Action plan completed. During my study I visited designing company 'Chesapeake' in Bradford, Halifax Bankfield Museum, where I spoke to experienced people, interviewed them, recieved evidence for my study and more experience in creating packaging designs. Also I did a lot of research in internet about other cultures packaging, I very liked Japanese packaging design, it is such interesting, and I think, comparing to Europe- Japapese packaging is very unusual, creative and natural.

Visiting Designing Company Chesapeake

Today I visited Designing company Chesapeake in Bradford. I spoke to Leigh Armstrong. Last year I visited this company for the first time, but today the purpose of my visit was to find out as much as possible about varieties of packaging designs they make for different companies. Leigh showed me packaging for wisky, toothpaste, chocolate, vodka, hair products, vine, Air refreshers, washing powder. I managed to take some pictures of packaging designs, also he gave me some prints of designs they created. This is amazing, such a lot of work created in a small office of 5-7 designers. I learnt alot from my research. After interview with Leigh Armstrong I became stronger in my ideas. I was in their everyday work process. It didn't look very busy down there, but still they produce a lot of designs every day. The reason is: Chesapeake designers have group critics, where they talking about ideas for product design and decide together which one will be the best to produce and to show to the client. I think, it is very good way to create ideal design, because 5-7 designers can come up with really creative product designs, when thinking and working together, but not separately.
Below are some examples of Chesapeake packaging designs

Research in other culture's packaging

Isn’t it wonderful to live in a country where drunken panda-seals lounge on peanut snack packages sniffing beer? Well, not all Japanese packaging is that weird, but see for yourself. I concentrated on Japanese packaging design, because it seems to me really interesting and different to compare with other cultures.The earliest packaging was accomplished by wrapping a given object in whatever material lay at hand. The outcome often not adequate for storing and transporting the object, but might have been a beautiful shape, free of all excess and extravagance. The nature of these packages is their simplicity, functionality and beauty. As I found out from my research, Japanese characterizes as packaging born out of necessity meant to preserve food and make it easily portable. With rice as a principal crop, it was easy for farmers to wrap their eggs on a few wisps of rice straw. A material, whose strength and flexibility made it ideal for not only protecting the fragile produce, but also for enhancing their freshness. There are some examples below:

Visiting Halifax Bankfield Museum

Today I went to Halifax Bankfield Museum, where I interviewed Curator of Industry Jeff Willkinson. The purpose of my visit to this Museum was to find out as much as possible about Quality Street product history and design for my Contextual Module, but also I managed to take some pictures of packaging for other products for my PDP5. Jeff showed me packaging, which was 40-70 years old. I received a lot of evidence how people used to advertise their products.
It was very interesting interview. I felt like I travelled in the past. I learnt a lot from my visit. First of all, how packaging evolved during the centuries. I think, if you interested in any design direction- you should know how it looked like in past, and to follow all stages of its development.
Below are some example of packaging design from Bankfield Museum