Kolarcraft Trip ...

As part of this project of coming up with a innovative idea of visual merchandising I visited the Kolarcraft factory in Wakefield. They design and make visual merchandising products such as posters, stands and displays. First there was the Design Foundry where all of the initial ideas and actual designing goes on. This was the more appropriate part of the trip as it had more relevance to my studies.
I found it interesting to see what goes on behind the scenes and how they get to the conclusion of what to use and what not to use. Here is a photo of some of the things they create there. As you can see there is a Malteasers display and a Walkers crisps one which actually won an award.



The Kolarcraft factory wasn't really my thing as it was more manual work but then again it's always a good thing to see how the industry works to get a better knowledge of the field. Here are a few photographs of the place.





This machine was the first one we looked at. It was interesting to see how complex the whole thing was as I've only witnessed the final outcome in stores. I didn't realise how much went into it all.



This machine basically makes prints clearer and gives the product a better finish.



This machine creates the print screens that make the actual prints that go into stores. As I have experience with using print screens (not on as larger scale as this) so I understood this part of the visit. I only used the printing technique at college but I feel t has given me some insight and skill that others didn't have.





These two images show where the screens get washed so they can be re-used and dried to keep them in good condition.



Here are all of materials the factory uses. They use all types of cardboard and paper. In my opinion it could have been stored a little better. It was just placed in the middle of the factory and it could in some way be useful there I don't know I don't work there but it just seemed a bit unprofessional. It maybe should have be stored in a separate room.





These are some of the finished pieces for New Look. It seems like a lot of work but the finished product looks good.



This was the part where final adjustments are made. Little touch ups and things. We were not allowed to take anymore photos from this point onwards as the things they were working on were advertisements that had not yet been realised. Privacy and copy write laws had been imposed.

We also saw how exactly they made stands and 3D structures and the packaging stage. The trip was entirely relevant to my course but it was to this project. I now know what exactly goes on in the visual merchandising business and will be probably better off for it.