Our assignment this week told us to do an illustration for a fruit juice package, the product name is Loose Juice, and it has an orange and banana flavor.

Our assignment said to draw up at least 15 scamps in A6 size, with our label ideas. Then we needed to choose one of our sketches and draw the label in Adobe Illustrator, and let me just say: Hello new world of fun! I have been dreaming about different Illustrator techniques and ideas all week, and although I see that it will take a while to master all the things Illustrator can do, at least I have dipped in. All has not been easy, but that is part of the fun when learning something new.

I started out doing a mind map around the name and content of the juice, playing with words and having fun.

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When doodling and sketching, I tried to make different themes for my labels, especially playing off the words I got in my mind map from loose. The one playing out from the hang loose hand move, suddenly popped in my head when going to bed one of the first days, and it were a favorite for a night, until I got it on paper. The orange and banana together should form the hand. When on paper, I got unsure, and worked with more ideas.

After working and testing for hours, over several days actually. At one point while testing, my banana actually looked more like a world map than a banana. Initially I imagined white text on my sliced fruit, but the white dis not work at all. I also found out that a soft, maybe almost handwritten font, would not work. All the round fruit slices, tossed around, needed a bit of structure, and I went with the font Gill Sans MT Ext Condensed Bold. With my white text failing, I tested out different options, in the end I chose this dark red color, which stands out in front of the fruit, but also complement them well. Now I have a label which almost has a little retro look, I think it is my color choices, but I also kinda like it. My label for Loose Juice ended up like this:

The second part of assignment number three, is designing new packaging for rice. The packaging has to be different from what is out there in the market.I will go through the SCAMPER techniques, and choose my favorite option.

S – SUBSTITUTE

• If you walk into any grocery store today, you will find that most of the rice packages are quite similar. Most of them being rectangles made of carton, some are big plastic bags, and some smaller plastic bags. Here we can play with many different materials, we can use paper, plastic, bamboo, wood, silicone, glass or different biodegradable materials.

C – COMBINE

• Plain rice is like a blank piece of paper, you can make almost anything. There are crazy amounts of condiments you can add to your product. And easy as that create a whole range of rice products.
• Choosing the amount of rice for a serving is sometimes hard to determine. A sort of measuring device could be added to the packaging to help with this.
• Combining a bottle and a regular box of rice, would make it both easier to pour and get the amount you want. It can also help the clumsy ones, no rice all over the floor when the package get knocked over.

A – ADAPT

• We could add a small window segment to our rice package, which will help us to see the amount of rice left.
• On a cylinder shaped package, we could add a lid similar to the ones on spices. This would be great in being able to dosage, and close it up afterwards.

M – MODIFY OR MAGNIFY

• Most of the rice packages are often shapes as rectangles. Here we could play with other shapes, such as cylinders, hexagons and triangles. We could also make different sizes for different kinds of customer segments. A huge family often need a larger package, than a single household.
• Depending on which customer group the product is made for, different colors and textures is quite interesting to tinker with. A matte black rice package, might look more exclusive then a glossy black package.

P – PUT TO ANOTHER USE

• Depending on chosen material, the package itself could be used as a flower vase or as a storage box in your home.
• I’ll admit that this Corona lockdown we have in Norway at the moment, where my kids kindergarten is closed, affects my creative thinking, perhaps for the better. The rice itself could be made into different kinds of playing materials. By adding different colors to the rice it could become a crafting material, used for decoration, paintings and a whole lot of fun crafty projects. It can also be used as a sensory toy, just putting it in a box, adding dried peas and such. This will make it quite exiting just to put their hands in, digging, lifting it, perhaps even throwing it up in the air.

E – ELIMINATE

• By using a material that we can use several times, either with refill packs from the store, or a refill dispenser at the store, we could eliminate a whole lot of packaging material.

