Huel

Huel is a meal that you can prepare yourself in a matter of minutes - made from powder and often drunk in the form of a shake, similar to a protein shake. It contains everything - all nutrients and vitamins a human being requires daily. This meal is most often used as a replacement for another meal during the day.

Huel is marketed as a convenient, easy to prepare/consume product and therein lies its appeal.

Huel uses the scientific basis of the product and reflects this in the packaging style. Using the element of white space alongside bold text provides a minimalist, no-nonsense aesthetic. This creates brand transparency, a key feature in health food brands as this gives the consumer a feeling of trust within the brand.

The nutritional information of the product is easier to access than most other health food brands, with it taking up an entire section of the website.

JOBS + lifestyle

Marxism
Humans produce their mode of life through the collective force of labour, and it is within the division of labour that personal differences begin to form based on the different activities, capacities and skills that people perform and develop.

For Marx, then, humans do not make the world or their own selves through pure reflection or contemplation: we do it through practical activity and practical intelligence, in which we engage with the world, transform it, and, in the process, transform our own selves

The loss of a job not only can lead to a feeling of powerlessness, it can also bring on a life crisis or identity crisis as the person is unsure about how to reconstruct their biographical narrative in the absence of a rite of passage between the state of employment and unemployment, or what can possibly come after it. - Burkitt p170

Seve

the biography of an individual is determined by their place within the social relations of production, and, of course, it is within that biographical trajectory that the self, or personality, is formed: the capacities, skills, needs and characteristics of the person.

self is dependent on social heritage born into which they absorb through work 

However, Sève recognizes that in capitalism the majority of people have little control over their use-time and activities, and because of this will feel alienated to some degree in their lives

Alongside this, the time that is left over for people to engage in other activities outside of paid employment, or the alienating experience of unemployment, is what shapes the context of people’s lived experience and helps us to understand ‘the whole structure and development of real human personalities’ (Sève, 1978, p. 299)

Turner

in industrial capitalism leisure time is not only freedom from institutional obligations, work times, routines and disciplines, experienced as a space in which to recuperate, it is also freedom to enter symbolic worlds of entertainment, hobbies, sport and games. This freedom to play with ideas, fantasies and materials allows people to experience some sense of transcendence over social structural limitations, and also to engage in social

relations with friends that are more equal and of mutual benefit.

Bourdieu

habitus

Class
material constraints into which we are born, which affect life changes like access to education and important social contacts. 
a priori of individual experience in historical sense (family, location, religion etc)


‘find their conditions of existence predestined and hence have their position in life and their personal development assigned to them by their class, become subsumed under it'.

Marxists.org. (2018).

Life-planning becomes all-important, which presupposes a mode of organizing time, by interpreting the past and preparing for the future. Lifestyle choices also have to be made, and here Giddens refers to the term ‘lifestyle’ as a more or less integrated set of practices that give material form to a particular narrative of self-identity. p 171

Similarly, our biographical trajectories are not just carved out by the way that we as individuals choose to organize biographical time, or in the way we choose a lifestyle related to particular places. For a start, we are born into certain places that we do not choose, and those places with their particular habitus can be embodied in every muscle and fibre of our selves p 171

what limits the scope for us to move between different lifestyle sectors is not any inability to make choices on the part of certain individuals, but how transposable our embodied dispositions and various social capitals are. With my accent, manners, bodily demeanour, dispositions, world-outlook, education, skills and capacities, will I ever get a place at that University, or get that job with that company, or feel comfortable living in that neighbourhood? If it is so unlikely, would I even think of it? While Giddens applauds Bourdieu for showing how lifestyle in the form of habitus is not just the result of class differences but one of the structuring features of stratification, he ignores the other side of Bourdieu’s structuration: that lifestyle is both the result and the structuring feature of class, in that it is central to the reproduction of class differences and inequalities. Thus none of us

are without limits in being able to choose our lifestyles, as so much rests on the habitus we were born into and that inheres in our embodied self, including our dispositions, tastes, capacities, interests and ambitions.

