OUGD 602 - Apple mac decal

This is a self directed project that I have identified as a potential gap in the market. Recently Apple showed an advert on tv displaying mac decals you can buy to customise your mac, personally I dont see much point in them as personalising your computer isnt particularly about buying an uninspiring sticker its more about making it unique to you.

Obviously this must be quite a large market if Apple a personally advertising it for the macbook air. From doing some research I have found no really artistic designs, most of them just seem to be simple vector images with no real artistic merit too them.

As a Mac is undoubtedly a tool for a designer I thought there could have been someone producing decals for macs that are really geared towards a graphic designers taste, most of these decal designs just seem to be geared for mass marketing purposes.

This is where I decided that I should produce my own stickers for macs and iphones as I feel this falls under the same category. One thing about the existing decals is that they offer no protection for your mac in terms of resistance to scratches because they are just a sticker of the image. My idea really grew from something that would look good and would also serve a purpose in terms of protecting your device from cosmetic damage, thats where I felt the decals failed in terms of a product.

From some quick research I found it was quite expensive to buy a blank mac scratch protector because they are come in parts to protect every are of your mac. In terms of production this might be difficult to achieve but is something I will consider when mocking up images. This made me rethink my own brief to turn my attention to iphone decals. I feel this idea is actually stronger than producing decal for a mac for a number of reasons.

The market for people with Iphones is much larger than people with macbooks
Iphones need protecting more than macs do
Like macbooks, iphones all look exactly the same opening up a market for people who do want to customise their phones to express their own personality
Screen protectors for iphones are very cheap and are already used by millions of people

Having checked online I have found that decals do exist for iphones but they just tend to be smaller versions of the ones available for macs, they also dont offer any scratch protection. From identifying a genuine gap in the market I think if I do this well then they could become a genuine product, this is all in theory though. One of the first things I need to do is too establish weather I can screen print onto the screen protectors and if so how long the paint will stay on for, if it will rub or scratch off ect...

Screen printing is the main method I wish to use to put an image onto the screen protection, I can also use the laser cutter to kiss-cut an image which would make it more permanent, I could even combine the two to see how they work together. This is something I will need to experiment on as I go.