Saturday, 8 February 2014

Responsive- Design Process 2: Collaborative Brief Research

As part of the collaborative brief, we need to do some research into the brief so that we have a better understanding of who we are designing for. As part of the collaboration, we made a list of 4 main areas of research that we needed to do:
  • The Brand 'Bear'
  • Target Audience
  • Other Competitors 
  • Design Inspiration
Within the collaboration, we agreed upon myself doing research on the brand Bear and looking into other competitors within the children's cereal sector whereas Anna will be researching into the Target Audience and looking into some Design Inspirations.

The Brand 'Bear'
Bear Company Logo
Bear is a small, young company, started in January 2009 which focus on providing a healthy alternative to snacks. The do not see why you should have to compromise healthiness for taste. The company ethos is that they believe in sourcing all of their ingredients from natural sources and do not believe in adding extra sugar, flavourings and salt into their products. Their products are available to purchase from Waitrose, Sainsburys and Ocado.

The company name comes from an article that the founder read, stating the fact that animal bears grow up in the city and forage for food from bins, mainly those from behind fast food restaurants. This increased the fat of these foraging bears by 30% compared to forest bears.  This has a knock on effect into their activity and therefore their overall lifespan, whereas wild bears who had natural foods they foraged would live much longer. This was seen as a reflection of how humans feed as well and this theory was applied to our eating habits, thus the founders of Bear decided to do something about it.

In there 3 year history, they currently have 4 products on the market. They are Alphabites, Paws, YoYos and Nibbles:
Bear Alphabites Cereal
Alphabites are a multigrain cereal which has the cereal pieces in the shape of different letterforms. They are made from Wheat, Oats, Corn, Rice, Barley and Coconut, Blossom Nectar. You can get them in plain or chocolate flavours. The back of the cereal box packets usually have an illustrated image on the back based on the theme of a particular letter, making for an informative and interesting read for children.


Bear Paws Fruit Snacks
Paws are pieces of fruit which have been baked to become chewy snacks that have a similar consistency to sweets. They don't include any additives and sugar but it is part of 1 of your 5 a day. They are currently available in 3 flavours; Strawberry and Apple, Apple and Blackcurrent and Orange and Strawberry.

Bear Fruit Nibbles
Fruit Nibbles are just pieces of dried fruit which make up 2 of your 5 a day.  It is available in 2 flavours; Strawberry and Cherries and Mango and Pineapple.






Bear YoYos
The YoYo collection is the most extensive and developed of the snack ranges available at Bear with 6 available flavours. Its just pieces of fruit which are rolled up and are available in multipacks.

Current YoYo Promotion
There current promotion for YoYo multipacks is to find 80 different collectors cards and stickers where you collect a certain amount of barcodes from the packs which can be send off to collect a map and stickers. The first person to collect all of the stickers on the corresponding map can win a prize.

"BEAR wins a very Special Award"
(2013) "BEAR wins a very Special Award" [Internet] 14th June Available from http://www.bearnibbles.co.uk/cave-news (Accessed 7th February 2014)
Recently, the brand won The Grocer 'Food and Drink Brand of the Year 2013' due to their ethos and work towards making healthy food which is tasty and easy to include in everyday life. From this, the company aimed to sell and manufacture 60 million pieces of fruit by the end of 2013.

Information and Images found here: http://www.bearnibbles.co.uk

Other Competitors:

As part of the research, we felt it was important as a collaborative to understand the area we are designing for and how other competitors have reached out to the target audience. Bear has two main areas that it targets through its branding; children and healthy eating. In the area of snacks and cereals, there are a lot of other competitors in this market whose brands are focused on the ideal of providing healthy alternatives to children.

Organix 'Goodies' brand:





Organix 'Goodies' Range
Available from http://www.organix.com/our-baby-toddler-foods?field_ages_taxonomy_tid=92 (Accessed 7th February 2014)
Organix's 'Goodies' brand is targeted at children over the age of 12 months in order to encourage them to snack in a healthier manner. Using organic fruits and multi grains within its foods keeps parents happy whilst the illustrations of other children on the packaging encourages children through peer participation to eat the healthier options.

'Clif Kids Z' brand:

"Cliff Kid Z Products"
Available from http://www.clifbar.com/food/products_clif_kid_zbar/ (Accessed 7th February 2014)
The idea behind the products is to act like an energy food for children with the nutritious element of the food aimed at active kids. The presentation of the brand tries to encourage children to get involved in more activities depicting activities like rock climbing, skateboarding and swinging. The fact that they make a chocolate treat which is nutritionally better for you shows how they don't want to stop kids having treats but just want to give them a healthier version of it.

'The Pack Tunch':
"The Pack Tunch"
Available from http://www.tunchfoods.com/bars/ourbars.asp (Available from 7th February 2014)
The idea behind Pack Tunch is to have a healthy and nutritious snack which is easy to carry around and can be put into a packed lunch or as a afternoon snack. The name 'Tunch' is a mixture of Lunch and Tea ands they come in 3 fruity flavours; Pineapple and Coconut, Apple and Cinnamon and Lemon and Lime. The unusual flavours is more of an advantage as it gives them an individual product and identity within the market. Even though it has quite a childish name, it has a more adult appearance so that it appeals to both audiences.

Nutra Organics 'Superkidz' brand:

"Superkidz Vitamins and Snack Bars"
Based on research findings that childhood obesity is on the rise in Australia, Nutra Organics decided to launch a range of healthier foods for children as well as a range of multivitamins which will encourage getting essential vitamins and minerals into their body.