Practical - ready meal packaging design

Morrisons Bistro Range

Designed by: Graphic Packaging International

Rebrand of Morrisons M range - ‘good, better and best’. Reflects the shift of interest onto quality of meals. Premium packaging. The brief required packaging that reflects chef inspired food that is restaurant quality but great value. The design involves spot varnish, black on black, silver bistro text. The design focus of the packaging mainly revolves around the text used - with a secondary photographic element. 

Wild Chef Artisan Food Packaging

Designed by: DNA

Functions standing or laying down in freezer cabinets. The cardboard box is flute carton printed with the brand pattern across all meals - the boxes have different sleeves for differentiation. I really like the way the recipe is printed on the back of the sleeve - this saves paper and removes the need for an extra recipe card. I may potentially be using this idea in my final design - as the sleeve can be used on plain or patterned boxes. The sleeve also provides extra security within the fastening of the box - the sleeve stops it from coming open as well as containing all the information. 

Coco & Lucas' Kitchen

Designed by: Boxer & Co.

Use of colour on sleeve differentiates between meals, this is a clever use of colour to code the type of meals. The design also includes hand drawn type, this coupled with the painted swash element gives the packaging a handmade look. The packaging is for kids meals but doesn't have the typical childish look associated with childrens products. The packaging is designed in such a way that it looks professional enough to appeal to all ages.

Bag

A meal in a bag is an alternative option for packaging ready meal. This happens with bigger ready meals, for example, curries created for 2 that include the meat and sauce portions alongside the rice and naan bread. The components are packaged in their own containers and then kept together in a bag. The same idea could be applied in this case, and all the ingredients would be contained in sachets. Bags however don'tt keep food fresh as long as a cardboard box, as there is less insulation and also the element of durabilty is removed - the ingredients aren't protected during transport and storage due to the flimsiness of the paper bag.

Lifestyle notes

Acharya (2007), wrote in his article Modern Life Style Could Damage Your Heart, “The modern lifestyle, which puts people under constant stress, could severely damage major organs and lead to heart attacks, kidney disease and dementia” - 

Spaargaren, G., and B. VanVliet (2000) "Lifestyle, Consumption and the Environment: The Ecological Modernisation of Domestic Consumption", Environmental Politics 9(1): 50-75.

Some commentators argue that, in modernity, the cornerstone of lifestyle construction is consumption behavior, which offers the possibility to create and further individualize the self with different products or services that signal different ways of life.^[10] Ropke, I. (1999) "The Dynamics of Willingness to Consume", Ecological Economics 28: 399-420.

Lifestyle may include views on politics, religion, health, intimacy, and more. All of these aspects play a role in shaping someone's lifestyle. Giuffrâe, K., & DiGeronimo, T. (1999) Care and Feeding of Your Brain : How Diet and Environment Affect What You Think and Feel, Career Press.

alfred adler - a lifestyle was understood as a style of personality, in the sense that the framework of guiding values and principles which individuals develop in the first years of life end up defining a system of judgement which informs their actions throughout their lives.

Burkitt, I. (2009). Social Selves: Theories of Self and Society. 2nd ed. London: Sage.

In the modern world we are engaged in so many activities that take place i a variety of contexts with a mixture of people, we become many different things to different people. p1

Alberto Meluci has claimed that the social movements are based in people's experimentations with alternative lifestyles and identities. p18 - alberto melucci (1989) Nomads of the present: social movements and individual needs in contemporary society. London: hutchinson radius

140 - 141


Lucien Sève

habitus

Bourdieu - lifestlye is both the result and the structuring feature of class, i that it is central to the reproduction of class differences and ineqaulities.

