UK GREETINGS - product range development

Now that I have produced the four greetings cards which are a mandatory deliverable, I can now go on to creating a range of products that reflect these cards. I wanted to design gift wrap, tags, bags and crackers. I will also consider how each of these products can be packaged.

First off, I looked at designing the gift wrap. As I had already produced some patterns, it made sense to use these for the wrap so that all of my items worked as a set. I therefore used the two existing patterns but decided to include a third roll to break up the business of the other two. By including a solid green, this gives an interesting option to the customer to use for wrapping, so that there is a nice balance between pattern and block colour. Consideration of format and size was also thought about. When wrapping presents, certain items are quite small or abnormal shapes. By offering a simple green wrap, if the object being wrapped is quite small then this can be used instead of a patterned wrap which may become lost. Green was used as this was most appropriate to the theme. I felt that using orange could send this brief in the wrong direction. 

I then looked at designing the gift tags, which could be used on both the bags and also simply taped to wrapped up presents. I wanted to create something unusual, and not follow the usual format for gift tags. I therefore decided to pick up on the use of the bauble throughout this brief and decided to use this shape for the tags also. This creates a really interesting and stand out shape that will work well against the repeated pattern design. On one side of the label there will be the option to write a 'to' and 'from'. For this, a serif typeface has been used as this is quite traditional and reflective of the content. It also compliments the illustrations nicely. On the reverse, there will be the 'merry christmas' and 'peace and love' type, this is so that the illustrations don't blend in and become lost against the pattern. 

Below are the gift bags, which have been designed using the above patterns. They would be available in a number of different standard sizes in order to fit in different sized presents. Dark green accents have been used for the sides of the bag and for the ribbon. This really splits up the business of the pattern and offers a bit of a break. You can also see how the gift tags would work alongside the bags. 

Crackers are the final addition to the range. I thought that this was an exciting and unique product to include, that reflects the theme extremely well. These will be created using the solid green and the two patterns, tied with ribbons. They can be used to carry gifts, as part of a Christmas meal or simply just as decoration.