Design Progression

I have recently been designing more prints for the brief, based on the visual research I have done so far. I am fairly happy with the results, and I think some of my designs have the potential to be part of my final collection.

This design below (Image A) was created from a watercolour piece that I created by blowing paint with a straw (Image B). I like the fact that it looks like branches, or grasses, and also the contrast between the bold shapes in the background and the watercolour in front.

Image A: Watercolour Branch Print

Image B: Watercolour painting using a straw.

During the week I have spent quite a lot of time working on a few different poppy designs, including drawings and watercolour. After completing the designs and looking back on them a few days later, I have realised that they aren't right for this project. I feel that these designs would suit a surface pattern based project better, for example a stationary collection, rather than the cushion collection that I am designing for in this project.

Image c: An example of a Poppy design I created

One of my more successful designs is also shown below (Image D). I created lots of similar variations of this using watercolour, line, and solid colour, and I feel that having a simpler, geometric design has the potential to compliment the rest of the collection well.

Image D: Geometric Triangle Print

Image E is a final example of some of the designs I have created, which consists of a scanned in sketchbook drawing of a flower. I like the contrast between the grey background, strong lines, and bold colour within the flowers. I feel that it represents my colour palette well, and overall it works as a design. The inspiration from this came from a Clintons Wrapping paper as shown in Image E on a previous blog post (http://jennasimpson94.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/developing-ideas-and-meeting-with.html). I took on board the qualities I liked most in the design and translated it to this brief.

Image E: Grey Floral Print

Creating more designs this week has helped me to work out what is working and what is not. I also had a pin up this week of all the work and designs that I have done so far, and this also helped me to realise how my collection might come together, and see how my colour mood is working across the designs. I need to make sure I have a mixture of scales in my designs, as well as a combination of solid colour and watercolour so that the collection isn't too digital or watercoloury, but is a good mix of both. So far I am really pleased with how my work has responded to the trends and the brief that was set out at the start. I have managed to combine them all well, whilst putting my own spin on things. I feel like I have absorbed all of the advice Debbie has given us, and produced work that reflects this. 

As one way of deciding which designs might suit my final collection, I spent time this week

placing some of my designs onto cushion images. This has also allowed me to realise which designs are working better than others and play with scale; some of these images are shown below (Image F & G).

Image F: Felt tip Design on Cushion

Image G: Watercolour Branch Design on Cushion

After creating some context images I realise that my designs look good on the cushions, but that maybe I should try taking some pictures in different environments such as outside, or even on different sized cushions. Rather than just doing a typical sofa cushion, I could create big floor cushions or bean bags as well! I feel like this would add a fresh feel to the collection, and show how diverse my designs could be! It would also push my out of my comfort zone and allow me to take on a new challenge.

I aim to carry on designing for the remaining time that we have on the project, and then put together a strong final collection that shows how well I have embraced the brief, along with context images to compliment these.