Design Process

Never having gone through the process of developing a brand and only mocking up conceptual packaging before this, I have found myself quite stressed out over the real world plausibility that the task of hand presents to me. Does this cashew group need a logo? Will they ever hand out business cards? Will they ever diversify their product line? And more immediately, will my design represent them well? Will it say the right things to the right audience? Will it be affordable? Will it be easy enough to use that they will actually use it? Not easy questions.

After brainstorming, not only with Princesa Cashews, but most of the Kasoy Processors from San Jose, not all of whom are directly involved in this project, I spent a lot of time rapidly visualizing iconography, and mocking up package ideas from cardboard torn off the back of sketch pads. Part of this internship, is not only producing something for these people, but also learning about my own process, which is difficult when you are knew to just about anything. I spent a fair bit of time going through design process and marketing notes, and in hindsight, probably wasted time, but I wanted to have as clear an idea as possible of what I should be proposing. I spent time thinking about what kind of message to send, what project levels there were to consider, and what contexts needed to be addressed. I realized pretty quickly that these sorts of projects are often taken on by specialized firms, and there was no way to do this perfectly the first time, with little assistance.

I came up with a couple of solutions which seem to fit the bill. A few were typographic in nature, as I thought that a somewhat more elegant package would surely elevate these cashews above their contemporaries and make it possible to aim at a wider market. I also contemplated a design with stark, bold sans serif type and a loud graphic illustration that might appeal to a younger market. Lastly, I created an illustration, which collaged in outline, many of the local symbols, including palm trees, animals, and the wonderful signpost which marks the entry into each and every barangay in Puerto Princesa. I applied these to several plausible package forms, and now I have no idea what to do next.

It has become quite apparent to me that, although there is good design, and bad design, there is no right design. I could make a thousand ideas and many of them could work. So now comes the moment of truth. We will have to meet once again with the Kasoy Processors of San Jose and find out what they like and what they will actually use. (see package concepts) (see package process)

Hand Made Paper

As well as viewing cashew trees, we stopped by the small store of a hand paper maker, which Czarina Lim had suggested I go see. This woman had been taught this skill by a local doctor who had passed it along in the interest of seeing local barangay women develop abilities which would assist their ability to bring in a greater income. The paper is made by boiling down 10 kg of Kogan Grass (at a time) and adding water and baking soda. It is then pressed down into screened trays, and later dried in the sun. This process yields approximately 50 sheets of paper, which she makes in a variety of fine to course textures. She sells each sheet for 8 pesos (less than two Canadian cents) and only sells them upon special occasions such as weddings, in her own barangay, and does not have the capital or marketing help to sell it anywhere else.

She also makes beautiful fans made of this paper, with dried flowers pressed onto the outside in decorative patterns. A fine art or paper store in Manila or even Vancouver would probably sell paper like this for several dollars a sheet, never mind cents. Unfortunately again, what is really desperately needed here is marketing. Micro loans and government assistance are possible, but someone needs to be connecting people like this with places that would attract the right customers. (see more photos)

Cashew Trees

I asked the city several weeks ago if it would be possible to actually see where cashews are grown. They are unfortunately not in season right now, and so I have to rely exclusively on second hand images to get a physical understanding of this unique fruit. In terms of packaging, Czarina Lim also recommended that I be taken to look at a hand maker of paper, which could be used to develop something nice. No one had been available for several weeks to take me, but upon asking again last week, I was taken yesterday to see both the paper and cashew trees.

Unfortunately, any community which actually farms cashews is several hours away, and as they are not in season, I could not convince them to take me that far. What I was shown though, was several plantations which are owned and managed by the city Agriculture Department, where they grow all sorts of local trees and plants, in some cases to develop and administer new technologies. I was taken to one area where sloping terrain (hillside) technology was being developed for implementation, and at another I was shown many cashew trees, along with cacao, mangosteen, jackfruit and others. The cashew trees must be very interesting to see when they are growing fruit, but it just wasn't to be. I was also taken to an agricultural information center in the middle of nowhere, which no one can really get to (typical here) which has many plots of different vegetables and trees, and at the info center building I was shown information on cashews along with some of the fully shelled nuts, and a list of other products derived from the cashew apple and nut, almost none of which seem to be in development here.

