FINISHING YOUR ARTWORK

Project Brief

Your local green grocer has asked you to produce a point of sale display to go above the fruit and vegetables in their shop. They want the display to be seen from the street through the shop window to attract passing shoppers in order to boost their trade. The shop is in a small precinct which also houses a baker, a newsagent, an independent shoe shop and is on the route to and from a well respected primary school. The final reproduction size will be 2 x A1 landscape so you will need to produce your artwork at a smaller scale. Either take photographs, create illustrations or use a combination to develop two images– one of fruit and one of vegetables. For each range you may choose an individual piece, dissected or partly sliced sections, or create a group of several pieces. Then identify any wording you might want to use. The most important things to remember are what the shopkeeper wants to achieve and who the message is for (the audience). The posters will be seen from quite a distance and mainly in people’s peripheral vision so the visuals need to be clear and dynamic.

Analysis of the brief

To design a point of sale display for a local green grocer to go above the fruit and vegetables in the store. The designs must attract passing shoppers and be seen through the store window. The store is in the same area as a baker, newsagent, shoe shop and a nearby primary school.

The design needs to be big so it can be seen through a shop window, this means the font should also be big enough for people passing by to read the signs. The design can't have too much information on, it needs to be clear and concise.

Keywords

Fruit, Vegetables, Display, Passing Shoppers, Primary School, Attract.

Research

I started to brainstorm the different types of fruit and vegetables available and sorted them by colour. I'm not sure if at this stage if I want to showcase just one product or a range of fruit and vegetables.

Click on the image below for more detail.

“If you’re trying to persuade people to do something, or buy something, it seems to me you should use their language, the language they use every day, the language in which they think. We try to write in the vernacular.” (Berman 2010)

I went supermarket shopping and took photographs of the displays to get more inspiration for my designs. The brand, the target audience and the overall concept affects the choice of media. Photographs, are a wonderful way to highlight customer service, showcase food, or create an emotional appeal. Illustration can help establish individuality or portray or represent something impalpable. (Blakeman, 2022)

Fig. 7 Supermarket (2022) Fig. 8 Supermarket 1 (2022) Fig. 9 Supermarket 2 (2022)

I put together a moodboard of the direction I wanted to go in with my designs after visiting the supermarket. The photos I used are a mixture of my travels, photos of produce I had in my pantry and some stock photos of delicious dishes containing fruit and vegetables.

"With the rise of food blogging and photo sharing apps, food photography has become increasingly popular" (Wilson, 2015)

Click on the image opposite for more photos.

While putting the moodboard together I was drawn to the black slate with the food presented on a decorative plate or in a bowl. I found the stark contrast really made the fruit and vegetables pop out and stand out more.

I wanted to try and do something different and decided to put a dish on my design instead of an individual fruit or vegetables to show what could be done with the produce and make the design look more enticing.

On social media, large images of the finished meals were proposed as a method to whet consumers' appetites. (Williams, 2015)

I researched food photography in Creative Review and found an article on photographer Kevin Summers who said that the goal of food photography is to make it look as authentic as possible, but according to him, what constitutes 'genuine' varies from person to person. He says that 'food appeal' refers to a foods appetising allure, for example melting edges of ice cream or condensation on white wine. He says that something happens to the product that makes it attract the person. (Wilson, 2015) I started experimenting with my camera by assembling my own fruit and vegetables on a board and taking close up photos.

Fig.10 Vegetables on a board (2022) Fig.11 Close up vegetables (2022)

Fig.12 Fruit on a board (2022) Fig.13 Close up fruits (2022)

I realised when I uploaded my photos onto the computer that this was not going to work as there will be no space to put my text on my design and also it had lots of shadows on the produce.

I started to play in my sketchbook with the layout for the design. I knew that I wanted a dark background so the text would stand out. I was thinking that a white chalk effect font could entice the primary school children. I cut out images from magazines stuck them on dark paper and experimented with white pastels for the font. You should use a typeface that is legible and bold. This will enhance your communication's clarity. Sans serif typefaces include Helvetica, Franklin Gothic, and Grotesque which are excellent choices for their effectiveness. (Burtenshaw, Barfoot and Mahon, 2011)

Fig.14 Sketchbook designs (2022)

I started to explore illustrations to get an feel for how this would look. I experimented with some printing with a lemon to see how this could work in the design. Although I love the look, I don't think it will work for the designs as I need more detail and needs to be appetising and it is not the look I'm trying to achieve. I will save this for another project later on.

