Hemingway Design Work Exp. Week 2

Hemingway Design is teaming up with the flooring company FORBO to create a range of bespoke, ultra modern graphic designs for a number of flooring systems.

I have been given the task to use the designs of the flooring already created by the design team and apply them too stationary as a trail run to see if they work.

I chose the most popular stationary appliances and worked by applying the patterns in different scales and areas of the template. 

http://houseofhemingway.co.uk/hemingway-design/products/forbo/

Here is the Range that I have applied to stationary.

Food and Drink for urban village

Hemingway Design Work Exp. Week 1

Tuesday 5th January: My first day of work experience at Hemingway Design

I was introduced to the team and they wasted no time settling me in and getting me started on my project. Coming up is the Mr Men 45th anniversary and Kate the graphic designer wanted me to begin by going onto the illustrator application and have a play around making some of the shapes of the Mr Men and Little Misses. The brief was to make them quite minimal and semi-abstract looking yet keeping a resemblance and maybe including some of the accessories they have. I didn’t feel too confident on illustrator and I was really nervous about making a good first impression. As I began, I looked at inspirations from designs such as ‘Nekkeidia’ and ‘memphis’ on pinterest. This gave me the idea of shape and block colour I should use.

 

Below are the first Illustrations that I did. It took me over 2 days to complete them and I wasn’t happy with the finished results. I blamed the fact I wasn’t as clued up as I had wished on illustrator and also my roots are within textile design rather than graphic/illustration. It was a steep learning curve and over the days I have been working on the programme I now feel much more confident and aware of how to use it.

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Thursday 7th January: Pattern design/Product design

By using the colors and shapes only of the Mr Men and Little Misses, my next task was too create pattern designs using the Illustrator application, again so they resemble Mr Men and have a likeness.

Below are some patterns I produced being inspired by the shapes and colours of Mr Grumpy and Mr Skinny. The black dotted shape is that of Little Miss Magic and I repeated to create more focus on the coloured shape.

I thought that as an Individual piece it was a good idea to put the title of the Mr who inspired the pattern, this makes it more obvious if it already wasn’t that the shapes are Mr Men. I removed the names when making them into patterns.

From the patterns I began to apply the designs into product templates. A lot of the work I have been doing on illustrator has been self taught as the team at Hemingway design are very busy getting on with their own work and cant afford to waste time by going through each and every tool/process with me. They are very helpful if I have any quires and help me as I need.

Friday 8th January: Product branding

I was asked to come up with the branding f0r the Mr Men range. Kate sent me some examples of the branding Hemingway Design had come up with and she wanted me to work within the same style. I churned out quite a few examples as I wanted to keep the fun of the Mr Men apparent yet the modern style the Hemingway Design.

Some patterns work better than others. A few work quite well for a older age group that possibly grew up with the Mr Men books from the get go. Yet some are still quite fun and colourful for the younger ages.

Targets

January 2016

• Mount portfolio pieces
• Prepare questions for interviews
• Build up portfolio
• Complete photoshoot projecting images for unit 5
• Complete unit 5 evaluation
• Complete unit 6 evaluation

Unit 6 Evaluation

Unit 6 Evaluation

I have been researching for my next steps after the Foundation Art Diploma that I am currently studying. I am wanting to go to university and want to make the correct choice. I am interested in studying Textile Design and Interior Design so have conducted research into the relevant ones. I want to stay close enough to home yet far enough to be able to live in the university halls. Out of the research I have done and after visiting the UCAS fare I have been drawn to the following universities: Leeds College of Art, Manchester Metropolitan university, Huddersfield and Bath Spa. All of these courses have brilliant facilities and are within 1 and a half hours away from home. I went to visit some of the universities on open days and feel I have made a good choice for my future. I have had to under go a few steps before applying including drafting for a personal statement, putting together a portfolio and completing the UCAS application form. The cost of sending my application was £23. I have now heard back from all of my university choices for interviews. Those include Huddersfield for Interior Design on Monday the 15th of February. Leeds College of Art for Printed textiles and Surface design on Wednesday the 2nd of March. Manchester Metropolitan for Textiles in Practice on Wednesday the 16th of March and finally Huddersfield for Textile Design on Monday the 12th April. I have taken the decision to decline the bath spa interview as it was to far to travel and despite the course seeming very good and highly renewed I am not wanting to go here. The portfolio preparation is a very tedious process and I am finding photographing my work and mounting it a time consuming process. I feel very apprehensive for my upcoming interviews, mainly because of the pressure I am feeling having to discuss and talk about my work to people that will be judging me and watching my every move.

Unit 5 Evaluation

Unit 5 Evaluation 

Research

To begin my project ‘inspired by’ from the V&A museum, I gathered research from different sources. The photography I took during the Dolphinholme residential and also the 3D and visual communication pathways were a good basis to build from and carry through my inspirations to develop ideas. I visited the Victoria and Albert museum in London and chose my ‘inspired by’ collection which was a set Iranian Architectural drawings from the 18th century. From this point I began to form concepts and look into a range of artists to build up my influences. I feel my research was sustainable and probably one of my strongest areas especially in the beginning of the project, although I could of gained more valuable knowledge from looking at books rather than mainly on the internet. I feel that towards the end (when I was in London on work experience) my project suffered as I lost direction due to being out of the workshops and studios. In FMP I am aiming to be overly productive in all aspects and would like to gather a broad range of research from primary photos, artists and designers and regularly update my blog.