Afterwards, we went to the Department of Science and Technology where we were to meet the director and inquire about cashew processing technology. He wasn't in, and so we will return next week, but what amazed by were the several large posters which outlined the development of Palawan cashew industry, and the other uses for local cashews, and other information. There is apparently, already an initiative in play to promote the development of new cashew products. I have been working on this for weeks and nobody bothered to tell me this.

While eating lunch today, I also ran into a member of the Palawan Chamber of Commerce who I had met briefly weeks ago, and as it turns out, his wife is attempting to develop cashew biscotti and is, herself, involved in promoting local cashew products. We intend to meet again. Working in Puerto is like putting a puzzle together. My only fear is that it will only be half done when it comes time for me to return home. (see more photos)

Presenting to City Hall

When I first arrived in Puerto, my work plan suggested selecting two barangays for product selection, as well as several seminars, a database, and a website among other things. This is about a years work for several people, and things here move at half speed. It took me several weeks just to get a reasonably clear picture of what was on offer, and I still don't have the whole picture. As the city doesn't really have any active method for hunting down products, or any official method of certification, I began to feel time running short. There are 66 barangays in Puerto Princesa and many of them produce things. The city is at various stages of helping groups who have requested aid, and so I felt that I would do the most good by choosing someone who was ready for design help and begin there, which is how I ended up helping the Kasoy processors.

Beyond this, what Puerto Princesa needs, is a system of certifying or recognizing viable products which make these part of the city's promotional efforts, and then they have to actually promote them. I will soon be aiming to bring together various groups from the Agriculture and Planning offices, to the Tourism department, to the Department of Science and Technology (who are already working to diversify the cashew industry in Palawan) to the private sector. It would be wonderful to see them diversify their local product support by including agricultural and creative products under their stewardship, and this may take the form of advertising or simply information.

Going back a step, I presented my design ideas to Melissa, my contact in the city's Agriculture Department last Wednesday, along with some of her colleagues, and they seemed very excited. I am no professional by any means, but they are not used to concise design, and are apparently quite eager to see some of my ideas in use. So, I am now in the thick of things. With only 5 weeks to go, I'm not sure what I've done with the time. I want to see a package design finished and ready before I leave. I would like to see some kind of stamp or logo for the city to use in identifying locally recognized products, and I would like to at least plant the seeds of some collaboration between local creatives, businesses and the city in terms of promoting these products as part of the city's image to visitors and locals alike. Only time will tell.

Sabang and the Underground River

After three hours crammed inside a jeepnie, we arrived at Sabang where the magnificence of the scenery was matched only be the relief we felt for being able to stretch our legs. Sabang is the village that is closest to the Underground river and is made up largely of small beach side resorts. The view down the beach is like something from a postcard including tropical mountains framing a white sand beach lined with coconut palms, with waves from the South China Sea crashing on the beach. We stayed in small one room huts in a little yard where the central bamboo building served as the reception and restaurant.

We took a short walk to the nearest river, on which local mangrove tours are given. Our guide was a small, friendly fellow, who rowed us down the river and explained the Philippines efforts to maintain their wild mangrove habitat. This current eco-policy is a complete u-turn from the 1970s policy which rewarded people for cutting down mangroves to make room for farmland. Now it's illegal. Our guide sang us the "Mangrove Song" and we were able to actually plant a mangrove tree in the sand. A legacy for future generations. The rest of the day was spent relaxing and discussing politics, the differences between the US and Canada and my colleagues' respective experiences since arriving in the Philippines.

The following day before heading back to Puerto, we hiked the 2 and half kilometers (a mile and half for the rest of you) over the mountain on the Monkey Trail to the mouth of the Underground River. No monkeys were to be seen on the trail, nor much other wild life, likely due to the rainy weather. We were all feeling how out of shape we were, but the trek was well worth it. We saw one Monitor Lizard at the picnic site near the river (a small Komodo Dragon like creature). The river itself was busy and it was all you could do to line up and get on the boat. It would have been nice to have sandals, as the boats don't come right to shore, but I guess most people come by boat.

