Tuesday 16 June 2009

Tag:pac


Seeing as I'm spending a week at the Leeds branch of Tag worldwide doing some work eperience, I thought I'd write an overview of how the company works.

"Tag is an international design and production agency dedicated to helping clients and agencies create, manage and deliver their brand messages across the world."

I first came across Tag whilst working at RKCR Y&R in London about 4 years ago. Unbeknownst to me back then, it would be this area that I would become more and more interested in during my time at University.

Unlike your standard advertising, design or production agency, Tag is as much about quality design as it is about delivering it efficiently, effectively and on time, every time. Thus their ethos create, manage, deliver. These values led to the development of Tag:cmd a marketing resource management system which is tailored to the specifications of each individual client but ultimately performs one basic, yet essential, function – making sure all marketing activities run smoothly, on time, on brand, on budget, with the correct creative and cost approval process. This system is used worldwide by over 40,000 people.

Im spending the week with the most recent addition to the company here in Leeds. A small (but still growing) lofty office on the Calls where packaging designs for company's such as Sainsburys, Arm&Hammer, Muller, Duracell, and others are produced.

The thing that has been most interesting for me has been the repro and colour process. When design work comes in, a lot of time is spent separating colours, making sure that there is continuity across the pack and the entire range; i.e. every single element that needs to be a particular pantone is exactly that. Linking pdf files to the design file in Backstage means that changes to copy can be made by the client on the pdf without the designer having to mess about with the actual text, this also locks copy, preventing it from being changed on the design file so no accidents happen.

Visualize is a pretty cool program used to convert your net into a 3D render of the finished product. It also allows you to add finishings such as foils, varnishes, embossing etc. This gives the client a better idea of how the design is going to look.

An insight into the packaging world has been quite an eye opener, and really interesting to get to grips with different printing techniques and the result they give. It deffinately satisfies my pernickety, perfectionist side, but I have a feeling that it's not quite for me; too prescribed with little freedom. Especially with Pharmaceuticals! Hopefully the Tag headquarters in Clerkenwell will show me the way.... and then i will be able to answer the question: "what do you want to be when you grow up".... finally!



No comments:

Post a Comment