For these Crits, we had to show what we had done on briefs so far this semester. We were given sheets where we were to write down three questions that we had for each project so far so that we could get focused feedback on the areas that we need help with.
So far, the briefs I have done this semester are DBA and YCN (apart from the design boards) and I have worked on my Kitty Collateral brief and my Luxury Chocolate Collaborative brief. As I have already finished those other briefs, I didn't feel that it was necessary to get feedback on those so I focused on writing questions on my Kitty Collateral brief and my Luxury Chocolate Collaborative briefs.
Questions for my Briefs
After an hour, we met back up and had to present the work that we had done before asking the questions that we had and getting feedback on them.
Presented Book for YCN
To show that I had done some physical work, I presented my YCN storybook showing all of the pages and talking about the concept and the content of the book. I got great feedback in regards to the amount of work that I had put into the book and how it was clear that I had put a lot of thought into the book as I had come up with all the content as well as the visuals and how it works in regards to answering the brief.
Even though I didn't want any feedback, I stated that I hadn't done the design boards yet for the submission and this is what I was working on today having been working on the photography. I was given great feedback in regards to what I should include within my boards and should talk about on my blog. I should show the character development and how I have come to the stage I have and why I chose these particular characters and representations. Alongside this, the narrative is the unique selling point of the product and should be reinforced, particularly the synecdoche within the story and its relevance.
One fantastic suggestion I was also given was to apply my book to an iPad if I had the time so that you would be able to see it in a digital realm and allow it to reach a larger audience range. I knew straight away that this would give a more integrated product and be able to use the story on many platforms.
Display of Kitty Collateral Brief
Next, I went onto talking about my Kitty Collateral Brief and I had three questions that I wanted answering.
I wanted to know about my font choices and their relevance, ect. The comment I got back was quite unnerving as there was mis-understanding of my brand name due to the font with the name all in capitals. I am going to have to think about how I can address this problem.
I asked about the time restrictions that we have at the moment and whether I should continue with wanting to make all the products or should I mock the project up. I was given positive feedback ascertaining to both but ultimately, after the discussion, it was decided that I should continue to make stuff but I should be selective as to what I choose to produce and what I can mock up.
Finally, I wanted to talk about the idea of producing a web proposal for the brief as this would add to my portfolio through the feedback that I had been getting as well as handing itself to the subject matter. I was told that I shouldn't try and code a website (which was never my intention int he first place) and that I shouldn't worry about it but if I have the time I should show a proposal for a web site.
Display of Collaborative
Lastly, I had some questions about my collaborative work with Emily as we so far have determined the visual identity for the brand but I wanted to get some feedback on the decisions that we had to make.
Saying that, I didn't have a lot of time left to speak about it so I only asked the first question which was about which colour foiling would be best for the colour scheme. Emily and I had been torn between silver and gold and the feedback I got was to go for gold based on the tone working with the brown and cream scheme better.
I will be working from this straight away and taking a lot of this feedback on board as I felt that it was quality and constructive thoughts that can push my work further.
For the collaborative project that I am doing with Emily, we have decided to work on producing a chocolate brand together.
Last year, I actually did a brief on Chocolate where I gathered a large amount of information on the subject, learning all about its production and origin as well as the historical aspects of how it came to England (See Research Blog Post Here), with a lot of the information coming from a visit to York's Chocolate Story attraction.
To start with, we looked at the research that I had done and found what interested us the most, which was the original origins of chocolate. We knew that we wanted a brand that would be authentic and true to the roots of the product so we wanted to hold onto that.
Alexander Szogyi talks about the translation of Mayan hieroglyphs in his book 'Chocolate: Food of the Gods' and how it was used as writing words phonetically. An example of this being the Mayan hieroglyph for Chocolate.
From the heiroglyphic writing that we can translate, this diagram explains the breakdown the the glyph as to how it got the word Kakawa. The gylph shows a being eating at the inside of a cocoa bean.