R – REVERSE OR REARRANGE

• This one is difficult to do without settling for an option on what product to roll with. I think I have made up my mind, inspired by my kids these weeks with Corona lockdown. If I were to reverse or rearrange my idea, I would end up with plain edible rice. Okay, this is my idea:

Like I said, for this one I got the inspiration from my kids. The last two weeks have been about playing around the house, exploring and crafting. We have beaded rainbows, started beading decorations for easter, painted colorful stones for our garden, drawing a lot, and thinking out new crafts for the next weeks. And i suddenly thought: How about a product both fun to eat, and fun to play with? Rice in the color of the rainbow, with natural colors of course. Using the the colors red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet. In our house that would be a huge success! Due to the fun colors, this product is also perfect for crafting and playtime. Let me present my new package, and product: Rainbow rice.

I decided to go for a hexagon shaped box, this is not a very common shape on the shelf. For my font I went for Elephant, I thought it were appropriate fun, and made colored the letters in the color of the rainbow. Also the raindrops shaped as rice grains are in the seven colors of the rainbow. For my background/box color, I wanted something different and also a subtle color, decided on this green. Kinda liked it, and I think it works. Adobe Illustrator is totally new to me, and I had a blast going through the introduction course this week. Can’t wait until I’m not a total newbie anymore.

Our third assignment is in two parts, and I have given each one their one post, to prevent this from ending up being a long text. For the first part we should imagine being given a teaspoon. Then we should apply each one of the SCAMPER techniques to it, before giving a brief explanation of what new product I get out of this assignment, and how it can be marketed.

S – SUBSTITUTE

• Often the preferred material used for spoons is either steel, or silver. Depending on what use is planned for the spoon, could we substitute these materials with bamboo, plastic or even biodegradable material, for single use products.
• It it not necessary to change the material on the whole spoon, only the handle could be changed into a different material.
• A quick way to change a regular spoon, is to add a straw, instead of a regular handle.

C – COMBINE

• We could add a temperature gauge to the handle of the spoon. This could be handy for knowing when a hot soup or drink is cold enough to drink or eat, without burning off the inside of our mouths.
• Combining a teaspoon with a «Vippekopp,» we will get a miniature ladle, this could be quite useful for outdoor experiences.

A – ADAPT

• Our spoon could be adjusted in different ways. We could as an example remove the handle and create an pendant for a necklace or a bracelet.

M – MODIFY OR MAGNIFY

• We could add different color, for different types of spoons. Either to separate different spoon products from each other, or different colors in a set of teaspoons.
• Size could be modified to change the use of a teaspoon, different sized teaspoons, work for different things.

P – PUT TO ANOTHER USE

• By bending a teaspoon, we could easy turn it into a unique bracelet.
• A spoon could look like a little shovel, so it could be used for digging small holes.
• In the late 90’s hair sticks (chopsticks) were used to decorate and hold hairstyles at place. If our spoon have a long handle, maybe spoons could be a fun way to decorate hair.
• Teaspoons could serve as drumsticks when in a rush to get musical equipment.

E – ELIMINATE

• If we use old spoons for our product, we could save a lot of waste. And also save resources comparing to creating new spoons.
• When creating something different than a spoon, we could eliminate the spoon as a spoon.

R – REVERSE OR REARRANGE

• Depending on what option chosen for the spoon, we could flip it a whole set of ways. Writing this last segment, I got an idea I want to roll with for my final product. So before I take you through my product, just let me say: if I don’t to any changes, I will have a nice spoon.

