OUGD602: DBA - New Direction

Based on the feedback from the creative directors we decided to keep the concept of tea however change its theme from the greek gods to something more humanist in order to evoke an intimate consumer brand relationship. We quickly decided we wanted to use a brand ambassador and I came up wit the concept of Mr. Potter. a fictional character that we can position to further engage our target audience and ensure they become closely connected to the brand. Utilising the character of Mr. Potter, evokes a more humanist concept as if this expert tea blender has personally created teas for the user, making it more authentic and removing chemical connotations of drugs and danger that currently surround Nootropics. This branding strategy generates a more personable consumer-brand relationship that can be extended into brand loyalty and love. 

Mr Potters Character: 

The characteristics of Mr. Potter is a British gentleman that is quirky and kind by nature, the strapline 'MR POTTERS MARVELLOUS BLENDS' articulates this quirky personality and implies that there is more than just tea to make this product so amazing. This tone of voice is extended further within a backstory I developed to engage the user with the concept of Mr potter and initiate a brand relationship: 

Formally a budding botanist, mr potter took his love of plants and began experimenting with their natural properties as rejuvenative experiences for his friends and family, now with years of fine tuning he offers his services to you in the form of his favourite beverage, TEA. These tea’s are expertly blended with organic nootropics to boost your daily experiences, inviting added energy, focus and other wonderful properties into the day.

Blends: 

We created three blends that will fit conveniently within the users typical day. We chose to use all natural nootropics, as this is more appropriate to the natural ethos of the tea concept and will better appeal to the target audience who will be more hesitant to put manmade chemicals into their body. 

The Breakfast Tea is designed to be consumed early in the morning and is infused with Huperzine A, a natural Chinese plant that Improves brain function, memory and focus as well as proving energy to set the user kickstarting their day. 

The Green Tea is intended for throughout the day when the user needs a 'pick me up', this is infused with L-Theanine, which is a naturally occurring amino acid in Green Tea, increasing this intake of L-Theanine promotes increased brain function, creates added focus and releases stress, which will be beneficial as a daily boost. 

Finally the third blend is a Camomile Tea infused with Ashwagandha, a root that has been called “Indian Ginseng" that aids mood, sleep and stress, perfect for unwinding for after a long day and ensuring a restful night sleep. 

Audience: 

Understanding the audience is key to ensuring the concept works effectively in engaging with the user. For this concept we have identified a slightly older audience, that are starting to feel the effects of raging for the first time but would not consider themselves old yet. Due to the age range of this audience 35 - 50 they will be in established careers with a higher disposable income which justifies the luxury nature of the product. Psychographically this target audience will be sociable, outgoing, and wanting to continue this youthful and high impact lifestyle which creates a natural and appropriate usage for the product which will enable them to maintain this energy and focus they are used to. 

OUGD602: DBA - Interim Feedback

One week into the project the creative directors gave individual group tutorials to guide our direction and suggest improvements to ensure the brief is resolved as successfully as possible within our concept. The feedback I received from the directors lately stated they liked the concept of tea, and felt loose leaf would work well for the older, middle class audience however they were unsure about blending this with a greek concept as they felt it was too 'left wing' and novelty, they told me that tea doesn't have any real connection to Greece in any real form and would consider maybe making it more familiar to a British audience. Other positives included how the concept worked well to get the product easily into the users daily life, and tea is seen as a professional drink therefore would work particularly well in the work place. 

The rest of this feedback revolve around brainstorming possible directions that would work particularly well in engaging this audience, We were advised to not make it exclusive, elitist, or too cool for school as this would instantly exclude a large potential audience. Other comments made towards a potential new direction included highlighting the British nature of tea, how it solves problems by taking a time out and coming back to the problem after a cup of tea. We established that the key ideology would be to ensure it is personable and humanist making it an experience to share a relationship between the brand and the consumer as a means of making the concept of Nootropics feel less foreign and invasive. The directors suggested to move forward we word bash a range of names and future concepts based around these points and suggested we had the opportunity to make a genuinely lovely and engaging product as a result of this direction. 

OUGD602: DBA - Initial Design Direction

With a concept and audience defined I started to experiment with a range of initial logo concepts. I found the brand name teaos, (derived from theos meaning good in greek) was a difficult word to play with in creating initial creative directions for the brand. We worked on these in isolation before planning to come back together and develop a singular design further. 