172

Lifestyle and class

Social Selves

The question is so ubiquitous because finding out someone's relation to the job market tells us about the activities they engage in for the majority of their life, their skills and capacities - perhaps even their interests - how much a person might earn, their social class and status and their lifestyle. In other words, it tells us important things about that person's identity and they ways that others view, judge and value them. - p138

Lucien Seve the biography of an individual is determined by their place within the social relations of production, and, of course, it is within that biological trajectory that the self, or personality is formed" the capacities, skills, needs and characteristics of the person. For Sève, how individuals develop their own self is totally dependent on the social heritage they are born into, which they assimilate through work. p139

The development of the individual always takes place within a social logic constituted by the ensemble of social relations which form the matrices of activity in which a biographical trajectory takes shape and a self is formed - p 140 (LINKS TO AGENCY AND STRUCTURE)

Capitalist social relations will continue to structure the biographies of individual selves. They do so by structuring the activity and time that compose individual biographies. - p141

However, under capitalism, time spent on personal consumption and recreation is experienced as a temporary respite, often geared more to preparing people for a return to the labour process rather than the long-term development of self. However, as Victor Turner has pointed out, in industrial capitalism leisure time is not only freedom from institutional obligations, work times, routines and disciplines, experienced as a space in which to recuperate, it is also freedom to enter symbolic worlds of entertainment, hobbies, sport and games. p143

Turner

COP tutorial 2

Essay Structure good

Perhaps too much focus on self in relation to ancient greek philosophy, focus more on giddens and modernity etc

Look at
Social Selves - Ian Burkitt (disagrees with Giddens)
Saturation of Self

Essay feedback

Do not need to say that Descartes held the Cartesian position as this is a given
Jumps from classical > enlightenment > modern philosophy > post modern. do not need to include post modern philosophy. Create better bridges between these types of philosophy.

reflexivity link is Giddens

agency vs structure - affect eachother
agency - peoples thinking and actions
structure - what society expects 

"duality of structure" - in social section

remove foucault

Practical - Evaluation

Overall I am happy with the design of my packaging. The sleeve contains all the information the consumer needs to make the decision about whether to buy. Including the recipe on the back of the sleeve was my favourite idea as this saves paper and makes the design more convenient for the customer. If I was to make any changes to the design though, I would include a nutrition label on the back sleeve next to the barcode to echo the designs of the ready meals I researched during initial stages of the project. I am happy with the materials I chose, as I think the sleeve is the right weight to look as if it could be properly produced. The stickers are also a good material however, next time I would make them smaller to fit lengthways across the smaller sachet, and also reprint them as the registration was slightly out. There were limitations in the print room stopping me from doing this however, due to a lot of people needing printing, the guys in the print room were busy and they are the only ones who can use that equipment. I also like the mock ups I chose to make, I think they look as if the sleeve was part of the mock up already, and they present all sides of the box. Changing the background colours of these to suit the rest of the design makes the presentation more thought out and consistent.

The colours are almost exactly the colours I used in initial designs - I chose to proceed with bright colours as I thought vibrant colours would suit the project the most. Through the deisgn process the colours changed in experimentation but I reverted back to the original colour scheme, except I replaced pink with orange for the meat meal. I also liked my use of colour to reflect the contents of the meal, using the design as a kind of colour code universally recognised.

I think the style of my packaging successfully represents the contents of the box and ethos of the brand, utilising the "natural" look strategy used by brands such as Hello Fresh indicates that the product is healthy. This is done using hand painted type and hand painted features such as the swashes. Coupled with the unprocessed brown colour of the box and the bright colours including green, the packaging uses the "natural technique" to hold consumers eye gaze, a strategy found successful by Sonoco, a packaging company who held a survey that found there results. 

The marriage of healthy food and convenience allows consumers to easily cook a healthy and tasty meal with minimised effort, due to the concept of the product. This allows consumers to eat a balanced diet as part of a healthy lifestyle.

In terms of time management - I have been able to successfully balance the 2 factors to the dissertation, the essay as well as the practical project. I have been planning out my weeks throughout the project, breaking down my tasks into sections and assigning time periods to these in order to complete the work on time.

Practical - photography

While I was looking at the ready meal range Boxed I noticed that the photography on the website was stylized, including ingredients that are included within the meal.

Similarly, Gousto and Hello Fresh use the same premise within their promotional images, displaying the ingredients within in creative arrangements around the packaging.

