Unit X Evaluation

     I feel that my understanding of the context for my work has greatly improved during this project, taking into consideration use of colour throughout the whole collection and for my audience. I understand better how the audience influences colour palette and imagery. My work has developed to a more porfessioanl standard with my use of the combination of the different digital programmes and my improvement with Adobe Illustrator. The professionalism of my presentation has improved with research into designers/ artists use of presentation in different media specifically protfolio construction. I researched into interior trends but I didn't take these into consideration when designing as I didn't feel that they were appropriate to my work.
     I feel I have used social media to promote myself as a designer successfully, having gained two more awards on ViewBug and increasing followers on my blog.
    

Stage 6 Analysis

     I applied for a design position within Holden Decor which they had advertised on their website. They didn't have much information about the job but I later found out it was for either a middle weight or senior designer as they emailed me back saying I was unsuccessful in this application but would like to interview me for a junior designer position they had not yet advertised. I attended an interview and met the design team and took a tour of the design facilities. This was the same as the past two interviews, focusing on my experiences within the design industry. They contacted me through email to inform me I had not gotten the job, again I contacted them asking for feedback so I could try and improve for next time but got no reply.
   I was inspired by Daniel Temkins' design to create a weave to coordinate with my other designs in my glitch collection. The layered marks in his design appear to move and blur, I wanted this kind of effect in my weave.

Temkin, D, 2012, Triangulation, Digital Design, View on 19/05/2014, http://www.triangulation.jp/2012/04/daniel-temkin.html

     At the porfolio session with past graduates from MMU I noticed one of the designers had a page before her designs were introduced, with a few initial ideas on, including photography, samples and drawings. I didn't think this would work for my vintage inspired collection as I don't have enough evidence of initial ideas as it originated from my glitch collection. So I don't want to create the page for one collection in my portfolio but not another. I have decided to create pages for before each collection in my portfolio, grouping my designs in their colour- ways and with the Pantone swatches underneath, showing I can consider colour-ways throughout the whole collection and designs working along side each other within a house. 

     

      While I have looked at job advertisements on the internet, I noticed a lot of companies ask for people to apply with a link to their online portfolio instead of sending designs examples in an email. Therefore I think it is important for me to have an online portfolio so I can increase the amount of jobs I can apply for and it will give my work more exposure. View my online portfolio at:  https://www.behance.net/emmasenior1

     I have received two awards on ViewBug for my photography work, these will feature on their blog, Twitter page and website, giving my work more exposure. 

 This photo won Absolute Masterpiece.

The photo won Superb Composition.

Stage 5 Analysis

     I applied for the position of Junior Designer within Comfy Quilts; who own Jeff Banks at Home and Jeff Banks Port of Call. The design studio based in Cheshire design for both of these product ranges. I was asked to interview and felt more confident after having my first interview at Riva Home as we spoke about my different experiences within the design industry. I feel this will be the basis for all interviews so I can show I understand the context for my work and that I can produce designs to industry standard. I was not contacted by the company after the interview and when I tried to get feedback so I can try and improve my interview skills they did not get back to me.
     While on my interview they mentioned that they would like to have seen some of my designs I created while on internship with Mirjam Rouden Designs, which were for fashion, so I have decided I will have some feature in my final portfolio.
     I decided to work back into some of my designs so they would appear more distorted. The architecture ones didn't work well as they are busy enough without trying to distort the pixels.

    I took inspiration from this design by David Szauder to try to distort one of my weave designs as you can still tell what the image is but the stretched pixels slightly distort the image. I thought the lengthening of the pixels in some areas would work with the shape of the weave and appear like some of the threads have been pulled out. It also interrupts the images of the flowers even more than the weave. This one has been much more successful than the architecture ones.

Szauder, D, 2012, Face- scapes, Photograph, Viewed on 28/04/2013, http://pixelnoizz.wordpress.com/page/3/

     I was concerned after looking back on the architecture designs I had already made that they didn't fit within my glitch collection, as I had tried to work into them more and none were successful. I have decided to let the natural development of my work show within the collection, starting with my architecture prints, which then lead to my woven prints which have a slight distortion, then the collection will finish with my pixelated designs. 

     When looking at my designs together they did not look part of the same collection as the colour palette was so broad. Studying wallpaper companies such as Designers Guild they use a very minimal colour palette and use a broad range of imagery for one collection.

