Birth of a Product: Sabrina Ward Harrison Reversible Sketch Journals

If you don't know about Sabrina Ward Harrison and her incredible artwork, let me have the honor of introducing you.

A truly unique spirit and incredibly talented artist, Sabrina has been celebrated for her fresh view on life.  Her books have been an inspiration for untold numbers of people.

When Sabrina decided to work with PaPaYa! and release a line of products we were thrilled. There were a number of products we wanted to make, and there are more to come, but one of the products we knew we had to create was a journal of some sort.

I want to invite you on a little journey detailing the process of birthing a new product. For some the idea of having one's artwork created en masse is a completely daunting idea, both because of the work it entails and the sheer amount of unknowns. I will attempt to lift the veil a little.

Every product's inception follows this arc to some degree:

1. A spark, or creative inspiration.
2. A dialog between creatives.
3. An inquiry into the feasibility of it's creation and saleability.
4. Mock-ups are created.
5. Samples are obtained, or created.
6. Testing and revisions.
7. Final samples.
8. Product is shipped.

Sabrina Ward Harrison Sketch Journal

Birthing Steps

• The Spark. Sabrina's artwork is perfect for a journal. Her books are amazing pieces of art that seem to be straight from her private journal. The rawness and openness are evident in grand proportion.

• A Dialog.  At first, an idea to create journals similar to the existing and popular PaPaYa! journals was posited.  Anahata decided to use the opportunity of a new artistic influence to introduce a new form to the journal line. The spine was moved from the long side to the short side, she also decided to make the covers reversible. A decision that we found would create some difficulty both in the design and sample phases, but ultimately adds so much to the product.

• Is it Feasible? We knew that as long as we could make a product that was faithful to the promise of Sabrina's art, it would be useful and valuable to people.  And having already created a line of journals gave us the confidence that a product would not be difficult to bring to market.

• Mock ups. Every product, even the simplest needs to be communicated clearly from the design side to the manufacturing side.  For some products, this can be a written description.  For others, like a boxed set, a physical mock up is paramount. Mocking up a journal is easy if you have a sample of the size and dimension already in your possession. Since this was the first time we were making a journal of this size, we had to either hand make a journal from scratch or do something else to communicate our design.  Time was short, so the luxury of creating an interesting and unique journal from scratch, though compelling, was off the table.

• The 3D option. My known ability to pick up computer programs was put to the test, as I was thrust into the task of creating a realistic enough 3D model of the journal that would be a substitute for a physical mock up to send to the manufacturer. I used a program called Modo. It's a very beautiful and powerful program.  Learning to create a model of the new Sketch Journals and apply the artwork correctly was quite a challenge. I was able to create images eventually that were not only suitable as mock ups, they were used as images of the products until we received actual physical samples. The program also let me create animations of the product to show all the sides of it. I've included a link to a short clip here, Download SabrinaWardHarrisonJournal.m4v (4591.8K). The realism of a model that was created by a rank amatuer is quite shocking really. These programs have really become incredible tools and I look forward to the next time I get to use them.

• Samples arrive. The first impression was one of great delight! The art was bright, the constructions solid, and the paper a thick stock suitable for more than just a few pencil strokes. The sketch books weren't ready for prime time yet though, the artwork on the covers wasn't perfectly done, the inner liners were flipped, and the logo was misplaced on some of the journals. Some of these errors were due to our own confusion, some were in the manufacturer's hands.

• Revisions, and quick! We were so excited to bring Sabrina's line out that the pressure was on now. Kathleen and I dug in and polished the design files to more accurately reflect the orientation of the covers and inner liners. Product IDs and barcodes were added, as was packaging. We sent the files off and waited...

• Success! Our hard work pays off. Samples in hand, we confidently order the product in quantity and start the process of adding the product to our website and catalogs in anticipation of it's arrival.

Please tell us about your experiences taking your raw art and making it into a product, or experiences that you may have had while considering this process.

Comments

[Supra Vaider]

[ this is good]

[shona cole]

Thanks for sharing this look behind the curtain, the process is truly fascinating :)

[Brennan]

I tried to be concise, and this product was actually pretty easy to bring to market, but I know what you mean...
Sometimes it's like pulling teeth getting things to the place you want them before they go to production!

[Deb]

I am in product development so it was interesting for me to read your process for getting a concept to market, and know that it isn't always quite as easy as you made it sound. But it is so rewarding once you have the first samples and then the final product in your hands. I do love the whole process, headaches and all!