While doing this brainstorming session by myself, and playing around with a lot of ideas. I thought: I’ll do this. No, this. Wait! This! And as I wrote the last line, I was thinking about making bracelets or pendants, leaning more towards a pendant. I would then end up with a whole lot of unused spoon handles. Now that reuse and zero waste is a thing, this would be bad. I could of course melt them into new pendants, this would demand more resources, pollution and is more time consuming. So I thought, by making the handle into a hair clip and/or a brooch, I would get two/three products from one, and minimal will go to waste. The pendant and hair clip/brooch would be sold as a set, or as single items. Also offering custom work by letting customers deliver their own teaspoons. The pendants and hair clips/brooch, could be decorated with rhinestones, photos of the customers loved ones, dried flowers from nature, have initials embossed on it. I would do my marketing towards both men and women, maybe most towards women. But everyone likes to dress up, so equality for all. This could be marketed towards people with teaspoons they perhaps have inherited, that they would not use as spoons. But who still want to keep the memories connected to it, not having it just laying around as drawer filling.

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Assignment number two this week were researching the history of McDonalds and explaining which part of the SCAMPER method are evident for their success.

First things first, for those who may not know, what on earth is SCAMPER? SCAMPER is an helpful way in order of creating fun, creative and new things. SCAMPER is a mnemonic, and stands for:

• S – SUBSTITUTE
• C – COMBINE
• A – ADAPT
• M – MODIFY OR MAGNIFY
• P – PUT TO ANOTHER USE
• E – ELIMINATE
• R – REVERSE OR REARRANGE

S – SUBSTITUTE

• McDonalds started out as a small restaurant, selling slow cooked barbeque from a large menu in 1940. After world war 2, they discovered that their best selling product, actually were hamburgers. In 1948 they decided to streamline their operations and introduce their Speedee Service System, featuring 15 cent hamburgers. They substituted their barbeque restaurant, which had a drive in feature, with a self-service, drive in restaurant, with a menu that only contained nine items. This allowed them to focus on the quality of their products, and quick service.
• At McDonalds they do not offer set tables or, food served on fine porcelain plates. Here you get food ready to eat, or take out on the go, in paperwrapping or boxes. The last couple of years with sustainability finally on the rise again, they have started substituting their packaging. One of the items substituted in the name of sustainability is their straws, which now is made of paper.
• Self-service in their restaurants has now got self-checkout options, where customers can put in their own orders, instead of waiting in line for one of the cashiers to be available. They have substituted the ordering process inside their restaurants, at least for customers paying by card.

C – COMBINE

• At McDonalds they combine the sit down experience of a restaurant, with takeout either by ordering in the restaurant, or ordering in their drive through.
• We could also say McDonalds have played well with the combination game when looking at their menu. Take Filet-o-fish as an example, this is a fish product, combined with hamburgers. Or Happy meal, toys and hamburgers combined into an awesome meal/playtime for the children, and playful adults.

A – ADAPT

• McDonalds have shown that they are very good at adapting to customer demands and wishes, sometimes their attempts are met with rage from customers. The paper straws mentioned earlier, has made people loose their mind in social media. Many customers have been asking for more sustainability in their packaging, but apparently not when it comes to their straws. How McDonalds will adapt to this in the future, only time will tell.
• Also they are adapting an increase in customers asking for vegetarian products, now offering several vegetarian alternatives to meat in their menues.
• Over the years a lot of people have wished for a McDonalds delivery service here in Norway, and since 2018 they have been cooperating with Foodora to satisfy their customers hanging out at home, craving a hamburger.

M – MODIFY OR MAGNIFY

• For as long as I can remember, there has always been possible to modify, or change your order when ordering at McDonalds. Either you want something extra on your hamburger, or something removed. You can also add on extra items, and increase the size of your chosen menu. Adding the self-service checkout screens, makes it even easier. Here customers can play and explore possibilities for their eating experience at McDonalds.
• They continuously keep adding or evolving their menu, to keep customers intrigued and happy.

P – PUT TO ANOTHER USE

• The restaurant is not just a place to sit down and eat. For the wifi enthusiasts out there, they offer free wifi, with all the adventurous options free access to internet can bring.
• For the kids, going to McDonalds can be almost like going to the playground, the restaurants normally have a small miniature park or play area, great for kids to explore and play.