Designers Guild, 2014, Surabaya Wallpaper Collection, Photograph, Viewed 29/04/2014, http://www.designersguild.com/

     After reviewing this I have changed my colour palettes for both collections. I have decided my glitch collection will be aimed at a younger market so will use bright bold colours, and my vintage inspired collection will use more muted colours aimed at home owners. 

vintage inspired collection one colour- way

glitch collection one colour- way

Stage 4 Analysis

     I realised that my previous designs were not inspired by vintage patterns as I have been focusing on how to create the disruptions within the images, so I have decided to make another collection which will be inspired by vintage patterns and my first collection will be focused on image disruptions. The second collection will be intended for screen print production as I want it to have a different feel to my other collection. I have decided to use the same colour palette as the other collection so they have a link.
     Joel Dewberry's wallpaper is inspired by vintage print designs. His designs are created on Illustrator and uses contemporary colours to make his designs current to the market. I have decided that I will use Illustrator to create most of my designs for this collection as it will give me more control of the outcome of the image than hand drawing and I need to improve my skills on Illustrator as most print design jobs ask for skills in both Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign. For a design to be contemporary it is suitable for either its imagery or colours to be modern, it does not have to be both, so I have decided I will use contemporary colours to make my collection current.

Dewberry, J, 2014, Deer Valley Collection, Digital Design, Viewed 10/04/2014, http://www.joeldewberry.com/pages/design-collection-deer-valley

     I am happy with the outcome of my designs I have produced for this collection so far, I felt that in the past unit some of my designs were too large and looked clumsy so I have taken into account the actual size of the print and how it would appear on the wall. I have started to create visualisations to represent the settings which would be best suited for each print; the audience for my second collection will be home owners. I have chosen interior settings which have a colour scheme to match my designs. This is important when companies are selling their designs because they are trying to sell a style to the audience, not just a wallpaper design. It is important for the audience to see what scale the prints are in context to the room. 

     I contacted wallpaper companies asking for production costs, one replied but wished to remain unnamed, they informed me that the cost for a roll of wallpaper would average between £4- £7 depending on the type of paint and paper and amount of colours. My designs would use matt paint and because of the minimal amount of colours would cost around £4 to produce but would sell for between £15 to £25.

Stage 3 Analysis

     I decided to make a pitch for a space in the Vertical Gallery for during the degree show as I felt that even though my work is not meant for a gallery space it would increase exposure of my work, and some print designers have created work for gallery spaces, such as Katrin Olina who creates wall art on commission for public spaces but created the piece below for a gallery space. I like how the piece works with the space as it curves round the ledge on the ground. I decided I wanted my wall hanging to work in the space by curving round at the bottom mimicking the curves on the windows of the lecture rooms, and also giving a softness to the harsh concrete around it.

Olina, K, 2012, Wall hanging, Photograph, Viewed 24/ 03/2014, http://designapplause.com/2012/straight-outta-iceland-katrin-olina/28271/

 

     David Szauder is another glitch artist that runs his own blog and website called Pixelnoizz. The piece below inspired me to use classic prints within my designs and use these as glitches to distort the image as well. Szauder creates his designs using computer programmes but I want to create all my glitches by hand so I have control over the outcome. 

     

Szauder, D, 2011, All made by triangles, Digital Design, Viewed 26/03/2014, http://pixelnoizz.wordpress.com/page/4/

This design is inspired by the polka dot print and I viewed each polka dot as representing a pixel. I also wanted to test using a mixture of different pixel sizes to distort the image even more, I think because of the images used in this print it appears too distorted and the larger pixeled images look like blobs. I want to test this idea further. 

     Wallpaper companies have designed woven wallpaper designs for many years as it adds texture to the wall and would coordinate with other features in the room, the design below is from the wallpaper company Thibaut. I am not aiming to create textured wallpaper within my collection but I thought that using my photographs of architecture and flowers I could weave these and create glitches within the images with each weave.  

Thibaut, 2012, Anguilla Weave- Wallpaper, Scan, Viewed 31/03/2014, http://www.thibautdesign.com/collection/old_collection.php?productID=4852&patternID=857

     Most wallpaper companies offer alternate colour ways of their designs as some colours may not sell as well as others and colour trends for interiors also change the popularity of some designs. The design below by Erica Wakerly is sold in three different colour ways, one which is more vivid and the other two in silver are more muted. The designs within my collection which have few colours in and don't include photography or drawn elements will offer three different colour ways so they reach a broader audience. 

