Summative Reflective Statement

I have always been aware of the pressure third years face through interacting with them. Throughout first and especially second year this awareness grew to a level where I knew I did not want to be in a position of constant fluster; however, able to enjoy my final year of study. Fortunately, I was able to observe how and why pressure grew to such an extent and importantly how to avoid it.

Learning from others around me I decided to use my summer to gain experience and start my initial ideas for our final project through the use of primary research. By starting so early this saved me so much time when our final project began and also meant I had a solid idea of the direction my project would go in meaning I could hit the ground running.

To continue to keep on top of things an important aspect was that I finished my dissertation before our final project stated which I am happy to say I did. By finishing this I allowed myself some weeks over the Christmas break to start my research for our final project, and also able to take advantage of being in London. It was making use of this free time which really helped me to keep ahead of things throughout our final project and meant I would not experience the same pressure that previous third years did.

Over the three years organisation and time management has gone from a weakness to a strength. Via completing SWOT analyses throughout my time, I realised these areas were something I really needed to focus on and improve if I was to succeed and improve my professionalism. By focusing on these areas, I have managed to change my entire work ethic and proved to myself that if I want something it can be as simple as putting the time and energy in.

Compared to the person I was when initially enrolling on this course I have a whole new work ethic and outlook on life. Although reflecting back I did go through an exceptionally hard time I am still glad I got to experience it as it has made me the person I am today. Without making mistakes throughout first and second year it would have been harder to justify choices now and meant I would have learnt a lot less in relation to my practice. Through going wrong and receiving critique from tutors and others I now know what is right and can speak confidently and professionally about my work.

Dealing with worry is something I have continued to strive for throughout my time at CSAD. Within university this took the form of getting organised and getting things done which also reflects my experiences outside of university. I remember a time where all I could think about was how I was going to be employable in such a competitive industry, no matter the grade I received at the end of the course. Learning from how I changed my attitude at university I turned this worry into action and managed to get four work placements throughout second year. By getting this experience this not only relaxed my worry toward future employment; however, also showed me what direction I wanted to go in after university meaning I could refine the ideas and skills I wanted to learn on the course in the direction of my career. Once again I was fortunately organised about this and managed to use my spare time in second year to complete these experiences meaning that when coming into third year I knew what I wanted to achieve and could save my spare time for completing and staying on top of university work.

Because of my hard work and preparation’s before and at the start of this project this meant I had time to do in depth research into my theme and also had a lot more time to experiment with creating my imagery. I knew watercolours would take a lot longer to complete and experiment with compared to my line drawings within the Design Group project as they require a high amount of detail and blending. Despite this, I really wanted to diversity the range of techniques and styles within my portfolio. Perhaps a mistake I did make was that I should have done my watercolours within my first project and saved the quicker graphic line drawings for my collection of 30 designs. Although this makes more sense when thinking about it, in reality I really enjoyed creating both my giftware and interior ranges in my chosen styles and mediums. Because I managed my time well I did not experience any issues.

Because of the Covod-19 outbreak the final months of my project are very different to how I had anticipated. I spent so long preparing and working for everything to be done on time if not ahead of schedule so when the news started to flow in about what is happening there was great speculation about what to do coming from all directions. I shortly worked out that the only way I could deal with the situation was to carry on like nothing was happening. I had worked so hard over the prior months and weeks to keep on top of things there was no way I was going to give up now. Reflecting back I am so glad I decided to carry on as although I ended up with fabrics and products I no longer need for our submission, I know even when everything was very unclear and life ended as we knew it I never gave up.

Degree Show Statement

Throughout my work I focus on creating hand rendered illustrations before converting them into a digital format. It is this combination of mediums which I find the most engaging to work with as it allows me to play with a variety of tools when creating a collection.

My final collection of designs is aimed at a younger girls SS’21 interior market and utilises watercolour paintings which are then digitally manipulated. The idea of creating flower inspired aliens first arose as an idea whilst interning in Colombia. In Cardiff I had completed another work experience where I found a love for children’s surface design. It was being inspired by these two work placements that really inspired my final major project and lead me to the collection you see today.

Funding and compititions

At the end of second year and over the summer i started to apply for funding for my internship in Colombia and degree show. As well as this i have entered subsequent competitions to add to my CV and portfolio.

