The Life of a Print Designer

@meganfloreyprintdesign

Print designer and graduate from Norwich University of the Arts in Textile Design BA (Hons). My recent posts show my thoughts, reflections and journey throughout year two and year three of University.

587 posts

Where am I at?

Next week, I need to focus on getting two designs in repeat for my bold collection and get the rest of the designs edited. This is the least I want to achieve because then, I’ve got some designs in repeat, some as placement prints, the designs will work well together in the collections due to the tweaks I’ve made to the colours and it fits commercially with an intriguing edge. I think it’s important to have a plan and stick to it in the last week because I need to get all the other bits done, as well as my final designs. In the past week, I’ve made many changes to my plans because I’ve underestimated how long things would take me and changed my mind. For example, I said I was going to achieve about 8 designs this week and I achieved two. I need to be more decisive and realistic and which I’m currently working on but for the last week, everything needs to be done, no changes. Therefore, I think I’ve set myself a reasonable but hard working aim to get done before deadline. I think sometimes I put too much pressure on myself and set unrealistic goals. As a result of this, I need to start thinking more realistically which I feel I have done for the last week of deadline and will put less, unnecessary pressure on myself.

As I’ve said, the designs that I don’t finish will be colour separated and repeated after deadline for degree show and also for New Designers and Texprint if I get picked. I really want to get picked for New Designers and Texprint as they’re both amazing opportunities and will help me network, make contacts, improve my confidence, communication skills and find out what people really like in my work and what’s selling currently. These are the best platforms to begin my career and could even end up landing me a job. If not, they’re just great experiences that I would really like to be a part of. Therefore, I just need to keep working and producing the most successful work I can.

I wasn’t aware till quite recently that Direct Blinds was having a student competition. It’s a great opportunity to promote my work, to get exposure and to possibly get my designs printed onto their roller blinds. The theme was “Motif: Pattern Design” and I already had a design to send off for that which is shown above. I think it could look really striking as a blind with the intriguing textures and bold geometric lines contrasting with the delicate floral motifs. I think it’s commercial but has an exciting edge to it which Direct Blinds might be interested in.

As discussed in my last post, I’d previously had trouble saving my design as Illustrator file as every computer kept crashing on me. However, I wasn’t going to let it stop me and I’d prepared enough time in case I had any IT problems like this. I’ve realised throughout my university experience that’s it’s important to always leave time for uploading documents to the VLE or IT problems that could occur. When uploading files to the VLE, they have size restrictions so I’d taken this experience into consideration and organised my time effectively if these issues approached for the competition.

I might not win the Direct Blind but it’s still a great opportunity and I never know unless I enter it. I have might have the design they’re looking for or I might not but either way, it’s crucial for me to get my work out there and just to try because I have to grab as many opportunities and experiences as I can.

On Friday, we received as email saying they’d put our work on their Facebook page and asked us to share our designs with our friends and family. I think this an excellent idea as it gives all the people that entered exposure, promotion and the opportunity to see the other talented people within the competition. As a result of this, I will continue to enter into competitions because it might not lead to me winning but it could lead to opportunities or improving my skills of working to a deadline and to a brief.

Even though I said I was only colour separating one of my designs for hand in, I’d already started colour separating this design yesterday when I was trying to figure out how long it would take me to edit, repeat and colour separate each design. I haven’t completely finished colour separating the design as I need to move each floral motif to a different layer with the mover too and it’s on the same layer as the background. Therefore, I need to really carefully go round each floral motif perfectly so I don’t copy the background layer across to another layer also which is why the process is time consuming. I was going to finish the colour separating but I need to work on getting some designs edited and repeated for hand in, rather than change the colours. As I reflected yesterday, there’s only a few tweaks to change some of the colours in the collections make them work successfully together.

However, as I’d nearly finished colour separating, I was intrigued to play with the design in different colour ways. The first image is my favourite and I think it’s a lot more striking and beautiful than my original colours which now look quite dull in comparison. The brighter colours bring the design to life. However, I still like my orginial colours because they're subtle, sophisticated and beautiful which fits my subtle theme. As a result, for his and if I have time, I will make a decision on if I would prefer the brighter colours by putting both colour prints, one by one, next to the collection to see which ones fits more successfully. If I prefer the brighter colour palette with the overall collection, I will then continue to finish using the mover tool to make to the perfect colour separation. If I don’t have time, I will do this after deadline but it was great fun exploring colours. I really enjoy experimenting with different colour combinations and working out how much of certain colours to show in a design to make it look effective. This experimentation with colour separation has also made me less rusty as I haven't used it since BA3A, which will help me be quicker and more efficient on the colour separation I need to do on one of my designs in my subtle collection. As they say, practice makes perfect.

