfill waste. Therefore, the inside of the packaging when folded out reveals a net which can be used to create a birdfeeder. Both the product and its packaging are miles ahead of the competition in terms of sustainability and have set the benchmark for the rest of the industry to follow.

Relevance to the Main Project

This inspired me to think of another use of my packaging, as I liked the idea of using materials to interact with nature and actively benefit the environment, instead of merely minimising pollution. I will look into compostable materials that will add nutrients to the soil, and perhaps wormeries or vegetable seeds.

Main Project: Special Edition Bottles

Although Lea & Perrins are best known for their iconic orange and black Worcestershire sauce bottles, they also produce a range of special edition sauces. One point raised in the tutorial is that my rebrand is maybe too radical for use with the original Worcestershire sauce and that I should look into their designs for special edition bottles. These seem to follow two schemes, one that features a completely different wrap-style packaging that covers the bottle and one that gives the normal bottle a more refined look, using more black and gold.

If I were to look into the wrapped-looking one I'd replace the material of the label which looks overly processed from this image with a rough, rustic looking recycled paper. Using a tie on the neck of the bottle could mean that no adhesive is needed which would be a bonus, and using some rustic string instead of plastic would also hark back to the ancient Japanese packaging styles.

In terms of the special edition bottle, recycled brown glass could be used, with the information printed directly on using vegetable based inks. It would need no further packaging, saving on landfill and paper/oil use. However, the QR aspect of my design is one of the forefront components and I'm not sure whether that could be made to work in that way, with the contours of the bottle.

Main Project: QR Codes

In order to reduce packaging but provide the necessary information and some extras to tie into advertising Lea & Perrins and promoting green issues, I have been looking into QR codes and how they can enhance the product. A QR code can be scanned by a smart phone and transport the user to a mobile site or app, but how can I utilise this in my design?

What is a QR Code?
Taken from http://www.whatisaqrcode.co.uk/

A QR, or Quick Response, Code is a two-dimensional barcode that can be read using smart phones and dedicated QR reading devices that link directly to text, emails, websites and more.

The numbers of smart phone sales continue to increase, and QR Codes can link to the main brands such as iPhone, Android and Blackberry devices, so incorporating QR into the design can have a big impact on advertising and sales.

A standard barcode stores up to 30 numbers, while a QR Code can store up to 7,089 which enables the code to link to a plethora of web pages.

Case Study: Toys 'R' Us
Taken from http://www.mobilecommercedaily.com/toys-r-us-continues-to-increase-summer-sales-via-bigger-qr-code-push

Toys 'R' Us have begun to introduce smart phone content into their products, including QR Codes. This article speaks about how in some stores they have replaced some of the larger outdoor items with in-store interactive signage. This saves on shelf space, as well as displaying the product in an outdoor environment via photography on the mobile app, which could be more beneficial than seeing the product itself.

Lea & Perrins redesign

I think incorporating a QR Code into my design will meet Lea & Perrins' desire to attract a new younger audience, who are perhaps more computer-savvy than the current customers. It was stated that as well as attracting a new audience they didn't want to alienate the existing customers, which I don't believe it would as the colours and shape of the packaging would still appeal.

From a 'green' perspective, although it is not an actively sustainable approach to the packaging, it can help to promote environmental issues by way of facts and figures on the webpage. Lea & Perrins would like the inclusion of extra elements like recipe cards, and this is a way of increasing the information given while reducing the information displayed on the label itself. Even if the packaging remains the same, the information would be less cluttered and less ink would be used, which could give the product greater 'shelf stand-out'.