How To...

Problems//Challenges of being a first year Graphic Design student at LCA

1. Graphic Design expenses
2. Not enough money
3. Fred time
4. Not familiar with the institution
5. Food shopping
6. Powerpoints
7. Freshers' flu
8. Lack of a variety of sports
9. Budgeting
10. Unhealthy eating

How to not fall asleep >> How to not fall asleep in lectures >> How to stay awake in lectures

We need to come up with a product to help students stay awake in lectures - could give out advice in a leaflet format but for students with a lack of concentration these might be too boring, need something more instant.

Physical products - caffeine tablets, reactants within the lecture theatre//used by the lecturer might be an idea. Soon settled on energy tablets to distribute to students before//during their lectures as a stimulant. Must make them completely specific to students in lectures so they have an individual place in the market. We started to brainstorm name idea which used play on words or puns related to this.

University      Caffeine

Lecture     Buzz

Student      Alive

Awake    Boost    Energy   Long life

Tried combining words >> 'electurific'

Settled on Lecture Boost as our product name. Not that witty but instantly and obviously communicates the message. We need to consider product branding - logo, packaging, posters, fliers - where to place the product and advertise it, and the specifics such as what is in the tablets, what information comes with them, what sort of tone of voice we will use. Need to target students in a fun and creative way.

Research

Conducted a quick & simple survey of other students in the studio:

1. Have you fallen asleep in a lecture before?
2. If yes, would you take a substance such as energy tablets to keep you awake?

We asked 23 students. 13 (57%) had fallen asleep in a lecture before. Of those 13, 11 (85%) would consider taking a substance such as energy tablets to stay awake. 

Designing

Need a cohesive branding style so we started brainstorming Lecture Boost logos.

I like a combination of typefaces which represent the style of each word. Moved on to working digitally with Illustrator:

Someone in the group suggest a CMYK colour scheme for the tablets representing different flavours and perhaps even different strengths. In the designs above I used Zapfini & Chocolate Dealer typefaces to represent the punchy energy of the word 'boost' and plain sans serif type for 'lecture'. I tried a simplified approach using circle imagery:

Has a more medicinal feel about it & is perhaps more iconic as a logo. The rest of the group liked the circle idea. Redesigned once more when I went home:

The top font is Branboll Fet and the 'boost' is Thonburi, edited with an extended 't' and using the pen tool with Branboll Fet. It has the CMY circles and the K is represented by the black type. I think the positioning and layout works well.