FMP - Brief 5 - Further Development

I did some more flower studies today, sticking to our chosen colour palette but producing all the paintings from a already mixed colour palette, doing them all in one session. To then make them as close to the original magnolia flower I adapted the hue, saturation and brightness to gain the same pinks.

I'm really happy with the outcomes and intent on creating some further surface pattern designs

DC - Brief 3 - Justified

Bought this today. Bloody love it. It's approach to image and type in the sense of layout isn't really something I've seen before but I'm starting to get a real liking for type and layout which is experimental. I want to start collecting such one publications for inspiration.

FMP - Brief 5 - Decided colour palette

After I showed Sophie my initial watercolour Magnolia, she really liked the colours and we decided to try and make the colours used our overall colour palette. So I decided to create a swatch board so we are both on the same page when it comes to colours and using the correct ones! We will need to meet up during the week to decided a more specific colour palette when it comes to branding, but for now I think its best to have a large amount we can look at and explore, to then see which works best.

FMP - Brief 5 - Product Range

After mine and Sophie's meeting I felt it needed that I looked at the range of products Laura Ashley currently produce surface pattern across, to get a better understanding on the nature of how my designs will need to work.

Some of the items we will want to make and print onto, such items as cushions and throws but amoungt their living room range, furniture is on offer - this will only be able to be mocked up. So ideally I needed to list the items we would actually be making, and the items we will actually be printing onto, amoung what would be mocked up. This will then be photographed and used within our lookbook design. 

The items we will be Mocking up:

• Sofas
• Armchairs
• Chaise Longue
• Curtains
• Blinds
• On context wallpaper
• Boxes

Products we will be making and printing onto:

Cushions

Vases

Throws

Wallpaper Reels

Fabric Reels

Coffee Table runner

Canvas

Lampshade

The Living room product range on offer:

• Sofas
• Armchairs
• Chaise Longue
• Footstools
• Coffee Tables
• Console Tables
• Side Tables
• Sideboards
• Media Units
• Wallpaper
• Fabrics
• Cushions & Throws
• Rugs
• Lighting
• Curtains
• Blinds

Other:

Source: http://viewer.zmags.co.uk/publication/9d72c079#/9d72c079/30

Some pages from the Spring Catalogue, to give us a sense of how the patterns are applied to certain items, and the kind of high quality photography we need to try and achieve.

FMP - Brief 2 - Boards for module submission

FMP - Brief 2 - Screen Printing Packaging

So after my screen printing tests last week I decided to explore a few more fabrics and ink colours. This time I create circular shapes from the fabric rather than square after realising the workability or wrapping it around the glass jar would be a lot better.

I have changed my mind about colour palette, after experimenting with black on the hessian material. It looks a lot more professional and legible and is more in keeping with the company's colour palette. Below are my mock ups for coffee cup heat protectors. I have also produced a quantity of tags, all with white on hessian so it will need re-printing but I feel will be worth it in the long run.

The process has been a lot longer than initially estimated having tested an array of colours and fabrics, so I will have to work my butt off to try and squeeze it into my hectic deadline for this brief as its due in just a few short weeks. The packaging is central to the answering of the brief so I don't think it's time wasted. I intend on finishing the packaging this week so I can move onto in coffee shop design and advertisement material.

FMP - Brief 5 - Arts and Craft Movement

Source: http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/t/the-arts-and-crafts-movement/

About:

The Arts and Crafts Movement was one of the most influential, profound and far-reaching design movements of modern times. It began in Britain around 1880 and quickly spread across America and Europe before emerging finally as the Mingei (Folk Crafts) movement in Japan.

It was a movement born of ideals. It grew out of a concern for the effects of industrialisation: on design, on traditional skills and on the lives of ordinary people. In response, it established a new set of principles for living and working. It advocated the reform of art at every level and across a broad social spectrum, and it turned the home into a work of art.

The Movement took its name from the Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society, founded in 1887, but it encompassed a very wide range of like-minded societies, workshops and manufacturers. Other countries adapted Arts and Crafts philosophies according to their own needs. While the work may be visually very different, it is united by the ideals that lie behind it.

This was a movement unlike any that had gone before. Its pioneering spirit of reform, and the value it placed on the quality of materials and design, as well as life, shaped the world we live in today.

The Origins of the movement

In Britain the disastrous effects of industrial manufacture and unregulated trade had been recognised since about 1840, but it was not until the 1860s and 1870s that architects, designers and artists began to pioneer new approaches to design and the decorative arts. These, in turn, led to the foundation of the Arts and Crafts Movement.

The two most influential figures were the theorist and critic John Ruskin and the designer, writer and activist William Morris. Ruskin examined the relationship between art, society and labour. Morris put Ruskin's philosophies into practice, placing great value on work, the joy of craftsmanship and the natural beauty of materials.

