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 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

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 6 Analysis

Georges Rousse constructs installations through different illusions. I thought this would work well with my idea of taking the shapes from my 3D form photography and layering these over the top of my mixed media photography, adding new elements of colour. These worked effectively in visualisations, but the designs with more structured elements were too mechanical so they will not be part of my high end collection.

Rousse, G, 1986. Virtual Architects. [Online image] [Accessed on 12 November 2013] http://www.georgesrousse.com/english/works-selection/02-virtual-architectures.html

This gave me the idea of creating mono-prints to put over the top of my photographs in the shape of the patterns in my 3D form photography. This became a way of losing control over the outcome of the image as I did when creating my 'glitches' on Justin Windle's website because I apply the ink straight onto the paper. 

     The scale of the mono-print wall murals worked once put into an interior setting but the contrast between the black lines and my photography appears too strong. I did research into companies which create high end wall panels as I felt that my images could also work within other interior settings such as hotels and office spaces. I discovered Maxalot which is a company that helps young digital artists establish and promote themselves, a lot of which create designs for walls. Through this I found Eno Henze who sells his wall panels through the Maxalot website.

The piece below is one of Eno Henze's wall panel designs for sale on Maxalot. 

Henze, E, 2008. Ambushes.[Online image] [Accessed on 12 November 2013] http://enohenze.de/ambush/

     I also became interested in Nhow Berlin Hotel; the whole of it's interior is designed with creativity in mind. It also made me think of creating coordinates to go with my designs as part of my design collections. Both high end and mid- end companies use these so they would work well in both of my collections; I should consider coordinating wallpaper/ wall panels and other objects such cushion covers and curtains. 

Nhow Berlin. Pink living area. [Online image] [Accessed on 16 November 2013] http://www.flickr.com/photos/nh_hoteles/5600515364/

     The image below is from Graham & Brown's website, I thought it was important to do research into coordinates for both high end and mid- end companies. Graham & Brown offer their designs and all coordinates in a collection, in a number of different colours; I must consider this when creating my mid- end design collection. 

     I learnt during my internship with Graham & Brown that wallpaper companies use screen printing as their production process, as it is cheap, fast and they always work to the dimensions 52 by 53 cm. I don't need to work to these dimensions when creating my designs for my high end collection as they will be digitally printed, which means I can work to any scale. This makes the process much more expensive but more suited to my designs as they have a lot of colours in. When mid market wallpaper companies create a design they must separate all the colours before being put onto screen which means the more colours and detail you use, the more complicated the design becomes for testing and production. Therefore my photography would not be able to be used in any of my mid market designs as it would be unsuitable for screen printing. 

Graham & Brown. Desire. [Online image] [Accessed on 15 November 2013] 

http://www.grahambrown.com/uk/product/50-027/desire

Stage 5 Analysis

   I decided to try and develop my idea of combining my drawing with my photographs, the repetition work on ice inspired by Jeffrey Simmons worked very effectively but I felt I needed a guide such as Simmon's rotational devices so I had more control over the image rather than just repetition of lines as I was doing before. I decided to use a compass and spirograph; although the compass paintings were effective I felt the circular shape did not connect with the work I had previously been making and the spirograph images were too floral like and had been used so many times in art already, I need to come up with a more original idea.

      I decided that in my high end collection I would offer wall murals as I think some of my photographs are interesting compositionally on their own. I made visualisations to represent the settings for these which are aimed at my audience of home owners; so 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 wall mural design. It is important for me to look back on my past designs and put these into visualisations so the audience could see what scale the prints are in context to a room. 

     I have decided I need to edit my CV and make a creative one that is more appropriate for the jobs I will be applying for. I went to a CV workshop and this was useful in what to write on my CV but I felt I needed to do research into how to design it.  http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/creative-designer-resume-curriculum-vitae/ was very useful for my research.  I feel the design is simple enough for people to clearly understand what I am about.

Stage 4 Analysis

After studying my ice photographs I observed that some had a layout like a landscape, so I decided to use two projectors and layer my photographs to create a landscape view similar to sublime paintings. These worked effectively but were too busy once projected onto the 3D forms. I could use the photos of the two projections taken against the wall when creating my design collection, although the photos didn't look like landscapes because of the detail, they still created striking images.

     I felt that it was important to start creating my design collection so I could use the ideas and samples I had already created and develop these further. I decided that I would make two separate collections as the images and colours in my photography would not suit a mid market range, so these will be used for my high end collection. I will pick certain colours from my photography to create colour ways for my mid market range. I still want the two collections to have elements which are similar, this will be developed when creating the two collections.

     The first designs I created for my high end collection were inspired by my hand made cut out 'glitches', I used the shapes from the photos to link with the past samples I have created. I used a half drop repeat design as I thought this would create more of a flow to my designs. I was unhappy with my first design as the shapes look mechanical. I decided I needed the shapes to be more uniform as in my hand made cut out 'glitches' so there is some order within the disorder.

     I think my next two designs worked much better and I managed to keep the mood within my designs. 

I decided to take inspiration from Piia Podersalu's design and create mirrored designs as I thought this would work well with my idea of mirroring the ice. These designs are effective and work well with the designs I have done above because the colours and textures complement each other.

Podersalu, P. Tie- dye. Piia Podersalu. [Online image] [Accessed on 03/10/2013] http://www.piiapodersalu.com/Pattern