A couple of weeks ago, I said a concept development class that I’m taking was about as exciting as watching grass grow in a drought-stricken area.

A presentation drawing of an m&m's display that I'll assemble as my final class project.

Well, the class has gone from bad to worse. This is not the ranting and ravings of a failing student. My overall average is 93.33 in this class. Although I hate this course with a passion, I refuse to go down without putting forth my best effort; so, I spend hours upon hours each day on my assignments.

I’m studying to earn a diploma in digital design so that I can start up a home-based desktop publishing business.

A draft of the template I’ll use as a guide while assembling an m&m’s display.

With that said, I don’t see how I’ll use the studies in this class for my home-based business. This class requires a lot of sketching and drawing. I can’t do either well enough without writing explanations so that my instructor and peers will understand the concept that I’m trying to convey. During two assignments, the class was allowed to use Photoshop or Illustrator. I aced them with ease. I have few problems designing on a computer.

The final project requires us to construct a point-of-purchase display that will coax consumers into a spur-of-the moment buy. I chose m&m’s candies because I’ve loved eating them for years and years and they are very colorful.

I’ve done research on the candy and finally got through the sketching and drawing phases of the project. Now I have to design a template, take pictures of the parts and then write a very detailed description of how I will construct the display and what materials will be used.

Whoopee! If I wanted to build things, I would have enrolled in an industrial arts class.

I know how I want to design my display, but realizing my ideas will be quite a challenge. I’ve chosen a stand-alone display and here’s what I want to do:

The display will be 1’ 4” wide with the back of it being 1’ x 1’ 6 3/4” high. There will be four rows of m&m’s with 5 bags stacked in each row. There will be a ¼” divider to separate each row. The flavored candies and the color of their packaging are as follow:

• Red – Chocolate Trio

• Green – Mint Thrills

• Yellow – Chocolate with peanuts

• Violet – Dark milk chocolate

The display will be constructed out of cardboard and spray painted yellow. I’ll use glue to hold it together and computer generated lettering and graphics to make it appealing to consumers.

The presentation drawing of my display (above) needs modifying because I drew the display with boxes of m&m’s in mind. I’ve search several stores and have found them only in bags.

I’m sure as I physically put the display together other modifications will be required.

Meanwhile, I’m still not having fun and I’m so looking forward to Aug. 17 – the last day of THIS class – Hallelujah!

Related posts:

1. Dreading class in concept development
2. Learning to master Adobe Photoshop