Finally got to that stage

I finally got to that stage where I had a slight melt down as everything in the last two days seemed to go wrong. For example, I decided to enter into the Direct Blinds competition and had trouble with saving my design in Illustrator as the computer kept crashing when I tried to save it. To resolve this, I asked for help over in IT support and Carl sorted it out for me but he went for lunch and he hadn’t saved it to my memory stick. I tried again on the computers in St George’s and they kept crashing. I then discovered I’d lost my memory stick which sent me into a panic. I was frantically trying to find it and luckily, I did. I normally back everything up but I hadn’t saved what I’d done for the last five hours. I also wanted to borrow a wacom tablet as mine doesn’t work in the computers at University and it turns out, neither do their tablets in St George’s. Georgie explained to me that their tablets only work in the Guntons Building. I wanted to use a tablet because I find them a lot easier to work on and I feel as though I produce more efficient editing with them. Also, it’s great practice for the future as from my work experiences, all designers use tablets rather than mouse’s. Therefore, this experience could make more employable to clients.

Throughout Thursday, it seemed as though I was going back and forth to buildings, losing things and waiting for computers to work after they kept crash on me. I lost hours of work time which sent me into panic mode and stress. When I got to that point, I should have just gone home and had a break and then continued with my work after. However, I’m not good at telling myself to stop because I always think I just need to keep going. I think it’s important to keep going but sometimes it’s best to have a slight break and return with a fresh mind. I should have done this because the next day ended in a bigger melt down. I tried for four hours to print my work out at University. I firstly tried the library but it was incredibly busy because of year 0′s, year 1′s and year 2′s hand in. I then tried my studio because I was told the printer wasn’t busy and then all of a sudden, a lot of people wanted to use it before their deadline and I’d just sent off a lot of massive files to print. I was trying to be prepared and organised for deadline by having everything printed to sort through this weekend. However, I felt guilty and I tried to cancel them because of the years below deadline and the printer was also jamming. I got help from Sarah from the IT help desk who resolved this issue but other things also happened throughout the day that made me have a meltdown. Nothing was going well and I finally realised that it was time to just stop and push myself to have a break.

I know my PDP posts aren’t about supposed to be about what I did but for me, I needed to write it all out to get the anger out of my system. Writing, blogging helps me clear my thoughts and motivates me to continue with my work. It gives me the opportunity to reflect, to step back from my work and think about what I’m doing and how I can improve. Throughout these two days, I didn’t achieve nowhere near what I wanted too but I have to think, everyone has bad days. I know that it’s not best to have these really close to deadline but it can’t be helped. I try to work as hard as I can and work continually but sometimes, it’s best to step back from the work This evening I had break and just went and had a relaxed evening with my friend. I now feel more motivated and prepared to continue with my work. The last two days made me realise that the stress was building up and I should have stopped for a couple of hours to stop me breaking down. I forget sometimes that stepping back from my work doesn’t mean that I don’t care, it means that I care and that I realise that from having break, it can improve my concentration and motivation for when I return. From this break, I can improve my efficiency and produce more successful work.

I visited Guntons to discover what paper I would like to print some of my designs onto after deadline and for degree show. I was most drawn to the Epson Fine Art water colour paper because the texture and quality of print felt and looked beautiful. I also liked the Premium Matt 230GSM as it felt like the thickness of wallpaper but I felt as though it might be too smooth. Wallpaper seems to normally have more of a textured surface like the Wallpaper (Non Adhesive). However, I think I’ll get them printed onto Epson Fine Art Watercolour as it felt expensive and was beautifully textured. As I’ve said, I want to be prepared and discover what surface I think my designs would look most successful on. I also want to explain in my presentation after deadline what I want to print my designs onto. It’s important to know, to be prepared and to be organised.

I’m really drawn to this design as I think the bold use of stripes next to delicate floral elements and texture is an intriguing and striking combination. The areas of white add delicacy and freshness against the different shades of blues, greys and red. The white brings a break from a bold use of colours and motifs and adds simplicity to the design.

I also finished editing the designs so they were straight and matched up when repeated. This took me a considerable amount of time as I had to clone the lines straight around all the motifs. Therefore, I need to really consider the repeat structure more thoroughly when designing the composition on paper so this doesn’t happen again and I can use my time more efficiently.

Also, I decided to keep the repeat simple with a tile repeat as the design is really busy and the I think the geometrics would have looked too blocky otherwise. This way, the geometrics run straight down looks really eye catching. As I think my other collage design is a bit blocky, maybe I should try a a tile repeat to see if it would look more successful? If I have time, I will experiment with this idea.

After my reflection session, I know I’m not colour separating all my designs so I need to tweak the red lines so they’re light pink to match my subtle interior theme. I also might check over these two repeat designs to see if any editing needs to take place as I was hoping for the designs to clear up slightly when I colour separated them. Therefore, I need to edit them to get rid of the imperfections and so they’re crisp and professional. The next step will be to have two designs from the bold collection done repeated and edit all the rest. From there, I’ll see if I have any more time to put some more designs repeat. I’m being a lot more realistic and choosing quality over quantity. As I said, what doesn't get done can be done after deadline.

