Colour, Inspiration and Internship!

My Colour Palette: 

After creating a few designs, I have decided on a final colour palette for my designs. The inspiration for my choice of colour came from one of the colour palettes that Debbie gave us initially which included bright pinks, pale blues, yellows, greens and greys! I loved the idea of challenging myself by using bright colours, as I usually work with subtle, cool colours. When I started designing with the scheme I found that the palette naturally started to develop, and below is the final colour palette that I chose, along with some colour source images found online. 

Image A: My colour palette

Clarissa Hulse:

I have spent some time during this project looking at designers other than Digetex that provide me with ideas and inspiration in relation to the brief. Clarissa Hulse is one designer that is particularly relevant, as she designs cushions for the home, with bright bold colours. The way she uses her colour palette is very clever, and her combinations of colours work really well together, and this is something I want to take into my own practice and develop in my designs.

Image B: Bright cushions by Clarissa Hulse. http://clarissahulse.com

Image C: Bed sheet set by Clarissa Hulse. http://clarissahulse.com

I like the fact that she uses her prints along side solid bold colour, such as on the duvet (Image C) and on the back of her cushions (Image B). Her designs also consist of only two or three colours, and I feel that I could have some designs like this in my collection that are simpler, in contrast to some complex watercolour based designs. I also feel like in my collection I could suggest a complimentary colour for the back of each cushion to enhance my designs.

Image D: Triangle collage of Designs inspired by Clarissa Hulse

Image E: Stripe collage of Designs inspired by Clarissa Hulse

Above are some examples of how I have embraced the way she works. I have taken the idea of introducing block colour between designs on board and I think it adds a really interesting quality to the designs which could be part of my final collection.

Internship with Digetex:

After meeting with Debbie twice, she emailed me and asked me to go down to Digetex in Trafford Park for an Interview. I was so excited to be offered this opportunity as is means that she is really impressed by the way I have been responding to the brief she has set, and proves that I have embraced new challenges, understood her professional brief, and met her requirements. I was lucky enough to be offered an Internship with them, and I am so excited! I will be starting throughout this project, doing a day a week working in their studio. From then on I will be working 4 days a week over the whole of summer! It will be a fantastic opportunity and I can't wait to see what I learn! 

I also feel that this will enhance my work for Unit X, working even further in collaboration with the designers in the studio, and having first hand access to the way Digetex work and working in a professional context.

Developing Ideas and Meeting with Debbie from Digetex!

This week I have started to experiment with my drawings and paintings to see how my designs might come together. We have also had a meeting with Debbie so I wanted to have lots of drawings to show her as well as the start of some design ideas so that I could get valuable feedback on my work. I started by combining a floral line drawing with my textured watercolour experiments (Image A and B). I like the results because they combine the 'File line' and 'Watercolour' briefs well, and think they could work really well as a print on a cushion.

Image A: White watercolour floral print

Image B: Black watercolour floral print

I also used my line drawings as motifs with solid colour (Image C), as well as experimenting with the motifs having watercolour texture running through them (Image D). I like the effect created by the Image C, as the clusters make it look less obviously floral. I also like the line texture that is coming through on Image D, and the fact that some of the lines are bold, and some fade more than others.

Image C: Flower head motif print

Image D: Flower head watercolour print

I also took inspiration from one of my favourite wrapping papers sold by Clintons, and replicated it as shown below (Image E). I did this because often I see things that I love and doubt that I could do it myself. I wanted to use this project as an opportunity to push my working methods and teach myself new techniques. Replicating the design made me realise what I like about it; the offset colours, and the combination of a colour palette in different variations, compared with contrasting line drawings. Now that I have learnt how to do this, I can take inspiration from the design and use the techniques in future designs.

Image E: My replication of a Clintons wrapping paper

I am very aware that as well as starting to design early on in the brief, I need to keep drawing to ensure that I have a constant source of visual material to make my final collection as rich as possible. I have therefore also started experimenting with another trend that I wanted to focus on, felt tip. I tried to draw stylised patterns based on flowers (Image F), including a more abstract interpretation shown in Image G, using block colour and texture.

Image F: Floral felt tip study

Image G: Abstract felt tip study

I like these effects due to the different line and colour qualities created, and next I would like to try and mix these with other techniques, to see what else I can do with my ideas.

Digetex Visit

This week we also had a visit from Debbie from Digetex which was really valuable! I sat down with her and showed the work I have done so far and it was great to get a second opinion on my work. She gave me some great ideas, like using Chinese brushes from china town, and she responded really well to some of my initial ideas. Debbie also mentioned that my initial research looked strong, and one of the main points that I took from the visit was that she was really keen to take work outside, and work on a large scale. For example I could photograph cushions outside to use these as context images to keep my designs looking fresh! She also mentioned that I could design for large floor cushions or bean bags, and this also inspired me think of different sized cushions. I don't usually think or work in this way so pushing myself to work to a clients brief will both challenge me and help me to embrace professional briefs. She also helped me to realise that our work can't just be nice, and be like what everyone else is doing; it has to be different and unusual because this is what gets your work bought and starts off new trends. I am really keen to embrace this idea, and concentrate on creating unique designs. It was good to know that after following her brief I am on the right track and she likes my work, and now I want to carry on designing and creating more drawings to work with.