Information Graphics

How to Buy an Engagement Ring

"You drag your man around approx 5 shops trying on as many styles as possible! Only to find the one when you are least expecting it walking past a shop after feeling like its not been a great experience. Paul and i went in to try it and as soon as i put it on we both knew there was no other ring for me/us! And so although i knew the setting i didn't know the size of the diamond as the one i tried was much smaller so it was an amazing surprise to finally see it!'
Sophie Baggot 
engaged 05 Dec 2010

"I never had an engagement ring originally because we didn't have any money. I did get an eternity ring after 10 years and 4 kids. We went to the jewerelly shop and asked what diamond could be bought with the insurance money from the burgery, they showed us what was available and we chose together."
Mr and Mrs Hoefkens
28 odd years ago

"Ok, i went around a few shops and got some ideas about what i wanted and what i thought Michelle would like. Then i went on one afternoon and sat in the shop for two hours asking questions about clarity, colour, cuts of diamonds, settings, which metal to have. Then we got a few out and it was between two, then i got a woman with similar fingers to Michelle's and she tried them on and that made my mind up. I had to then pick a size for her, as she has small fingers, it was pretty much a fluke but i got it spot on and it fits perfectly. I measured her finger aganist my little finger whilst she was sleeping. Worked a treat!!'
Ladis Hoefkens
engaged 26 Nov 2011 (ironic timing)

"I'm getting engaged in four weeks. I'm buying a pendant and a necklace instead, keeping the wedding on the low so her mother doesn't find out and expect an invite."
David Gaskell
soon to be


"Choosing the ring was all in all a pleasant and pretty painless experience. I went with my future best man for moral support and added gay banter with the clerks! Looked at a few shops, took advice from the diamond experts... knew I wanted a platinum diamond ring that wasn't going to drown lizs little fingers... knew I'd found the one straight away... rob took a picture of me looking at it and said my eyes lit up"
Adam Madeley
engaged 25 Dec 2010

Proverbially Yours// Message and Delivery

Using two images i found off google images i altered my mailing list by adding a red ribboned bow across the corner as i thought the mailing list was a bit plain before. I feel it now connects more with my mail shot.

image 1

image 2

silhouette of images 

ribbon 1

ribbon 2

 I decided that ribbon 1 looked more like a bow and therefore decided to use that one as it didn't need a white outline.

I moved the header up into the bow and changed the text to nice/naughty instead of good and bad as its more traditionally known this way 

i descaled the holly in the bottom right as it didn't show the berries when on top of the ribbon

i moved the underling of naughty to line up with the underling of nice 

i decided to get rid of the holly in the bottom right as it looked to busy and signed it from santa instead which i feel fills the space accurately and isn't to fussy.

Proverbially Yours// Message and Delivery

I chose parcel tags to put the address on for the mail shot as i felt it incorporated well into my theme of santa and presents and wasn't the usual labelling of a mail shot. 

I decided to not go with the type i'd been using so far as it wrote the post code different and i didn't think this would be clear for the post office:

Therefore i changed the font to a curly italic font which still tied into the theme but was legible to be posted.

printed

cut out

I printed out the insert letters to the size of the fold out and ripped the edges slightly to look more authentic.

I then compared flat and crumpled to see which would work better and decided that crumpled gave a good effect for a child's list to santa.

 Net printed:

cutting out:

folded:

mock up of finishing touches - ribbon, bell (before spray paint) and address tag:

 Final 5 mail shots:

Mailing List:

I chose to incorporate the holly symbol in my mailing list as i thought it would be best for a decorative feature of a naughty and nice santa list.

I wanted to change it from the one i'd already used for the outer packing and therefore decided to make the lines texts of the proverb, 'variety' for the leaves and 'spice' for the berries.

chalkduster

zapfino

I tried the the font i chosen for the child's letter first (chalkduster) but reconsidered and tried a font that would more likely be of Santa. I chose 'zapfino' as it was italic, curly and looked handwritten. This i think looked alot more effective.

printed to see how it worked visually

I then created my mailing list using my addresses for big department store head offices in the form of a Santa's good and bad list.

printed

I separated the the address with little candy canes as i think it was a nice touch to add a bit colour as well as separate them to be more distinct from one another.

Crit Results:

Proverbially Yours// Message and Delivery

After creating my silhouettes i asked two people to rank them in order of most usual to most unusual as to get a guide as to how people saw the silhouettes. This helped me put them in the best order for the fold out.

I brainstormed different colour ideas through sketches to see which one looked more visually appealing and which would work best overall for the outer packaging and fold out as i have to use the same stock throughout.

After consideration i decided it would be best to go with white stock and create red background on illustrator for the silhouettes to go against.

The two opinions along with mine and working out of sizes:

Once i'd decided on colour and sizing i printed my fold outs and outer packaging to see them as a 3D mock-up:

original box net

I decided to add text as i felt that just the proverb wasn't enough to explain what the mail shot was communicating:

trying various fonts to suit hand written message - chosen: Chalkduster

message in net with slots for fold out to slide into

cut out into strips

folded in zig zag and placed inside packaging

contained in packaging

just opened - first look

closed - front

fold out upright

fold out thickness

hand sized - front

open - hand sized

outer packaging - open

outer packaging- completely open - mock up of inside message

partially closed

closed - front

closed - back

difference between thickness of not scored and scored edges

bends after being scored on the design side

fold out free stand - scored edge

not scored free stand

best thickness - scored

scored from the back - better edges once bent

After working with the mock-up i decided that the fold out worked best once scored from behind as to not create the print splitting and revealing white. This size also works a lot better than the original 11cm by 16cm as its now hand sized and could fit into a wallet which creates extra purpose then just a throw away leaflet. This was all printed on a semi-gloss roll due to the length of the fold outs and the lack of matt roll. I feel this paper works well for the fold out but i think the outer packaging looks amateurish and fake which is not the effect i want it have.


In order to make it look less amateurish i changed the design. I got rid of all the black out line for the ribbon and the net, using a faint dotted line for the outer of the net in order to cut out.
I also noticed i'd left out a part of the ribbon on the front so added that.
Furthermore i got rid of the message written on the inside of the net as i feel it wasn't direct or clear enough and instead added another insert to go on top of the fold out resembling a child's letter the santa. This i felt was a much more clearer way as it was a separate piece of paper which a child's letter would be and could be crumpled to add more realistic attributes. 

I changed the text to be more clearer in what the child was asking for this year and added the promotion of the fancy dress store as a p.s line from the child as a hint for santa to take some inspiration.