From my crit on Monday, I was aware that I needed to add more flowers to my design to make it less blocky and flow a lot more successfully in repeat. Therefore, I did just that and I also edited areas of my collage to make some of the lines straighter and more efficient. I definitely think the design looks a lot more striking and flows more successfully with more than one flower. I followed the suggestion from a student in my crit who said to have the flowers overlap different collage areas, rather than have the floral motif restricted to one collage shape (shown in the first image). This advice has really helped me make the design work in repeat as the florals crossing over all different areas of the collage makes the repeat flow, rather than blocky as before. Compared to the other design I’m working on (shown in my PDP), this is more simplistic which I think is refreshing and it’s important to show a range in a collection. It will help me appeal to more clients as some clients want different things so variety in a collection is important. The texture of the collage really adds excitement and fun to the design but the colours make it subtler, fitting my subtler collection theme. I tried the design in many repeat formats and preferred the 1/4 repeat drop as the repeat fit more successfully with the collage repeating. I’ve been making my decisions by quickly screenshotting all the repeat structures and deciding what works best. I will continue to do this will all my other designs so I use the most effective and eye catching repeat for each design.

Overall, I’m really happy with this design as I’m drawn to the simplicity and subtle use of colour with the beautiful hidden textures from the paper. I could maybe experiment with having more motifs on it to see if the design would look more successful. I do like the use of a few floral motifs because it suits the simplistic look of the design but it could be interesting to experiment with a few more. I’m worried that the repeat is too obvious and make it looks still too blocky. Although I prefer it with a repeat of three across and down because the design looks more eye catching and works better in repeat. The collage in the background breaks the repeat up a lot more from a distance. I could maybe speak to Nick and see what he thinks but if not, I’m happy with it for now and If I don’t have time to experiment, I could always play with it in repeat after deadline to make sure I’ve found the most successful way to represent the design idea.

My original plan has not gone to plan as I said I wanted to create one design on the Monday, two on Tuesday and two on Wednesday. Well it’s Wednesday today and I’ve only just finished my second design. I decided to colour separate my second design to see how long it would take for me to edit a design, repeat it and colour separate it all at once to help me understand how long I need to finish each design. Seeing as it had taken me more than a day and half to create one design which I haven’t finished colour separating yet, I started to panic and then reflected. What if I don’t need to colour separate all my designs? What if I’m putting too much pressure on myself and I’m being unrealistic? The editing was taking me longer than I thought for each design and it dawned on me that I wouldn’t have time to edit, repeat and colour separate all of them with all the other written work/finishing off bits that I need to do. From my tutorial on Monday, I was aware that it might be more realistic to repeat four in each collection but still have six just in case I have time. I’m not sure if I even have time to do four in each collection. To help with my thoughts, I decided to get all my work out and see if everything needed to colour separate or if I was giving myself too much to do.

As I’ve mentioned, I want a bolder collection with vibrant colours and a subtler collection which are both shown in the first two images. From laying them out, it made me realise that some of the colours don’t need changing but some just needed tweaking for it to work better as a collection. I had an informal crit with Dan and Mia who also also agreed that I just need to tweak some of the designs. They helped me on my decisions of what to tweak which I’ve written in on a piece of paper and placed on top of the designs (shown in the above images). I said that i wasn’t sure if the bold collection had too many colours but Dan made a very good point. She said that I wanted it as a bold collection so why would I want to change the vibrant use of colour. It made me realise that if I say got rid of one of the vibrant colours like the orange, it defeats the whole object of me making it a bold collection. It’s supposed to show an array of colours which is what it does and I think all the colours contrast strikingly next to one another. The only change I’m making is to Photoshop the red lines to hot pink which is what they should have been original but screen printing made them darker. This slightly change will make the collection work even better together and complement the other hot pink in one of the designs.

As for my subtler collections, not many changes needed to be made but I need to get rid of the hot pink, red, orange and a shade of blue to make it a more serene, subtle collection as planned. I’ve decided to add dark navy and bottle green to my original subtle colour palette as I think these colours add sophistication and excitement to the collection. I only need to tonal colour separate one design in this collection and all the other tweaks can be edited. These changes will then make the collection work really well together, just like my bolder collection. I feel a lot calmer and reassured that I don’t have to colour separate every design but rather focus on getting the editing and repeats right with a few tweaks of colour in some of the designs. It’s given me a more realistic target that I think I can now meet. I would still like to have four designs repeated in each collection but I will see how it goes.

