Unit-X- Investigations

As I discussed with my group the theme of using reclaimed wood was a one we all thought would work well for my project, and the idea of bringing the outside inside. However I realised from their views that using this as the main focus for my project was not going to translate well for an interior setting. Therefor we decided together that a good starting point for this would be to use the reclaimed wood as drawing utensils. I have used sticks in previous projects to create drawn work and I feel that they have worked well for me as I think that rough and sketchy drawings are the style that I work in. However I was very surprised at some of the interesting and personal marks I was able to create with these. As I started to create my initial drawings I was trying to focus on the playful aspect that the Whitworth use. I was doing this by aiming my designs at a younger audience. Here are some examples of my initial drawings.

I started to create designs using my initial drawings. At first I wasn’t sure where I saw my designs going so I looked at lots of different interior outcomes such as; cushions, blinds, lampshades, wallpaper and feature posters. I thought that my initial designs were successful and I was very pleased with the colour scheme I had chosen to use, based on colours I had chosen from existing products within the gallery’s retail outlet. Here is my colour board

Although I found my initial designs successful I was uncertain that I was hitting my target audience. I felt that my designs although playful, where for a more mature audience. I met up with my group to discuss this and receive some feedback on my initial designs. My group also agreed that my designs were more suited to adults. I decided to take on a new approach with my project and instead of changing my designs; I would carry on working in this way and aim my designs at adults as apposed to children. My group and I thought that this was the best decision to make, as they all really liked my initial designs and colour scheme. Having meetings with my group has really helped me to see the strengths and weaknesses within my work as they are looking at it from a 3D disciplinary angle, whereas usually the only other people would view my work would be textiles students also. I feel that this has been a key aspect for my work developing because I do not know what kind of discipline the client or consumer of my product will have. Therefor having interdisciplinary views on my work has vastly improved the quality and strengthened my own initial ideas. Here are a few examples of my initial designs.

These are some more developed designs I have created after receiving feedback from my tutorials and my group.

After looking at lots of contextual research of interior settings and home furnishings I decided that I would carry on developing the print designs I had already created, but also I would start designing specifically for a cushion outcome. As I thought that this would be an achievable outcome to actually produce within the time frame that I have. I will be aiming to design and make 3 complete cushions that sit well together as part of a larger collection of print designs. As well as this, from feedback I have received from my group and tutorials I will also apply my designs to other outcomes as visualisations. This way the client will be able to see all of the possibilities that my designs could be applied to without me having to make the outcome itself. Here are some of my developed designs that could be applied to cushions.

Although I have designed prints for cushions before I have never actually tried making them as an outcome. Therefor I was very pleased with the way that they turned out although, I had to have a few attempts. Because I have actually made them this time I have gained a greater appreciation for the context of my design work. Here are my final cushions.

Although I would love to be able to actually make more outcomes for my project, due to time and uncertainty of the making process I will not be able to create any more project outcomes. However I have created these digital visualisations to show my print designs in different contexts.

I met up with my group today before I had my sign up tutorial and I was very interested to see how much progress we had all made in the past week. I am very appreciative of their discipline and how 3 people all doing 3D design could come up with 3 amazing concepts that are all so different but are all working very successfully in their own way.

For the next part of my project I will be focusing on finalizing all of my sample work and creating boards that accurately explain my projects key items to an outside audience. I will do this with the intent of displaying these boards alongside my fabric samples and my final cushions at the exhibition. Although I do not think that all of my designs have been successful I will still display all of the sample work that I have created. After attending my sign up tutorial this week I received very positive feedback from both tutors and I was very pleased. The only advice they were able to give me was to start creating a brand for myself, as I hadn’t really thought about this. So the next task I will be undertaking is creating things like business cards and tags for my cushions. Hopefully through researching branding I will be able to further my contextual research and knowledge. Here are my initial designs for these

 Here are my final tags

Unit X- Research

This week was the launch of Unit X. For my Unit X project this year I have chosen to do a project called Whitworth Limited Editions. For this project we have been invited to develop proposals, samples and prototypes for products to be sold in the Whitworth’s retail outlet. Within the timeframe of the project I will not necessarily be able to produce a finished product; therefore it is important to consider throughout how my ideas are communicated to an audience. After the project launch presentation we were asked to bring a wide range of creative materials and sets of multiples. From these multiples and materials we created new design ideas to create innovative products. Here are some images from the making session.

Also we had to do a task called 'speed dating' for this we were asked to prepare a small 2-minute speech and bring an example of our work. Then we worked our way round the room talking to as many people as we could to describe our work in 2 minuets. I found this task very useful to see other peoples work and find people who I would be interested in collaborating with. I also found the task quite enjoyable and fast pace. I was lucky enough to be asked by 3 girls if I would like to collaborate with them on this project, not creating 1 outcome but just to meet up and share our ideas, as we all have similar thoughts about this project. The girls I am working with are all from 3D design, which is a subject I am very interested in. I am especially keen to learn about the way they work and how they interpret this project from another discipline's point of view.

