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maybe this is the only time you will see a lot of capital letters together, i apologize in advance since as a generation z kid, i believe lowercase letters give a tone of aesthetic to the layout - in exchange, i will leave this masterpiece for you to listen while enjoying your reading.

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the file shared above is a portfolio i prepared for the third term during my second year of illustration for communication where i had to come up with an idea for a product - i decided to present a product that could be considered sustainable and had my cultural background linked to it.

please, feel free to check the PDF so you can have a better understanding of where my idea for this practice-based dissertation came from.

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I want to make a product, I just don't know how 

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I want to make a product, I just don't know how 

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even before dissertation prep unit started, i already knew what i wanted to write about.

living in a house with 3 more people, i've never realized how much bathroom products we were using - and disposing as well.

• i have shampoo, conditioner, hair mask, body wash, and face cleanser;
• eb has 2 body wash, 2 shampoos, conditioner, and 2 products to clean her face during shower plus bath soak (she leaves the empty bottles with the new ones - which honestly takes a lot of space considering the amount of toiletries everybody owns);
• james has 2 shampoos, he shares the same conditioner with sarah, and 2 body wash plus a face mask/exfoliator which he also shares with sarah;
• sarah has a lot of products as well. conditioner, 2 shampoos, body scrub, bath soak, and hair mask.

overall: 20 products in one single bathroom - thank goodness the bathroom is big enough to store all these products.

and that's, ladies and gentlemen, when i realized "omg, where does this whole go after disposing?". i used to throw them away without thinking twice, without questioning myself if what i buy is at least considered "recyclable". i was wondering how many products each household in the UK owns and how much do we dispose... but also, after watching some videos on Youtube, working with packaging design, and also being influenced by TikTok, i start wondering how many of these products contain a non-harmful ingredient to our hair and our body? i was surprised many of the products we have at home contained SLS and other toxic ingredients. we try our best trying to maintain our hair and skin healthy and there are so many times that we ask ourselves "why is my hair still so shitty if i use hair mask, conditioner and a good - pricy - shampoo?"

-> ingredients, that's the name. we can't read them and instantly understand which is a shame, but we have google and can search and find their properties.

that's when an idea came to my mind: make a product that is sustainable, biodegradable, vegan & cruelty-free, free from toxins as well, and can help consumers create a healthy relationship with the product!

<< and that's how i wrote my dissertation proposal >>

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personal note: i honestly think i should have done more research before writing the proposal, it is obvious that it lacks information, imagery, and a deeper analysis of the subject.

reading the proposal, i can feel that:

- firstly, the leading question brings a very complex subject that i might not be able to search, not because it is hard to find information but because i am sure i won't enjoy searching about the subject;

- secondly, the chapters are not well structured and every single word seems to be a bit 'everywhere', as if the information is flying around;

- thirdly, i want to write a new proposal but because of my schedule, i believe i will just add personal notes so i can keep in track my work with my studies (:

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it is getting quite hard for me to maintain a healthy schedule, i have been so busy with work and looking for new accommodations. i feel like a need a break of everything but still can't give up... so i'm going to take a break of my studies and return once i have moved in to my new place.

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i have finally moved to my new flat, the big windows make me inspired to work on new side projects but i know i will never do them - unless i have 4 shots of espresso and maybe one small glass of gin.

i can finally start writing my progress in peace ((:

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Small update before taking things serious

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Small update before taking things serious

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ok, it's already 13th august and i have done almost zero work with my progress map.... i am writing notes everywhere - on papers, on illustrator, on word - it's a real chaos!! i can't even share them because half of the time i wasn't even thinking what i was writing and the grammar structure is so poor i want to rip my eyes out!!

i am taking next week off and going to Brighton to relax and put my head in the right place, once i am back, i can start writing!

let's do this

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i am back from holiday and renovated, human beings deserve a good proper holiday! my mental health has finally woken up after 3 horrible months - not even meditation was helping me.

anyways, now that i am back i have decided to share my dissertation idea with my boss & art director of the place where i work: Arnaud A.! (for his own privacy, i decided to not share his surname, but all i can say is that he is french and know really well about packaging design)

- before sharing him my idea, i want to give you, dear reader, a bit of a background so you can understand what i do and why i have chosen what i have chosen.... after doing a 6 months internship at Bubble T Cosmetics (located at Highgate, London), i was offered to work there as a part-time junior packaging designer but mainly with Arnaud. he gives me the briefs, i produce the design and prototypes based on the client's briefs, he analyses them and sends me the feedback so we can finally produce real size mockups for the client.

