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Portfolio

Since finishing my university work i have been turning my attention to job applications and improving my portfolio. When applying to jobs i realised i had a lot of work for a child’s market; however, not a women’s so i really wanted to create more work for this. To do this i created mock ups out of designs i had already created and also started doing some more paintings which i then scanned in and edited before turning into mock ups. Previously i have been so focused on completing university work i have not had time to work solely for the purpose of my portfolio so it is nice to have some time now that i can really focus on this.

Women’s Designer Portfolio

As well as improving my women’s portfolio i have also been improving my girls and boys wear portfolio’s while i have time. As certain job postings specifically look for either boys or girls wear designers i have decided to keep these separate; however, if a job comes up looking for both genders i can easily combine the two.

Girls Designer Portfolio

Boys Designer Portfolio

To keep myself motivated with developing my portfolios i have set myself a 30 day portfolio challenge where i create at least one page a day in any of my three portfolios. Now just over a week in i have spent time developing and editing pages always looking for any options to go back and improve certain elements. As i have not checked any new job openings since starting this challenge today i will check to see if any new positions have opened up and then return to keep pushing forward with developing my portfolios to a professional standard.

Tutorial with Suzanna 7/4

It’s hard to imagine that today would have been the last day of the build and how different life would have been. Where as i would have spent the last two weeks building, delegating to my buddy and supporting other students, instead my bum has stayed firmly planted on the sofa with more trips to the fridge than i can count.

Within todays tutorial i also wanted to focus on job ideas and how to present myself to companies professionally. Over the past few weeks i have applied to every design related job i can find in respect of my chosen field so want to know if there is anything else i can be doing to help my chances.

One of the key things Suzanna recommended was to apply for internships as well as jobs. This could mean that if i do manage to secure an internship i can be working there, building my CV and portfolio whilst still looking for a job. Even if the placement would be unpaid i would much rather be doing something to improve my chances than sitting at home all day every day.

Another thing Suzanna suggested was to include a physical element to my applications by sending my postcards to companies with a covering letter which would support my online application. I think this would be a great way to reach out more personally to employers and show them how motivated i am as well as dedicated.

From todays tutorial the key thing i have picked up is that i need to be persistent and that i am doing all the right things. Having to move home in a months time it would be great to know i have some sort of design job waiting for me so i will continue with my applications reaching out to whoever i can.

Marbling

Although having finished my collection as i have another 2 weeks until the hand in i have been wondering if i could develop it further in anyway. One thing i have decided to do is try out marbling to see if this could help to develop my liquify designs/ experiments.

For this i experimented with a range of hues, mostly trying to stick to those within my colour pallet; however, also trying out a wider range of hues as i can easily edit the colours digitally to suit my colour pallet. Overall the marbling did not turn out very well when transferred onto paper. I would have also loved to have tried this on silk; however, as the university and shops are shut i had to utilise the materials i had at home.

After realising the paper transfers were not working out i decided to instead photograph the paint in the water. I feel this is a lot more successful as the photographs manage to pick up the range of hues and fine details of the paint swirling round which was lost in the paper transfers.

Overall despite feeling that the photographs are really pretty i feel the fine mix of hues and details are much more appropriate for an elder demographic and my simpler interpretations of these currently within my designs are better for my very young market. Although i will not bring this experiment into my final collection i would still like to develop some of my photographs digitally to add to my portfolio.

Since finishing my project i have been applying to jobs and also developing my portfolio toward a women’s market. When applying for jobs i am mainly looking at women’s and children’s wear and thanks to focusing my third year toward children’s ranges i have a lot of imagery for this market; however, not so much choice for women’s wear. In order to use my time wisely i have decided to develop designs and motifs towards a women’s market in order to expand the range of imagery i can select for my portfolios.

Fabric Headers

Now having submitted the majority of my work i am looking for gaps of things i have not covered. One thing i did think about was that although i had thought about how i would present my fabric samples within my show space i have not documented this.

Before life changed as we knew it i had planned to hem my fabrics A4 and get them mounted using a white header with my name and logo printed on it. From seeing the show in previous years i felt having all the samples mounted together looked very professional and also meant they could all be displayed in my space without them being on separate headers and taking up a vast amount of room within my space. So each sample could be identified i would have used stickers/ heat transfer prints to attach the design information on the back of the samples which is outlined in depth in another blog post.

To demonstrate my ideas visually i decided to make a document in illustrator which includes images of headers and i also added notes of exactly what inspired me about each image.

White Headers

As my colour pallet focuses on a range of colours in pastel tones i feel white will allow my designs look clean and professional when they are mounted together. As well as this white is a consistent neutral hue across my collection so should help to bring all my designs together.

String Hanger

I feel a sting hanger looks a lot more professional than a hanger which would be used to hand clothes off of. As well as this i was planning to hang my fabric samples off a hook on the wall so this would restrict the amount it would swing side to side and should lay straight.

Natural/ Recycled Materials

As these headers are available in a card substrate there is no need for plastic, reducing the effect i have on the environment.

Back Layer

Having this layer will make the fabric samples stronger and give them a better structure as well as meaning the fabrics at the back wouldn’t get caught in each other. I feel having this will make my fabrics more professional and also keep them in better condition.

Name and Logo

This is essential so viewers are easily able to identify this work has come from myself and also make my samples look more professional. Although each fabric sample will have its own name and info on the back, i see having my name and other info on the front of my fabric header as important and useful as having my name and information on the front of my sketchbook.