Deciding to do only one colour separation out of my collections was an executive decision. it’s about managing my time effectively and focusing on getting the editing, and repeats right for producing successful work. Only a few tweaks need to be done to the colours to make the collections work together. However, after deadline, I will colour separate all my designs and repeat any of my designs that have not been done for my portfolio. It’s essential to still use the University facilities as much as I can before graduation as I’ll no longer have AVA. Also, by colour separating and repeating them all after deadline, this will show I’m commercial and also add to my portfolio. When I got my portfolio looked at, at the BITA showcase, they wanted to see more repeat, finished conclusions which is what I aim to have with this work before I graduate. Also, if I get into New Designers or Texprint, I will need to colour separate my designs in case anyone wants to buy them. However, deadline is about quality. I don't want to rush the editing and the repeats, just so I can get all the colour separating done when the designs don’t really need it. As I said, whatever I don’t achieve, I will do after deadline. The art work and design ideas are there but I’m now at the stage where I’m showing that I can put designs into repeat and appeal commercially. This is really important for me as I want to work as a designer for interior studio.

First thing in the morning, I visited Service Point to get my final designs scanned so I’d have the maximum amount of time to edit them and put the designs into repeat. My decision to scan the designs was made yesterday which was reflected in my PDP. I realised that the quality of my designs photographed for Premiere Vision were in areas, out of focus and in general, a worse quality, than my designs that had scanned motifs of 360 dpi. It’s important to me to have a strong, eye catching collection for degree show and having images of a high quality when digitally printed will help me to do this and it’s also professional. It isn’t worth taking the risk of them being of a lower quality when I could get them scanned elsewhere. Therefore, scanning them at Service Point gives me reassurance and peace of mind that the designs will print clearly and be of a high quality. Also, it’s a quicker process as the only other way of having my designs at a high quality would be to put all the designs digitally back together. However, this would take a considerable amount of time and I’ve chosen to lose money over time and to get scans of a higher resolution. The scans are all 600dpi and I’m really happy with the quality as they’re crisp, clear and professional.

I was told to come back in forty minutes to pick up my scans and designs so I decided to look in the shops for an A0 portfolio. My largest design is 69cm x 69cm which is too large for my A1 portfolio. I know it’s important to present my work professionally and it’s also equally important that the designs don’t get damaged. I visited Jarrold’s, Norwich Art Supplies and the University art shop but no-one had A0 portfolios. I spoke to Stephen and Carys about my issue and Stephen explained that he’d never seen an A0 portfolio. However, they helped me see a way around this. The first two images above show a portfolio available in the shop that I’m going to make myself to fit the size of my paper designs. I’ve bought some boards and book binding tape to achieve this. My work is precious to me as I’m really proud of the designs I’ve made and I want them to be kept safe and for the presentation of them, to match their worth. I think my designs are commercial but they have an exciting edge to them due to the experimental combination of processes.

I’ve already decided that I won’t print my designs digitally until after hand in. I have multiple reasons for this but the main reason is that I want to focus onto creating the most successful, beautiful designs that I possibly can for degree show. Like last term in BA3A, I didn’t print my designs digitally beforehand in because I was working on creating quality designs, rather than rushing them to get them digitally printed. The final project is all about producing an outstanding portfolio so getting my designs right is my main focus. Another reason is also that Nick and the other tutors might want me to change something on some of my designs. Therefore, there’s no point getting them printed and paying a lot of money to then have them reprinted after I’ve made the changes. I’m thinking realistically and also focusing solely on creating the most successful portfolio.

However, I want to know what fabrics I will digitally print onto after hand in so I decided to feel all the fabrics in the digitally printing room and make a decision. I was drawn to the cotton linen as I really like the texture and weight of the fabric as it felt lavish and expensive. The mercerised drill cotton also had an exciting texture and felt really soft. However, I decided not to use these fabrics as I’m not sure on having a textured fabric. My designs are already really textured and I don’t want the textured background to add too much texture. Also, the cotton linen is more aimed at upholstery which isn’t my context for my work. However, I really liked the cotton poplin and cotton satin is. When speaking to Yasmin, she said these were great fabrics for bedding and cushions which fits my context. The cotton poplin is thin which would look good for cushions and I was drawn to the cotton the stain because of its shine which looks lavish and eye catching. Both these fabrics are quite different with different thickness and weights. It adds variety and relates to my context well so I’ve picked these two. As a result, I’ll get three designs from each collection printed onto Cotton Poplin and the other three from each collection printed on Cotton Satin. Some of these will also be printed onto wallpapers as well as I’m also looking at wallpaper for my context. I need to visit Guntons and choose what paper I want my designs printed onto.

Even though I’m not printing any of my designs, It’s important to be organised and aware so I know exactly what I’m doing when my designs have been accepted or edited and ready to go.

My aim

I sometimes find it easier to bullet point my aims as it’s easier to the read, it’s to the point and makes me feel clear on what I need to do.

