Evaluation - Unit X

Unit X has provided me with the opportunity to expand my portfolio and work in a new contextual area, creating repeat designs for wallcoverings is something I have always wanted to uptake, and I have really taken the chance to explore and proceed with the challenge of working on a larger scale. My inspiration for Unit X stemmed from the previous ‘Practice’ unit, where I began for the self-initiated brief. I developed further from my initial starting point of motion blur photography and looked into other forms of capturing movement and growth; looking at ink in water and textures of gemstones and minerals. Deciding to break my work down into two collections helped me to create two individually strong collections, meaning I didn’t have to compromise any design elements to satisfy the aesthetics of a specific collection, and I was able to expand deeper into each section.

One collection had a greyscale colour palette focusing on the marks and texture within gems and precious stones. I decided to switch my context for this collection from stationary to wallpaper designs, after talking with my tutor and researching various designers and companies, such as Osborn and Little, Cole and Sons etc. We agreed the designs were restricted on such a small scale and that by changing into a more fitting context, the designs came to life and displayed marks that are more exciting and created an overall more impressive aesthetic.

My second collection excited me as I took the opportunity to use thermochromic dyes for the second time, having used them before gave me more confidence in terms of the concept behind the technique. Deciding to create a collection for bed linen using this process excited me, knowing that I was able to create interactive print samples, which would then be developed for everyday use.

Alongside this project, I also decided to take part in the Kingfisher Graphics and The Whitworth live brief, designing wallpapers inspired by the current exhibition at The Whitworth Gallery. I enjoyed taking part in this as it allowed me to learn more about wallpaper designing, getting to grips with the entire technicality involved. It also gave me a free reign in terms of design, so I was able to revisit some old drawings from a previous unit that I feel I never saw their full potential.

Another task I completed throughout the duration of this unit, was building my brand and website. I was surprised at how quickly I picked up on the design side of the website and I had fun creating a brand and a logo that represents me and what my work is all about. Taking part in live briefs and building websites has started, I feel to prepare me for the professional world, its opened my eyes to the details to be considered within each context, Before this unit I would have branded myself more as a ‘surface designer’ as I felt more comfortable developing designs and then finding an appropriate location. However now that I have explored more of an interior context, I feel like this is where my work belongs, and I am relieved to have finally found my ideal residence.

Evaluation

This Practice unit we have just completed has been a challenge, working on several projects at once has probably been the biggest encounter to face. However I feel like I have coped better than I thought I would, making sure I have stayed organised has been essential in terms of time management, and I think that time management is the key to success when working on more than one project at once. I have found it interesting in terms of seeing how different each project of work is. I feel like each project I have done is completely different in terms of aesthetics, including colour, mood and design. From structured geometrics with a limited colour pallet, 3D work for the Michael Kidner project with a wide range of colours, intricate paisley designs for Adamley and then finally abstract free hand mark making for my self-initiated brief, each has its own personality, which I feel was the main aim for this unit. Exploring a range of designs for our last experimental unit has been enlightening. I have found that I like working in all different ways, I enjoy a range of marks and techniques and so I think for my final unit my aim will be to bring all of this together to create my last unit of work that really reflects my personality.

Some of the areas I think I’ve enjoyed most are; the intricate drawing style I used for the Adamley project, I appreciated the art work I created for my designs and I feel like it has shown me that sometimes putting in time and effort before creating any print design can benefit your design work more than I might have previously realised. However, on the other hand I have also had fun creating whimsical marks and being a bit more expressive and free and I feel like there is a lot of room for development from drawings to textures to then be manipulated into digital designs. Another thing which I unexpectedly enjoyed was working on my 3D samples for the Kidner project, whilst I only explored it briefly I think it is something I might have to try explore again, maybe in the next unit. I enjoy the idea of my samples or designs occupying a space rather than just decorating a surface, it also makes you think more about your designs in terms of scale, shape, colour etc.

