Designer Maker - Workshop 1 - Taking Risks

Its a new start again - the past 6 weeks have been filled with education of contemporary practitioner, As you know I did a socially engaged project called 'Check your Boob's'- That has all been handed in and I am currently waiting for my feed back.

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I am now onto my last rotation in my 1st year professional practice module and that is Designer Maker. When I started my first rotation which was commercial designer I knew what to expect as I had worked in a commercial manner of way before hand at college. When I went into contemporary practitioner I had no clue what I was to expect. Now we are onto Designer/ Maker and it has already exceeded all the expectations I thought from the first workshop I had. 

To start off I was given a brief which I will be following for the next 6 week. It states what I am working to produce for my hand in. This is a small collection of samples and a research journal.

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All the tasks in this workshop is about risk taking, experimenting and not being scared of failure.

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Task 1

The first task which was set was an easy one (technically 2), I was asked to draw a diagram of my process of working. Including my likes and dislikes...

In this diagram I show my process of working which is often research, drawing/photography/ photoshop/CAD/ artist or designer research/market research/comp shop, samples, then my final idea which then will be developed. I also stated a few of my likes and dislikes which you can see in the picture below.

I was then asked to create 5 unusual ways of working which will be used through out this project. The aim is to take risks,play around, experiment and not be scared to fail. 

As you can see from my 5 rules of working my project is going to be very interesting, innovative and experimental.

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Task 2

This task was a little more practical and random however it was fun, even though it was freezing outside. Before the workshop we was asked to bring in 5 A5 sheets of white cotton. This was because for our second task we had to create paper flags - Go out into Huddersfield and hide the fabric somewhere and put the flag on top of it to remember where it was we have left them hidden for a week and next week we will go and find them to see how the fabric has turned out. 

Cotton wrapped around bush branch

cotton shoved down back of sofa

I have also gave one piece to my friend who will keep it in her pocket and I have hung one outside my window. 

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Task 3

Task 3 was the scariest for me. We were given a sheet with a lot of names of techniques and materials on. We got into groups and had to roll the dice 4 times ( the dice had different appearances on it such as beard, bright coloured hair etc...) we got beard and primary colour and bright coloured hair and graphic print. We then had to go into Huddersfield town centre and find people matching these descriptions and ask them to chose one technique and one material from the list. 

This guy picked out liquid and melting, We also teamed up with another group as we could not find anyone with bright coloured hair and a graphic print and they could not find their second one either so we shared we results we had got and they gave us paper and knitting.

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Homework

For homework I have to look into and research the chosen materials and techniques.

Check Your Boobs Project Update

I have recently been working on a contemporary practitioner project for professional practice module at university. If you have not read my introduction to this project you can find that blog post by clicking here. For my hand in which is only 6 day's away!! (uh no) I have chosen to develop my own socially engaged project to raise awareness of breast cancer as it is the dreaded demon that runs through out my family. Leigh Bowser the pretty face behind The Blood Bag Project inspired me to develop this project idea into a reality and use my social media skills to promote it as well as use my blog to show my development of it. The project has it's own tumblr page which you can find by clicking here. 

If you did not know. The idea of this project is to use textile craft to raise awareness and remind people in their everyday life that they need to check their boobs regular. 

Betsy Greer. The face and brains behind the craftivist collective is the one that came up with the term craftivist or craftivism. You can find the craftivist collective website by clicking here!

For you to get involved in my project I would like you crafty people to get crafty and make some bunting, use your embroidery skills to make a tag, or knit some boobies or anything you want that is relevant and have some information or a reminder that people need to regularly check their boob's. I then want you to put your crafty work in a public place, Take a picture to send to me for your work to be put on the 'check your boobs' website, You can send me pictures of your work by emailing beccaleaoloughlin@gmail.com , Make sure you leave your work up for people to see!

The 'Check Your Boobs' Project

http://checkyourboobsproject.tumblr.com

The ‘check your boob’s’ project is a project I have been planning and working on recently and it is now time to share it with you and hopefully you can join in. For my project  hand in I decided to create my own socially engaged project which is to raise awareness about the importance of checking your boobies regularly. I want all you crafty people to get involved too! To start this project off I have created some bunting which says ‘check your boobs’ this will be tied up in public places to remind both men and women to check their boobs for any irregular lumps and bumps.For you to get involved I would like you to create a crafty and textiles based reminder that people need to check their boob’s. This could be bunting, a little tag, knitted boobs… be creative! I then want you to hang these in a public place such as a bus stop, train station, outside your house, in the wood’s on a public footpath, anywhere you want and take a photograph of it and send it me at beccaleaoloughlin@gmail.com with your name and where you are from, then I can feature you on this website!