FIRST STEP

- Get designs scanned for both collections from Service Point

SECOND STEP

- Put all designs in repeat. TWO DAYS TO DO THIS.

THIRD STEP

- After those two days putting things in repeat, colour separate the designs. TWO DAYS TO DO THIS.

FOURTH STEP

- Print designs out on paper for submission and digitally print them after deadline.

I find giving myself two days for each task is clearer to follow than saying get two designs done a day which was my original plan. This is because I’m not sure how long each repeat and each colour separation will take but with a barrier of two days for each, I will do my best to get as much done as I can in that allotted time. If that means I only get four done in each collection, that’s fine but it means I will at least have four designs that are in repeat and also colour separated for each collection. I want to make sure I leave enough time for repeating and colour separating which this method will help me achieve. Two days each for repeating my designs and colour separating will give me target and will give me enough time next week to tweak anything and work on finishing all the little bits for hand in. By putting my designs in repeat and then colour separating them, it gives me a system to work from and allows me not to focus on one design too much. If I don’t get as much done as I would like, I will do more after deadline for degree show. By putting them in repeat and colour separating them, it shows that I’m skilled to clients and can work commercially. It’s also really important to show I can work in repeat when working with interiors so I want to make sure my collection has this element.

I always find Monday the hardest day of the week due to it being the first day back in the studio and I always struggle to get back into it. I try to resolve this issue by going to bed at a reasonable hour so I get a good amount of sleep to start the week fresh. It’s not that I don’t try or work hard on a Monday, it’s just that things seem to go wrong or I don’t get as much done on the first day back which I find really frustrating. Today was no exception as I tried to prepare one of my designs in AVA before putting it into repeat but I had some difficulties.

To make my design a repeat square, I added more collage to the above design in AVA. I copied in separate elements of my paper and pasted it onto my original collage document. After pasting these elements, I would use the pickup tool which allowed me to move the paper around to the desired place. Although, I had issues with merging the layers back together as it wouldn’t let me use the fuse tool to do so or if I pressed merge. I also had another problem with my layers as the original collage kept disappearing on my first layer and seemed to be on no layer but ten minutes later, it would appear on my first layer again. I must have been doing something to cause these problems and I’m wondering if the fuse and pick up tool are only to be used with elements in the same document, rather than elements pasted in. I resulted in going onto AVA assist but it wouldn’t load. I was wasting time as my method of adding collage to the design on the AVA was inefficient. Therefore, I decided to add collage to the original design on Photoshop and use AVA for the repeat. It made me realise that although I’ve become skilled in AVA through the Lewis and Wood competition, I haven’t used it in a couple of months and it’ll take me a little longer used to the software again. With Photoshop, I’ve used it for a lot longer and I also find Photoshop easier to edit in than AVA and I’m also quicker when using Photoshop to edit. As a result of this reflection, I’ve decided to use Photoshop for editing my designs and also making the design square if need be for repeating. Ava will be used for the repeat and colour separating. I think it’s important to utilise my skills in their strongest areas so I can create the most successful work for degree show and to create the most efficient way in producing my work at a quicker pace. This way of working will allow me to do this and I produced a repeat design as shown above through this method.

I showed the repeat design in my crit but I personally thought it was too blocky and needed another element to make it flow more successfully as a repeat. People in my crit also agreed and said to add another flower or more. However, I think it was an interesting idea to begin with and I can develop on from this by adding more flowers to make it a less rigid repeat.

Also, one of the most important things I wanted help with from the crit was choosing my 6 final designs in each of my two collections. I looked briefly this morning and I had a brief idea on what designs to take forward which I explained in the crit. Students were helpful and commented on designs that they thought could go in the collection but inevitably it was my choice. As a result of this, I decided to lay all my designs out on the table, like I did this morning but I wanted to really look to see what designs worked really well together as a collection. I needed to make the decision and it was time to do it.

The third and fifth image above show my two collections for interior. The first collection shown in the third image is bolder through the use of colour and the second collection will be a lot more subtle by using the colour palette idea shown in the last image. I think it’s good to show different themes and so through the use of colour, my designs will reflect these two different moods I want to create. I think this is exciting as it will appeal to a wide audience as someone who wants a subtler design will have the option, the same as someone who wants a bolder design. When picking my two collections, I really wanted to create variety in them through the use of composition and motifs. For example, I picked two designs for the first collection that had more space and were more simplistic to create a variety from the more complex, busy designs in the collection. There’s also a range of stencil, stripes and motif designs in the first collection which makes the collection different with a range and eye catching.

As for the second collection, the colours will make the designs subtler compared to my other collection but each designs also shows variation from stencils, to motifs to texture to stripes and from a busy design to simplicity. It was my aim to have a range in each collection which I think I have achieved. I think it’s important to show a range of designs in a collection as it makes each one unique and eye catching.

