My final project of my MA Graphic design course where I created the brand - SenPlay.
SenPlay is a brand for 7 - 9 year old children with Special Educational Needs & Disabilities (SEN) develop their Holistic skills (Physical, Emotional, Social & Cognitive/Intellectual development) through Play
Characters:
SenPlay has a cast of characters who each represent a developmental area. Each character has their own personality and challenges, with some using SEN aids to better relate and connect to my targer audience, acting as Guiding friends.
Visual Language:
For the look of the characters and elements I used my original visual language which I have developed over the years. I introduced traditional textures (paint splatters, crayon marks etc.) alongside my digital illustration as it represents children’s mark - making which communicates their own thoughts and feelings, furthermore the style being a common and effective one in Illustration.
Alongside the main SenPlay logo, (featuring Alfie) there are 4 branching logos with the respective character representing each Developmental area.
Each character simply replaces Alfie and must be displayed with the main logo somewhere on the product.
Within each Developmental area, there are multiple skills & combinations of skills e.g. Emotional Development has Empathy,
Self - regulation, Modelling Behaviour etc.
Utilising Play concepts, I decided that Activity kits were the main focus of the product line.
Below is the Activity kit - Match up, Dress up for Physical developmental, specifically focusing on Fine Motor skills.
Adapted for children with Down syndrome.
Match up, Dress up contains 3 different dolls, outfits, 2 sticker packs, 2 sets of cards & an Instruction guide.
Packaging:
Match up, Dress up comes in a Suitcase inspired packaging made from Corrugated cardboard with the design mounted ontop. The design itself portrays blank spaces which allows children to customise it, there are stickers included inside.
Inside the suitcase, each element has their own space with the inner walls and sections acting as a wardrobe and shelves. This teaches children to place back each element E.g. Folding the clothes to place ontop of the shelves.
The intial process of the packaging was challenging with many mockups needed to be assembled to achieve the final look. The final product still needs improvement, making the inner panels a separate net to slide in, adding in more tabs as well as glueing the curved top etc. I also aim to produce a more professional prototype with the design being printed ontop of the cardboard using Flexography or digital printing methods.
Get a taste by dragging the outfits to dress up the dolls:
Store:
The final part of SenPlay is the concept of having stores that function similar to gaming cafes where guardians and their children can walk into a SenPlay Store and pick an Activity kit to test out. These Play sessions allow consumers to see how exactly a ‘kit works and if it is effective for their child(ren) as everyone is different & functions in their own way.
To further develop this, I will complete the rest of the characters, experimenting first with lasercutting the details straight onto the MDF material to then paint & seal it. This is due to the original method (of making the illustration a sticker and attach it on the MDF) not lasting long and peeling off.
There is the method of printing the illustrations on card and then mounting them on mountboard which was used for The London Design Festival, but the issue is that it won’t last long leading to damage occuring quicker.
I also plan to attach a button to each cutout which allows the character to speak a series of lines to the consumers.
Click here to read SenPlay’s Brand & Character Guidelines!
Click here to read the Design Document!