Iridescent personalities

A blog for my Final Major Project that explores the essential nature of iridescence.

[itsfreyaed]

Glitch Typography

After discovering a fascination with glitch art through my iridescent experiments I decided to play with typography and glitches. Something I could use and develop as part of my project. I chose words that to me were iridescent and a statement in their own way, showing different colours when viewed by different people. These words were; money, love, trust and free.  I made these using just a scanner and I also tried playing with various typefaces. The outcomes were really good and will be used in my final piece. 

[itsfreyaed]

How would you describe Iridescent?

When proposing my concept to my tutors at university I was met with a lot of blank stares ad questions. Unless you've been watching the catwalk trends recently, then a lot of people don't understand what Iridescent is. Iridescent is an object or material that when shone at different angles reflects the colours of the rainbow. 

I decided to create a series of posters that had descriptive words that explained what Iridescent was in different ways. This is to help someone understand it in more ways than one. For my final major project I may turn this into a book that is extended even further with descriptive sentences, materials etc. The backgrounds I have used are macro shots of Iridescent material taken at different times of the day to encourage different levels of colour. Some of the other backgrounds are ombres I created out of lines in Illustrator.

[itsfreyaed]

Iridescent material

So I bought a roll of Holographic film transfer, which is super reflective and has a really nice mirror effect to it. I mainly bought it with the purpose for cutting out and making typography with it. But when I opened it I saw how awesome it looked as one piece. This led to me to whip out my camera and shoot it to capture the incredible colours that it reflected. When you twist and turn the material all sorts of different iridescent patterns show up. If you shoot under different light you got different colours and temperatures as well. I will be using these as backgrounds for fonts, magazine spreads and book covers. It makes for a perfect primary source and looks amazing. I am really happy with how this turned out.

[itsfreyaed]

90's Holographic TV set test.

Quite simply for this test I realised that lower quality images when looked at on a TV or laptop screen came up with lines. When you take a photograph of a lower quality image on a screen it creates waves and curves to an image, which remind me of older 90's TV's and art. It also reminded me of glitch art so I decided to do a few quick tests. This reminded me of iridescence because the lines and curves produced come up with prismatic rainbow colours that are obvious in and discreet in others. I could explore this more by testing different colours, busier images and more simplistic images to see if that makes a difference. 

[itsfreyaed]

How to create Iridescence Test

I performed an experiment that looked into creating iridescence. The test was done by putting black card in a baking tray and covering with around 6cm of water. I then added one single drop of clear nail varnish to the water and waited for it to dry. You could tell the nail varnish was dry when it started wrinkling. This only takes a few seconds and to get this onto paper you would carefully pull the paper out of the water and scooping the nail varnish ring onto the paper making sure you let the water drip off.

I then dried the the test on newspaper, when fully dried out the tests came out amazingly with a variation of incredible colours and a lovely sheen. Some interesting patterns came out too that look holographic. I also then tried adding more drops of nail varnish and I also tried it on white glossy paper. Unfortunately the tests on the white paper barely show up on camera and only have a light pastel/ pearlescent sheen.

[itsfreyaed]

Whilst studying a degree at college 3 years ago I remembered using the photocopiers and scanners to create interesting effects to photographs and collages that I made.  I decided to try using my iridescent films and even added some foils and test the effect that the light from my scanner had on the colours of the film. This has been my favourite test so far and has created some amazing glitch art style iridescent compositions. The waves and jagged lines look incredible and create textures that look really cool.  When flat film was placed in front of crumpled foil it created this almost 3D and holographic look that could inspire further testing. 

[itsfreyaed]

I tried to create Iridescence by crunching up foil to create angles and using reflections from my laptop screen. These were the results and they create interesting textures.

[itsfreyaed]

Decided to do a few little tests wrapping iridescent film around everyday objects in different locations. I wanted to see how iridescence changed the personality of an object as well as how an iridescent object interfered with locations. This was my first test shoot for how it could be done, what it would look like and to find out how I could improve it. I needed well lit areas so that the colours reflected off the film in a more aesthetic way. I want to try more rural locations and smaller objects as well as a survey to go along with it. 

[itsfreyaed]

I bought some awesome iridescent film, it is quite transparent and came in three different colours. Clear, blue and pearlescent. One of the first tests that I did with them was to see how each reacted differently in natural light. I had them in a east facing window and photographed how they looked each hour from sunrise to sunset. The results were interesting as the transparency of the film changed according to sunlight and also the colours that came out changed. The blue had the most drastic change as it went from being opaque with minimal colours in the reflections to being transparent with striking electric reflections. 

[itsfreyaed]

Objects around my home that have iridescent qualities. Initial primary research for my FMP. 

[itsfreyaed]

Iridescence in Nature

Iridescence can be found in crystals and rocks, shells, oil spills or even in the clouds.

[itsfreyaed]

Iridescence found in nature: Animals

Iridescence is predominantly found in fish and birds. In biology colours are traditionally produced with pigments, so colours produced other than by pigment are called structural coloration. The iridescence of a peacock’s feather is lost when it is plunged into water, but reappeared when it is returned to the air, pigments could not be responsible for the iridescence in feathers.

[itsfreyaed]

The Bilbao Guggenheim Holographic Exhibit. Squares of holographic material were used to cover cubes and then lasers were shot at them to create a whole range of rainbow colours that changed throughout the day. It was a truly inspiring installation piece that could be seen for miles and really gave the landscape a different feel and meaning. I want to explore how iridescence changes the personality of an object, how people perceive an object in its state of normality and when it has been made iridescent. I also want to investigate how iridescence can change within certain landscapes and settings.   

[itsfreyaed]

Chanel SS14 fashion show. Another example of how strong the iridescent trend is becoming within other industries. The show features light fabrics and intricate beading detailing, all with a gorgeous iridescent twist. It features strong angular tweed workwear with a hint of fantasy. The palette was light and pastel mainly in ivory, but also featured some gorgeous magpie blacks with a velvet green and purple iridescence to it. The make-up featured strong iridescent underliner strikes, something unusual but I really liked it. Following fashion trends is vital to the Graphic Design industry because as a British Designer the fashion industry is at the forefront of the british economy and is a major factor in british business. Fashion connects us with the rest of the world. 

[itsfreyaed]

I am looking at the Iridescent as a trend within fashion and Interior Design. SS14 looks to iridescent materials to create a prismatic futurism. It resembles strong 90's concepts and is perfectly matched with pastel colours. Strong angular shapes featured in everything from jackets to pottery.

[itsfreyaed]

Iridescent.

Definition of iridescent in English:

Pronunciation: /ˌɪrɪˈdɛs(ə)nt 

   ADJECTIVE : showing luminous colours that seem to change when seen from different angles:the drake’s head has an iridescent purple sheen

Origin: late 18th century: from Latin iris, irid- 'rainbow' + -escent.