Adding another dimension: computer graphic design

Media Release
November 8, 2010

Adding another dimension with computer graphic design

Free samples are a standard marketing technique for new products, but imagine if you had to go to the company’s website to find out exactly what your free sample was.

Waikato University final-year computer graphic design student Brendan Kavanagh has come up with an intriguing giveaway designed to promote tea for the youth market. It’s a cardboard coaster which when held in front of a webcam reveals a three-dimensional image of the product above the coaster on the computer screen.

It’s just one of the clever ideas on display at this year’s degree show for the Bachelor of Computer Graphic Design, held recently at the University of Waikato.

The show’s theme was Beyond Functionality, and among the 33 student projects on display were snowboards with thermoplastic ink designs that change with the temperature, a 3D virtual learning environment, a music visualiser and interactive wallpaper.

Kavanagh, a former Hamilton Boys High School student, decided to develop a brand, packaging and a range of promotional materials for a product named Infuse: Tea For Our Generation.

“The tea coaster is a really effective way to get people to visit the website,” he says. “Young people like seeing new technology, so it’s a good way to get them to interact with the brand.”

Kavanagh has also designed funky packaging and merchandise for the two ranges – fruit teas and what he’s calling his “survival range”.

“It’s directly aimed at the target audience; I don’t know anyone who wouldn’t want one of these teas – they can help you study, cure your hangover and make you less stressed.”

The packaging for the hangover cure tea reads: “What lies in this box will rid you or your hangover faster than last night’s kebab come back to say hello.”

“I wanted to find some way to make tea cool to drink, part of youth lifestyle,” explains Kavanagh. “I’m really interested in branding and design, and all the tea packaging I saw in the supermarket was either old fashioned and boring or over the top with graphics.”

Another degree show project presented a new take on the conventional pop-up book. Former Cambridge High School student Jecoba Denny has used her drawing and needlework skills to create an interactive picture book offering an intriguing journey into the heart of Manhattan.

The Big Stitched Apple has pull-out sections revealing all sorts of hidden treasures, and she’s even made miniature flags for Little Italy and lanterns for Chinatown. “The hidden bits represent the things you find when you’re there that you couldn’t know about before,” she explains.

She’s also created what she’s calling a Memory Block, a 3D photo album designed to spark forgotten memories. “It’s sort of like a slinky, you could hang it up,” says Denny, who plans to complete an honours degree next year.

Based in the Department of Computer Science, Waikato’s three-year Bachelor of Computer Graphic Design degree offers a unique mix of programming and design in line with new international developments in design education.

ENDS

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