The next step is to get the designs scanned at Service point as they’re too larger for the scanners here. I know I was debating if to just bring all the elements together digitally again but this will take a considerable amount of time and it makes more sense to choose losing money over time. Time is precious and it’s important to utilise it well in the next two weeks. Also, each design will be of a very good quality and clear when I digitally print them. I want my work to be at the highest quality and scanning will help me achieve this. Therefore, I’m going to go there first thing in the morning. The next step would be to get all my designs in repeat and then colour separated. I think colour separating will be the key in bringing my designs together as a collection. I’m quite nervous as I have a lot to do but I just need to keep going and hopefully, it will all come together.

Thoughts on the Degree Show shop

The degree show shop session was interesting, as they were talking about up cost and down cost. I found this really intriguing and insightful as I know nothing about money and profits for my own work. Also, I discovered that Harriet who’s head of fashion communication and promotion and her background is in buying. As I’m interested in buying and sales from my experiences with Gabby Freeman at trade show, I was going to contact her for tutorial to gain more of an insight into buying. I want to be a designer with a mixed role, as mentioned in my PDP so I’m intrigued by buying and sales and I want to know more about it. One of the things that inspired me from the lecture was when Harriet was talking about using the laser cutter to make dangly things. I could use the laser cutter but to make postcards. I could create little mini postcards ideas, create layers and stick them together on a postcard. Or I do like what Xenia said how screen print tote bags which adds a uniqueness to each design which people are drawn to because its bespoke and handmade. However, I’m not sure my work would fit screen printing as I don’t think the texture of my work would come out successfully when exposed. Therefore, I think digitally printed would fit my theme more which is why I’ve decided to use digital printer for my degree show. As a result of this session, I just need to go away, make a mind map, work out what I’ve got, and brainstorm ideas. This way, I can work out what I could really offer to the degree show shop and what could be commercial. The Degree show shop is a great way for me to learn how to make products rather than design and it’s also a great opportunity for me to promote my work.

As planned, I continued to work on my repeat designs idea by combining my stencils and lasercut motifs. From reflecting on my design ideas I’ve already created, I realised that I wanted to create some more simplistic designs as my designs are quite busy and bold. I want to show variation as I think this will create a stronger, more exciting body of work. Also, a client that wants to buy my designs might like my busier, crazier prints but they might not want it in their home. Therefore, I would like to be able to offer subtle, more simplistic designs as well that’s might appeal to them more. I can understand why companies like Next have plain geometric prints as well as floras because it makes a varied collection but it also appeals to different tastes. This is what I also want to do with my own work. Also, I enjoy trying different styles and experimenting with different ways of creating a design.

From looking at my visual imagery up on the wall as shown in the first image, I looked at my second year work and became inspired by the design that I cut around the stencil with which is shown in the second image. As I said, I want variation in my work and I also want each design to look different so cutting around a stencil is something I’ve yet to try with my new project. Therefore, I attempted it and it worked really well, creating a completely different look to my designs as show in the third image. The cut around edge adds quirkiness to the design and the pink makes the design fun and playful to the design. These elements help the design stand out. I’m really drawn to using vibrant colours as accent colours because they help to make my designs really alive and striking. As well as this, I also created more designs and I’m slowly running lower on paper and motifs. Therefore, it’s getting harder to fit elements together. I’m going to keep going until I’ve completely run out of ideas and this might result in printing some more coloured paper to help me. I would like to completely exhaust all my motifs by hand first before designing as I would hopefully have enough designs from what ‘ve made, to pick my final 12 for my two interior collections. This way, AVA will be more of a tool for creating the repeat rather than using it to experiment with further design ideas. I definitely work better this way as I’m more inspired to create compositions practically. In BA3A for the interior project, I was struggling to make composition straight on the computer so I photocopied my drawings and made some by hand. Working practically breaks through a barrier and helps me be a lot more creative. I also like practically use my hands to make something rather than digitally. I think it’s good that I’ve found the best solution to how I work as it well help me create the most successful designs from degree show and my portfolio.

I started to spray mount some of my ideas down but it takes a lot of time to do each one. I have to put pressure and use a roller to make sure the paper is stuck securely together. However, even when I do this, it’s not always the case as the paper still peels away in places, even though I’ve spent the time on each one and then used PVA in place if I feel it needs to be more secure. It could be that the paper is quite thick but I chose to use spray mount as it’s quicker than gluing. A couple of weeks ago, I was spending 3 hours on each design to glue down, spray mounting half’s this time at least but even then, not all the paper sticks down. Last week, I sprayed some of my work and even though it was secure, it pealed in places. It irritates me as I spend time on each one to make them look professional, stuck and flat. However, I’ve realised that they might not all be perfect but just to continue to do my best and apply as much pressure as I can. Also, even though the spray mount is quicker, it’s a lot more expensive but I had to weigh up my options between time and money and I had to choose price as my time is very precious and I have over 9 designs still to glue with a lot of elements to stick on each. I have to also put the elements back together on the paper before I stick them down which takes time. It’s quite a lengthy process but it’ll be really satisfying once they’re all stuck done. Once I’ve exhausted all my ideas, I’ll pick my favourite twelve and put them in repeat. I’m really happy that I worked in repeat for the Lewis and Wood competition as I now feel a lot more confident to work in repeats due to this.

