Timetabling and Moving Forward with Designs

Between worrying about career intentions and feeling unable to meet my first block November 17th I became stressed and my work suffered; I retreated to familiar ways of working to me (organised, technical exercises) rather than pushing designs and being playful with ideas.

To alleviate pressure and allow time to explore new possibilities within my work I altered my project structure to complete one larger block. Having two blocks encouraged me to work quickly but it clashed with the way I usually work, to combine ideas and processes across a set of collections rather than extracting elements and dividing them up. My plan to complete and present a collection by November was overly ambitious considering CP3L and Spanish run concurrently to the Practice unit, and in future I will be more realistic with timetabling.

Suddenly having extra time, I realised that my project would benefit from more drawing and development. I added to my reservoir of motifs and felt better about the quality of my work. Combining motifs and experimenting with a wider variety of colour produced bold, interesting results (see below). The mood of the pieces was now closer to what I was aiming for; fun, quirky, and homely.

New Designs

Technical Exercise

After GNCCF I thought about freelancing; to be successful I would need commercial designs and have a good sense for trends and the market. I thought about commercially viable screen printed products I could make relatively easily to the required standard; tea towels and cushions seemed a good solution. I researched fabrics and the type of designs used on them from a selection at John Lewis.

John lewis products

Most tea towels used 100% cotton. Sizes ranged from 45 - 52cm by 70 - 78cm. and prices ranged from £9 - £15. Cushions were £25 - £120, and most were 43cm x 43cm. Linen and cotton (durable, washable, practical fabrics, suitable for everyday use) were most common, and I aim to use these when screen printing according to the sizes above.

The designs were in repeat or placement, and use few colours, with one main motif used. As a result I challenged myself to make designs with limited colour, using 3 similar motifs. It was a chance to experiment with different compositions, use of scale and spacing.

Analysing the 25 designs afterwards, they seemed too similar to each other, and were formulaic. Because of the lack of variety of motifs, I felt stuck for composition ideas and designs ended up too 'safe'. Some could potentially end up in my final collection, but deliberately limiting myself didn't help to advance or portray my full range of ideas.

Competition Entries

I entered Tigerprint's October competition 'Christmas Pattern' to create a repeat design for Christmas themed wrapping paper. I used my Christmas colour palette and motifs from my 'Home' project, and was also inspired by old paper prints and collographs I found while tidying. The leaves and dots' colours lent themselves to the festive theme and had interesting texture, so I scanned them to use on Photoshop. Entering was good technical practice as I hadn't used repeat recently and it will be needed for my wallpaper designs. I was happy with the designs which are bold but not too busy, appropriate for Christmas and commercial.

I observed winning entries after the competition closed, and they were more involved in terms of drawing and use of motifs. This was surprising; usually commercial designs are simple. They also liked use of figures in one design as it was unusual. In comparison my designs look generic; next time I might inject more character and spend more time drawing.

Patternity ran a photography competition as they needed images of interesting pattern to be featured in their upcoming book. I submitted a mixture of old and new photographs and tried to convey different colours, textures and moods in my selection. 

Timetabling, Research, Colour and GNCCF

Timetabling

To allow exploration of a second theme, such as architecture, my tutor suggested that I split the Practice Unit into two blocks. This would enable me to combine blocks or refine one for Unit X. I respond well to structure and deadlines, and expect that having a shorter term goal to work towards will encourage me to work at a good pace. 

Research

To provide a new perspective on objects, I scanned them. To save time I laid them together in a way that was visually appealing to me. This allowed me to see how they interact in terms of shape and colour and see how patterns sit well together despite being quite different.

Scanned Pottery Collected From Beaches

Colour

I extracted colours from my drawings and photographs to form four colour palettes, grouped by theme or colour type (see below). 

Top Left, Christmas themed
Bottom Left, based on my bathroom
Middle, warm colours
Right, cool colours

All share a common mid tone green, and there are also other crossovers so if I decide to use them in combination for digital or screen print collections, they will complement each other.

Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair

GNCCF was a chance to be inspired by the variety and high standard of work produced by freelancers. I spoke with recent TIP graduates there about starting a business and opportunities they had, and realised I should consider freelancing. To do this I would need to invest time in making, branding, networking and presentation skills. 

I gathered and arranged a selection professional yet enticing business cards to analyse their qualities. Close up photographs draw the viewer in, as you want to see the rest of the product. Although practical to have the maker's name on the front, here the names distract from the designs.

GNCFF Cards

It was clear that each maker's character and passion came through in their products; I need to inject that sense of individuality and fun into my work. I looked back at one finger drawing (based on my bathmat) that really captures this; there is a community of finger-creatures that seem to have a collective personality. By placing different objects together and focusing on their interactions I can create a new, fresh feel to my designs while making them feel homely. 

Bathmat colony

HOME

Over summer I was away from home (Manchester), and missed the relaxation and personal space that comes with it. I then reflected on the different meanings of home:

people, places, tradition, culture, animals, objects, food, body, feeling, language, retreat, building

I focussed on my collected objects as they are easily accessible to draw directly from, and there is good variety of content. I was also inspired by the experience of moving house; many objects such as tools and boxes are bland, neutral and dark in colour. By using them as contexts for prints I could give them a homely feeling.

When photographing and drawing from my items I selected attributes of each to focus on, such as colour, texture, mood, movement and pattern. I used a variety of media to capture these elements, including acrylic, pencil, watercolour paint and pen. I may later introduce embroidery, typography and laser cutting if appropriate. Also I will use the overlocker to finish fabric samples.

collected objects

drawing research

Initial research was successful; I worked small scale to quickly generate ideas, and was able to achieve a range of effects. I tried to stay true to the objects' colours in order to capture their essence and mood; this will help to convey the feeling of home. 

My designs will be for an interiors context (including wallpaper, home accessories, blinds, cushions, tea towels, curtains), and for stationery. I have previously designed for several contexts simultaneously and it helped me consider aspects traditionally used in each sector and analyse where my work fits within the design sphere. I will produce several collections, using digital and screen printing on paper and fabric. I want to further develop my photoshop and illustrator skills, and learn to use a graphics tablet for drawing, as this will be useful for working in industry and help my design work.

Orla Kiely Bedding, Paper Tiger Notebooks, Annabel Perrin Mugs, Caroline Pratt Cards

Examples of other designers' work I looked at are brightly coloured with a vibrant, warm feel. There are intricate patterns, motifs arranged in stripes, half drops, geometric arrangements, and placement designs. I will aim to retain this variety in my collections.