By the 1880s Morris had become an internationally renowned and commercially successful designer and manufacturer. New guilds and societies began to take up his ideas, presenting for the first time a unified approach among architects, painters, sculptors and designers. In doing so, they brought Arts and Crafts ideals to a wider public.

FMP - Brief 7 - Decided Logo

Email Recieved:

Hello, 

Brilliant images, i think we are settling on the bottom image, red logo black writing ! 

Kym

The chosen Design:

Although it wasn't my prefferred design I'm glad me and Kym have finally decided on a final outcome. It means I can start working on her products. 

I have produced some backs for the business card design, which have considered to be inkeeping with the front design using the same typeface and in some the same combination of two. I need to contact Kym for feedback and to find out whether she wants any other information within it,

FMP - Brief 7 - Further Design development and feedback

Designs sent previously:

Feedback Recieved:

Okay so looking at the images i like the bottom left image. only thing i would change is maybe make the b of the Eb into captial ?

how do you think that would look ?

Kym 

I had been aware that proffesionally the lower case 'b' wouldn't have worked too well but I had initially struggled to produce a legible logo using two uppercase letters. So firstly I incorporated it within the writing logo, making sure each of the capitals where of the same X height. I also looked back at the rest of the words, as half is upper and half is lower case lettering so I made sure again that the X height was the same. I had to work with kerning quite closely so the lower case 'eauty' as it had became quite condensed.

Designs produced in accordance to feedback:

Working with kerning above

Keeping the X height consistent

Below, the range of designs I sent to kym. The three logos I managed to create my manipulating shapes and lines. Once the letters were expanded to become objects I found working with them a lot easier. The top right I feel works best but as I am working for a client, I felt it best to send across all produced logos. I have also reversed the colours to see again which she prefers. 

The design I am most happy with, as the two letter logo is legible and not too busy like the others, and I too like the colour choices, I feel text looks better in black, and the logo being best in colour, but I will need the choice to be made by Kym.

Email Sent with attached above images:

Hope all went well at the Beauty event today! 

I've managed to come up with 3 designs for the 2 letter logo.

I have changed it to capitals.

I have also tried reverse colour, so let me know which of the 6 designs would you like as a finalised piece?

Unless there are any further changes you would like?

Steph

FMP - W/C 25th Feb Timetable

To do today:

Brief #2 
Prepare for screen print
Tags, packaging and samples

Brief #5
Further pattern development

Brief #7
Blog feedback
Produce EB logo

Other
Visit Village and colours may Vary - Regional dialect context
Go to market buy fabrics for screenprint

To do this week:

FMP - Brief 5 - Watercolour Illustrations

After me and Sophie had a catch up I decided it was about time I started producing work, as the branding needed a context to work with. I had expressed my interest in producing watercolour illustrations, as it is a strong skill of mine which I felt was inkeeping with Laura Ashleys current style.

Within the Laura Ashley catalogue I took some inspiration from existing surface pattern designs in regard to composition and styling.:

I started drawing from the already sourced images of flowers we had decided to use within our surface pattern content:

The original images I did were not as vibrant and outstanding as I had wanted, this is due to the medium and products used - watercolours produce soft pastelled pieces rather than bright and vibrant.

I decided to take them into photoshop to increase intensity and contrast, to make them more outstanding. I'm happy with the final result and intend on producing a few surface pattern designs from these flowers for now:

The surface pattern designs I have produced I am really happy with, I have to consider Sophies perception too, so will be having a meeting with her during the week to see which she likes best and if i'm in the right direction with fitting to the branding too.

I then combined the two flowers, after changing the purple flowers colour to be more pink, to create more varied patterns. It has worked to an extent but I think I need to be more creative with my pattern choices. Also once they are in context and printed I can imagine it to look far better.

FMP - Brief 5 - Collaboration Meeting

After having a brief online discussion about the branding design Sophie had produced we decided to have a bit of a meeting to see where were at and start the ball rolling. Sophie had produced a beautiful logo for our Horticultural collection but I gave a bit of feedback about the legbility being questionable regarding the italic typeface. We will continue to have regualr meetings from now on, to make make decisions reagdring design choices together, and so we both continue to be on the same wave length.

It was suggested I did some artist research so I can start moving on and producing illustrations. We came us with a generic list of flowers I should start drawing:

Lavender
Lilac
Magnolia
Rhododendron
Pansies
Cow Parsley
Umbrella Plant
Wood anemone
Crocuses
Grape Hyacinth
Head bourne hybrids
Iris
Jacobs ladder
Violet

The images Collated to influence and draw:

Source: http://www.google.com/imghp?hl=en&tab=wi