OUGD602: DBA - Brainstorming & Initial Development

Concept: 

Brainstorming an initial concept we felt this had to be the strongest aspect of the brief, to creatively reposition the subject into an ideology its core consumers with proudly engage with. Playing with different ideas I felt it was important to find a new means of delivering these nootropics besides these tablet forms, as this creates negative connotations that will scare a large percentage of any potential audience. Taking this ideology further, it became important to find a means of adopting these nootropics into the users daily life with minimal effort and slip it into an existing routine therefore making it easier to keep up with. My eureka moment came when I suggested placing the nootropics within coffee granules to create a nootropics infused drink. This was positively received by the group with Lo having similar ideas, this concept works with the universally popular drink, coffee which provides natural caffeine therefore doesn't need to be provided within the nootropic and slips into the users daily schedule almost perfectly, having a cup of nootropics infused coffee in the morning can set them up for the day provided added brain function for school, work etc. 

Research: 

When generating further research into this concept we found it had already been done by several companies, and branded to a high standard. The infused nootropics coffee has already been done in both pre-mixed liquid drinks as seen below with the Hackers Brew product which is executed to an extremely high standard and in granuled form to make at home in the Kimera Coffee which uses high quality coffee as its base ingredient ensuring the overall quality of the product is strong. 

New Direction: 

With the coffee market already tapped into we decided to work around this idea in the hope of creating a more innovative solution to the brief. We really liked the concept of a drink as it will present a significant increate in adoption rates of the product being so easy to attribute to an exiting routine we  also wanted point of difference for our product. We chose tea as an alternative to this as it creates a significant marketplace within Britain, is universally popular, and is considered professional so can be used in the workplace. 

Creating a concept for the tea campaign, we chose a theme of greek gods to symbolise the pinnacle of  knowledge, strength, and humanity and would act as a good connotation of how the product can improve the users life. From this we created 3 blends a breakfast, green, and camomile tea, to suit different moods all enriched with organic nootropics to fit the clean organic nature of tea. 

Audience: 

The audience for the brand is a luxury market, fitting the 30-50 category. The product is sold as loose leaf tea to show we don't hide anything from the consumer and ensure all the products are natural. The marketplace is stores like M&S, Waitrose, and Selfridges to attract these premium consumers. The main benefits users will aim to get out of the product are consumers that are just starting to feel older physically and need that little extra boost to feel as vibrant as they always have. We feel there is a valid market for nootropics for this consumer and will create a point of difference within the response to the brief. 

OUGD602: DBA - Brief and Initial Research

As part of the PPP module we are encourage to take part in the DBA brief which is a great opportunity to engage in collaborative work and participate in a live brief with creative directions from some really great design studios. Founded in 1986, the Design Business Association (DBA) champions the transformative power of design, promoting its strategic and economic value to business and government. As the industry’s trade association we represent a vibrant community of design consultancies and design-driven businesses. The DBA is  committed to shaping a positive future for all those working in the field of design and passionate about bringing design and business ever closer together to deliver the greatest returns. Working with studios that are members of this organisation, allows great networking links and opportunities to engage with live practice. 

Brief: 

Briefed by 4 creative directors the brief was to get into teams and creatively re-position nootropics as an positive and beneficial supplement to improve an individuals life removing its predetermined connotations. during the briefing it was explained the project is more about the concept and a solid understanding of a defined target audience demonstrating a critical ability to design for a particular group and execute an appropriate design strategy. I chose to work in a group with Jack, Lo and, Chalotte as we have successfully worked together in collaboration before and our individual specialisms greatly aids the diversity we can provide in our resolution. 

Initial Research: 
Initial investigating the area of nootropics allowed me to understand the premise of the product to which I can then begin to create informed design directions. Nootropics is an umbrella term for a class of chemicals — some naturally-occurring, some manmade — that give cognitive benefits to the human brain.  

In order to be a nootropic, a substance must meet five criteria set by Dr. Corneliu E. Giurgea, the man who coined the term “nootropic.”  The substance must…

• Enhance memory and ability to learn.
• Help the brain function under disruptive conditions, such as hypoxia (low oxygen) and electroconvulsive shock.
• Protect the brain from chemical and physical assaults, such as anti-cholinergic drugs and barbiturates.
• Increase the efficacy of neuronal firing control mechanisms in cortical and sub-cortical regions of the brain.
• Possess few or no side effects and be virtually non-toxic.

With a better understanding of the subject matter I felt in a better place to begin brain storming activities that will determine our concept, audience and creative direction. 

Nootropics Infographic

OUGD602: Build Talk

Michael C Place, design director of Build Studio came in to give a talk on his practice. This was loosely based on is studio Build however centred around his life, taking through how he got into graphic design and how his practice has developed over his career. He emphasised the importance of creating connections within the creative community and how this has helped him to develop business relationships and particularly to engage with placements during his student years. I liked how he championed design talent from the North choosing to move his studio to Leeds from London because he felt the quality of northern design was on par if not better than southern agencies.