Visual style-- APP

  

Now, I try to use the fifties elements to create the visual style of the app. Here's some images i've done and the animation of the app. Although i thought my works messing around with color and visual styles, my supervisor quite like some pages and gave me a lot of confidence to carry on. I hope the visual style of Eleven Four could keep consistent in whole app. 

Research-- The History of the tea bag

(Fu Ling, 2013)

The arrival of tea in Britain in the seventeenth century altered the drinking habits of this nation forever. The late eighteenth century saw black tea overtake green tea in popularity for the first time, which also accelerated the addition of milk. In the nineteenth century widespread cultivation of tea in India began, leading to the imports of Indian tea into Britain overtaking the imports of Chinese tea. And in the twentieth century there was a further development that would radically change our tea-drinking habits - the invention of the tea bag.

popular infusers included tea eggs and tea balls

The purpose of the tea bag is rooted in the belief that for tea to taste its best, the leaves ought to removed from the hot water at the end of a specific brewing period. Then there is the added benefit of convenience - a removable device means that tea can be made as easily in a mug as in a pot, without the need for a tea strainer, and that tea pots can be kept clean more easily. But the earliest examples of removable infusing devices for holding tea were not bags. Popular infusers included tea eggs and tea balls - perforated metal containers which were filled with loose leaves and immersed in boiling water, and then removed using an attached chain.

 THOMAS SULLIVAN AND AN ACCIDENTAL AMERICAN INVENTION

Needless to say, it was in America, with its love of labour-saving devices, that tea bags were first developed. 

In around 1908, Thomas Sullivan, a New York tea merchant, started to send samples of tea to his customers in small silken bags. Some assumed that these were supposed to be used in the same way as the metal infusers, by putting the entire bag into the pot, rather than emptying out the contents. It was thus by accident that the tea bag was born!

Responding to the comments from his customers that the mesh on the silk was too fine, Sullivan developed sachets made of gauze - the first purpose-made tea bags. During the 1920s these were developed for commercial production, and the bags grew in popularity in the USA. Made first of all from gauze and later from paper, they came in two sizes, a larger bag for the pot, a smaller one for the cup. The features that we still recognise today were already in place - a string that hung over the side so the bag could be removed easily, with a decorated tag on the end.

USE OF TEA BAGS IN THE UK

While the American population took to tea bags with enthusiasm, the British were naturally wary of such a radical change in their tea-making methods. This was not helped by horror stories told by Britons who had visited the USA, who reported being served cups of tepid water with a tea bag on the side waiting to be dunked into it (an experience which is still not as uncommon in the USA as it should be!).

The material shortages of World War Two also stalled the mass adoption of tea bags in Britain, and it was not until the 1950s that they really took off. The 1950s were a time when all manner of household gadgets were being promoted as eliminating tedious household chores, and in keeping with this tea bags gained popularity on the grounds that they removed the need to empty out the used tea leaves from the tea pot. The convenience factor was more important to the British tea-drinker than the desire to control the length of infusion time, hence the appearance of tea bags that did not have strings attached.

by 2007 tea bags made up 96 per cent of the British market

It was Tetley in 1953 that drove the introduction of tea bags in Britain, but other companies soon caught up. In the early 1960s, tea bags made up less than 3 per cent of the British market, but this has been growing steadily ever since. By 2007 tea bags made up a phenomenal 96 per cent of the British market, and there can hardly be a home or workplace in Britain that does not have a stash of the humble, but vital, tea bag.

My review--

I found some useful research about the history of British tea help me to develop my project, especially the portion of packaging. For instance, through the research, I learned the main type of tea- drinking packaging in 1950s; therefore, when I designed the shape of packaging that is based on it.

Reference:

Denys Forrest, Tea for the British (London, 1973)

Roy Moxham, Tea, Addiction, Exploitation and Empire (London, 2003)

Jane Pettigrew, A Social History of Tea (London, 2001).

The United Kingdom Tea Council Ltd, 

Tutorial--23 July 2013

(Fu-Ling, 2013)

Yesterday was our group's last tutorial. After the tutorial, I spent some time trying to figure out exactly how could I strengthen the concept of encouraging people to take a tea break and what is my physically work for MA expo. Hence, after long deliberation, basically, what I really need to do is to make the brand has a strong identity and think about which way of making tea represents the spirit of tea ladies, namely, which way of making tea is more suitable for people in work as well as the spirit of the brand either the way that make a cup of tea by machines or make a cup of tea by themselves?

Therefore, in order to give people strong brand identity, I have to explore a consistency of visual style across the app and products so Kay and my group members suggested me that the illustration style could engage with the fifties elements. As for which way of making a cup of tea, in terms of the discussion and the research of how to help workers to get maximum productivity, I am planning to create tea packaging for Eleven four. As a result, in the MA expo, I will display an app, tea brand, cups, and tea packaging.

There are several bullet points below:

• The packaging should explore what my the brand value are about! Look at my research question
• Have some creative fun with the tea types
• Look at how keep the application, the tea packaging and the tea cups consistent.
• Dose my imagery on the cups need adapting to support my new direction—do I create a community across the cups?  

Case study-- Track My Macca' s

(McDonald's, 2013 )

McDonald’s made an interesting app for people, who want to know what are the ingredients of the food and is hoping under the stimulus of the absorbing app, the company will increase customer in the Australia.

GPS and augment reality is apply in the application so when we want to have a dining at McDonalds, the GPS could serve you where is the nearest McDonalds to you and if you want to know where is your food from and the ingredients, the function of augment reality will show you some story about the foods.  Owing to the two methods, to enjoy the time in McDonalds is quite nice.

After I found this app, I thought perhaps the Eleven Four could combine both methods to form a new special app. For the GPS, it could determine which tea machine is near to you and in terms of image recognition software system, it can make people feel fun and interesting. For instance, when you near by the tea machine, the app will show you some animation or if you use the cup form Eleven Four and put the cup into the machine, the screen form the machine will display some interesting animation.

Reference:

MCDONALDS, 2013,Track My Macca' s [On-line] ,MCDONALDS,  Available at: ://trackmymaccas.com/trackmymac_fb[accessed 15 July 2013]