Mailshots. What a brief..

After the annoyance of the previous impact poster brief where the brief was met but not allowed (not allowed black and white) I was kinda determined to make something out of the next brief.. and it was well good! mailshots, having to produce, 10 identical mailshots based on the previous work from the 'no news' briefs.. as mine was based around plastic bags and recycling. I lead off with that as a basis.. From the work ive previously done, I found that people on average use 300 plastic bags per year so that was a good starting point to go from. My original idea was to send old plastic bags in envelopes to people to encourage people to reuse them.. but you dont tend to see anybody re-using carrier bags unfortunately, because of how they look, and the designs placed upon them. Then i thought about making new bags to go inside envelopes for people to use..

But why couldn't the bag be the envelope? some sort of folding bag out of the net of the closed envelope.. based around an original net of a carrier bag and adjusting the dimensions, I formed (actually quite quickly) a net to fit within the bag.. It wasn't perfect but it worked. i guess all the best ideas are the simple ones that come quite easily. After adjusting the idea (as you'll see on the images) reducing the height on the top so it folds flatter, and making it from a single sheet of sugar paper.

After the idea, the name and branding came quite quickly 'Postbag' a bag from the post that you can re use.. My target audience was for students, so the the type, and potential imagery was all based around them. I think its time for some pictures now to actually show what im on about.

The closed article, looks like a normal envelope right? no need to apply many graphics to the outside, just to the address the same as the inside and just keep it normal everywhere else.

the graphics on the outside of the bag, screenprint'd that look really nice I have to admit, after the sugar paper, screen and colour it came to £1.60 for enough for 15 postbags, amazing! Definitely screenprintin' again for another brief, the results look really good. 

The front (and as it would for different editions for different target audiences) shows different items that students would usually buy (stereotypes, but it doesn't matter) in quite an organised form.

The left side shows typography that promotes the bag, encourages people to use it and recycle.
The right side has an address as the main logo for postbag 'concerning everyone, everywhere, US3 1NW' or 'use one now'

I got some really good feedback from the final crit, with only really the material used to highlight. As the research shows, purely to fullfill the brief, I used sugar paper but with more time, development, and money, the bag would of been produced with a canvas material used. Also would be colour, we were allowed 2 colours and stock, but if im honest, i didnt think about it too much on the time frame, just green to instantly give a 'recycled, natural feel.'