Unit X Launch

During Unit X I intend to complete both collections that I started in the practice unit, whilst undertaking a live brief and creating a strong, professional portfolio.

I believe that the Wallpaper collection, Botany, was developed very well within Practice, and feel that dedicating more time to drawing for this would be a good investment of time. I don't believe that the concept needs exploring any further as I developed it within the last unit to produce a good style and concept that worked well as a collection.

The surface pattern collection, Moments, was also developed to a good level within the Practice unit, however I want to make sure that I draw upon a variety of imagery and inspiration sources to ensure that each print in the collection is distinct. I therefore aim to dedicate time to gathering a variety of imagery from various places.

I also want to participate in a live brief, drawing upon research that I left behind in the last unit, and allowing me to continue the theme of nature throughout my portfolio in a slightly different way.

Throughout the unit, I will dedicate a considerable amount of time to research methods for printing and making products including stationery, wallpaper. and business cards. This includes researching into methods to foil my wrapping papers and liaising with companies regarding pricing and printing of products for the degree show.

To compliment these aims, I want to create a strong professional portfolio that is sensitive to the industries standards, as well as increasing my online presence to allow more people to see my work. This will include creating an online portfolio and updating and maintaining social media platforms that I am already on.

Unit Evaluation

This unit has allowed me to explore every aspect of textiles that I love. I have been able to use and enhance my drawing skills within my Botany work to develop highly detailed wallpapers. I have also been able to develop my stylized drawing skills in the Moments collection. Using these elements digitally has also meant that I have learnt even more in Photoshop in Illustrator, especially putting images into repeat. I am glad that I have been able to cater for the surface pattern and wallpaper contexts as this is important for my portfolio when I graduate.

At the start of the unit I feel that I explored my concept very well, navigating lots of options for my theme. I continually pushed myself in many ways, including working very large scale, and working with abstract ideas. I chose my two favourite aspects of this research to develop into different collections. I feel the initial exploration allowed me to ensure that the two areas I developed furthest would give me enough material to work with, and it also ensured that I had a strong and interesting concept behind both collections.

I have also faced a few challenges during this project such as deciding which aspects of my research to carry on with and presenting my work during the review. Choosing which areas of research to not carry on with and develop was hard because I didn't want to risk missing a good idea, or choosing the wrong idea. Overall I am really pleased, as I feel my decisive decision making has lead to two potential collections that I am proud of, and that represent me as a designer. Also, having these two collections to work on meant that I was rarely stuck for inspiration. This can sometimes be an issue during projects, but if I felt stuck with one collection, I could switch to the other one and eventually I would be back on track with both.

At the start of the project I aimed to improve my colour work and I also feel that I have achieved this. Both colour palettes that I used for this unit I haven’t used before, and I am pleased with the results, as it has made me more confident with colour.

Undertaking work experience at Tigerprint and completing a brief for them has also been extremely rewarding, giving me an idea of how designers work to real briefs. I also had the chance to push myself by working towards a fathers day collection, which isn't my usual floral, feminine style. Entering my work into other competitions has also allowed me to become more professional, as my work has been seen by the general public amongst work of other textile designers.

Overall I am confident with the work I have produced and am excited to use this as a starting point for Unit X. I intend to develop both collections to make two collections of at least 8 designs. I might also develop a Christmas wrap collection along side this. I have conducted initial product research to allow me to continue this in Unit X, so I can find the best way to print and make products for the degree show.

Developing Surface Pattern designs

This week I have had the opportunity to develop my surface pattern designs further along side visualisations.

I am really pleased with some of these prints as I feel the scale is working well, along with the colour and content. Although I was worried that my concept was hard to explain and get across in a print, I feel that these prints are successfully representing data. To enhance this idea, I have named individual designs with the moment that the data was taken, such as winter woodland.

When starting to look at the prints together, I started to notice that certain elements stood out from the rest of the collection, for example the typography in the print above. I do like the typography but in Unit X I might consider adding it into more than one design so it works well over the whole collection.

I also spent time this week taking photos of objects for visualisations to help bring my products to life. I am happy with these but in Unit X I feel I could produce stronger images that set more of a scene. For example a set of stationery, or a pile of presents.

I also started to see that some prints (e.g. above) have the potential to develop into a christmas collection in Unit X. I feel that this would also be good for my portfolio, showing I can work to realistic breifs.