For my Colombia trip i was very lucky to receive two sets of funding from two different sources. The first was from the GoGlobal scheme run at CMU from which i recieved £500 toward my trip. To apply for this i had to fill out a form stating my intentions and how this trip would influence my studies. The second funding i recieved was from the Kristen Scott Memorial Trust which was £700. This is a trust set up by the family of Kristen Scott which helps students with their global mobility.

As well as applying for funding for my trip i also put in applications to help with my degree show. Out of my applications i had one that was successful from the Society of Dyers and Colourists from which i recieved £500. For this application i had to state why colour was essential in my practice and also ask Keireine to submit a written statement for me. As i put in for this award and recieved the money over the summer of third year this has meant i am able to focus on my collections throughout third year without being concerned about fund raising. As well as this funding to pay for anything else i may need i have also set up a Go Fund Me page and asked friends and family to donate.

As well as these funding applications i have also entered a variety of competitions and will continue to throughout the year. These i have listed bellow:

  • The Batsford Prize
  • Fashion Formula Scholarship
  • Zealous Stories: Design
  • Oh Deer
  • Chilys Bottles

Updated Timetable

Because of our two week extension and other circumstances linked to this i have decided to update the last few months of my timetable. At this stage i feel more than capable of finishing work to the original deadline so finishing by the extended deadline will not be an issue. Because of this a lot of days are left blank however i am sure i will still find more things i can complete including improving some of my designs or adding additional work to my sketchbook.

New Competitor Moodboard

Since Laura Ashley has gone into administration i have decided to update my customer moodboard with a new company. It is not stated as of yet when the retail outlet shall completely close down; however, as my collection is being produced for SS’21 i feel it best to change this as by then it will no longer be a competitor.

To select a new store for my competitor board i referred back to my research and selected a brand that focuses on design for children. I felt Nubie was a nice contrast to John Lewis as it focuses on children’s interiors but does reflect a similar price range.

Mockups

For my mockups i have decided to use a variety of images and products to displace my designs onto. Although my collection is predominantly for interiors i also wanted to show how my pj collection could grow past the one i designed for the show.

To show my developments i am started with those mock ups i feel were not very successful. Although the below mock up of bunting would have given an idea of what i was intending to create, the final outcome of this mock up is not very natural. Despite searching i found it hard to find a plain image of heart shaped bunting which i could place my images onto as most were patterned or of a low image quality. To try and make the displacement of this outcome look more natural i added a gradation to try and convey shade; however, this was not enough to make it look natural.

Within the below outcome i feel this is more successful than the previous; however, fails to look as natural as i would have liked. Because of the amount of opportunities to displace different patterns on different products in this image i did spend an awful long time creating it and felt there was no more i could do. So i did not overwhelm this outcome with patterns i also experimented with adding a yellow hue from my colour pallet to one of the blankets and curtains. What drew me to this image were the toys on the floor which resemble a little girls bedroom as well as amount of different products i could manipulate.

The below image was a lot easier to displace my design onto as it was just one flat surface. Despite this i did still add a gradient to my design to add some shade and make it feel more natural.

Within my below mock up i displaced a selection of different designs. Overall i really like this outcome as as the overall look is very natural and the selected image does look like a little girls bedroom.

Within this mock up i selected three designs, a blender, a hero placement and a secondary placement design (the secondary placement design is in the bottom right). Overall i feel this once again has worked really well as they look natural and work well together. As well as this the teddy’s help to convey the theme of a little girls bedroom. I would have liked also to change the ribbon around the teddy’s necks using my own designs; however, because of the stripes this did not work.

This mock up was one of the simplest for myself as it only includes one flat design. Although it is simple i believe it is effective because of the use of light and shade.

Overall i feel the below mock up has worked as my design is successfully displaced and the contours of the fabric are visible; however, part of the fabric is very textural which distracts from my pattern. Once again within this image i have displaced a hue from my colour pallet as well as one of my designs much how a bed sheet is normally plain with a patterned duvet cover.

The below mock up i feel is the most successful out of all that i have done because even i could be fooled into thinking it was real. The contours of the fabric look very natural behind this pattern and show through well. As well as this the shading below the garment help to enhance this.

I also feel this outcome had been very successful but i believe the previous is more so because it had more and deeper creases in the fabric. Within this image i took the opportunity to displace two alternate colour ways from my collection to show how these could be developed into garment products as well as interiors.