Originally, chocolate was used to make a frothy bitter drink that would be mixed with spices and drunk under the belief that it would provide healing powers and strength. This particular mixture was known as 'xocoatl' which is the first connection into how our language came to originate the word for chocolate. Whilst the beans would be used to make a drink, the seeds would be used as currency, similar to that of gold as they had a high amount of value.
The way that this drink was made can be linked to chocolate extracts found in pottery, where the drink would be fermented and brewed. The drink itself was associated with fertility and ritual, soon becoming a luxury item to the Mayans and would be presented as a drink for the ruler. The Mayans even had a God, Ykchaua, who served as the patron of cocoa merchants.
Chocolate itself became part of military rations as it was seen as a sustenance that kept the warriors on the march. Montezuma the Second would keep a huge supply in storage and would drink up to 50 goblets a day. It was recorded that the drink was seen as the healthiest drink to ingest as those who drunk it would be able to go a whole day without eating anything else no matter how far they marched. So convinced of how much this helped the army, it became a decree that only men who went to war could ingest cocoa which caused an increase in the amount of noblemen, royal, merchants and warriors wanting to fight.
Ek Chuah, the merchant god, was closely linked with cocoa and cocoa fruits were used at festivals in his honour.Cacao was so important that it was regularly used as an offering to give to the Gods. Usually, this would be for rituals such as birth, marriage or death but, in the book 'The Chocolate Connoisseur' by Chloe Doutre-Royssel, she describes how victims of sacrificial ritual for the Gods would be given a gourd of chocolate tinged with the blood of previous victims before they would be sacrificed. The connection between blood and chocolate was apparent, with them both being seen as sacred liquids and the bean being used to symbolise the human heart.
After the Mayans, the Aztecs discovered the greatness of the bean and began cultivating and regulating the beans, with 800,000 groves of beans annually being turned over, with merchants sending them to great markets, appointed and regulated by Aztec nobility. This was due to the fact that the dry climate wouldn't allow them to grow their own beans, so beans became a form of trade or taxation.
It was helpful to build up on the knowledge I already had so that we are able to make these connections through our visual identity for the chocolate brand.
In regards to design inspiration, for the first meet up as a collaborative, we decided to have our first meeting with a book each of different design inspirations showcasing elements that we feel we would like to incorporate within our own chocolate brand. The reason for doing this would be so that we could see what styles we both liked and the direction we wanted to take the brand identity in.
This was to be split up into Range, Packaging, Brand Identity, Presentation and Luxury.
I felt that my book had a clear sense of the type of work that I like and the direction of which I feel we should go with the brief, in particular the way in which we can try and produce a luxury feel to the products and how we can push the brand range as far as it can go.
This was helpful so that we would be able to work out what style of work we want to produce and how we would be able to work together to produce something that we would both be happy with.
In regards to production, there was a new documentary that was shown on the BBC at the time that we had already begun work on this brief yet I felt would be very relevant to watch anyway because, at this point, we hadn't started working on the packaging and products yet. From the origins and original use of the cocoa bean, it was nice to compare the consumption and approach to chocolate making as it is now.
I decided to take some notes and screenshots while I was watching the documentary so that I would be able to use it for reference.
