Project Report

Final Presentation Boards

I have re-made the presentation boards that I had made for the final crit as since then I have progressed with the logo and quality of the photos.

Final 'Mardy Cats'

Key Rings

Using the mock up felt cats that I made in the beginning I thought that it would be nice to give them a purpose as I am actually happy with some of them. So I bought some key rings online and have attached them to the ear of each cat. I am pleased with how they have turned out, and plan to make more of them over summer. I would like to test out making some small fleece cats too as they would go better with the large plush toys that I have made. 

Each keyring worked out as a 1p each to buy and then its 50p per square of felt. Each cat has 3 colours. 

Final Badges

I've now cut out and placed all my designs into the badges. I am really happy with the outcome. At first I wasn't sure about the white around the edge but now I think I actually prefer them. I've worked out that they costed me about 50p each. This would be reduced if I bought them more in bulk. 

Tags

I went to cut out my tags and then realised that non of them are exactly aligned so what I have had to do is cut out the fronts and cut out the backs and stick them together. I am really disappointed with having to do this as it looses a sense of professionalism. When trying to make the holes for the plastic Kimble to go through I kept making it look scruffy and wasn't working well. I went down to digital print to use a scalpel to create the hole but still didn't work well. In the end I went down to metal work and drilled a hole in each one. I think that that defiantly gave the neatest results. Below is a photo of the practise tag that I used to get the right sized drill.  

Presenting My Final Pieces Intentions

If I can buy all the items in time I would like to buy plain white paper bags so inside each bag I can put the plush toy, sticker set and badge in all together. And if I have enough time to sew more I would like to put in a miniature plush keyring of each cat in the bag toy. In addition, I would like to wrap items in black tissue paper and then seal the bag closed with a sticker with the logo on which I printed off earlier today. However, my only possible bit of spare time to buy these now is if I go into town early Thursday morning. I need to look online at places that I can buy white paper bags. I can buy black tissue paper from the library so that it fine. Also, I need to cut out the tags and buy some plastic hoops to attach the tags onto the cats with. 

Sizing for Badges

This isn't the most technical way of doing this. But just made a range of sizes and then going to see which one fits best in the badge and will go with that size. 

Measuring up against the badges I have chosen the ones with the right size and done a page of them to print out ready to cut and put into the badges. 

Digital Print

Got everything printed today. Definitely in future I will book a slot as was in from 8 this morning till 2 printing everything, which is crazy. Lesson learnt. I am pleased with how all of the stickers have turned out. Unfortunately they only have the clear paper in at the moment so had to use that; but still pleased with the outcome. However, the tags that I created to go on the ears didn't go so well. The first few try's the front just came out full black. Then eventually it worked but then the red stitched backs weren't in line with their fronts. But after being in there so long and I could see that James was rushed with other people too I've decided to keep it how it is and rather having the colours of the stitching correspond with the colour of the cats I will just mix and match so that it isn't obvious the reds missing.    

Edited Photography

Going through the photos I have picked out the best ones and edited them so they are ready to go onto my boards and project report. 

Photography

Today I had a photography slot booked for this afternoon to photograph my final plush toys. I did group shots so the audience can see how they work well together as a collection. And then followed on by taking individual shots so you can clearly see in detail of how each one looks like. I am really pleased with how the photos have turned out and feel that it adds a professional quality. 

Played around quite a bit for the group shot. I was mainly swapping the positioning of the the purple and green cats. As you can see in the photos below the purple cats mouth seemed to blend into the blue cat and then positioned behind the red it wasn't very visible. 
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Below are quite a selection of some of the photos that I took. I thought I would put quite a lot on so you can see the kind of process I went through; playing with the lighting and positioning. 

Vinyl Toys

Yesterday I worked with a motion graphic designer on my cat designs. I was speaking to him about this project and said that I would like to develop this further and hopefully turn them into plastic/vinyl toys at some point. Which is possible for me to do here in Uni as I went down to the ceramics studio and spoke to one of the teachers about me coming back in June to give them a go. They said that I should show them my designs so they can give me a bit of guidance on how to go about making them. They also said that once I have made the mould I can then fill it with all different things. Such as wax, so that I could turn them into candles. Which I defiantly am excited to have a go at doing. 

So I sent my designs to this motion graphic designer that I know and said that it would be great if I could get a visual idea of what the finished product could look like. These are the designs that he sent back to me. I thought that it was really exciting to see in a 3D style and can see that he' put his own twist on my designs. 

I was very grateful for him doing this for me and asked if it was ok if I could work with him on another so I could see how it all worked and how he did it; also, I wanted to direct him on exactly what I wanted as I did want to have an exact look on the designs that I had done as they would be the ones that I would use when creating the vinyls. It was a bit of trouble to try and get the stitching; especially around the body as they kept really sticking out and I didn't like the look that it gave, so I have decided to leave them without. I thought when it comes to actually making them I could always paint them on after, or it might be easy to have stitching around the body when I physically make them. 

Shopping Bag

I thought that to bring everything together, when the Mardy Cat products are sold they are then put into the branded carrier bag. Also, using the patterns I made previously I could make a tissue paper out of them and wrap up products like the plush toys or mugs. 

