LASER CUT CHRISTMAS PRESENTS

As a way of building my laser cutting skills and also saving some money on christmas presents, I decided to make some Laser cut presents, for my friends and family. And this also gave me an excuse to get to grips with the laser cutter and aso experiment with different nets.

I made about 12 different presents in total and was pretty happy with the outcome. I designed and made 8 Insence box burners. 2 Candle holders for my parents and a couple of boxes with slot on lids. I found this process very helpful, there were a few errors along the way but I managed to correct the mistakes.

NETS

I wanted to create a box with a lid. In order to do this I drew the sections up

with dove tail joints so it could all clip together easily. I planned on using

3mm MDF as this could be cut quick and easily also it was readily available.

 To get the lid I made a box within a box essentially and cut through, The inside

box sits slightly higher inside the outer layer to slot over the rim, for a snug fit.

Incense Box Nets

 I used the same principle for the incense boxes, I used

engraved text on the boxes and cut out the holes on the top.

Taking quotes from the great man Bob Marley I left a little message

One Love

CORRECTIONS

After Cutting all the shapes out I realised the ends didn't fit on 1 side as

I had copied and pasted the opposite one. I managed to cut some correct ends.

Incense Box

  

Box with Lid

Candler Holders

Mum

Dad

Evaluation / Problems Along the Way

I found this project really helpful, i got to grips with the laser cutter and also tried out some new settings that I had not used before like the engrave feature. I made a few mistakes along the way which has lead me to always do test models first rather than going straight to cutting them all out at once! Luckily only one section of the incense boxes didn't fit which was a relief. I had another problem cutting some of the text out. On some of the incense boxes The writing was cut all the way out rather than rastered which was a bit of a shame. As everyone was heading back to there home towns the day I made them I didn't have time to recut 4 of the boxes which was a shame, but they were happy with what they got needless to say.

When making the candle holders I managed to ruin the first one slightly. I had not set up the laser to the right distance and was sat slightly further back, this meant that the wood was not cut all way through on many parts of the design. It slightly burnt the wood also which I think gave it quite a nice quality. After about half an hour with a scalpel I managed to cut out the many stars. I used wood glue to stick the boxes together but leaving the lid un-stuck. I love how they have turned out and my parents were really happy, When in the dark  the stars cast shadows around the fire place which looks great. If I were to change anything I would of created a grove in the center of the box, as within 10 minutes of my mum having it she positioned the candle under the wooden lid and it began to set on fire! Maybe wood wasn't the best option for a candle holder.

If I had more time to do the presents I would of been able to correct all the mistakes but unfortunately we had loads of other stuff on at the time, but another problem I had was making the inside layer of the "lid Box' slightly too big, so the outer layer didn't slot together entirely perfect. I should of probably accounted for another mm. Overall the project helped me improve my lasercutting skills and also taught me the importance of testing and trial and error. It has been a both fun and beneficial project and I look forward to playing with the cutter some more and whipping out some crazy cut creations.

CLIENT - NOLLIS AUTOMOTIVE DETAILING SERVICES - LOGO AND BRANDING

I was approached by a client who was just setting up an auto motive detailing service company. He wanted a logo coming up with for his company. He specializes in thorough car cleaning and servicing right down to taking it to bits. He wanted something that stood out but also something that represented the line of work he was in.

I decided to use a clean blue colour which represents cleanliness. The colour is also bright and recognisable. I decided to use a steering wheel / tyre to represent the relevance to cars and wheeled vehicles. I also wanted to incorporate a number plate into the design to enhance the whole vehicle element. I wanted the logo to be different from other conventional detailing services. And also use a quite up to date design style as aposed to the conventional boring logos you see everywhere.

After showing the logo to the client the logo he loved it and immediately wanted some business cards designing.

 As I wanted to get across the detail that he goes into whilst servicing cars, I decided to use a kind of blue print background, which represents the stripping down of the cars to its raw elements like in the design stages where everything is brand new and just bits ready to be put back together. I decided to put a gradient on it to represent the shine or gleam from a car.