Wakerly, E, 2008, Teepee Wallpaper, Photograph, Viewed 3/04/2014, 

http://www.ericawakerly.co.uk/teepee.htm

     I think these prints work effectively as at first glance you are not sure what they are, but the flowers start to reveal themselves. Because of the layers on the second print you are never quite sure what it is you are looking at. I think this difference within the designs makes them different enough to become part of one collection as you don't want two designs to look too similar. I also created three different colour ways for both these designs. 

Stage 2 Analysis

     I applied for a job advertised on the Print & Pattern job board; a home textiles print designer at Riva Home. Riva Home are one of the largest importers and wholesalers of textiles in the UK and also sell throughout Europe. After sending some of my designs to them I was asked to attend an interview. I was not offered the job as a more suitable candidate that had more experience designing bed wear got the job. But this experience was valuable as I feel more confident for when I next attend an interview, because I now know what type of questions I could be asked; they focused on questions about my experiences on work placements, especially at Graham & Brown.
     Phillip Stearns is a glitch artists and his work inspired me to create designs which were made up wholly of pixels.

Stearns, P, 2013, Fragmented Memory, Photograph, Viewed 11/03/2014, http://phillipstearns.wordpress.com/fragmented-memory/

I thought the piece below was too simple and I felt that I had seen designs like this before in fashion so I decided to work into it more. I also tested this design with the flowers in black and white to create a more muted print so your eyes are focused on the imagery and not all the bright colours, but I found that the flowers cant be distinguished as easily from each other.

     Another of Phillip Stearns designs inspired me to stretch out some of the pixels along the length of the image, distorting the flowers even more. I decided to lay the flowers on top of stripes so they didn't pop out of the plain ground so much. 

Stearns, P, 2012, Year of the Glitch, Photograph, Viewed 11/03/2014, http://rhizome.org/editorial/2013/jan/8/phillip-stearns-rhizomes-community-fundraiser/

     Flavor Paper are an American wallpaper company who create bright and lively designs. I have decided I would like some of my designs in my collection to be vivid as I have never created designs like this before. But I also recognise that some of my audience would like more muted colours so I will also offer this within my collection as well. 

Flavor Paper, 2013, Vivid Victorian, Print, Viewed 14/ 03/2014, http://www.flavorpaper.com/wallpaper/vivid-victorian

Unit X Stage 1 Analysis

     I have decided to develop my work from the previous project and continue exploring the idea of image disruption and creating patterns out of glitches. I have decided my imagery will be inspired by vintage wallpaper, specifically floral, these will be combined and altered by imagery of architecture, giving a contemporary feel using glitches to something which would now be old fashioned.
      In the previous project I used a mixture of photography and hand drawing in my designs but never used the two together so this is something I would like to use in my designs. I also decided that my combination of wall panels and wallpapers in my last project were successful so I have decided that I will create both these again within this collection.
     I started my visual research by taking photographs of flowers and buildings. In my past project photography was a significant part of my research and I decided to create my own page on Viewbug, which is a website for the photography community where you can participate in contests and helps to promote photographers and gain recognition. This was a good place for me to promote myself as a designer as it is linked with my Twitter account for people to see both my design work and photography work. Since completing the last project I have gained another award from the judges, this will be shown on their website, Twitter page and blog, giving my work more exposure. Because of this I have decided to continue adding some of my photography work onto my Viewbug page.
http://www.viewbug.com/member/emmasenior1

     I started research into vintage wallpaper at the Special Collections within University where I viewed a lot of William Morris' designs, these will become helpful when I start to look at how he used to assemble all the elements within a design and also how he would represent an element with paint.

     I decided that I would create my colour palette from my photographs of flowers as this would give me a better range than in the photographs of buildings. I created these two colour palettes; my final palette will be a mixture of the two.

     I emailed different companies enquiring if they had a print design job I am able to apply for as I know some companies don't advertise jobs, they expect people to contact them regarding jobs. I know that I have to broaden my job searches as I don't have any job experience within print design so I have to apply to places which I have not specialised in but are adequate to do the job. Hallmark contacted me saying they would like to view some of my designs so I sent some which I thought were the most appropriate, but they emailed me back saying that my work was not characteristic of Hallmark designs so they would not take my application further. I have since joined Simply Hired, Total Jobs and Monster for daily alerts on appropriate jobs for me to apply for. Print & Pattern blog also have a jobs board which advertise for print designers, and Drapers also has appropriate jobs for me to apply to, so I aim to look at these once a week.

