New Project!- milk uk - The UK's newest independent clothing company

So I decided to create a clothing company called milk. This project is the biggest project I have ever released and it is finally in process of being launched in 1/2 weeks! This company/Brand was built from scratch by me and a close friend of mine. It's pretty cool the way things have turned out so you should check out milk at:

facebook.com/itsmilkuk
Twitter/Instagram- @itsmilkuk
www.itsmilkuk.com (Coming Soon)

Please like and share the page, we need all help we can get!

Qwoffee is back in 2013 and you might be able to get one!

So....its been a long time since I've posted on this blog regarding anything to do with anything really. This blog was mainly used to show the journey of my university project - Qwoffee a collectible toy I designed almost a year a go now. Since my last post back in May 2012 allot has happened to me including graduating university and discovering life as a designer outside the comforts of the uni lifestyle. Well enough of the story telling and more with the point of this post!

As the title states my toy design for Qwoffee has been given a new life and a chance for him to become a real product which everyone could buy and own! Thanks to the help of toy manufacturers- Shouldbee who are responsible for making some of the best looking collectible toys around!

So if your looking to get your very own Qwoffee please click on the link and vote for my design (other Qwoffee variants will also be available along the line so don't just think there is only one design to choose from).

If my design gets enough votes then it will have the chance of getting produced and will be available for purchase. So do it for Qwoffee and vote for him at http://www.shouldbee.com/votes/designs/99

Qwoffee - Final product visuals - Final Boards

These are the final visuals edited on photoshop to show the product at its best.

Qwoffee - Final Board Testing

Testing different presentation styles for final visuals. Most of these images will be developed further until final visuals are produced.

Qwoffee - Professional Photos

Professional photographs were taken of the product for use to produce final product image boards. The photos will be narrowed down then edited on photoshop. Some of the photos taken are below;

Qwoffee - Evolution of the design

Here are some photos of how the sketch models and design have changed throughout the development of the product. As you can see the product has evolved drastically comparing to the first sketch model produced.

Qwoffee - Breakdown of everything

Qwoffee
A character based on a characterised coffee bean (this can be seen in the head).

The character
The Qwoffee's don't want to be ground up to make powdered coffee so they escape from the factory by hiding in takeaway coffee cups which they use to travel from place to place looking for a new home.

The Toy
The toy created is a collectible stand alone item which offers aesthetic appeal to the user and the surroundings its placed in. The toy itself measures 4 inches which is the standard size for vinyl toys of this kind. The first series designed throughout comes in a variation of 4 Qwoffee's which vary in colour scheme and accessories depending on which style you get (Original, Dark Blend, Cappuccino, Caramel Mocha).

What is sold to the consumer
The consumer buys the toy from the store. The toy comes packaged within a takeaway style coffee cup which is designed in a way that it can be displayed with the toy due to the aesthetic appeal of the packaging itself. Inside the package is the toy itself plus two accessories which interact with the figure. The two accessories are styled with the theme of the toy. Also inside the package is a trading card which explains the character and is also a nice item to display with the figure.

Qwoffee - Trading Card

As the packaging is too small to fit any description on a trading/information card has to be made. This also adds something to the toy as these cards themselves become part of the collection. In this case the card designed is for the model I made - Qwoffee Original. The card would come in the package with the toy.

Qwoffee - Packaging Design - Final Design

This is the final design for the packaging of the Qwoffee toy. It features a colour graphic of the original character and darker shading around the coffee spill graphic.

Label on the cup

As you can see the finished packaging looks neat and tidy with help from the template that was made. I am pleased with the results as it suits the toy and looks nice on its own which was the goal of the packaging design.

Qwoffee - Packaging Design - Idea 3

Coffee Spill Graphic

A coffee spill affect was added to the sides of the packaging as well as a line drawing of the character.

Qwoffee - Packaging Design - Idea 2

Donut Style

This design was done as it brought colour to the packaging and also showed some relevance to the toy using the image of a donut. Development will be done to the sides of the packaging as they look too plain.

Qwoffee - Packaging Design - Idea 1

Starbucks style packaging

This design is Starbucks inspired and uses the simple style that they use for their cups. After it was tested on the cup it was decided more development must be done as the package looked too plain and didn't match the product.

Qwoffee - Packaging Design

To design the packaging for the cup a template had to be made so that every design fit perfectly on the cup. This also made designing the graphics faster.

Qwoffee - Manufacture Process

Rotational molding seems to be the only molding process used to create toys like these as it creates a smooth hollow but strong product.

Qwoffee - Material Chosen

PVC (Vinyl) is the chosen material to manufacture the Qwoffee toy from. I have tried to search for other materials which are better than it but it seems PVC is the best material to create these displayable collectible toys.

Why PVC?

* Can easily be moulded
*Can become hard or soft
*Smooth in texture
*Easily painted (no primer needed)
*Strong
*Recyclable

Qwoffee - Material Choice

The material choice was narrowed down to a selected 3 which were researched further to discover the advantages and disadvantages of using them.

Qwoffee - Material Selection

If the product was to be manufactured in industry then material selection is key for cost and quality. Here are some materials Which Qwoffee could be made from.

Qwoffee - Character Variation

The design created for Qwoffee allows various other characters to be created, other Qwoffee's. This is done by changing the colour scheme on the toy and giving it different accessories. This is done all the time with Vinyl toys to keep a toy line growing. 4 variations are in this toy line for Qwoffee with every variation having an association to the drink.

Qwoffee - Logo/Font Design

The choice of font is crucial to the products appearance as this will represent the product on the packaging. The Font picked has the most association with the toy and suits the theme.

Qwoffy - Qwoffy to Qwoffee

Spelling was changed for the product's name due to it not looking right. Using two E's makes the character more relevant to the word coffee. It also looks more uniform which makes the name look neater.