Project Evaluation.

The Practice Unit has been a massive learning curve for me, and being such a long project, it has been interesting to see how myself and my work have developed overtime.
I have learnt a great deal about my working process and how to approach a project, something that I always felt slightly lost with in previous projects in level 4 and 5.
Drawing is a huge part of my process, and is something I felt was lost in previous units, therefore I don't think those projects developed enough, simply because I had not allowed myself enough time to draw.
With this project being so long I have felt more comfortable spending time drawing before jumping into the print room to create samples. I feel that drawing has been instrumental to the development of this project and my prints designs.
Colour use is something that I was struggling with at the beginning of the unit, and I was unsure how to develop a full palette and how to start creating one in the first place. I really wanted to develop my ability with colour, as it is obviously an important part of the design process. Through completing tasks to create colour boards throughout the unit, I feel that my confidence with colour has developed substantially, allowing me to go on to complete two colour collections.
I feel that I've really found my style of working within this project, and I'm pleased with the samples and outcomes that I have been able to create in the print room, which is again an instrumental part of my process. Having previously done a series of solely digital projects, I missed the hands on nature of screen print, and now know that screen print is definitely where my strong points lie especially in terms of translating the qualities achieved within my drawings.
With such an influence on context during this project I've thought seriously about where my work would fit, especially in terms of market level. I initially thought I wanted to work across multiple market levels, however through working to live briefs such as sofa.com, I have realised that my style is a lot more suited to the higher end of the market.
In terms of Unit X, I would like to continue to develop my latest collection in the print room, thinking about how I can introduce the element of collage into my printed textiles, possibly in terms of embellishment or embroidery. This would then cater further to the high end market, with more detailed elements to add to the quality of the design, and would also expand my portfolio further. Currently this collection has been aimed at bedding, but within Unit X I would like to push it to other interior products such as wallpaper and upholstery.

Calvin Klein.

Armani Casa's range of bedding is at the high end market level, which combines soft colour schemes with intricate prints. This is the sort of design range and level that I would see my current work fitting into. The styling is minimal, which is how I could see my work being displayed. 

To show that my work could fit to this market level and style, I've begun to experiment with visualisations of each print to see which would fit and which wouldn't. I felt that this was a really useful process to undertake. It soon became apparent that some designs, such as the one above, wouldn't be suited to the higher end of the market, and is at a more commercial level. I think this is to do with the placement of the print, as it is a simple design and not as detailed as some of my other designs. 

I felt that this designs were a lot more suited to the higher market level and would fit in with Calvin Klein's designs. These designs are a lot more detailed, with more elaborate and interesting shapes being created. Therefore moving away from simpler commercial designs. 

As I had used Calvin Klein's room sets to show how my work could fit within similar styling, I then tried out creating my own room in illustrator so I could style the whole image to fit my designs. I felt it important to think about detailing such as a double sided print design, so as again to fit into the higher market level with a greater attention to detail.

All photographs taken from: Calvin Klein. (n.d) [Online] [Accessed on 18th February 2014]  <http://explore.calvinklein.com/en_US/explore/ckhome/home/products/calvin-klein-home-bedding-T321-TLNK321/> 

Collage Cut Out Drawings.

As a way of drawing from my illustrator designs I've experimented with cut out elements this week. I feel that these are starting to work in quite interesting ways, especially with the use of watercolours, creating gradients in colour on each shape. I feel that the designs are working a lot better on the grey backgrounds than the blue as the grey allows the shapes to stand out and is more complimentary to the whole palette.

I also wanted to experiment with scale, to show how the designs could potentially be repeated. I feel that a lighter grey background would have worked better within this design to allow the pink to pop, however this is something I will continue to experiment with. Combining different paper qualities is something that has started to work well, and also combining the digitally rendered shapes with the hand cut shapes. Creating a mix of digital and hand made. 

Illustrator Drawings; Inspiration.

This week I've been experimenting using illustrator to work with elements of my photographs to create motifs and patterns. After feeling lost last week, I feel that these elements are starting to create the flowing and organic patterns I originally wanted to achieve. I find it has worked well to have elements filled with block colour combined with areas of line. The colours are getting slightly too dark however, which I think would become overpowering within an interior context. 

Going back to the lighter tones from my oriental references, I decided to ban myself from using very dark colours, as they seem to be what I am drawn to. Having a much softer, lighter palette will be more suitable for an interior context, and also adds range to my portfolio regarding colour palettes. 