I wanted to do the same kind of thing with my packaging. I chose to use the roast salmon box to use in the photoshoot and bought the ingredients, including salmon fillets, green beans, tomatoes as well as chilli's to represent the spicy sauce and a lemon to show that lemon juice was included. Since the sauces would be hidden within the sachets, these ingredients needed to show the sauces in a different way. I also included fresh basil to indicate the herbs within the meal.

Using the professional photography studio with lighting I arranged the boxes alongside props and ingredients, in different set ups to find the best one.

After taking these photos I edited them in Lightroom to adjust the lighting and shadows.

Practical - final sleeves

The final sleeve wraps around the cardboard box and contains 4 sections. The top of the sleeve contains the information about how the brand works to give a little context to the design and format of the meal kit. The next section is the front of the sleeve, displaying the logo, meal title, serving size and also some selling points to encourage consumers to buy the meal.
Below this is the outward facing section of the sleeve which is in the bright colour taken from the rest of the sleeve. The use of this colour block breaks up the repetitiveness of the white background of the sleeve. It also tells the consumer to turn the sleeve around to see the list of ingredients included. 
The last section of the box is the back and contains the recipe, list of ingredients and photo of the meal.

Practical - Mock ups

Mock ups were made to present the sleeves - a cardboard box mock up was used and the sleeve added afterwards. To do this, a white rectangle was added in the shape of the sleeve. This shape was pasted in as a smart object, and then skewed to fit the angles of the box. This meant that the sleeve could be placed into that layer and this would aslo fit the perspective of the box, replacing the white of the smart object layer. This was repeated for the outward facing section of the sleeve , and this section darkened to reflect the way the light would hit the box. The background colour was also changed to a pale green from white to compliment the colour of the sleeve. This was repeated for all sleeves.

 

 

 

The Self notes

• what (difference between self and identity, mental/social construct)
• how (pre existing (3 pro, 3 con), consciously formed (3 pro, 3 con), social identity (3 pro, 3 con), multiple identities

self and identity 

what 
self 
Descartes - I think therefore I am. (however Cartesian position holds that man innately knows basic logical propositions)
John Locke - Book II Chapter XXVII entitled "On Identity and Diversity" in An Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1689) has been said to be one of the first modern conceptualizations of consciousness as the repeated self-identification of oneself.

William James
reflexivity - Giddens, Kant (Kihlstrom, Beer, & Klein, 2003; Lewis, 1990)

self concept


self identity

ontology
changeless - 
Plato - real things (forms) do not change, only change is in the realm of appearances
Parmenides -  According to Parmenides, everything that exists is permanent, ungenerated, indestructible, and unchanging.

changing - 
Heraclitus - 'you cannot step in the same river twice' change is ubiquitous.

“There is no single entity whose identity is changeless. All things are constantly changing. Nothing endures forever or contains a changeless element called a "self.” - Thich Nhat Hanh

Erikson (1951)
identity development model 

fidelity stage
- self identity exploration and definition: adolescents search for a sense of self and personal identity, through an intense exploration of personal values, beliefs, and goals.
- identity based upon the outcome of their explorations
- Failure to establish a sense of identity within society ("I don’t know what I want to be when I grow up") can lead to role confusion. Role confusion involves the individual not being sure about themselves or their place in society. 

- By extending the notion of personality development across the lifespan, Erikson outlines a more realistic perspective of personality development (McAdams, 2001).

mental construct


formed
Locke posits an "empty" mind, a tabula rasa, which is shaped by experience; sensations and reflections being the two sources of all our ideas.
Locke also wrote that "the little and almost insensible impressions on our tender infancies have very important and lasting consequences."^[54] He argued that the "associations of ideas" that one makes when young are more important than those made later because they are the foundation of the self:

social identity 
“Each of us is a product of our family, environment, friends, education, culture, and society. - Thich Nhat Hanh, Thundering Silence: Sutra on Knowing the Better Way to Catch a Snake



THe constitution of structure giddens duality of structure (agency and structure)