Today we went on an organized visit to the Whitworth art gallery. Although I have already visited the gallery independently a few times in the past, it was much more helpful and interesting getting a tour. I started the day by being shown textile examples from the Whitworth archive here are some photographs of the ones I found most interesting as they relate to my own practice as i am very inspired by all of the colours and the detailing that these items have on them. I feel older textiles from the archives are more interesting than modern textiles because i feel they have some sort of story behind them and thats why they are still so interesting and engaging to look at. 

I found all the parts of the Whitworth interesting but I found the gift shop talk from the commercial team was the most engaging and informative to me. Looking at the products and being given information about the products it was very clear to see the key concepts of the Whitworth being; Playful, Personal and intelligent within the products that they already sell. I was able to get a clear feeling and understanding of the audiences that i could design for. This understanding was vital in helping me think of my own ideas to be sold in the shop as i realise how important it is that my product would fit within the shop. Here are some of the image I took which I found most inspirational. I found them inspirational because of the wide variety of objects the shop sold. I was inspired that i could let my imagination go of and think about all the possibilities i could think of whilst designing. The colours of the images in the gift shop were particularly inspirational as they were all quite different but at the same time they all sat very well together to create a very consistent look and feel throughout the store. 

After the tour of the park I am thinking about using the idea of reclaimed wood from Whitworth Park itself as a key concept in my design ideas. I think that this would fit in well with the words that characterise the Whitworth’s approach; Playful, Intelligent and Personal. I am thinking that my proposal could use any one of these words at this point to describe itself. Also by using reclaimed wood that has already fallen from the trees in the park, that this will be made with an ethical consideration. If I do not use the idea of reclaimed wood in some way or another, then I think the best thing to do would be to design for interiors as this is what i am most interested in. I intend to explore working with reclaimed wood as this is something i have never done before, however as it is not my area of practice working with these materials i am unsure as to how successful it will be. Therefor the idea i will choose to take forward will probably explore an area more close to my own practice and focus on interiors aimed at children. 

I attended the Alex Russell workshop because I am interested in trend forecasting and I thought this would be the most relevant to my work. I have always been interested in trend forecasting and I think it is a vital part when trying to design products, as no one is going to want to buy a product that is outdated, especially as the production time for some products can take years. I really enjoyed the lecture and I felt that I learned quite a lot about the subject, although I wasn’t expecting to learn as much as I did by completing the tasks in the workshop. In the workshop session I collaborated with Rachel Convery, and together we chose to look at environmental issues as our topic. We used post it notes to list a plethora of environmental issues and then chose 2 issues to focus on.

After gathering images to illustrate our 2 issues we then created 2 boards from these. We then presented these boards to the rest of the class.

This week i met up with my group and discuss my 3 ideas. This helped me a lot to see other people’s opinions. I found it very helpful as we are all looking at the same theme of nature and bringing the outside inside. We have all been very interested in the park and the idea of reusing wood. I initially wanted to use reclaimed wood as the main focus of my project but i have changed my idea after discussing with my group. I am going to use reclaimed wood and sticks as drawing tools to create the drawings and images for my designs. Here are my 3 ideas. The idea that i will be taking forward will be idea number 2. I have chosen to design for an interior setting and i feel that this project will work particularly well for children's interiors.

Locating- Week 8

After creating my sample and design board for the combined processes part of the Bradford textiles competition, I started altering my designs for a fashion outcome. I thought that my designs would be more suitable for an alternative sports brand, fitting the market for ski and snowboard wear. I started to gather design flats of the garments I wanted to create and edited my designs on Photoshop to visualize what my designs would look like on the fashion garments. I created a whole range of ski/snowboard wear and accessories and I was actually really pleased with how these looked. I will be sending a main board with a sample and one fashion visualization on and another board with my whole range on to show my collection. I think that this worked really well because after doing a lot of contextual research on ski and snowboard wear that is currently on the market, I feel that my designs relate well to the common themes of neutral tones and contrasting bright colours with daring patterns. I feel that my work also portrays these elements. Here are some images showing my fashion visualisation boards that i will be sending away to the Bradford competition.

Locating- Week 6

This week I had my digital designs printed onto the fabric cotton canvas because I thought this was the most appropriate fabric to use for interior outcomes such as cushions. I was very pleased with the way they turned out as the colours came out really bright against the grey tones. I have also booked time in the print room for next week to develop my prints by hand. I want to add a couple of other processes to my prints such as flock and foil to give them subtle hints of texture. I think that when designing for items such as cushions that sometimes texture can be quite important, hopefully after my hand printing in the print room I will be pleased with the outcome. I have already had my motifs developed onto a screen that I will use on my fabric so I can plan ahead exactly what I will be printing whilst in the print room. Hopefully this will ensure that my printing is effective and efficient.

Here are some images of my digitally printed fabric