Locating unit evaluation

I thoroughly enjoyed the Locating unit and I think in general my work has greatly improved since the Intentions unit. It was during the last unit that I finally mastered Photoshop, but during this project I have developed on those skills and feel I can now define myself as a digitally-based designer. In this unit I have tried to focus on where I see myself in the design world, which is why I chose to do a project for fashion. Although I was designing my prints for Hermes, I also tried to treat the project as if I was a freelance designer, hence why I felt it was important to manufacture an example product and to consider its presentation, to prove (if only to myself) that I was capable of producing a professional looking item. 

I feel in this project there was a strong theme that continued throughout - dressing up and historical costume was always the underlying theme, but exotic birds was the recurrent motif and inspiration. Now that I am very much at ease with Photoshop, I enjoyed pushing my skills of digital collage by combining photography and illustration. All the way through, context has been extremely important, as it has influenced every part of the designing process. I think having a clear vision of the end market, and also colour theme, helped me to create a coherent final collection. 

While my personal project was very self indulgent, I benefitted from the challenge of the two live projects. For the Tigerprint brief I created butterfly based designs for a female audience, making sure to create prints that would be suitable for Marks and Spencers. In the Patternmash brief I absorbed all the inspiring images for the 'Midwinter' theme to create scandinavian inspired illustrations which were featured on the blog. I really enjoyed discussing my work with Hannah, the ex-Manchester student who runs the web site,  and I am going continue to submit work to every monthly theme, hopefully building publicity for my work. Doing the live briefs has taught me about working to a short deadline and also the importance of taking on work outside my university projects, and I look forward to creating my prints for the Art House Co-op Print Exchange. 

All in all, I have tried to create a slick and professional body of work and focus on the future of my practice. I am looking forward to participating in Unit X and working on the ideas I have developed in this project. 

Live project evaluation

I found doing the live projects a very positive experience overall, and the fact that both the briefs were so different from my personal project, and even from each other, meant I had the chance to try something different and challenge the way I design. 

I viewed the Tigerprint brief like a job, it definitely wasn't very 'me' and I thought the suggested female icons sounded very twee - make up, shoes and handbags - but I suppose it is for a commercial company so you have to create designs that appeal to many people, entire genders even! I tried to create something that would fit in with the house style, and was actually rather impressed with what I created - very removed from what I usually do, but a great challenge that proved to myself that I can do these sort of briefs. 

The Patternmash brief on the other hand was right up my street and I was very inspired by the theme. I had plenty of ideas, but it was interesting to see how this one took slightly longer to do, perhaps because I really cared about the overall outcome and how it looked. It was a great experience being in direct contact with Hannah and actually having a conversation with her about the project and my work. I got a really great response from her about my designs (particularly about how I responded to specific images from the Pinterest page) and my work ended up on the Patternmash blog.

http://www.patternmash.co.uk/post/75995140566/lucy-smith-is-a-textiles-in-practice-student-at

I also think it was a good idea only giving myself a few days to complete both briefs, treating it like a mini project, as it gave me practice of working to a short dealine - it is so easy to get totally absorbed in your work when you are spending many weeks on it. 

CV lecture

I think this was really useful, as I have been building the beginnings of a CV lately, but I wasn't sure exactly what specific information to include, how lengthy, how it should be presented etc. I think I now have a better grasp of what a creative CV should look like and have started to brainstorm ideas of how to make my CV stand out from the crowd, visually as well as content wise. In the meantime I have also been looking for extra projects that will help build up my experience, and I have signed up to the Art House Co-op's 'Print Exchange', where 500 artists across the world submit an edition of hand-produced prints that will be exhibited in New York later on in the year. I have taken part in their 'Sketchbook Project' before which was rather fun, and I think it will be a good way to display my hand printing skills as most of my work is now digitally based. 

Patternmash live project

This months theme for the Patternmash project was 'Midwinter' but what I liked the most was the scandinavian side of the brief - definitely a project that I found inspiring, and therefore I was really excited to work on it (rather than the Tiger one which I just treated like a job). I selected the 'Alpine Expedition' part of the brief, and put together this moodboard from different images she sent us. I feel so pleased with the final designs as I think they really reflect the theme well. 

Tiger print live project

I decided to focus on the 'female icon' section of the brief, keeping it simple by doing a butterfly inspired design. Rather than just have a random colour theme, I picked an appropriate image from the summer to select colour from, giving me a nice range of pinks balanced with the freshness of some greens. 

Market research - Harvey Nichols and Selfridges

Today I went to town to have a look around some department stores for a more high end market for my product, the logic being that you would be more likely to find a large scale complex print from a slightly higher end designer. I discovered a few different designers that I thought matched the level I want to sell my work at.

MSGM

This is an Italian brand who do bold vivid colour, and random geometric prints really well. Tops (the area I am generally sticking with) were around the £200, £300 mark which I think is the part of the market I'm aiming at. 

Finders Keepers

This Australian brand combines a mix of simpler pieces with the odd bold print. Whilst I don't actually like their clothes, I can see how my prints could be pitched at a similar market level.

Clover Canyon

This LA based brand was by far the best thing I saw all day. I can see my prints fitting right into this brand, I love all their bold colourways and especially the handwriting of this prints and motifs themselves. Feel this suits my project better than Topshop ever really did. They are definitely the sort of brand I can see myself designing for in the future (plus all the prints have crazy names like 'Robot Flamingo').

Artist - Catalina Estrada

It was suggested I look at Estrada's designs for Paul Smith, and I was immediately enthralled! Not only do I think the prints perfectly reflect what my project is about - a graphic style, original, unexpected and  using bright colours effectively - but I can also see myself in a similar position after university. I loved how she not only created prints for garments but also all of the point of sale and window dressing; I really see myself doing something that not only covers print for fashion but also other areas of design.