The trip into the cave goes for about 45 minutes, and you travel about a kilometer and a half of eight, which would take hours. The chambers inside are massive and the guide pointed out all sorts of water sculpted stalagmites and stalagtites that seemed to take the form of religious icons and animals, much like cloud watching. Thousands of bats screech over head, and the whole trip feels like it takes about five minutes. Quite a remarkable place. After a boat ride back to Sabang and some lunch we were back to the jeepnie for the trip home, an adventure in itself. (see more photos)

Jeepnie Ride to Sabang

Ever since arriving in Puerto Princesa City, I have had people ask me what I have seen of the local tourist attractions. Apparently northern Palawan is absolutely magnificent, and the diving is supposed to be good in many places. Dos Palmas up the highway a bit, is the only 5 star resort on Palawan and is a popular snorkeling spot. Being here for work, though, I really haven't had a chance to seen most of these things, and likely won't with the limited time I have. That said, I get to see all sorts of other worth while things that a tourist would never see. This past weekend I finally did get out of town to see something on the list of tourist destinations though, and probably the number one destination at that. I'm speaking of the UNESCO world heritage site, the Subterranean River at Sabang.

Not having had the opportunity to take a jeepnie in Manila, I finally got the opportunity to do so. Some friends that I've met from the US Peace Corp, plus one Canadian working with the British based Volunteer Services Overseas organization and I, met at the San Jose market and jeepnie terminals at about 5:30 am last Thursday. Although I was the first one there and well before dawn, I was certainly not the first on the jeepnie, as the locals know the drill of chucking your bag through the window to claim your space. For those who haven't been introduced to the concept of the jeepnie, these common transportation vehicles in the Philippines are remnants of the second world war in the form of extended American Army Jeeps. The bodies are elongated and reenforced from the inside, with benches added. They are wildly decorated on the outside similar to the bottom of a snowboard or the inside of a well used telephone booth, with crazy type and all sorts of pop cultural iconography. In the jeep we took, there were about three front facing benches up front, and then two along the sides in the back where we sat. When there was no more room, they placed plastic stools between our knees for more people to sit. Then when there was no more room, people hung out the back and then headed up to the roof. At one point along the potholed dirt road, the vehicle got stuck in the mud. At least 15 people dropped off the roof and pushed until the jeep got going again. The engines in these jeepnies are probably designed to haul about 8 to 10 people. So instead they carry up to 50. At least the chicken kept quiet.

On the way back, we were told that the jeepnie headed back to town at 2pm, but it actually left at 1pm. So, by the time we got there, the inside was full. We had the choice of waiting until the next day, walking for two days, or riding on top. On the positive side, the wind blowing through my hair felt great, and the scenery coming from the west coast is superb, with limestone cliffs, and tropical forested valleys making up the landscape. Sitting on a roof rack with a bar up your ass, and bracing yourself so as not to be thrown off into the ditch, while ever more luggage and cargo are piled up behind you is not an experience I would like to repeat, however. To make matters worse I ended up having pretty bad allergies the whole bumpy, three hour ride back. Lastly, as a suggestion to anyone who ever plans to make this trip in this way, please ride on the left hand side of the roof, because quite often the driver gets a little to close to passing trees. Thank goodness, they were for the most part, soft branches. (see more photos)

Hanging Out at the Market

In western marketing, the first thing you do when developing a product, is to determine who is buying it already, and who else might buy it if you talk to them the right way. This has proven exceptionally difficult here, because there are no official means of finding out. To determine if a local business is doing well, after help is given by the local government, they are simply asked. Naturally, there are no focus groups, blind taste tests, or direct mail questionnaires to be found. Upon suggestion by my liaison at Emily Carr, I went to the market to see if I could guage for myself, just exactly who was buying the cashews.

An American friend I have made here absolutely loves cashews. He told me that he went to the market the other day, excited to buy some, but left with none because he was confused as to which was which, with no indication of quality or where they were made. To make matters worse, there are several areas at the local market where cashews are sold, which are difficult to find without knowing where to look. I stopped by the San Jose area, where unlike many of the other sellers, they are sorting and bagging the cashews fresh on the spot. Ironically, the nice lady with the stall across the small aisle from them, is selling cashews with her own label that she buys directly from the Princesa stall. Sharing the wealth I suppose. After asking some more questions and buying some cashews, I asked if it would be alright if I returned the next day.

