Intentions- Pinterest Link

This is the research board I have created throughout this unit.

http://uk.pinterest.com/Beckyleanne0473/intentions-unit/

Intentions - Evaluation

My Final Samples 

Demonstrate evidence of Risk taking and Experimentation – 

I think through out this unit one of my main aims was to continuously experiment. I wanted to use this opportunity to test everything I can within the print room and get to know how everything works, in order to have a wider knowledge of print to work with in the future.

I think I have taken many risks in making decisions I wouldn’t normally make, for example; using a refined colour palette, keeping my designs restricted and simple in terms of composition and also I think designing for interiors was my biggest risk as I tend to head towards a fashion direction. However I am really glad I have taken these risks because I have come to realize that I really enjoy the world of interiors and it now definitely something I would like to work more into.

Articulate Research and Concept –

Beginning from my summer research I think I have built upon research in a very systematic way. My research would lead me to find more research and I think the possibilities for the subject I chose (botany and entomology) is endless and I would like to revisit this in the future. I feel like I could have built more and more on this unit using all of the inspiration available out there.

My overall concept was to keep my work simple and fairly scientific, in order to reflect my research and I think this is an interesting idea because its not as widely explored as other print outcomes that look at floral patterns and other popular flower based inspirations.

Consider a more creative/reflective approach to process –

I feel that for this unit I focused mainly on my print room ability, and whilst this is more time consuming that creating digital prints I found it helped me to understand the world of hand print better. It allowed me to understand how much hard work can go into the simplest looking prints and that refining your choice of techniques is sometimes better than using everything you know.

I feel an important part of my process for this unit was testing. By doing this I was able to decide what worked and what didn’t, giving me the chance to be more critical and build on my work before refining towards a final collection.

Demonstrate the ability to Contextualise Practice -  

From the start of this unit I have been constantly looking at different artists and designers that can inspire me in anyway, and whilst now looking back, not all of the practioners I found may not be relevant any more, I feel that all of the research I did helped to build the path I was lead down. By finding a target market for my designs to be aimed toward, I feel it helped me to overcome a few obstacles, for example the struggle I was having with my digital designs and the composition I would choose.

Use Systems and Scenario thinking – 

For this unit I think I worked harder in all areas, including my sketchbook, visual research, blog, print work and contextual research, and I think it has helped me to develop stronger work, giving me a strong contextual base to my work and a more creative design subject.

I have kept up to date and motivated through out this project and I think a large part of that is down to what area I chose to explore. Whilst the unit was “future past” I chose to not look at textiles archives and to instead look at things, which interested me, and things that I could take more inspiration from. 

Conclusion

Overall I feel that this unit has been really successful for me, it has taught me so many things. For example; how important contextual research is in helping you develop forward, how testing before you jump straight into creating samples is key because it helps you to make decisions and a better informed choice and also it helped me to discover that inspiration can come from anywhere, not just textiles practitioners. I feel I have worked with a more motivated and positive attitude for this unit and I have produced a higher standard of work which I am proud of.

Intentions - Visualisation

I decided that a good way to understand if my designs would work for interiors, specifically wallpaper, would be to test it. So I printed onto some sample of wallpaper, curious as to how it would look. I found that they didn’t print very clean and they looked unprofessional and messy. However, I did not realize that to print onto paper you had to use different dyes and have a separate induction into the print room. So after I had shown my tutor these samples and she explained to me why it went wrong, I then had an induction into the paper print room.

I started to develop some design boards to help me build my wok into a story that made sense, just to clarify and arrange all of my thoughts. Starting from my initial research images and drawing developments to consume and concept boards.

One of the boards that I really enjoyed making was the visualization of my products. I photoshop-ed my designs into images of interiors to create a visual of what my designs would look like if I created finalized products. I found this really satisfying being able to see them in an appropriate environment instead of just as samples. These are some of the images I edited my samples into.

 

 

Intentions - Digital Designs

I knew I wanted to work digitally but I was struggling to understand how this would fit in with my screen printing work because my designs seemed to be taking a graphic route. I was using my images of flowers and the occasional insect that I took through the summer, manipulating them to create patterns and different motifs. My first attempts weren’t very good, the were underdeveloped and didn’t have many positive attributes.

I found myself a little stuck for my digital ideas, which is when I decided to do more research. I thought that if I found a target market then I could tailor my designs to work in that area. This is when I found Timorous Beasties, a design due whose work is extremely similar to mine. The subject of Insects in their ‘Darwin’ Collection helped to inspire me more and so I chose this as my target outlet. I noticed in many of their designs that the work took the form of columns almost. So this is what I decided to take from this, in order to create a similar style to their work.

These are the digital designs I created in response to Timorous Beastie’s work using my images and motifs. I left space in the designs so that not only did it reflect their work, but also so that I could work back into them into the print room and develop my designs further.