Progress?

So, we kind of had to restart.  Our group just could not get on the same page with everything, and we seemed a little all over the place.  So we re-vamped, and decided we didn't want to totally ditch all of the research that we had already put into our Mad Men idea.  Because of this, we chose to focus on Jackie O.  We have now come up with: "Jackie O my gosh" -- a line of lipsticks that bring the glamour back into the modern woman.

Jackie O wears pearls, and pillbox hats, and is (in a word) glamorous.  We wanted to emulate that glamour in our design of our building.  We are creating a space that is very personalized.  When a customer walks in to look at our product, he or she can sit down on a puff in the shape of a pillbox hat and stare into the vanity mirror that is before him or her.  The vanity will be personalized to seem like it was Jackie O's own vanity.  It will have gloves strewn across it and her famous sunglasses laying on top.

In the other corners there will be the display of the boxes.  It will be in the same shape as the vanity, only on top of the desk will be shelves covered in pearls and will display the boxes of lipsticks.
Here is the display case:

Then we also have built the check out counter, which follows the same circular pattern that we have going throughout our store:

I must say, I like our idea.  I do.  I am just beyond frustrated because I feel like we are missing something.  Then again, I've been staring at these ideas for far too long to have any realistic grasp on how it functions as a whole. 

I found a quote that reads as follows:

"After finishing a design you take a step back and a little voice pops in your head and says, 'Wow. You should really just quit while you're ahead.' Don't ever listen to that voice. Ever." (found: http://quotesondesign.com/brittany-grabowski/)

I really hope Brittany Grabowski was right when she said that.  Because I am at the point where that little voice is telling me to give up.

But deep down I know that it's just there because I am tired and so looking forward to Thanksgiving break.  Hopefully after a few days break from this project I'll come back to it with a new, more positive attitude.

Then again... if we're being honest here... I know I'm not really going to take a break from it over the few days off that I have.  Oh well

"...get seduced into wearing lipstick again..." -- Peter Philips, creator of Rouge Coco

I am actually unbelievably excited about this upcoming project.  It will be SO nice not to have to deal with any more peacock feathers... I am SO sick of peacock feathers.

Since this is a group project, we decided to go in a new direction from what we had previously done on individual levels, while still bringing a little bit in from each project.  Gianna had done MAC lipstick for her previous projects and Greg had used the idea of lipstick for his as well, so we decided to use lipstick as our product because they were both comfortable with the idea, and I have exhausted all of my resources when it comes to eyeshadow.

Going off this idea of lipstick, specifically MAC lipstick, we came to note that MAC always has a theme to their new lines and their theme often comes from some aspect of pop culture.  MAC has used Barbie, Hello Kitty, Disney Villains, etc. as their muses for their products.  Playing off of this, we brainstormed until we came up with the hit AMC TV show Mad Men.  How perfect!  Mad Men + MAC = MAC MEN.  Duh!

Considering I had never seen an episode of Mad Men when we decided this (I have now seen one -- and plan on seeing many more, both for research and entertainment purposes), brainstorming how this would work took a little research.  We soon decided to use the three main female characters as our muses: Peggy, the woman striving to get ahead in the work place, Joan, the voluptuous vixen secretary of the office, and Betty, the beautiful, coifed, blonde housewife.

We have officially decided that each woman will receive three shades of lipstick for her character, creating nine new MAC shades in total.  Peggy will have three beautiful neutrals, Joan will have the sexy reds, and Betty will have the sweet and pretty pinks.  It fits perfectly.

For packaging, we have designed that each woman will have a box, all three designed the same.  Each will be covered in its own print that reflects the personality of the woman.  Her name will be on the front, and on the upper interior of the flap when opened, there will be a quote from each of the women.

Peggy: "Here's your basket of kisses"
Joan: "No dull moments or dull men tolerated"
Betty: "Honestly - I think she's jealous of me"

Our task for this weekend was for each of us to come up with ideas for display and the store as a whole. So far, I have an idea for display.. still working on the store as a whole.

My idea for display involves each woman having her own section of the store.  Peggy's section will look like an office -- preferably much like the one used on set.  There will be a desk and on it will be small, personal items clearly belonging to Peggy that she might have left on her desk, but also the three shades of lipstick out, with mirrors, testers, wipes to remove, and a trash can.  Inside the drawers (which will have some indication to "Open") will be the three lipsticks packaged together as a set.  A customer can simply open Peggy's desk drawer and take out the product in order to purchase it.

Betty's "set" will be a kitchen.  I have sketched a mock-up of what it could look like -- although this is not the kitchen from the set when the character lived with her husband Don:

Her kitchen will also have mirrors, testers, etc. and there will be drawers that open so that the product may be taken.

I am struggling with what to use for Joan.  She goes out to clubs and bars often in the show, so perhaps a bar counter?  She is also fairly promiscuous, so perhaps a bedroom?  I am not sure, I want to do some more research on her character before deciding...

In the center of the room, however, I want a general display that brings all three women's packaged lipsticks together.  To do this, I want to create a display that would sit on a table.  It would be comprised of small TVs designed to look like they are from the late 50s/ early 60s era haphazardly stacked together in a mod 60s fashion.  

Each screen will play various scenes all involving the three women.  Dispersed throughout these TVs -- between the legs of the set and on top would be the packaged boxes.  This way all of the themes are incorporated.  The idea of Mad Men being a TV show, the idea of the three women all being from this era, yet very different, and the idea of times changing.  This last concept is shown through the art of the TVs all being stacked in a pop art/ modern art fashion.

The important thing to remember about this time period is that it was a crucial moment in time for women coming into their own independence.  Change for women was apparent and some embraced these changes and some seemed to ignore these changes.  There were those who chose to do as their mothers did and remain at home and raise children and cook for their husbands and be a care-taker.  This is the Betty character.  There were those women who embraced their sexuality and pushed the limits to see how far they could go with it.  This is the Joan character.  And then there were those women who took full advantage of the women's liberation movement and strove tirelessly to get ahead in the work place and become something for themselves.  This is the Peggy character. 

I hope that through this display we can bring about these three distinct characteristics by designing a space that not only sells a beautiful product, but also allows the customer to get to know the Mad Men women even without having to see them in their television show.

04. display

I promise, everything worked out a-okay.  I was freaking out because of my technical difficulties with my feathers, but in the end it all worked out.  As it always seems to do.

I should note that cutting the bird out took FOREVER.  My fingers still have cuts in them from pushing too hard.  But it was absolutely worth it -- the thing I am most proud of is the quality of the lines I cut and how well the outline turned out.

I decided that rather than having every eye covered in a peacock feather, they would be placed sporadically throughout the bird.  The eyes without the peacock feather would be the shelves.  I made these wide enough so that they would hold at least two boxes.  This way, sales persons would not have to replace boxes constantly.  Also, having some permanent feathers allows for the same effect of the peacock, even if all the boxes had been bought and no one had come to replace them yet.

As shown here I made small eyeshadow cases that fit perfectly into my shelves.  As aforementioned, two or more boxes could fit on the shelf.

The peacock's body was done in a blue glitter paint that I mixed myself.  I bought Gold Mica and mixed it in with a blue acrylic that I had.  Once that dried I rendered the body in the Gold Mica.  I wanted the body to be metallic without being too overwhelming.  The reason I was set on the body being metallic is because a peacock feather has a metallic tint to it, and the eyeshadow I put in my packaging also had a shimmery quality and I wanted that reflected in the body of the bird.