Fig. 15 Lemon prints with lemon (2022)

I thought illustrating the produce would be funny and entice the primary school children, I often draw faces on hard boiled eggs and transferred this idea to the produce, although I could only use marker pen on produce where I could take the skin off. I took a photo of grapes and used a graphics tablet to draw faces on in Adobe Illustrator.

Fig.16 Smiling banana and orange (2022) Fig.17 Sad onions (2022)

Fig.18 Red grapes (2022) Fig.19 Smiling grapes (2022)

Although the produce is fun and could entice young children to want to eat the produce, I perhaps have gone too far off the brief. The produce needs to look appetising, so need to calm it down.

I brainstormed some food adjectives to help me come up with a tagline for the designs. A headline for an outdoor billboard should be short enough to be read while driving past it. Sometimes, a couple of words can suffice. It is always critical to consider where the advertisement will appear when choosing the words to convey the message. (Landa 2021)

Fig.20 Food adjectives (2022)

I then started to photograph the produce from a birds eye view angle but showcasing dishes that contain the fruits and vegetables on a slate background. I was happy with how the food looked, it was colourful, enticing and with different textures.

Fig. 21 Fruit styled on slate (2022) Fig. 22 Vegetables styled on slate (2022)

I uploaded these images onto my computer and used Photoshop to add my text. I found that my slate was too light for the font to show up clearly, I decided to cut out the image and place it onto a stock slate image. The slate was darker but I still wasn't happy with the look.

I then decided to see what it would look like with a wooden background and applied the same Photoshop technique again.

Although the wood looked better, I wasn't happy with how the image looked. I then checked the DPI and it was only 72. I moved over to Adobe Illustrator to see if I could replicate the same thing there. I know that Adobe Illustrator is the program to use for vector, but because my skills in this program are limited I thought I could somehow avoid it!

As opposed to pixels, vector images contain numerous scalable objects defined by mathematical formulas, or paths. There are several uses for vector images, including logos, illustrative graphic elements within a design, and some aspects of typography. Vectors can be resized and are resolution-independent. They can be enlarged infinitely while remaining sharp and clear. (Ambrose, Harris and Ball, 2019)

I used the same photos in Adobe Illustrator however, my computer couldn't cope with the image trace, I think this was perhaps the photo was too detailed. I decided that I needed to do a re-shoot of my fruit and vegetables. This time my selection of produce was limited as this was a few days later and the produce was used for previous suppers!

Fig. 23 Simple vegetables on slate (2022) Fig. 24 Simple fruits on slate (2022)

I was much happier with the second photo shoot, I used a smaller plate and selected a few produce items and the slate was darker. There was enough space to put the text. The image trace worked and I was able to put on my sans serif chalk effect font in the design. I choose this font because the brief said it was close to a primary school. I wanted the design to be sophisticated but at the same time have some fun in the design aimed at the smaller children.

I drew stick figures to place in the design using my graphics tablet and used a chalk effect brush in Adobe Illustrator. I drew a very simple "superman" figure to show that the produce can keep you healthy, instead of the happy grapes I drew earlier.

Fig.25 Superman stick figure (2022)

This was then added to the final designs. I used the eye dropper tool to borrow the same colours from the produce for the text colours.

Final designs

Fig.26 Vegetable point of sale (2022)

Fig.27 Fruit point of sale (2022)

Reflection

The final result was a DPI 473, in CMYK for print. I was pleased with this because I realised that I had to get over my fear of using Adobe Illustrator and that I have a long way to go to learn the program fully. This exercise was about problem solving and it did give me problems! I'm glad I persevered and kept going even if it meant that I had to do a whole photo reshoot twice. My aim now is to carry on with online tutorials on Adobe Illustrator to help speed up my workflow.