Please share this post and get as many people involved as possible!! Don't forget to send me pictures!!

Thanks, Becca 'Threadsanddaisies'

House Items Embedded With Social Class

In a blog post not so long ago I wrote about Grayson Perry's work and how he based his project The vanity of small differences' on social class. From watching his series 'All in the best possible taste' I learnt and understood more about different social class and items in there house or their clothing that has their social class embedded into it. I looked around my family house and took photographs of things that seem embedded with class.

Firstly, I took a picture of my wardrobe. This is because according to the 'In the best possible taste' Grayson Perry discovers that working class 'people' would rather spend more money on their appearance such as clothes, hair, tattoos and cars to show off rather than on the inside of their house. Working class are at the bottom of the social ladder and this would suggest that they are the least wealthy and that the money they do have go on their appearance and how people see them. Me, Personally like to spend money on clothes and my appearance and like my home to be decorated with second hand/vintage looking furniture. That leads me onto middle class.

When talking about middle class Grayson Perry picked up on the house decor of this social status. My favourite part is the fact that some people like their house to look like it has been decorated by things picked out of little boutiques, charity and second hand shops and vintage. But often they are designer or labelled items they are decorating with. I decided to take photographs of some quirky/vintage theme pieces my house has in it. I also took pictures of my jewelery box which I picked up in a BARC charity shop! The men of middle class like the dress in suit's and clothing which are designer but don't have the label printed all over the piece of clothing - It's discreet and is all about the detailing in which a normal suit can become considered middle class just by adding a designer label and nice purple detailing - It is then middle class acceptable. 

I did not know what to photograph for higher class as I am not 'in' the higher class social status. I know that higher class are considered wealthy however Grayson Perry picked up on the fact that they don't like to show it off on the outside much such as cars and clothing, But their houses show their wealth as well as their sports they play which are also considered as higher class sports. 

After researching Grayson Perry I have gained knowledge of really thinking and looking into the meaning of thing's. I have enjoyed researching him and gaining knowledge and insight of different social classes.

Commercial Designer Project | Feedback

If you read my blog regular you will know I have been doing my first ever university project for the rotation of commercial designer.  

Today I got my feedback, I was so scared as it was the first feedback from university and I had not experienced this since I got my grades for my final major project at the end of college. The marking system is quite different from what I have seen before, It was rather alien to me.

It turns out that I did rather well and got 71, This is the equivalent of a 1st! I am super happy with myself and I have inspired myself to work harder and harder to keep my grades up. I am at university for 4 years and I want to make each day better than the last and make each moment matter!

I can not wait to look back in 4 year and see how far I have developed whilst at university. 

My First University Project!

Recently I have been not posting much about university - If you have followed me since I went to college you will know that I kept you updated all the time however my first university project has been crazy mad. 4 modules, A blog and a social life is hard to balance out but I am slowly getting the hang of it. Today I shall be sharing with you the development and process of my first university project as it is my hand in date on Monday.

The brief

The brief stated that the project requirements were to create 3 boards. An 'inspiration/trend' board, Market/Product board and a final fabric board. As well as a research journal which I just did as a sketchbook showing my research and development. My project was to work within pre-set parameters, To engage with global trends and use that as inspiration for my project. To develop an understanding of the role of commercial designer. To develop samples from my workshops that are relevant to my project either for interiors or fashion market. This project is also based around the brand Anthropologie, This means my final fabric samples will be researched and created for Anthropologie. I thought about it as to think that at the end of the project that I would really be presenting my work to Anthropologie that way I would make my project suitable and professional as that is what commercial designer is all about - Working to set requirements and being professional.

Research

To start off my research I looked into one of the A/W 15/16 Macro trends on WGSN which I was set in my brief. I decided to look at Every Utopias. As it all about finding paradise in the everyday and my everyday utopia is going on nature walks - I though this was amazing and so beneficial as I can always find so much inspiration in nature. This also ties into the mini stories in each macro trend which is micro-adventure's which is all about nature and earth. My second everyday utopia is blogging - This also ties in with the second story in the macro trend which is stock fantasy - This is all about digital and futuristic. I also looked at the A/W 15/16 for print and graphics and it is based on landscapes and digital printed landscapes that are abstract.

Project Inspiration

Hey everyone, Getting stuck into my first independent project at uni was not hard at all. In fact if anything I had missed it. It's been some while since I was looking for inspiration for a project, producing mood boards and sketchbooks. I would not even call it 'homework' anymore, It's something I truly love and hopefully one day will be my career. I thought I would share with you the begin of my project, My inspiration.