Much like the previous design i have also utilised this image of two girls to once again show how my alternate colour ways could be used on garments. Overall i feel these have been very successful and show how my collection could appeal to a more conservative market who prefer classic stripes or those who prefer something that is different to anything else on the market.

For my final mock up i decided to create my physical pj set; however, mocked up digitally. Overall i feel this has worked really well and does look awfully similar to the product i constructed.

Within my feedback from our last design group project i was advised to make the layout of my mockups more interesting so i have decided to do this again within this project. As my collection is for little girls i wanted to make these really fun and engaging so have experimented a lot with combining mock ups, scale and including designs. Overall i feel these have really worked and are a lot more interesting than when the mock up is standing alone. As well as this by including more than one mock up in each image this shows how well my designs are working as a collection. I really enjoyed creating these as i really got to use my imagination.

Reflecting back to first year i cant even begin to describe how much my skills have developed in the way of mock ups. Back then i had no idea what a mock up was nor how to use anything within the Adobe suite so seeing how far i have progressed is a real eye opener. I now feel so much more confident in my skills which improve with every outcome i create.

Since creating these mock ups i have decided to return and create some more. Although wanting to create a variety of pj mock ups to show how my collection could be developed into this market area i felt they were becoming dominant so wanted to add some more of interiors and products.

For my first mock up i decided to create one of a cushion. Overall despite really liking the image and it being of a good quality i found it hard to displace my designs onto it as there was not much shade so all the designs i displaced looked rather flat. To try and make the design look more natural on the product i experimented with the brightness, contrast and levels in the adjustment panel of photoshop; however, had no luck so felt it best i moved on.

For my next mock up i decided to displace one of my alternate colour way designs onto a roll of wallpaper. Although i have already displaced my designs onto walls i have not as of yet onto rolled up wallpaper so thought this would add some nice variety to my mock ups.

To try and make my mock ups more imaginative i first placed all 4 colour ways onto one A4 page in Photoshop; however, then thought it may be interesting to make a repeating pattern out of my mock ups. Overall i feel the repeating designs do make the mock ups look more interesting and could also be developed further into designs them selves. Despite this, as mock ups they are not clear to their purpose and look more like a design than a mock up.

As well as displacing a design of alternate colour ways onto a roll of wallpaper i then decided to do the same with a hero design onto a different roll. Where as my blender design in alternate colour ways only contains one hue in three tones this hero design contains a full multitude of hues and tones so works slightly differently when displacing the image. Overall i feel this design with more hues looks more natural; however, this could also be down to the image i displaced my design onto because of varying amounts of shade.

For my last displacement i decided to use an image of a child’s desk and displace my designs onto the wall, curtains and lamp. Despite this being an opportunity to displace three designs onto one image i decided only to use two to show how one design could be used on different products. Overall i feel these do make an addition to my mock ups; however, are definitely not my strongest. Despite much experimenting i found it hard to displace the design onto the curtains so it looked natural. I believe this because the shading and highlights of the curtain are not very defined so it was not the best image to use because of this.

Collection Developments

As well as developing my interior collection i have also been thinking about how my collection could develop outside of the interior market. For this i have decided to create some designs for a colouring in book which match my interior range in theme; however, differ in style due to its product purpose.

The idea for a colouring in book was to show how my collection could develop when creating my designs past my initial concept. Children love colouring in and drawing (as i know from having two young siblings) so i thought this would be a really nice way to show how my collection could progress in relation to my demographic.

An exciting element of creating some ideas for this was recreating my imagery; however, in a monotone digital style. I was really interested to see how my imagery would look as line drawings created with my Wacom tablet in Illustrator. Overall i think these have worked really well and would be appropriate for my target demographic.

I created these designs A3 as this is the proposed size for my colouring in book. On the market most children’s colouring in books are A4 so i feel by making mine slightly bigger this should set it apart from others on the market.

Dolls house Mockup

Because of the current crisis and that there will no longer be a show i have decided to not kit out my dolls house as i originally planned. Instead i have decided to create a digital mock up of what i would have done if the show had gone ahead. To display this i have used my colour pallet and designs and displaced these onto the house.

Although the outcome of this is not as nice as it would have been if completed for the show i feel it still gives an adequate example of what would have happened and is the best i can do for now.