Beginning of the Chocolate Process
266 bars of chocolate a year per person
7 million bars made every day
120 tons of beans per day delivered
90% of British chocolate comes from cocoa beans in the Ivory Coast in West Africa
Main harvest in March before being left to dry out for 7 days and shipped to the UK
Beans are cleaned and are separated from rubbish
Beans are de-shelled by being crushed away from the nib
Clean ones are put into three ovens and roasted
Fed into a food processor which turns them into liquor
Fat comes out of the nib to make it liquor
8 tons of liquor is turned from bitter to sweet by mixing into the ingredients
Turns into a cocoa powder and is blended in a conch for 7/8 hours
Chocolate Aroma Extraction
Ashley Stewart studying phD in chocolate- aroma is why we love chocolate
Holding nose whilst eating chocolate, get nothing
Not holding nose whilst eating chocolate, taste hits you
Chocolate is made up of 100s of different smells- separate using an olfactometer
Mixture of sweet with disgusting smell molecules
A chocolate makers job is to release all the different smells all at once
Different Chocolate Recipes
After conching, the chocolate is put into vats to be ready to pour
In the factory they make 16 different chocolate recipes for different chocolate bars
Different types of chocolate do not work on different bars
As consumers we expect a certain chocolate flavour to be on a certain bar
Each chocolate recipe is tailor made to work for the chocolate bar it becomes
Making a Variety Box of Chocolate
How does this apply to a box of varieties?
Thortons produce 25million boxes every year
To make a vanilla fudge, chocolate fudge is heated up and is hand threat through a machine
Then chocolates are sliced in half and added in.
They do 62 rows a minute at 5,500 chocolates an hour and up to 25 million a week
Enrobing the chocolate by drizzling rather than coating
Chocolate is tempered at 45 degrees, cooled to 35 and heated back up again to get the right crystal structure
Conveyer belt vibrates to shake off excess chocolate
The truffles are hand decorated without machines
Chocolates are put into boxes by machines
Making Wafers
Wafers are made in the same factory as chocolate using a batter mix
Batter is then piped before it is baked in carriers
Fed into a cooling rack to make them crispy then filling is spread over the top
Then wafers are put on top of each other before being stacked and cut into blocks
History of British Chocolate
1930's was the Italian renaissance equivalent for chocolate explosion
Originally was a luxury item or for the wealthy
Manufacturing costs went down so 90% of the population could now buy chocolate
Chocolate became available to the mass market- started with Mars
American invention of the combination chocolate bar rather than the normal plain chocolate
English chocolatiers responded- 'The Chocolate Wars'
Couldn't rely on just packaging and needed imaginative advertising
In 1930, average consumptions per week was 4oz. End of 1930, it had doubled
Putting the Chocolate Bar Together
Finally, all the chocolate bar components are put together
Chocolate is put into a mould with an indentation of the brand
Wafers are cut size and put in the mould before chocolate is spread on top
Moulds are twisted at both ends to empty the bars from the mould
Making Easter Eggs Hollow
Easter is the second biggest time for chocolate sales
Begins with a mould with chocolate squirted in one half before decoration is added
Other half of the mould is added before putting into a spinner
Moved continuously to make it hollow and even
Quality Control
The chocolate bar is put under quality control before it is wrapped up and packaged
Imperfect bars are reused to make the fillings for the wafers
Working in the Factories
Old Rowntrees factory in York
At the time it was a good factory for workers and benefits
Due to being quakers, they were expected to produce unadulterated chocolate
The factory was designed for the best working conditions of the staff
Women would decorated by hand whereas men would be taking sacks of the finished product to railways
Packaging and Wrapping the Chocolate
27 feet of paper wrapping is used every second
Boxes are packed by hand before being send away for distribution
Emotional Connection and Flavours
British chocolate connects us to nostalgia and reminiscence
Links us to happiness and fulfilment- emotive connection
Chocolate from other continents is tailored to the palettes of that country.
Even though milk chocolate is made from cocoa sugar and milk, the proportions vary from place of origin- Swiss is milky and creamy whereas American is distinctive in flavour
Distribution of Chocolate
Chocolate is kept in a huge warehouse the size of 2 football pitches
Self controlled building that controls everything with no human input
It takes one week to get through the entire stock in the building
This documentary was useful as it has given me some ideas about where we should go with flavours by making them unconventional as well as how we should present the chocolate, in regards to paying homage to the original packaging styles of chocolate and the presentation of the chocolate itself, whether we include a variety box or an easter egg within the collection we want to produce.