Development

At the start of the project I used the process mono-printing, I liked using this as I found I achieved some effective lines when using the templates from photos that I had taken from the 3D/wire drawing I created. As drawing is one of my weaknesses and something I desperately want to improve on it gave the impression in its broadest sense I was able to draw. To develop my project I took photographs of my journey home from college and found some very interesting marks in the pavement. Then I began to use hand stitch and CAD to further develop my pieces. I wish that I had explored more techniques to give my self a broader range of work and this is something that I will make sure I do in my FMP. Some work is done to a reasonable standard and others could be improved by spending more time on them and including more processes. Towards the end of the project to show further development I did a photoshoot projecting some images and photography that I had taken onto a dress I had made during my 2 years on the fashion and textiles course.

Time management

I found I managed my blog posting well throughout the majority of the project however when I finished college for christmas and went to London for work experience I didn’t return for a whole month. In this time I didn’t work on any aspect of my project which I feel really would of effected the mass of work I produced as well as the quality of my blog. In the 12 weeks we had on this project I could of practiced a better standard of time management including keeping a weekly work plan. I will be bringing this in to my FMP to keep on track. I also will be evaluating my project more often instead of waiting until the end to do so. With getting my portfolio ready for university interviews I haven’t payed as much attention on getting this project rounded off with a final piece. I will now be able to fully focus onto my FMP and be putting my all into it. Another effect on my time management is the fact I work over 25 hours per week as well as college, I am unable to commit to coming into college on Fridays and also have to leave slightly early Monday and Tuesdays to get to work in time.

Outcomes

To be totally honest I am not completely pleased with my outcomes. I have no final conclusion to my project which I feel doesn’t round it off. The pieces I have created could of been developed more and more techniques used.

Blog

I have really enjoyed using a blog this year. It is the first time I have depended on using a blog rather than a sketch book and I have found it much easier. Although sketch books are more visually interesting and also better on keeping track of my work, my blogs has been more efficient and saved me printing out wasting paper. On my blog I have managed to keep on track of my work and regularly posting inspirations, targets and so on. It is a more convenient for interviews as I can show on a sleek iPad rather than a big bulky sketch book spilling out with bits of material and pieces of work.

Conclusion

I have learnt a lot from this project and will carry through my findings into my FMP.

Katie Holland Lewis

I really like her use of basic/limited materials such as paper, pins and thread and she creates something unique and visually/texturally pleasing.

“I invent and implement systems in order to visualize the transformation of materials over time. I compile data such as physical sensations in the body, the number of steps taken each day, or the manner individuals traverse through a landscape. I devise methods of data visualization using limited materials such as paper, thread, sewing pins, or graphite. The process of physical repetition within a system transforms the materials into intricate visual accumulations. Pins amass on the wall into clusters or swarms, thread weaves into a chaotic web, graphite numbers layer into a black mass, and punctured holes overlap until a surface can no longer hold itself together.

I am interested in how a controlled set of repeated actions can eventually lead the system to reach a breaking point—paper tears or is eaten away, walls starts to crumble, and thread becomes an impenetrable net. The rigidly controlled structure begins to collapse through seemingly benign and inconsequential actions creating unpredictable results. Once I construct a system for a particular piece, I follow its rules all the way through the work allowing the visual results to exist outside of subjective expressive decisions. 

As the systems breakdown, I am left with the following questions: when the threshold of accumulated actions and therefore visual information is crossed what lies on the other side? What forms emerge in this state of flux? What becomes evident in the chaos, loss, and deterioration? Can a system adapt after it begins to fail? Through the exploration of materials and process I investigate these question and how they relate to the multitude of systems that surround us.”

 

 

Bath Spa University

Course applied for:

• Textile design for Fashion and Interiors

Why this university? 

• Beautiful city and really well renowned univeristy
• Far away from home to give me a new life experience and to challenge my self

Why this course? 

• Focus on interior textile design
• Really impressed me at the UCAS fare

 

Leeds College of Art

Course applied for:

• Printed Textiles and Surface Pattern Design

Why this University/College?

• Top 5 university voted by the Guardian
• Close, family like university
• Really impressed at the open day
• Best student city in the UK (apparently)
• Love the shopping centre and restaurants

Why this course?

• Working in the studios from 9am-4pm Monday-Friday as they want you to get the best from the course and really develop potential
• Produces outstanding graduates
• Some of the worlds most esteemed awards on offer to Leeds Students
• Will help develop my drawing skills

 

Manchester Metropolitan University

Course applied for: 

• Textiles in Practice

Why this University? 

• 40 minutes away from home
• Familiar with the City and feel I would be happy in living in Manchester and being a student there.
• Really good strong Textile course and great facilities
• I like the layout of the building

Why this course? 

• Can explore not only fashion and textile outcomes but also interior installations and exhibition spaces.
• Live project briefs and work placement opportunities
• Combination of disciplines to experience that I have not yet including knit and don’t have to specialise until 2nd year

Huddersfield University

Course(s) applied for:

• Interior Design
• Textiles in Practice (surface design)

Why this university?

• Won university of the year 2013
• Really liked them at the UCAS fare
• Friendly/approachable tutors
• Smaller town/city
• 50 minutes drive from home
• Offers sandwich placement year
• Tutors have a high level of industry knowledge and skill

Why Interior Design:

• It is a commercially focused course so more technical than designing for homes
• Offer placements and work opportunities in London, Amsterdam and even Austrailia
• Design exploration is a module so I will be able to keep some of my textile roots
• The course is 2/3 practical 1/3 theory so I will get to build a strong knowledge
• Great Employment rate

Why Textile Design:

• Sandwich placement to work in industry and gain valuable skills
• Get the chance to explore other specialist areas
• Can focus on designing for interiors and exteriors
• Chance to go to exhibitions and potentially win awards