My aim was to finish all my paper designs and glue them all down tomorrow so I have a lot to do but I want to try and get it done so I can start designing. At the moment, I do feel stressed but I’m working as hard as I can so I just need to keep going and see where the design ideas lead me.

Today was really interesting and intriguing with Les session as I found it helpful to discuss as a group what our unique selling point it is. Having feedback from other students about my work and their opinions is always insightful and a confident boost as I received positive thoughts back. Also, hearing other student’s thoughts sometimes raises things that I wouldn't have thought of myself or realised I was good at. It was raised that I’m good at putting stuff together and compositions which I’d never really thought of before. However, this was a great thing to be made aware of as in the commercial industry, I think it's essential to have a good idea for composition in designs. Drawings can be beautiful but putting it together as a design is a different thing entirely and a skill. From the end of the session I'd worked out what I was good at and what is my unique selling point is which is seeing the possibilities in processes and skills and putting stuff together with an eye for colour and texture. I think generating strong designs ideas is what my unique selling point is about. It’s great to know as I can suggest this in interviews as it will show that I’m confident and reflect. Another comment from a student was to have my design paper templates framed and up for sale at the pop up show. I'd never even thought about using them for the show which raised ideas and thoughts. Les made me think about what I would sell them for. He originally said £50? Which I said no to and he explained that £50 is sort of just want to get rid of but I decided that £200 would be a good sum to receive for the print if possible. As a result of this, I need to research more into pricing and what is a good price to sell them for. I like that idea that my unique selling point raises around the idea that I see the possibilities within processes which means I could create some intriguing ways a company could use a process in their work. I could maybe bring a new idea or slant on how that process could be used to differ from others.

It was interesting on how I like to make objects on the vehicle to a design as I'm very hands on, practical person and it allows me to think more clearly on how the design could become a successful repeat. I feel highly more creative when using my hands to make designs which is why I’m using this method, as well as the fact that I like to use different processes within my work and create a intriguing and beautiful outcome. Les commented that he could see that I like to generate stuff that can be used and he said that someone else could do the repeat. Although I'm happy doing the whole process, my main passion is generating the design ideas and drawing as Les highlighted so it be worth me looking into careers that could offer me this. His session made me realise that I do really enjoy combining processes in an intriguing way and generating different ideas. Talking to others really helps and makes me realise that sometime people notice aspects of a person’s work that they don’t. This is one of the reasons why it’s really important to communicate with others and reflect. I felt very excited and enthused by the session with Les. As a result of this, I'm going to mention it in my presentation, that I want New Designers and explain what I could bring to the table with my unique selling point.

Although the day was enjoyable and fun, I didn't have much time to be practical as I had the committee meeting in the morning and Les session in the afternoon. However, I started working on some designs I'd like that I photographed yesterday. By having my work up around the room, it's helped me try and create different designs each time and explore different combinations of colour. I'm drawn to the stencil designs ideas that I'm currently working on. They're eye catching with the highlights of colour coming behind certain shapes in the stencil which is shown in the above images. As a result of the success of this one, I've made another one but made it subtler with different drawings as a variation. I think both of these designs are really striking due to the extra hint of colour in places behind the stencil and the vibrancy, texture shown in the designs. The first design above is my favourite as I think the contrast of the texture against the geometric background is incredibly striking and creates a really sophisticated, beautiful print with the help of the delicate and cleverly positioned motifs. It's important to have variety but also take something's that's working and try it again but with different colours and drawings. Tomorrow I'm going to finish these and start some new. I’m generating the design ideas and struggle to sometimes pick which ideas to choose. However, I've learnt to sometimes just decide and keep going because in the industry, I think they have to make sharp decisions about what looks good and what doesn't.

Also, the committee meeting was slightly sad as it was my last one at the university but I think they've really helped me improve my speaking and confidence with speaking to a range of students and feeding back to tutors. It's been great process to be a part of and I've really enjoyed learning about the improvements within the course and how they listen to our feedback each time and improve things we've mention. I also like helping other student’s voice to be hear so I will miss my role as Student Rep. The committee meeting is a great system and I'm glad I had the chance to experience it and see the workings of the course.

Leaving university early yesterday was the right decision as I felt more organsied and clear headed after organising my work, updating my plan and lists. These seem like small tasks in comparison to making my final designs but I couldn’t focus yesterday and completing these written tasks have now helped me to feel motivated and ready for the day. There’s not much left time and I just need to keep going!