When I did return, Mrs. Angeles who is the proprietor of Princesa Cashews from San Jose was there herself, while it had been her daughter the day before. She clearly made the appearance because she knew I would be there. It was fascinating to watch the bagging process, but customers were lacking. This is the slowest time of year, and they go many days with no customers at all. I did find out though, that around 70% of their sales go to private orders, including the NCCC and NC Roberts grocery stores. The majority of the rest are sold to visitors to Puerto Princesa, mostly from other parts of the Philippines, who take the cashews back home for Pasalubong.

Pasalubong is a Filipino term, which basically translates to "meeting when returning from a far place", and it is customary her to give some token for this purpose. During the several hours I stayed in the cramped aisle, asking questions and generally taking up space, Mrs. Angles finally had two customers. I asked her to ask them where they were from, but she shyly declined, but agreed to allow me. I introduced myself and explained what I was doing. The two women were, as expected, from Manila and were buying cashews for Pasalubong. They reluctantly allowed me to take a photo, and I had the feeling they were the customers for the day. I also had the feeling that having a large white guy with a camera, taking up most of the space around the stall may have been driving off business. Regardless, it seemed pretty clear that this was their general audience, with or without a survey. (see more photos)

Petal Printing

There are about five smallish printing presses in Puerto Princesa City. When I say presses, I mean full fledged four colour, full separation professional quality presses of the sort used to print magazines, flyers, posters and the like. What they do not have, however, is any sort of digital colour printing. From a design point of view this doesn't really make sense. How are you suppose to do trials or mock-ups of design projects if you can't print them off quickly and cheaply first before committing to a press job. There are photocopy places but none of these seem to actually print from a CD or USB drive. They just photocopy. The best I've been able to do is to get one of these presses to print some designs for me off an inkjet printer on letter stock. The smallest of the printing presses that I've seen is running a couple of die cast iron machines that are very likely from the 1940s with all the manual crank wheels and adjustments on the side. These machines use plates made from full photographic four colour separations, and are used to print everything from flyers to menus. This seems like a laborious and expensive way of doing things, however it's what they have. The cost of printing this way must be pricey, but coming up with the capital to purchase digital reprographics equipment is likely only a dream.

Petal Printing seems to be the nicest of the presses I've seen. They have several one colour Heidelberg presses and were unloading a new two colour press from a truck when I arrived, sans forklift, with several planks and several strapping lads. These presses are the size of a small van. Petal also has a digital laser printer but uses this for larger print jobs as well and do not really offer commercial small job runs. They are even modern enough to have a direct digital plate setting machine, that eliminates the need for film separations. Most of their presses are one colour only though, which means for full colour jobs, the paper needs to be put through the machine four times. Lots of work. They seemed very helpful, when I went in to ask about pricing, but forget anything like a price list. Everything is worked out on a calculator for each situation. Despite the fact, that at home, full colour presses are only economically feasable for large print jobs, dollar to peso, the presses here work out cheaper than Kinko's. (see more photos)

Plaza Cuartel

Plaza Cuartel is a national heritage site and apparently there is a recent novel which recounts the story that the site is famous for. Near the end of the Second World War, in December of 1944, the Japanese burned around 150 American soldiers alive in trenches beneath what used to be a military garrison on the site. Only eleven people survived to tell the story. A few escaped the tunnels to the seaside, but most of these were chased and gunned down. The park pays tribute to those who lost their lives at this time. This is one of the historical landmarks that is outlined in the city's tourist brochure, however the site itself is pretty barren, and if the plaque wasn't there (in Tagalog) there wouldn't really be too much to see but the gate. Places like this could really be made into significant destinations. (see more photos)

Vietville

In the 1970s, Vietnamese refugees fled the war in their country and ended up just about everywhere, with the Philippines being no exception. Puerto Princesa City had a relatively large group of refugees who established a small colony, which is now aptly named, "Vietville". Here there is a quaint, but beautiful blue church, homes, a souvenir shop and the really excellent Vietville restaurant, that serves some of the most authentic beef noodle soup around, with all of the basil, sprouts, and seasonings expected. As my stop here came as part of my city tour, I bought Mildred my guide, and Jesus, my driver lunch. We all enjoyed, not only the food, but the beautifully crafted bamboo building, with the elegant pond and rock sculptures out front. They even had squirrels in a cage out by the pond. "BEEF noodle soup" you ask? (see more photos)