Bubble T Cosmetics produces, as their name already says, cosmetic products - they also produce bath products from bath fizzers to hand wash. the company itself is a "vegan" & "cruelty-free" company

- why am i writing with ""? it is because i don't really know for sure if they are a 100% cruelty-free company, although they states on their website that they are against animal testing (but apparently they produce their products in China... i just don't know if it is only the bottles or if the product inside as well...🤨🤨 and "vegan" because one of their products contained gelatin which, as far as i know, comes from animal collagen - but maybe they have used vegan gelatin from seaweed, the bad part is that they don't explain clearly these informations and the public is always left confused.

these factors explain more and less why i have chosen to write about packaging design ((:

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i decided to create these more organized pdfs where i could share my personal notes in details and maybe more formal as well... i know my thoughts here on padlet is a bit "everywhere" so i wanted to keep things more tidy there ((:

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i read my dissertation proposal and almost had a heart attack so i analyzed everything i wrote and i realized how complex and confusing the information was [edit: i wrote a pdf only about this which i will be adding here], so i decided to change things a little bit:

my dissertation will still focus on consumer behavior but now tackling Gen Z - also known as Generation Z, or anyone who's born after 2000's - and emphasizing as well on packaging design.

• briefly talking about the evolution of packaging design from the 90's to early 2000's vs now
• the relation between packaging design + Generation Z.
• Gen Z is now the generation leading social media platforms - except Facebook because that's for older generations - so everything is being shaped according to Gen Z's requests.
literally there's like a million examples if you analyze the internet, for example, cancel culture, pronouns, raising awareness for different causes, exposing people, etc etc. and it's not only digitally, but also physically - protests, the culture of manifesting, and so on. the world is being shaped because of how outspoken Gen Z people are - maybe it's a good thing, maybe for others it isn't...

but anyways - after thinking a lot - i have come up with a new lead question, which is:

Plastic Awareness: Exploring the evolution of packaging design in the beauty industry in contrast with Generation Z's consumer behavior.

[edit: Liz suggested writing 'versus' instead of 'in contrast', so now we're going with 'versus Generation Z's consumer behavior']

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Making Bioplastic from Orange Peel - REMIX EL BARRIO

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Plastics Made from Milk, Potatoes and Sugar? | HTME

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How to Grow Leather-Like Material Using Bacteria (Making Kombucha Leather)

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MA PRODUCT & FURNITURE DESIGN SHOW

i went to the opening of kingston school of art masters product & furniture design show and saw so many inspiring and amazing works from master students and one of the works that attracted me the most was Jana-Aimee's work.

she explained her work to me and allowed me to touch her experimentations and samples. she produced in collaboration with another biodesigner, a small biodegradable tote bag, instant food packaging and jewelry.

" i went on a trip with a few friends to south england and there, i started collecting seaweed (brown seaweed that you can easily find in the coast) and brought them back to london where i started the process of dehydrating them. i collaborated with another european biodesigner who helped me during the process of producing the bioplastic. this journey took more and less 5 weeks to be finalized, including the period i was experimenting to be able to get to the best result. by the way, they are edible! i used starch, seaweed, and wakame so it is safe to eat if you're hungry (laugh) "

- how did you colored them and since they are biodegradable, how long do they last?

"as you can see here, there is yellow, green and brown. so for the yellow, i used saffron - you can see how strong the color is - for the green i used different types of seaweed to give them color and texture, and for the brown i used onion skins. so once these products are exposed to sunlight, they can last up to 7 days.

the jewelry is actually made from the leftover bioplastic from the tote bag and packaging, that's to assure zero-waste production... i'm planning to also sell them on etsy ((:"

jana was such a lovely person and it was incredible to touch and feel her work. the tote bag had a very smooth, good balance between flexible and rigid for the leather and i loved how you could clearly see the printing on the instant food packaging as well and how it didn't damage the product. she also gave me a leaflet and business card - both made from bioplastic as well.

interestingly, her business card has a very 'humid' touch that i can't explain but all of her work inspired me to proceed to work on my sustainable bathroom product.

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last year, my partner mentioned to me that his tutor invested many years ago a 'bubble' where you could insert, for example, water, ketchup, mustard, whatever you wanted - however, we didn't know that his tutor had actually a proper real company - until he told us.

the company now produces mainly biodegradable packaging for food - they have also previously collaborated with burger king if i'm not wrong, where they substituted the sachets of ketchup and mayo for their pods. nowadays, we know how more and less it functions as we can see from laundry pods, but this one is revolutionary since it's edible! they even produce pods with alcohol - for cocktail experiments.

this gave me an amazing idea, we have seen plastic based bottles for toiletries, we have seen powder, but have we ever seen a shampoo pod? or a conditioner pod?

what if each pod contained the perfect amount for you to wash and hydrate your hair producing as well zero packaging waste?

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first time since august that i have a whole day free in the middle of a week and i decided to start writing my first chapter, i know i'm quite late since the submission date is due next week but my brain has been working 27/4 with work, my course project and dissertation. i have everything basically prepared in my head and all the topics are ready here 🧠 but whenever i sit down to write on my laptop, my mind goes (((blank))).

yesterday after work, i was starring at the screen for at least 15 minutes writing and deleting every word i was writing - pure frustration! so now i'm forcing myself to focus on writing, and i will do this as much as i can!

good thing about being ambitious and stubborn is that i can use these two qualities against me, but also whenever i force myself to do something, my mental energy drops to -0% 🙃 it's ok tho - will be updating here once i'm done with half of the first chapter!

força!