 Here are some examples of the backs I experimented with

Final Business Card

He decided on this Layout for the final outcome

Land Rover Vinyl

Vinyl Proof

After I had created the business cards for him and they been sent off he decided he wanted a vinyl for his land rover to advertise his company so I sent him over the logo to be sent away to have the vinyl made.  Unfortunately it went a bit wrong from here. The client sent off the wrong logo to the vinyl cutters. Also I was not in charge of the lettering and this was left up to the Vinyl creators which was a bad decision. As the writing on the window doesn't fit in with the logo itself I feel. 

Stickers for Cleaning Products

The client wanted some simple stickers producing with the products information on the back and simple the logo  on the front with the name underneath, They are pretty simple but that is all that was needed for the cleaning products. It was mainly just to help with the organisation of his products. 


This project was a very helpful I learnt about sending stuff out to be printed commercially. The first time I sent the business cards off to the printer I had forgotten to add crop marks and bleed, fortunately the printers contacted me and I sent of the correct version. This was a small insight into the world of commercial print, and has helped me to prepare documents for print.

Post titleMOUNTAIN TRIKE FINAL PRINT

Once the designs had been finalised and the client was completely happy, they were sent off to be commercially printed. Emily and I were sent some in the post and told that we could come test out the product any time. They said we really captured the essence of Mountain Trike.

This is how the final leaflet design looked once printed

Front

Back

Inside

Outside

MOUNTAIN TRIKE - INDIVIDUAL DEVELOPMENT

DESIGN DEVELOPMENT

To give the client a range of ideas Emily and I came up with 2 separate versions of the leaflet. In terms of collaborating we advised one another on out decision decisions, and helping each other out along the way. This made sure that our designs varied but were of a standard we both could agree on.

As we didn't have much time to complete the brief Emily and I discussed our ideas in depth in order to narrow our content down. We decided on a select number of images to work with, that we thought highlighted Mountain Trike's best features. We also made decision's on colour, fonts, layout and style which was influenced by our research. Once we were happy with what we were gonna produce we both sat down and designed each designed a leaflet consulting each other along the way. I found this a very useful way of working. It made sure we didn't stray too far off away from our plan.

I Tested various different colours and layouts for the front cover until I found something we could work with. It was important to make the product look fun and stand out without looking tacky.  Our feed back specified that the logo needed to be at the top of the leaflet so it can be seen when in a rack this meant I had to come up with ways of making it stand out. We both agreed that the top left image worked best, it was noticeable and wasn't boxed in like the rest.

I was happy with the image on the front as this shows the potential Mountain Trike has, as

It shows the extreme terrain the wheelchair can tackle. The colours on the other hand didn't work very well. The brown colour looked mucky and tacky, and the green on white looked horrendous.

I took inspiration from visual research and applied it to my own design. I used tyre mark visuals to separate the images. This gave the impression of off roading etc.

 As I only had a small selection of photos to work with it was important that I used imagery that showed off all the products best features, I also needed to include photos which showed the user having fun, as its important to get across the fun exciting aspects of the product.

In order to break the page up I experimented with flowing shapes to reference the hills the Trike can tackle. I also experimented with the cropping the photo's, I wanted to reference the wheel, and also try make it a bit more visually appealing, however I think this limits the design.

Here you can see examples of imagery inspired by our visual research, I have used playful colourful shapes to try and emphasise the playfulness of the product. I have also used a gritty font for the tag line take your self further which captures what mountain trike is about.

There is far too much going on here but this is an example fo some of the imagery I was working with.

After feedback we looked at our designs and decided what worked best and what didn't then made our corrections and alterations. Leaving the content to be added to the design.

Here you can see the layout of the leaflet with room for information to be inserted.

The key information to include on the inside design of the leaflet is the details of the product, showing an annotating diagram of all the features of the mountain trike, in a clear and legible way. I kept with the mountain trike colour scheme here using green quads to highlight the features of the product.

another piece of key information we included was personal accounts of the products, with positive quotes which helps to give people faith in the product, I have tried to include as many as possible without making the leaflet look too cluttered.

It was important to show the products fold up capabilities as 

this is a huge thing to take into consideration when buying a mountain trike. 

It is essential it can be transported around.

FINAL VERSIONS

OUTSIDE

INSIDE