Extended Practice Brief #2: YCN UKGreetings [Research]

Research:

• Retail publisher for greeting cards and 'social expression' products in the UK.
• Owned and interconnected with a wide range of companies within the UK and internationally = more audience demographic can be reached, more opportunity to be more experimental
• Designs are very illustrative, lots of focus on handmade drawings, patterns, very light and cute designs, traditional, illustrative type, kind of retro.
• Wide range of products so will give me more room to design different works that will work best in a specific product.

Competitors: 

• KIKKI.K – clean styles, modern sans serif heavy designs
• modernist, minimal 
• varied sections - they also offer a wide range of products that would suit a wide audience
• products are not restricted to just cards and gift dressings but also planners, gift sets including travel cups, stationary, books etc. 
• products are desirable as they serve their purpose but at the same time are also aesthetically pleasing to look at. 
• Though products are varied the aesthetic and styles used are appealing – audience is 'set' they know who they are selling to (demographic, age, hobbies, likes etc.)

• RIFLE PAPER – Pattern heavy designs, especially on the gift wraps 
• very coherent designs 
• very 'handmade' designs 
• illustrative heavy 
• feminine designs, playful and colourful 
• centred around animals and people
• quite traditional in a way 
• also targets specific audience perfectly - also has a demographic targeted  

Styles: 

• Very illustrative, bold and bright colours
• Very handmade type
• Universal styles 
• reaches broad audiences
• Although, it does look a bit old fashioned which may make it look less appealing to younger and trendier audiences, in comparison to its competitions. 

Design Requirements: 

• [2x] Greeting Cards – 173 x 210 mm
• [1x] Notebook Set Boxed – 110 x 132 mm
• [1x] Giftbag – 267 x 330 mm
• [1x] Pattern for gift wrap – Pattern patch sample
• [1] Notepad Cover

Thoughts & Reflection:

Most of the existing designs created by UKGreetings are very traditional in a way that they are kind of old-fashioned as well. Thought they are colourful and illustrative they tend to have a very 'old' tone and vibe to them in my opinion. In comparison to some brands in the existing market place, their designs don't quite follow the trend therefore I think it the modern and contemporary design is what I'm going to focus on when I drawing ideas for the greeting card designs.