I feel as though I had a fun, successful days playing with composition design ideas with my stencils and examples are shown above. I experimented with various ways in which I could place them and produced some exciting designs. As Nick said, I’ll square these designs digitally but for now, it’s just exciting working and see what works best. Some of the design ideas that I photographed, I used some of the stencils twice so I had to pick what designs I thought looked better to put together by hand. However, digitally I can make the other one if I choose to make the design as well. I also decided to use spray mount today and I spoke to Carys at the shop who advised me to shake it for ages, which I did and I bought a different make which worked perfectly. I used a roller to push down and PVA glue if it hadn’t stuck in parts but it did a better job than it did for Ba3A. Therefore, I will probably continue to use this method even though it’s a much more expensive way to work but I definitely think its quicker and leaves less glue marks. The spray booth is only free at certain times so I need to plan my time well.

I’m really pleased with the designs I made today as I can see a more abstract collection forming. It could look eye catching and different next to my bolder, literal collection. I also completed another final design which I’m really pleased with as once again, I like that pop of green but I stupidly stuck one of the shapes down at the wrong angle so the whole repeat design doesn’t flow as I want. However, I can change this digitally but it’s just irritating that I can’t move it. Although, I just need to learn to get over it and move on and not dwell on what can’t be changed. I keep needing to remind myself of that, especially as I can’t alter it digitally. As a result of today, I felt it was successful and I will continue to make more final designs ideas by hand. I’m stressed because I know how close deadline is and I’m worried I won’t get it all done but I need to stop worrying and just get on with it because if get on with it, I’ve got the best chance of getting it done.

Reflecting on my tutorial with Nick

My tutorial with Nick was incredibly helpful and just reassured me that I seem on the right track and to keep going. I explained to him that in my original plan, I wanted two interior collections with six designs in each. Three designs in each collection were supposed to be screen printed with the others being digitally printed. However, from reflection, I’m now wondering if screen printing would not suit my designs. A lot of my designs have texture which most likely won’t work very well when exposed onto screens. For BA3A, I worked with textured paper collages also and I got them sublimated which was a great quality of showing the textures and the colours from the paper. Also, I don’t know if I’m going to have time to screen-print because like last term, I want the designs to be right and successful. I’d rather be happy with the designs, than rush them just so they can be printed. For deadline last term, I showed my designs on paper and printed them later because I want that quality in my work. I will also take the same approach this time if I feel as though I need more time to work on my designs. They’ll be time after deadline to get my designs printed for degree show. I mentioned these thoughts to Nick and he also agreed, he said to worry about screen printing when all the designs are done to see if I have time and like last time, focusing on making the designs, rather than the printing.

I also mentioned that I was thinking of having geometric prints on their own within the collections to have a variation from the more complex designs. When looking through Next’s recent super nature collection, they also have geometric prints on their own to complement the floral designs. Nick said one or two geometrics within each collection so I want to make sure I pick the most successful geometric designs for each collection The other things I mentioned to him was my idea of having a subtler colour palette, against a brighter one which he agreed sounded interesting. I showed him my colour palette for the subtler collection and he also agreed that it would be good to use. He seemed to agree with my decisions and my thoughts on my project which was comforting. This suggest to me that I might need to be more confident with my choices and trust myself more.

The other thing I mentioned to Nick was about professionalism as I don’t think I’ll have time to apply for jobs, do my cv and create a digital portfolio. I’m running out of time and I want to focus soley on my designs. I see it as though I’ll have time after deadline to do all these things but I won’t have time to do my work after deadline for hand in. Although I won’t have these items for my professionalism, I have my own textiles Instagram account that I post in regularly and I also went to the BITA showcase where I showed my work and I went to Premiere Vision so I have been thinking, mind mapping and exploring options but I want to take it further after deadline and spend my time now focusing on my body of work.

One of the main, inspiring things Nick said to me from my tutorial was that some designs can be subtler than others. It could literally be a stencil and coloured paper underneath with that repeated. I asked how that would work in a repeat format and he said that I could make the design into a square with a half drop and just repeat it. It could be as simple as that rather than my three designs shown before. I hadn’t thought about making it that simplistic as I wasn’t’ sure if it would be exciting enough but I won’t know unless I try. Also, he started layering my stencils and said one of my collections could become more abstract than the other. I find this an exciting idea so I will explore both these methods, as well as continuing with producing repeat design ideas as I have been previously. As a result of this tutorial, I feel inspired but overwhelmed. Even though it was a positive, good tutorial, I couldn’t focus and I was unmotivated. I just kept thinking about written tasks that I’m behind on which sounds stupid but they’ve really built up over the months. I just feel as though everything’s getting on top of me. I wasn’t get much done in the studio so I decided to go home, organise myself and I felt better straight away. I’m hoping that I’ll have a more productive, practical day tomorrow.

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