Wheetabix 'Little Ones':
"Wheetabix Little Ones"
Available from http://www.weetabix.co.uk/products-for/little-ones (Accessed 7th February 2014)
Wheetabix is a traditional cereal which has just made of wheat which are condensed into busks which can be topped with fillings, such as fruit and milk. They are started to appeal to a children's market by adding a chocolate flavour to there tired and trusted cereal and making the portion sizes smaller so that they are easier to break down and eat. The slow release energy and filling breakfast will stop snacking during the middle of the day.

Ella's Kitchen:








"Ella's Kitchen"
Available from https://shop.ellaskitchen.co.uk (Accessed 11th February 2014)
This brand is centred around providing a wide range of organic foods for young children by focusing on their relationship with the food. This is shown by the naming of each product and the childish, illustrative style of the design. The brand focus on producing food without additives so as to prevent bad behaviour which is normally associated with additional additives within processed food.

What has surprised me the most from the research is the lack of healthy cereal alternatives that are directly for children or advertised at children. This shows that this is a very important piece of market which has not been successfully fulfilled and, by becoming a strong contender in this market, it can make for a successful product.

Primary Research:

As a collaborative, we felt that it was important to do some primary research for this brief in the form of trying the product itself out.
In the Supermarket
I had a look at the supermarket and found that the packs themselves were very bold and stood out on the shelf, making maximum visual impact yet the same couldn't be said for the cereals which was very plain due to the white box so it was difficult to spot on the shelf.

Despite this, the most important thing for us was to be able to try the cereal out for ourselves so that we would be able to feel confident on what we are producing work for.


Cereal Box
I managed to find the cereal in a supermarket but it was difficult to find on the shelf as it didn't really stand out from its competitors compared to the snack ranges. The stock used for the box is a nice matt stock which is smooth to the touch, giving the impression of being a high quality brand as it doesn't use cardboard. Also, this makes the information of the cereal box back easy to read due to the flat imagery used. 

Trying the Cereal
We felt that the cereal was ok but wasn't really creatively flavoured and perhaps doesn't promote the facts of healthier tasting better.  Its understandable how the letterform shapes of the cereal would be quite fun for children and it was edible which is always a good thing! What we did like as a collaborative was the ethical and moral intentions behind the brand as well as the fact that by eating it, we were making a conscious choice of picking a healthier option yet we don't know if this will come across with children.

Concept Research:

Based on the crit we had, we came up with an idea of having the BEAR in the logo of the company on the box which can be dressed up into different outfits. 

                                     
"Mr Benn Intro" 
WhosYourBuddy(2006) "Mr Benn Intro" [Youtube] 4th October Available from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVFcIJWe0zE (Accessed 13th February 2014)

This reminded us of the young children's television show Mr Benn, where the premise of the show is about a guy who goes into a shop and dresses up in a particular outfit for the episode, going on an adventure based on the profession. This is particularly highlighted in the opening credits of the show which showcases just some of the many outfits he wears. 

As a collaborative, we liked the way that he effortlessly changed from one outfit to the next, having a new identity whilst keeping himself and his own identity. We wanted this to be available to how we would produce the character, perhaps keeping him the same size and making the outfits to one net so that it is easily swappable or interchangeable.

After this, me and Anna had decided on 5 different character boxes we were going to produce and we decided to split up the research for each character. I got the Fireman, Astronaut and Cook. I need to remember that it needs to be information that is easy to understand and interesting for children so therefore I looked to get the information from specifically child-aimed sources.

Fireman:
  • A firefighter is someone who puts there life in danger to save the lives of other people and building by putting out fires. 
  • Firemen wear flame-resistant protective gear such as a helmet, gloves and jacket to protect themselves from the fire.
  • Firemen use large hoses to put out the fire and will use axes to break down doors and windows to get to people trapped in buildings. 
  • Firemen use to be called the 'Bucket Brigade'
  • Firemen work in a Fire Station where they will get a call saying someone needs help. They will slide down a fireman's pole to get to the fire engine and drive the fire engine to get to the fire. The fire engine is where they keep all of their equipment to battle the fire.

Information found here: Available from http://kinooze.com/2012/10/04/the-firefighters/ (Accessed 14th February 2014)

Astronaut:
  • An astronaut is someone who is trained to go up into space in a spaceship to travel and explore space.
  • The first astronaut to land on the moon was American astronaut, Neil Armstrong
  • He was on the moon for less than 3 hours and the first thing he said on the moon was 'One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind'
  • Astonauts wear suits to make sure that they can breathe in space. It can even be fitted with a jetpack so that you can fly around in space.
  • Astronauts are able to float to move around in space. This is because there is no gravity so they are weightless. 
  • Food and Drink for astronauts are usual freeze-dried so that all they have to do to make a meal is add water. They have to kept contained and stored so that they cannot escape into the aircraft and float everywhere. 

Information found here: Available from http://www.spacekids.co.uk/learn/ (Accessed 14th February 2014)

Cook:
  • Chefs make food for people to eat
  • Chefs will prepare the food before making it
  • They will work in kitchens in restaurants making food for diners
  • Chefs will try and invent new recipes by making new foods 

Information found here: Available from http://www.showandtellideas.com.au/Results/Previews/Preview5_7.html (Accessed 14th February 2014)

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