Tutorial with Sian 30/4

Today ive had my first tutorial since going into lock down. Prior to now i have been confident with my work and felt i could produce it to a professional standard without needing any intervention. Today i have decided to have a tutorial as i have now submitted all my work and have turned a lot of attention to employment options. Although having completed a variety of work experiences, getting a full time job still alludes me so i felt the need of support from tutors at this point. As well as wondering how i could improve my chances of employment i also wanted to ask about how i could fill my time between now and the deadline.

Some of the key points from the tutorial were:

Society 6, competitions
Send work directly to companies, even those who do not advertise job openings
Skills share
Contact past students about how they recieved full time employment

Since handing in my work i have focused on applying for jobs; however, i am now in a position where i have applied to all that are available. Now i am happy i have done everything i can in respect of applying for these jobs i will turn and look for more competitions and check for more job openings on a weekly basis.

As well as contacting past textile students i also want to reach out to my professional contacts from my work experiences to see if they know anyone who is looking for a junior designer. Hopefully by making use of these contacts i will have more knowledge about the industry and be put in contact with someone who can help me receive employment.

Cohort Meeting 27/4

In this weeks cohort meeting we all caught up with each other and went through some mogul requirements and questions. Now in a fairly fixed routine i am coping very well in lockdown and rather enjoying it. Although at first it was hard knowing we wouldn’t finish our degrees the way that was planned, once receiving fixed information about what would happen and adjusting to the new way of life it is a lot easier.

Within the cohort meeting i had already completed all the tasks that were discussed. Although having completed all the discussed topics its good to know i have completed it all correctly. Throughout lock down the level of work i am completing each day and the time i am spending on uni work has dropped massively so i thought most other people would have completed just as much work as me and the tutors expect everyone to be at the stage i am at and if not even further ahead due to us all having so much time we have. After listening to both staff and students it is clear i am well ahead even despite my drop in work.

Despite being up to date with work i think it is still important i attend these meetings incase something comes up that i did not know and may have missed.

Blog Re-vamp

At this stage i am very quickly running out of work that is essential for my project so i have taken a very close look at my work so far and anything else i can add. As well as reviewing my own work i have also been checking out other peoples blogs to see how theirs compare to my own; and to see if they highlight any gaps for room for improvement within my own work.

One major thing i have noticed through looking at others blogs is how they have designed them with additional features such as their logo, a title and images. I have always known this has been an option for myself to design my blog in a more aesthetically pleasing way; however, i have always had other work i really need to focus on and this has never been a priority. Now having so much time on my hands before our hand in i have decided to make my blog look more professional by adding my logo, a title, banner image and my Instagram account. This i also intend to do to my separate consultancy blog.

Another thing i would have liked to do to my blog is to have my posts in date order with the earliest first and the most recent last so when the tutors review my work it is in a chronological order. Although playing around a lot with different settings i have not as of yet found a way to do this; however, will continue to look into it.

Professional Practice presentation

The fist thing i have done toward my professional practice presentation is to consolidate the information required. There was some information about our presentation on moodle; however, also some on our brief so i felt it be best before i started to get this all onto one page. As well as consolidating it all i have also refined it down into clear points i need to know and refer to throughout my presentation. By doing this when it comes to putting together my presentation this will be a much more straight forward process and should mean i do not miss any essential points.

On one of my presentation slides i have decided to talk about my future folder. This i have been adding to and developing since second year and is a vital part of my own professional development. Initially i decided to present the information from this in a mind map; however, there was so much information this started to get confusing and messy as shown in the image below. Instead i have decided to present this in a list format which although is less visually stimulating, does make the information clearer and more understandable.

Overall creating this presentation has really shown me just how much i have done in order to prepare for graduating university. It has made me realise that all the little things i have been doing have really culminated in a substantial amount of work and experiences. I know i have as good a chance as any graduating textile student to receive a full time job, i must just be patient and persistent in my job applications and stay hopeful for the future.

Press pack memory stick images

To demonstrate what i would have put on my memory stick within my press pack i have decided to create an illustrator document utilising my designs, mock ups and CV.

The process of creating this reminded me very much of when i created my look book so wanted to ensure i included different designs and layouts so the two are clearly separate submissions.

As this document would have been on a memory stick, detachable from my press pack i wanted to ensure i included enough information about myself so the memory stick would be returned to the correct press pack. Overall i feel it is quite clear by looking at this document that it does match up to my press pack because of the style, fonts and colour pallet.

Creating what would have gone on my memory stick has given me another chance to play around with my designs and experiment with fonts and layouts. It has helped to refine my skills and enquire new knowledge about the most professional way to create such a document.

As well as including these images on my blog i have also submitted this piece of work as a PDF through moodle.

Look Book

Using the information within our brief and provided within Emmas powerpoint presentation i first decided to collate this information so i had one concise list of things my look book needed to include. Once happy with this clear list i then went about creating my look book in Illustrator.

For my front cover i decided to use the same template that i used for my sketchbook labels so my look book front cover matched the front covers of my other submissions. As well as this, i also decided to use the same font throughout my look book as i have throughout the rest of the collection so everything looks professional.

On the inside cover i decided to utilise my three selected mock ups as well as some other images. I thought this would be a good way to display my three selected mockups all in one professional layout. These three mock ups i selected as my favorites as i feel their layout is the strongest and they show the shade of the garment/ product meaning they look natural.

For my introduction page i decided to use a photograph of myself and my degree show statement. This page should give the reader a good idea of what the collection is about, where the ideas arose from and the designer that created them. As well as this, i have also included my contact details so if someone wants to enquire about a design they have a range of different contact options.

Having never created a look book before i was initially worried about what it would entail; however, it simply uses a variety of skills we have already developed as textile designers and combines them in a new way. I am glad i got the opportunity to create a look book as now if an employer asks if i know what one is or what it includes i can answer confidently.