Ways I will promote myself as a designer throughout the project:

•  I have created a Pinterest board for inspiration on my concept to help acquire my contextual research wherever I am  http://www.pinterest.com/emmasenior1/unit-x-inspiration/
• I have created a board for my work for people to follow http://www.pinterest.com/emmasenior1/my-work/
• I will use Tumblr as another place to showcase my developing collection http://emmasenior2.tumblr.com/

Evaluation of Practice Unit

     I feel that my understanding of the context for my work has increased greatly during this project, taking into consideration use of colour, size and imagery in production processes. I understand better how the audience influences colour palette and imagery. My work has developed to a more professional standard with my use of the combination of different digital programmes. The professionalism of my presentation has improved with research into designers/ artists use of presentation in different media and the use of InDesign which I hadn't used before. I was ambitious with the aims of my project as I had never designed a floral print before and I have now designed a floral collection suitable to be sold within a wallpaper company.
I feel I have used social media to promote myself as a designer successfully, becoming a top contributor in Linkedin, receiving two awards on ViewBug and increasing followers on my blog. For Unit X I plan to create a digital wallpaper collection for paper.

Stage 14 Analysis

I received a Remarkable Award from the judges on ViewBug.com, this will be shown on their website, Twitter and blog, giving my work more exposure.  http://www.viewbug.com/member/emmasenior1#/emmasenior1/awards?filter=vbawards

I have emailed interior print companies inviting them to my degree show, through this my work will receive more exposure and may lead to experience with the industry through organising internships and making connections.

I have researched into artists' books at the special collections and Magma book shop to inform myself on layout, materials and binding for my photography book. Through my research I have decided I want my book to have a hard cover as it needs to be durable. I also want a boarder round my photographs and printed onto different papers as the textures make it interesting and will change the outcome of the image. I designed my final book on InDesign so the images would be cohesive throughout.

Stage 13 Analysis

I decided that within my mid market range I could afford to have more variation in the colours I use as the imagery is similar. I also considered a green in my colour palette and decided it is not appropriate for interiors as it is similar to hospital gowns. I also reviewed some earlier work and decided I would create check designs which use different textures to my current designs so they would coordinate better. I also wanted to use layers of unfinished lines to represent 'glitches' in my drawn weaves to link with my initial visual imagery.

Stage 12 Analysis

     While developing my Graham & Brown design into a collection I did contextual research looking at other floral design collections with wallpaper companies.  I noticed that the imagery they use is broad and the colour scheme usually binds the designs together, such as in the Designers Guild Amrapali Collection: http://www.designersguild.com/fabric-and-wallpaper-showroom/view-all-collections/amrapali-wallpaper/#.UwC5nvl_tIE    
     I chose to keep the colour palette I originally created for the Graham & Brown brief because this was already appropriate for a floral collection and in the design industry the colour palette is usually the first decision the designer makes. I chose three different colour ways for each design and to create a textured stripe to coordinate with my florals as this is what other wallpaper design companies do.
     I emailed wallpaper companies asking for production costs, ones that replied wished to remain unnamed but informed me that the cost for a roll of wallpaper would average between £4- £7 depending on the type of paint and amount of colours. My designs would be matt paint and because of the minimal amount of colours would only cost around £4 to produce but would sell for between £15 to £25.

Stage 11 Analysis

I decided that I would create hand printed designs for cushions and curtains coordinating with my mid market range as design companies also offer this alternative. I found that companies such as John Lewis offer collections of cushions in different textures and weaves but mostly types of silk and cotton so I decided I would use a mixture of these to represent the types of fabrics I would want within my collection. These samples will not be part of my final collection as I am unhappy with the colours and the outcome of the final prints.

Lewis, J. 2014. Breezy Botanical Cushion Collection. [online image][accessed on 8 January 2014] http://www.johnlewis.com/breezy-botanical-cushion-collection-/p371292

Stage 10 Analysis

I chose this colour way for my mid-market range as I thought it would give me numerous options. Once I had started designing my collection I put some onto my Tumblr page and posted into groups on Linkedin, asking for feedback from professionals in the print industry. It is important for me to improve my designs to a professional standard and a good way of doing this is getting feedback from designers.

Mano Shahlavi who works for Deha, an Italian wallpaper company advised me to coordinate my colours better within my collection. I have since edited my designs and when viewed together they look more cohesive.