As well as showing my original static images i have also decided to crop these and place them within one of my hero designs. Initially i was going to move them all onto a single page and add a coloured background; however, thought it would be more exciting to push this further. Feedback from my mock ups within our previous design group project was that i should make my mock up layouts more interesting so this is what i have carried through to this project. Overall i feel my mockups in this placement do look a lot more interesting and also make them more appropriate for my target demographic.

Although it is a shame that i did not get to physically create my dolls house i feel this is the most responsible and professional way i could have reacted to this situation.

Since completing my dolls house mock ups i have finished the rest of my deliverables so have decided to use my time wisely and revisit some work i feel i could add to.

As all the rooms of the dolls house are very similar i have decided to use the strongest photograph i took of one room and mock it up in two different ways to demonstrate how i would decorate a further two rooms.

For the first room i decided to use a secondary design consistently round the whole room. For my second room i decided to use a blender design for the three walls and also add a hero design to the ceiling. Although wallpaper is not often added to ceilings i was inspired for this idea when visiting Sanderson at Chelsea harbour as i felt the wallpapered ceiling in the show room had a really nice visual effect. Across all the different rooms i want to introduce a new layout and ideas so they all differ from one to another to make the overall aesthetic of the dolls house exciting and interesting.

As well as playing with my designs displaced into the dolls house i also experimented with different furniture images which i found online. I wanted the furniture to look natural in the room; however, also match the aesthetics of each room.

After much experimenting i eventually decided on the below final images. I feel the wooden furniture and green cactus better matches the hues of the green room where as the girly teepee best works with the pink rooms. Now having completed an extra two mock ups i think i have much better demonstrated where i was aiming of going with this dolls house and a lot more satisfied with the range of images i have produced.

Collection Boards

Despite my collection boards being presented on three separate pages when designing my collection i created it as one body of work rather than subcategorising. I was hesitant to put all my deigns onto one board as they would not be so large and clear on screen so thought this was the best way to do it visually.

I have tried to clarify which designs are hero secondary and blenders via the size each design is presented. Although upon closer inspection this would be clear from the scale, hues and motifs within the designs i think it is a lot clearer if on first glance the viewer can tell which is which.

As well as including my designs on my collection boards i have also chosen to include the name of each design and product code. This is so myself and others can easy recognise a design via name as well as imagery. To make my blog posts more consistent and professional i will now go back through my posts and change the name of each to its name and product code.

These collection boards really helped me to understand how well my designs were working as a collection and also what my collection was missing. As well as this when working with a blender, secondary and hero side by side like this it allowed me to critically analyse whether it was suited to each category and if not, what i needed to do to change it.

Since completing my collection boards i have also created a document with them all on one page to show them as a complete collection.

Alternate Colourways

Although previously showing some alternate colour ways throughout my blog i have decided to revisit these. I realised that some of my attempts were not consistent with one of the rules of alternate colour ways where the value of the hues should stay the same. To rectify this i have redone these colour ways and also developed some more.

Throughout my selection of alternate colour ways i wanted to develop my ideas and designs so they would reach out to a wider market and provide more options for those already interested in my designs. Throughout these outcomes i have explored recreating the design in different hues from my colour pallet, some stronger and more vibrant in tone as my colour pallet is very pale and also some really saturated and vibrant tones. As well as this, in a minimal amount of outcomes i have also reversed the value of the hues so the weaker tone will now be the strongest. I feel by experimenting as much as is visually pleasing will give customers a good choice of hues.

To present my colour ways i decided to mount them all onto separate art boards in illustrator which includes their name, product code and hue. I felt this was a much more professional way of presenting these outcomes and now the customer can easily view all my alternate colour ways together. As well as this, this was a much easier way for myself to see exactly what i have and havent explored.

If the show was still going ahead i would have liked to have got each colour way also printed on fabric and presented these so the original would be full size and then a slightly smaller section of each other colour would also be displayed. This would have given customers an easy way to look at both my designs and colour ways in one neat cohesive format.

Now i have presented my colour ways in this style i am a lot happier with my alternate colour ways for this project. I feel i have included a large range of experiments and options for customers meaning whether or not they like my original colour pallet there will be a suitable design for them.

Design a site like this with WordPress.com
Get started