Practical: Further development

Packaging

Working from the argument in my essay about smiling, friendly characters used in packaging, I have been trying to develop my own that is very simple and can be used inside the boxes to reinforce positivity or negativity.

A lot of these are too messy or possibly too distracting. I need one that will look good in a pattern.

I settled on a very simple one, that I have multiplied to make a pattern.

From this smiley face I created a sad version of it, to go in the boxes with the bad behaviour.

Printing

The templates printed well, after all the colour of the paper is the main vocal point. I saved money by using a studio printer, as it is very minimal black ink. The quality of the paper meant it was well received.

It took awhile to cut them all out and fold them accordingly - something I'm glad I dedicated a day to, and that I didn't leave it to the last minute.

Instructions

Using the same smiley faces, I made them multicoloured (similar to the box colours) to set the scene for the activity.

I have thought of using a colour wheel for the children to refer to while playing, but I decided against it as it seemed unnecessary. The simpler the better.

Trying to come up with simple instructions is difficult, as the children need to decide for themselves without anything being given away.

I have decided on these simpler steps:

I have used black as a background colour, as it sets a bold scene for the colours, making them pop out. The contrast cannot be ignored.

For the back of the instructions, I want to make an image using the smiley faces as a fun picture to entice the children towards playing the activity.

I decided against the heavy use of yellow, as it may pollute the outcome of the activity. I made some faces happy, and some sad.

I then decided to make all the dull colours sad, and all the vibrant colours happy - as my dissertation is about colour manipulation, after all. This could possibly influence how the children feel about the colours and the behaviours, but in a way that will make it more effective for them and their learning.