E – ELIMINATE

• By being a self-service restaurant, they have eliminated the need for waiters. And by adding sorting system for trash, and communicating thanks to customers who clean up after themselves, they also can keep the cleanup crew to a minimum. Their assembly line production of their products, also saves time and costs for the restaurants.
• Keeping a small menu, and continuously eliminating products that has a low turn around, allows McDonalds to save costs by having a reasonable amount of resources in stock.

R – REVERSE OR REARRANGE

• When customers pay in advance for their food, they are free to leave as soon as they have eaten their food. This can clear tables much faster then if customers have to sit around waiting to pay for their meal.

Resources:

https://www.history.com/news/how-mcdonalds-became-fast-food-giant

https://www.mcdonalds.com/no/nb-no/meny/vegetar.html

https://www.mcdonalds.com/no/nb-no/maten-vaar/baerekraft.html

https://www.mcdonalds.com/no/nb-no/hos-oss.html

https://www.dagbladet.no/mat/mcdelivery-na-far-du-mcdonalds-pa-dora/70488635

https://www.history.com/news/how-mcdonalds-became-fast-food-giant

https://www.mcdonalds.com/us/en-us/about-us/our-history.html

https://corporate.mcdonalds.com/corpmcd/about-us/history.html

This week, we got four different learning assignments. The first one is about puzzles and fun, wondering and searching for different solutions.

The fun with puzzles is that they sometimes have different answers, who all can be correct. Here are some potential answers and fun with possibilities.

Puzzle 1: A man is replacing a wheel on his car, when he accidentally drops the four nuts used to hold the wheel on the car. They fall into a deep drain, irretrievably lost. A passing girl, offers him a solution that enables him to drive home. What is it?

• The girl could be riding bicycle or perhaps a car. She offers him to borrow her selected ride, which enables him to drive home.
• She could be an awesome girl, that has the tools available, and the car that could enable her to tow the mans car home. If the man sits in the car, he is technically driving his car home.
• Since the girl is passing, maybe she is out in a stroll in her neighbourhood? She happens to have a 3d printer at home, and her offer is to print new nuts for the wheel.
• The solution offered by the girl, is the possibility of borrowing one nut from the other three wheels. He will then have three nuts in each wheel, and will be able to slowly drive home.

Puzzle 2: Two Russians walk down a street in Moscow. One Russian is the father of the other Russian’s son. How are they related?

• The son can be a product from a long-term relationship, or short term relationship, most likely between a man and a woman, but they can also be a man and a man. We do not know the gender of both Russians, and then we have many possibilities for relations.
• The other Russian is a woman, and the father happens to be her anonymous sperm-donor. Or he could be known, and might be a friend of the family.
• They have adopted the son together.
• One of the Russians have adopted the other Russian’s son, which could still make the other Russian a father, depending on gender.

Puzzle 3 : What occurs once in June, once in July and twice in August?

• As a real Vestlending, living right outside of Bergen. Yes, the place where it almost always rains. I would have to say: Sunny summer days! If we’re lucky that is.
• We can find the letter U once in June and July, and twice in August.

Puzzle 4: Six drinking glasses stand in a row, with the first three full of water and the next three empty. By handling and moving only one glass at a time, how can you arrange the six glasses so that no full glass stands next to another full glass, and no empty glass stands next to another empty glass? What is the minimum number of moves to solve this puzzle?

• The minimum number of moves is one:

One of our mandatory assignments this week is presenting our work schedule for the next two semesters. Here is my take on a work schedule for part time students starting March 2020.

This assignment was about creating a map over Moodle, which is our web based campus. We have everything here, contact with co-students and tutors via the forum, we get and deliver our mandatory assignments here and the learning assignments for our current module is posted here, to mention some. When I started sketching up ideas for this assignment, I was not really sure how to grasp onto this assignment. Moodle is so much, and can be anything you like or need. When I had sketched for a while, the crazy knitting lady in me woke up.

