Best of the Rest – Voluma

We have a lot of catching up to do in the ‘Best of the Rest’ category – therefore I’ll really try to keep this one brief!

For Voluma’s Best of the Rest, even though there were many great ideas in this contest that were really well done and didn’t manage to make top ranks, I have chosen an idea which was rather controversial, loved by some but also criticized by others: I’m  talking about M_Designs Voluma chocolate pralinés!

The idea had a strong position within the contest for a while, but in the end fell back onto rank 20. I chose to single out this idea because it brings up one of the issues that have been discussed on jovoto recently: How should the community deal with and rate ideas which are good, but just do not really match the task? In which way can creative flashes of inspiration like this be honored, without being unfair to those who have thoroughly worked with the task proposed in the briefing?

In this case, arguably, the idea to make Voluma-shaped chocolates does not perfectly fit to the task of the contest – which was to develop ideas for a relaunch of the Voluma Corporate Design and to adapt the new design on specific communicative materials. However, it is a strong, emotional and clever idea which just somehow ‘fits’ and was presented in a nice way.

To us, the creators and ‘gardeners’ of this platform, seeing such ideas sprout and perform well is a positive sign:  it means that users are having fun developing ideas in many directions and thinking out of the box. To the clients, they are valuable inspiration and input they may have never considered before – a clear benefit which speaks for the dynamic processes on jovoto. However, for the community, and the whole rating system, ideas like this are difficult to deal with. What criteria do you apply when rating? What criteria do you apply for yourself when coming up with an idea and deciding to upload it? You guessed it: we don’t have the ideal answer ourselves. It is a fluid process: I think the example of M_Designs chocolate shows that such ideas are much appreciated, but in the end ratings to tend to focus objectively on the way the task has been fulfilled. Do you have any suggestions/thoughts on this issue?

But now it’s time to hear it from M_Design himself!

Q: what’s your real name and what do you do?
My name is Martin Jentzsch. I work as a free graphic designer and art director for different agencies in Berlin.

Q: how long have you been a member at jovoto?
Since February, 2009

Q: Looking back on your idea, what do you think?

I still think  the idea to produce single Voluma-Connector as a chocolate praline is good.
This idea can help the company Voluma to a unique selling proposition, regardless of the later well-chosen CD.
Of course, the design of the packaging must be adapted to the new CD directives.

Q: Can you describe the creative process that led to the idea?

Initially I had planned to have single Voluma Connectors and Plates made out of chocolate: A set of connectors and plates should be assorted together in a gift package. That way, the client could have built a small trade fair stand out of chocolate! Researching for this idea, I came upon the company http://www.schokologo.com/de which is able to realize this type of project.

There’s one major flaw to this idea: it’s not very hygienic! The chocolate will melt once you’re starting to build with it. So I kept on researching and finally came up with the idea of the pralines. I found out that there are companies like ‘Pralinenpapst’ which decorate regular pralines with company logos, but truly individual praline shapes are rarely seen. However, the company AMOS has recently developed this type of individual praline shaping, using silicone casts. With theses casts, chocolatiers could easily produce Voluma-pralines. And this was how the idea for a new Voluma-Giveaway was born.