Wrap it up

This was a week long brief where we were given a choice of some nets and had to make an informed decision in to which nets would suit our subjects and create 3 final resolutions. We chose one image and one word to sum up the research so far and had to try and communicate them across the nets.
The only real limitations were that we had to try and just use the one image and only use 2 colours across the net range. We were also supposed to try and stick to the nets as best as possible unless we could justify a change.

My good research has revolved around manta rays so I decided that my image would be a simple representation of a manta ray. I looked into a few different representations that already exist and tried to see what kinds of attributes made the shape recognisable as a manta ray. You can see this on my design context blog.
After looking through these I created this simple top down (or bottom up) view of a manta to use as my image for the nets.

Once I had the image I came up with a word. I thought about what kind of direction my work was going in and what I was trying to present and decided that the reason I am promoting manta rays is because I want to stop people from killing them.
There are a lot of reasons why killing manta rays is a bad thing, so I decided to sum them up by saying that they should not be killed because they are important.
My word was 'Important'.

Next I picked the 3 nets that I would work with. You can see the process of choosing on my Design Context blog.

I started by working with the next which folds to become a hexagon because it has a simple shape and unfolds to create a flat image which was a format that I liked. 

I wanted to take advantage of the existing nets and still keep the design really simple, so I came up with the idea of making it look like something different between being shut and open. 

I came up with the idea below to place the manta across the middle hexagon so that when it is closed the net means nothing particularly but the image is revealed when it is opened. 

I chose the two blue colours to be used because they connote the sea and the difference in contrast allows the image to be bold.

After this I added the type 'IMPORTANT' across the image blending in to the colour of the manta body. I had to use the 'Type on a path' tool and set it to a pen stroke.

Here is a series of images for a mock up of the net:

After this I decided to kind of reverse the text and get rid of the gill marks on the manta ray. I think this worked a lot better because now when the net is shut then all it says is important.

When the net is then opened it reveals a manta ray and it becomes obvious that I'm trying to say that the manta ray is important because the words literally cover it. It isn't very subtle but I think it works better than the original. 

The next idea that I had was to try and make the manta image complete on the back when the net was closed. 

I did this by first drawing a really basic image of a manta ray on the back of the net across the 6 sides. 

I then flattened out the image so that I could see where each part of the drawing would go on the flat net.

I scanned it in and went around the drawing in Illustrator to make it a bit smoother and printed out this mock up. You can see that it didn't align perfectly but it was definitely a start. 

The issue with this net was that there wasn't really any effective place to write on the inside. The best place to write would have been on the reverse of the manta image but then there would have been no need to open the net at all.

I decided to stick with the design below and try to incorporate the design in to the other two nets to make the 3 work together as a set. As part of the what is good brief I want to look in to product branding which I have only looked at once before so this could be useful.