Stickers

Final Label

I have decided not to go for the middle part of the label with the information on the cats inside. I feel like that aspect of the label would need some thought and consideration putting into it before making it and I don't feel like I have left myself enough time to do so now. I definitely intend to work on these cats further over the summer so will have time to work on that further then. However, I am very pleased with how the back and the front of the label looks like. It has all the main information thats needed, ascetically pleasing and relates to the product. 

Back Of Label

After making the inside of the label I thought that this should follow through for the back of the label and have stitching around the edge. Same as the inside, I intend for the stitching to change colour to correspond to the colour of the cat. Taking the experiments that I made earlier for the back, I have gone for this design as it has all the information and I the text works well around the edge. 

Inside Label

Taking inspiration from the TY label I want to have character information on the inside. I was thinking on the left hand side have their name and date of birth and then on the right have a little fact about them. I was either thinking of things that make cats mardy, for example: ' I hate the sound of the hoover!'. Or have something that cats like, such as: 'I love cuddling up for naps!'. Not sure which route to go down yet. Below I have done a design for the inside on the left. I played around with changing the colour of the stitching so that it will change for each colour cat. 

My Label

Front: 

I have further developed the logo. I think that having the colours the other way around is a lot more striking. Plus, after looking again at the TY label I like the fact that it is shaped into a heart so have decided that my tag will be circular. 

Back: 

  

Here I have played around with different ways to have the back of the tag. I'm not sure whether to have 'made with mardyness' written on the back or not. I wanted to play on the phrase 'made with care' or 'made with love' and combine the brand name. But I'm not sure whether it would come across well or not? I think that it is a good idea to have my logo and email. I wasn't sure whether to have more details or not. I think I will consider this more in the future when I have a more of an established web presence. As at the moment I currently only have an Instagram and working on a website.

Chosen Logo

This is the logo design that I have decided I like the best. I wanted to have the words hand written like this because everything else about the cats have been hand made so want to stick with this hand made look. Plus, with it being hand written by me it cannot be copied by anyone else.The reason I chose this against the rest that I tested out was because I like how the two words connect together to keep it all as one. In addition, I feel that the 'y' and 'c' combined almost look tail-like, which connote to the cats. 

Logo Design

Brand Name

Before making my label I need to make a logo for the cats. I first thought of the name 'Angry Tooth Cats' because of the reoccurring theme of the sharp teeth they all had. After putting quite a bit of thought into it I have decided to go with the name 'Mardy Cats'. I realise that the word 'mardy' is only really said where I am from but think that this is actually a positive as it will make it more memorable for people as it's not a typical word that they might come across but yet still everyone knows what it means. 

TY Label

A very popular brand of plush toys is the TY Beanie Babies. I want to have a label placed on the ear of all my cats so had a look at the information and aspects that TY have used within their labels. I think that it is a very sweet and charming idea to have the characters details on the inside of the label. 

From looking at these I can see that on the front it's essential that I have the main logo. Then in the inside of the label I would like to go down the similar lines of TY  and have character information. And then on the back have any extra information. I was thinking for the back I should have my logo for myself and then some of my details such as email so people can contact me further. 

Range of Products

Now I have a patterned print I think that they would translate nicely across a range of products. 

Proposed ideas: I would definitely like my characters be put onto a stationary range like sets that you can get from Paperchase such as: Folders, pencils, rulers, pens, highlighters, diaries, notebooks, pushpins, pen holders. I think that they could also be put onto cards and gift wrap. Another product I think that would be great to make from the big plush toys is a range of travel cushions to put around your neck for journeys. 

Very terrible Photoshopping here but I couldn't for the life of me get this to work. But for the idea I thought that it would work well on boxes too. 

Consistent pattern

I had a look at the product range that Paperchase sell. I have noticed that most of the their products are covered in some sort of a repeat pattern. Taking that into consideration, I have made some repeat patterns that can be placed onto products. I have kept all of the backgrounds white as I feel that there is already enough colours within the cats and that any more colour would be too much.

In Context

I feel like this range of cat characters has the scope to pretty much be able to be translated onto any product. Here I have made some of the characters in context of some products:

I came across these on the internet when looking at images of stationary. I think that this idea of zooming into the face would work really well with my characters. I have made a sample of the pink cat onto a note book and think that it went successfully and could work across many products in this style. E.g. lunch boxes, make up bags, rulers, rubbers, sharpeners - general stationary.

Time Planning

Pricing

Crit Feedback

I was very overwhelmed with such positive feedback. I was not expecting it at all. It made me think that I do need to be more confident with my work and show it off a bit more to get myself noticed. It has made me consider selling the toys and now I need to think about pricing. It has really given me a boost to make them look as marketable as possible. 

Further Development on Digital Cats

I have now done all five drawn digitally. Unlike the first one I drew I have given thicker lines on the stitching to make it stand out better. I am really pleased with them overall and think that they will transcend well over many products.

Digital

I drew this on Photoshop but don't think that it represents the toy well. I feel like it still needs quite a bit of work doing to it. I think that the pink is too vibrant and the stitching needs to be more prominent. 

Final Crit Boards

Finals Back and Front