I started to think about Moodle as an knitting environment. About knitting itself, the work I would put into knitting something for myself, and how the project may start out as something and end up as something else at the end. Let me walk you through, after seeing my Moodle map.

The dresser in the background with all the drawers represent the knowledge and possibilities out there when working and studying together with my fellow students and tutors. The ball of yarn being knitted, as well as the ones hiding in the drawer is current assignments and knowledge available at the moment to use. There is a knitting recipe available that also can represent the assignments, but for me this represents the plan for the whole graphic design study. My knitting project as you can read from the recipe is a sweater. This knitting project on the other hand, is dreaming about the possibilities beyond being av sweater. Maybe it will be a pair of embroidered mittens, or a hat, or a top, the possibilities if one just dream and do the work is endless.

To look closer at the knitting project itself, the trained knitting eye will see that I have dropped a stitch. The stitches in this piece represents the work I have to put in. Some stitches will be easy and straight forward, some will be purled and a bit more tricky to get hold of in the beginning. The dropped stitch represent lack of effort, if I don’t do the work, I will get a sweater filled with holes at the end of my education.

So for now, I’m looking forward to the sweater in the end of the study, but who knows, maybe it is a pair of pants or a dress that is waiting in the end. Can’t wait to find out!

Once upon a time in 1986 a fierce little girl was born in Os, Hordaland. You may not have heard of this magical place, since then it has changed name into Bjørnafjorden, Vestland. Me, the little girl, still fierce, have not, and this is a little intro to how I ended up here.

For the other JTI nerds out there, I’m Silje, an outgoing introvert with all the fun and challenges that comes with. Meeting people and working along with them is great, but in the end, I need my alone time to charge and reset. I’ll skip the full depth analysis of my profile and preferences, might share more at another time if relevant.

I’m the kind of creative person who will paper mache a bell bottom leg for a pair of tights, or make a dress out of sticks and ribbons, just to see if it works. (Yes, I have done both. It worked.)

You can call me quite impulsive, I applied for the graphic design studies the day after it started, and in just two days, I added part time online studies to an already busy life. At day I work in retail, groceries to be exact, at night I am a crazy knitting lady.

I live in a house from the 70s, with my boyfriend, our two awesome girls and a lazy cat. We surround ourselves with colorful walls, homemade decoration and our different renovation projects.

In the past I have some creative studies, and some not so creative studies. In high school I went to a line called Design and Textile, where some of our main subjects were drawing, designing and sewing . Then I went on to studies in retail management., not so creative, but I still learned a lot of great things. My job in a busy supermarket is great fun and often challenging, there is always something new to learn, I just need a bit more creative stuff in my life, and I look forward to be challenged by these graphic design studies.

At one point I think I have tried almost every craft there is out there, except crochet. But one day, I will try that to. I just love all things crafty and creative. Me and my oldest daughter often try out different crafts together, it is an great thing to share with others.

My latest rediscovered obsession is Hama beads, and I just finished a huge Darth Vader mask made with beads. Not quite happy about his background yet, but he is hanging on the wall of our hallway while I figure out what to do with him. I always postpone finishing up projects, because there is always new ideas and better methods to be discovered. Over the years, I’ve learned to force myself to set an end to projects, but I still like to take my time and try different methods and think things through.

As an example, here is part of my process of making my self portrait:

This is midway in the process of choosing my self portrait. I drew myself in profile, and worked in different directions from this. One of the things I tried, was turning myself into an cameo brooch inspired picture.

This still did not feel quite right for a self portrait, and I continued thinking for a while. After a while I thought about how I used to make sketches for a while back in high school. So here is me, many fine lines later:

Graphic design studies can and will open many cool doors for the future, which one I would like to enter is yet to be discovered. I will use my studies to evolve and be as creative as a sleep deprived mom can be. As I mentioned before, I’m the impulsive type, and have not yet found out what grown up Silje shall do for a living. 33 years old is not grown up, is it?