Saucy Fish Co - Initial Net Testing

Given the changes that were made to the net in the fish transport packaging brief, I've learned to get the net right first before designing the packaging itself. This morning I taped some A4 sheets together and drew out the net to check that it worked and it was roughly the right size, only to realise upon completion of the net that I didn't know how big a fish fillet is. That said, given that the basic shape of the packaging is a box, it wouldn't take too much altering to adjust it as the net is so simple.

This lead me on to start thinking about what materials I'd use for the packaging - paper was clearly too flimsy, so some sort of thicker card would be better. I feel like something around 350gsm would provide the appropriate protection - I know this as I recently had some business cards printed on stock of that thickness.

The grooves on the insides of the box will be made out of 3mm corrugated cardboard, having used this material for the fish transport bag project I know it's very difficult to fold or bend against the direction of the flutes. The relatively thin nature of it should allow me to make a fairly precise system of grooves as well. I propose that the grooves the cardboard will create will look like the diagram below - this will allow the material that suspends the fish above the outer packaging to fold around the grooves so it won't slip out.

Having looked into what transparent materials I could use I was struggling to find one that was conventionally recyclable, according to this website I can use acetate as it is recyclable if done properly, so this isn't going against the brief. Acetate is perfect as it won't absorb any oils from the fish, is sturdy enough not to break under the weight of the fish, and is flexible enough to fold to fit the grooves in the box.

I recreated the net and the appropriate size bits of cardboard and acetate in illustrator so I can get a more practical mock-up created using the laser cutter at some point next week. The below illustrator files show how the nets and bits of cardboard and acetate I'll be using will look.