Taking away the navy, almost black shade of blue and the burgundy red has transformed the palette into a much more subtle and neutral design that I could see fitting well within a bedroom, as duvet designs or wallpaper. I'm enjoying creating these illustrator designs and think that they are working well, something which I will continue developing. I would like to create some paper designs as well, as I don't want to lose the hand painted qualities completely. 

Fig 1

Scholten & Beijings created a range of bedding designs for HAY, using a subtle colour palette and colour blocking. Their palette is very similar to the tones that I have been working with within my illustrator drawings. It is interesting to look at how Sholten & Beijings have grouped their colours together and the over laying of colour blocks, which is something that I feel could inspire how I arrange and place my colours and shapes. 

Fig 1 Scholten & Beijings. (n.d) [Online] [Accessed on 11th February 2014] <http://hayshop.dk/products/78-bed-linen/270-sb-colour-block-collection/>

Oriental Inspirations.

                       
                       Fig 1.                      Fig 2.                                Fig 3.

For the new section of my project looking into nature overtaking, my collection of monochrome drawings look too similar to my previous monochrome collection. I want this section of the project to have a new fresher feel. I looked to oriental ink drawings for some new inspiration, as my drawings are often done using inks and water colour, I felt this style of working would be fitting. The composition of the ink drawings is something I'd like to take inspiration from, as I think it's important that my designs portray the organic flowing feel that these chinese ink drawings have. This could portray nature overtaking, with the design growing up the page.

      Fig 4.                        

                                    

Researching into possible colour palettes, I looked into interior companies such as Sacho Hesslein to look at their colour schemes to gather inspiration.

Using my colour scheme research I wanted to experiment using watercolours to create patterns. I'm feeling slightly lost at this point as I feel like I'm trying to recreate marks from the last section of the project, I need a different way of creating marks. 

Fig 1. Qi Baishi (n.d) [Online] [Accessed on 7th February 2014] <http://www.pinterest.com/pin/357473289143479495/>

Fig 2. Zhang Daqian (1930) [Online] [Accessed on 7th February 2014] <http://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2011/arts-dasie/lot.225.html> 

Fig 3. Zhang Datian (n.d) [Online] [Accessed on 7th February 2014] <http://www.pinterest.com/pin/498844096197449661/> 

Fig 4. Sacho Hesslein (n.d) [Online] [Accessed on 7th February 2014] <http://www.sahco-hesslein.com/de#/home>

Marimekko.

Looking at how my current range of coloured prints could work within an interior context, I experimented with different placements and scale. I feel that this range of prints work well as designs for a feature wall. As the prints have a Scandinavian feel about them, I started to research into Scandinavian print so see if my prints had the potential to fit in with their style of designs. 

Marimekko create bold and fun prints in a range of colour schemes, ranging from monochrome to highly vibrant. I feel that my style of prints would work well with this sort of collection, as I feel my prints fit to this bold and dominating style. 

Marimekko have a team of designers who work to create different ranges of collections, I'd be interested in working this way, being surrounded by a team of designers, but designing my own collection for the company. Allowing more of the designers own style to show through. 

            

                             Fig 1.                                                 Fig 2.

Fig 3.

Fig 1, Fig 2, Fig 3 Marimekko (n.d) [Online] [Accessed on 6th February 2014] < http://www.johnlewis.com/home-garden/diy-home-decorating/wallpapers/marimekko/c8000022177?s_kenid=44ed4e78-43c1-6369-8aaf-00002ed76050&s_kwcid=125x717133&tmad=c&tmcampid=52>

Colour Prints.

Continuing on from the monochrome prints, here I have begun to experiment with different colour ways. I have continued to experiment with offsetting layers and creating shadow as I think this was successful within the monochrome prints.

This first set of colour ways I don't feel are quite right, too many layers of colour starts to create an optical effect, which isn't something that would be suitable within an interior on a large scale. The lime green I feel is slightly jarring, and would only perhaps be used on a very small scale to add a pop of colour to a room.

The tonal variations of blues work well together, I think it worked to have colour blocks in sections so that the print wasn't all over one colour on top of the other, but a variety of shades and tones varying across the print. The burnt orange and dark blue worked particularly well together, the orange adding a burst of colour, but in a less bold way as the lime green. I feel these prints would work well within an interior on a larger scale without becoming overpowering. 

To finish this collection of coloured prints off, I decided to create two more screen designs.

I feel that the bold triangular style (middle) print is a lot more successful than the flowing line prints. This is because I think it would work far better in repeat, within an interior space, and works well as a collection with the previous two designs. The line print (left and right) although intended to look quite organic to add a different element to the collection, appears quite rigid and structured. I don't think this print quite fits in with the collection for this reason.