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.