Overall I think this unit has gone well, I think I have succeeded in achieving a wide range of work to help boost my creativity and ideas as well as my portfolio, however I would have liked to have been able to explore some of the projects in more depth had I had more time.

Collaboration Project

Whilst working on my first project, responding to the Bradford brief I had the idea to project moving images onto a model, in order to explore the idea of a digital print design constantly changing and also the idea of playing with the surface in which we design for. So I decided to talk to one of my friends (Holly Spence) who is on the photography course about coming together in a small collaboration project. Holly’s unit of work required her to produce a photobook, so with such a wide open brief we decided that this would work well. We came up with the idea to use a range of my print designs to inspire different portraits. The first shoot we did was a basic initial shoot, painting directly onto the models, using my kaleidoscopic prints from the Bradford project as inspiration.

This shoot went fairly well and produced some exciting outcomes, so we decided to do a second shoot with different painted designs. To produce a range we also decided to use some of my more recent work from the self-initiated unit to dictate the paint on the models, looking at a more abstract painterly mark. We decided to do this shoot inside the Whitworth gallery, providing context for Holly’s work she played on the idea of identity distortion and removing the humanity of the model and turning them into simply just a piece of artwork. The shoot again felt really successful, and I was enjoying playing with the idea of my print designs coming to life on a new form of surface. One image in particular that I like used one of the Whitworth’s art installations to project more colour onto the model and in the background. This is when we then decided to do a third shoot, moving back to my initial idea of projection. 

The third shoot focused on projection, and whilst I feel it was the lesser successful of the three shoots it was still really exciting to get in the studio, playing with my print designs and transforming them in a new way. The whole collaboration process was fun to experience and has helped me gain the confidence to take on a project like this on my own in the future, the idea of trying another projection shoot in the future on a new project is something I would definitely like to consider.

Self Initiated Brief

After looking at some of the artists I intended, I started to respond, creating drawings in a reflective manner. After working on the Adamley drawings, taking time and capturing detail, it felt strange, yet refreshing to be free and have an energetic movement about my work. From all of my drawings I started to scan in some of the mark I liked, translating them into motifs and brush marks on Photoshop in order to start producing digital designs. I wanted to produce abstract designs, and whilst playing around in Photoshop I found that using the ‘Liquidify’ tool allowed me to blend and warp my images. It started to develop my designs into what looked like stirred blobs of paint, I feel like they held a similar feel to Yago Hortal’s work, a similar vibrant, fluid motion. 

Whilst I liked these I feel like my designs were too cluttered and complex as my intentions at this point are to keep my designs simply focused on colour. Also this is the project I hope to progress with into Unit X, so I didn’t want things getting to complex yet, I wanted to explore every level in more detail. Something which I feel I skipped through fairly quickly in the live briefs due to the limit of time. So with this in mind I decided want to take a step back and simplify. 

With my interest in photography I decided to try a new approach to capturing loose fluid marks of colour. I took a set of photographs using ink in water, something inspired by photographer Alberto Seveso, using a macro lens to capture the close up movement of the ink dispersing in the water. These images really inspired me in terms of shape and colour and just the idea of fluidity and movement. However I figured that these images would be fairly difficult to convert into designs, with such unusual, bold shapes I still wanted to simplify further. 

So I progressed on with my photography based work, using a slow shutter speed on my camera I decided to take photographs of various colourful things whilst moving the camera in a linear motion. I chose to make a linear motion to mimic the brush strokes I previously made within my painting, I wanted to capture the same simplistic sensation.

I then went back to Photoshop and started experimenting with the ‘Motion Blur’ tool, using some of my previous designs and transforming them into designs which had the same qualities as my images, which has then developed into my final collection for this unit. Whilst I know this is not my finishing point for this project I feel like I came to a nice rest stop, producing a simple vibrant collection that focuses simply on just colour and motion. I am excited to develop this further for my final unit, bringing in more techniques and exploring ideas for the context of this work.