Tim's CD case draft

To make the unusual case i talked to a Design and Technology engineer Mrs Purshouse who manages the several CNC machines which could cut the net for the CD case. After showing her the designs i had made and how i wished to use leaves we discussed using the laser cutter we have at Lutterworth College because it gives off a browny discharge when cutting paper and card.

To get this laser cut CD case i had to use a piece of software called Techsoft 2D which allows you to cut any 2D shape onto materials such as card, paper, common plastics and metals. On this piece of software i outlined the proper size of the front of a CD case and its spine and then instead of outlining the rest of the conventional CD case i decided to create my own more basic net which would have only one section to glue.

While searching for appropriate shapes to use for the cover i found this simple drawing of a classic leaf shape and used a tool within the software called 'Vectorising' to find its outline so it could be cut into the card. (this will be blogged about later).

At this point I had established using the leaf shape on the CD cover but it wasn't quite enough and i needed to make the most of the technology i had at hand so instead of cutting out each leaf shape which would weaken the structure of the card i chose to make the majority of the shapes engravings which would give the CD case a fantastic feel and texture. This is shown on the picture below with different coloured lines: the blue represents lines that will be engraved and red are lines to be cut completely

After arranging the leaves i then searched a brilliant website called 'Myfonts' which I've been using for a while and started looking for suitable fonts to use. I didn't want to spend too much time searching for these fonts so i chose the most ideal and addedd them to the case. (this will be blogged about later).

Once checked by Mrs Purshouse the case was cut and brought back to me. At first it appeared quite flimsy so to strengthen it and cover the cut leaf shapes i backed it in black card which constrasted the bright shiney exterior of the card and calmed down its appearance. As this was only a draft i didn't bother adding any graphics or colour to the case so the only colours it used were Black and White which instead of giving a warm autumn look gave a very scarce and cold winter look.

To make this idea even better i will first print graphics onto the card before having it cut out and i will develop its structure and add an extra section for the CD insert. i will also add some graphics to the insides which at the moment are still black card. This should help it suit the usual conventions of a CD case without sticking to them too much and destroying its original purpose which is to be as different as possible.