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the first chapter explores the beginning of packaging design (due to the capitalism & consumerism - America & European countries - 19th/20th century)

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since i can't buy all the books i want/need to read for the dissertation, i'm using perlego which is an online library for students and educators (i also use jstor and google scholar but i sometimes i can't find the whole article or book so this website is very helpful)

it's super convenient and it allows the user to have a free-trial for 14 days, and even the subscription is not that expensive - 12 pounds per month! so i'm using it to explore and get information from academic sources ((: so good!

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i am incredibly lucky and smart sometimes... i went to waterstones in the beginning of last month to search for design books that could help me with the history of packaging design. ok, i found one but i FORGOT TO TAKE PICTURE OF THE COVER AND ONLY TOOK PHOTOS OF THE PAGES 👹👹👹

wont be able to use it now )):

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as i plan my second chapter, something hit me: am i making sense writing these chapters? i tend to think a lot and sometimes i end up adding information that doesn't relate to the subject ..

chapter one introduces the reader to how packaging was 'born' and takes them to the first steps of plastic packaging - all this back in the late 19th/20th century.

in the end of chapter one, i start discussing about plastic packaging vs sustainability - when the world woke up and realized how harmful this materials and its variety was to the environment - and i introduce the beauty industry: one of the focus of this dissertation.

beauty industry changed a lot and suffered modifications in their product development and production even before covid19, however, after covid-19 people became more 'knowledgable' - especially gen zers (those between 18-29 year old), which is the topic of second chapter.

third chapter will talk about the downsides of sustainable packaging produced nowadays and how companies are trying to find a solution, my persona, on the other hand, will try to find my own solution by producing a sustainable, dissolvable bioplastic hair care pods.

and that's how i finish discussing about my practical element, my findings and the many problems i have encountered.

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jotting down some ideas vs product that already exist

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now that i have an idea of how i will produce my new bioplastic sustainable packaging, i can finally start my experiments (: i will be uploading in the next few weeks how it goes!

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wishing us all good luck!

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after a long discussion full of advices with my partner who is a product designer, i realized that using individual shampoo/conditioner pods made from bioplastic materials are actually not very environmental.

so i have now to come up with a new approach and i will be creating my bioplastics in the meantime and plan a better solution for my products

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basic experimentation with cornstarch, water and vegetable oil

after searching, i realized that it needed sugar to break the molecules and create a better binding - also it can't be molded since theres not enough bind between molecules

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i tried to create another plant-based bioplastic by adding cornstarch to cold water, mixing then vinegar and corn syrup to build a better and stronger binding between molecules.

the smell was HORRIBLE since i used apple vinegar and i didn't add any food coloring because i wanted to see the bubbles produced and have a better view of the result after fully dried

[edit] 26 hours passed and the horrible smell is completely gone and the bioplastic looks pretty strong even though i created a very thin layer, it doesn't dissolve in water however, i believe i could replace cardboard delivery boxes with this bioplastic wrap. i need to check now how it behaves in high temperature spaces and rainy/humid days.

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i was scared of the bioplastic getting stuck on the plastic film, but it actually was easy to remove it. after 24 hours, the corners were still a bit humid and sticky so i left drying for more 2 hours and it looked pretty decent

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https://issuu.com/nat_arc/docs/bioplastic_cook_book_3

https://www.dezeen.com/2021/09/01/on-repeat-sustainable-packaging-cosmetics-refills/

https://www.dezeen.com/2021/10/27/notpla-biodegradable-material-make-packaging-disappear/

https://www.dezeen.com/2019/01/18/margarita-talep-algae-bioplastic-packaging-design/

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Bioplastic Cook Book

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Our second open source book on Bioplastics, this time the bioplastic cook book gives everyone tips and recipes to make their own bioplastics! The book contains a flyer to print for labeling your bioplastic and creating your material archive. Book written by Margaret Dunne during her internship at Fab Textiles June-July 2018

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Our second open source book on Bioplastics, this time the bioplastic cook book gives everyone tips and recipes to make their own bioplastics! The book contains a flyer to print for labeling your bioplastic and creating your material archive.

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since i missed the workshop, i decided to create this 'podcast' style to help myself out with dissertation and the practice based work, here i talked about the problems i found on my draft, tried to explain more about my products and the problems i have encountered so far ((:

i used the practice-based dissertation check up sheet to answer some of my own questions and clear my thoughts! ps: it is long unfortunately because i love talking and i get too excited whenever i am into a subject so expect me to talk fast with wrong grammar.

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again thoughts and thoughts