Week Beginning 25th January

This week I've finalised my designs (below) for the Adamley live brief. I have printed them to scale, on paper (40cmx40cm) as they are designs for pocket squares.

Print Collection

As a collection I think the designs compliment one another, there is enough variation in terms of motifs and compositions but at the same time they still look like they belong together. I have varied the compositions, incorporating the boarder into some of the designs but then also having a block boarder and even no boarder, this is an improvement from my initial designs that had no regard for the boarders.

Initially to create visualisations I had considered having samples printed and photographing them in context but with the time constraints I felt creating a visualisation on the computer would be easier. I tried using an image I found on the internet but I felt it looked really unrealistic.

Edited photo visualisation

I then created a digital visualisation, the difference between this visualisation and the one above is remarkable. Although this is a drawing it looks a lot more professional than the earlier attempt, it also looks more realistic. This kind of realisation that something isn't right is key especially as I am now producing work for my graduate portfolio. I want my portfolio to represent the best of my work so producing professional visualisations is important.

Digital visualisation

Week Beginning 18th January

Following this weeks tutorial, Ive had a lot to think about in terms of my Adamley pocket square designs. Rather than using an image I found on the internet as my colour reference, I've been advised to find a colour palette that is on trend, looking particularly at menswear trends. I have looked for either mustard or orange to be in the palette as these are strong and popular colours for menswear accessories. I found two images that really caught my eye whilst on WGSN looking at the menswear SS17 colour trends, the orange is vibrant and contrasts well with the blue tones.

Colour Palette

As this is my first experience with designing for accessories, I'm learning new things all the time. In terms of composition I've started to reconsider the boarders of my designs, as the majority of them are a block of solid colour and quite harsh in comparison to the central patterned area. With this in mind I've been placing different pieces of my visual research together and photographing them to give me some ideas for patterned boarders. 

Generating compositions

In the image below you can see how I have taken the right composition above and developed the design (below, left) in terms of colour and composition, altering the layout and incorporating motifs into the boarder to create the design (below, right). In comparison to the earlier design there is more variation and when the pocket square is folded, in use, it could look really interesting as there are a number of different motifs at work next to one another. I will continue to experiment with different layouts, using the whole canvas and not just the central area.

Week Beginning 11th January

I've chosen to spend the next few weeks focusing on producing an outcome for the Adamley live brief to produce a print for men's silk accessories. I have chosen to generate designs for pocket squares. In terms of a starting point I didn't see anything that particularly inspired me in the Adamley archives, so I've decided to use less obvious references in the form of photographs of interesting compositions, shapes and textures, that I took whilst on the mill visit.

Using the same abstract, painterly drawing technique I have been using throughout this unit, I've created a number of potential design motifs. To develop it on from my previous drawing work I have brought in the contrast of linear qualities, looking at the finer details. I'm doing this so that the work in my portfolio doesn't all end up looking too similar.

Visual research

To get a good idea of the types of designs Joanne from Adamley might be interested in I've conducted research into the high end independents they have supplied to for example Doherty Evans and Stott and Turnball and Asser. The key thing to remember from the briefing is definitely colour, when wearing formal/workwear men will often use a pocket square or neck tie to show off their personality. I'm going to try to include orange or mustard as it was mentioned in the briefing that they were strong colours.

Doherty Evans and Stott