Tropical Brief Boards

Laura Ashley Evaluation

This brief has had a really positive influence on my design skills, this brief was written just for that I have always wanted to do a large scale brief based on pattern and the Laura Ashley brief has enabled me to do this across different medias. I This has been a very large brief and it could almost be developed even further, however I have had to put a stop to the brief as it has taken up so much of my time. There is definitely opportunity in my own time ot carry on with the other things I haven't had time to design and create, such as a swatch book and other bedcovers and throw cushions to fit in with the current range, expanding it into a collection.

The Laura Ashley brief has positively influenced my creative choices. Before this module I almost made do with the mock up of the finished product, but I have strived to achieve the best design I possibly can in the time I have had. I have had to work through problems that have arisen such as laser cutting and screen printing that has gone wrong, generally these have all be time consuming accidents or mistakes but I have not allowed this to affect my work. Because I have learnt so many new skills with this brief I do feel I want to carry on in this design field, however I have decided to use these new skills on other briefs to see how I can apply them elsewhere.

I initially found it difficult design for such a large scale, especially as everything I was designing on screen when printed looked completely different mainly due to the scale. This made me make design decisions in a completely different way, I had to print everything out and almost get the design near complete before I could pick which was working best. This is probably why it took me so long to establish a final design and transfer it across a range.

I did really enjoy experimenting with different patterns and illustrations, however I realise now I need to pin down an initial idea and not make it so broad as the initial stages of the wallpaper went on for a very long time, which set me back on completing the brief. Apart from this I am really pleased with this brief, I have really enjoyed it and found an area of design I am really interested in and feel comfortable designing for, this has had a really positive influence on my work, I finally feel I can design things I enjoy and have an interest in.

Magazine Spread

The finished collection

Im really happy with the finished collection it fits the brief and has given me the chance to experiment with different print methods as well as working on a large scale brief.

Bedcover

All elements of the bed set have been screen printed, using navy, blue and metallic silver ink.

Crit Feed Back

Todays crit was really useful I needed some questions answering so i could complete my 2 big briefs and move onto the smaller ones. I really needed to establish if I was at a point where I could leave the Laura Ashley brief and start packaging it, the feedback I received was yes I had definitely designed and created enough for that brief to make it a large brief. With time being so small I also wanted to know if it would be 'ok' for the packaging brief to be looked at as a small 2 day brief when I had spent so much time design and creating the inner parts. It was decided as long as I justified the simplicity of it then there would be no problem especially as time is so small. The second brief the cooking set I really wanted some feedback on the packaging for this product as this is the area I have most struggled in. I have come to a decision of a final design, however comments were made that my original idea of laser cutting would work much better, but with the time I have left this just isn't possible.

Light Fitting

The original design for the light fitting was to laser cut flowers into the shade, however the design was too intricate and the material melted. Instead I decided to develop the same pattern, but to screen print the pattern onto the fabric. At this point I decided to introduce more colour into the 'accessories' of the room, navy has only currently been used on the large flowers, I felt it was necessary to introduce this colour more to tie the room together but also break the white up. I also sewed jewels to the bottom of the light fitting, I felt something extra was needed to make it look more expensive and tie in with the range Laura Ashley sell as they are expensive looking and in price, many of the current Laura Ashley light fittings have jewels.

Throw Cushions

The brief stated that I was to design 2 throw cushions following the design of the wallpaper and bedcovers. For these pillows, I chose to have one as a direct match, as Laura Ashley always have a direct match to their collection, this being the second pillow. Im really happy with the end product for this pillow it fits perfectly with the other designs and has printed really well. The second pillow I choose to design would link to the pattern but not directly match the style of the wallpaper, and be suitable to use in another set of designs. This is a very common approach to take and it gave me the opportunity to add something a little different to the set.

Final Wallpaper

The final wallpaper pattern was chosen through several decisions, firstly this pattern got the best feedback in crits and from tutors. Secondly several people mentioned this was most likely to be sold in Laura Ashley and was most like their style. Finally this pattern seemed to work best across the range of media stated in the brief.

The print methods and stock for this wallpaper needed to be of a certain quality so they would fit within the 'speciality section' I have achieved this by digitally printing the background to achieve a high quality flat colour print then screen printed the birds with a silver metallic ink. The birds a subtle so not to over crowd the pattern across the whole wall and catch the light making the wallpaper look expensive and high quality.

Tutorial Feedback

I had my first tutorial today it was reassuring to know I was heading in the right direction, Fred picked up points I was aware of but highlighting them made me more aware to keep up to deadlines and timescales, especially as I have spent a large amount of time on 2 briefs. We also discussed a possible collaboration for one of my briefs to help with the load of work I have but also to make the over all quality better as this is an area I struggle with.

Light Fitting

I had the idea to transfer the pattern I have been using for the bed onto the light shade, but laser cut it on, giving it an expensive feel and the affect with light shining through would work really nice, very in with the Laura Ashley style. However the design was far too intricate and the laser was melting the material I was using, which is a shame. I have had an alternative idea which I feel now will work much better and link better with the other products.

Mock up Bedrooms

After my last post I realised when putting my patterns into real life mock ups, they all looked completely different and some didn't work as well as i originally thought. I have printed large swatches of wallpaper but putting them on a large scale and in context was something I now felt was a necessary stage before making any final decisions. Every time I get to a stage things dont either look the same of work as well for different reasons, I need to start making decisions and this is the best way for me to do this.

The first wallpaper design is currently my favourite and I have had the best feedback from. It works really well used on a large scale and isn't over powering which has been a concern. A comment was made in one of my crits to make sure the depth of the different illustrations worked in the same way as Laura Ashley wallpaper. I think I have achieve this in the design below, its hard to tell what the wallpaper actually looks like as the silver birds aren't visible here. but from the current swatches I have made the combination of layout and colour works really well.

The second wallpaper, I have really liked all the way though the design process, it fits really well with the Laura Ashley them but not necessarily in the speciality range, I developed the design with the addition of silver to try and make it look more expensive, it does work well but doesn't look extra special. I think I have taken this pattern as far as I can. If i have time I would like to propose this design as a 'regular' wallpaper option.

The last image definitely confirms my thoughts from the previous post that this wallpaper doesn't work, it is a really nice pattern but doesn't work for the Laura Ashley theme and style. This pattern however I do think could be used at a later date on a different brief as it will work across a range of different medias.

Bed Designs

As part of my brief I am designing a bed cover to fit in with the range of bedroom products. I though it would be helpful before deciding on my final wallpaper to look at how the patterns would fit working in a different media. The first pattern, over all works really well and fits in with the Laura Ashley theme, the colour is very calm and still feminine although it is blue. If I do choose this pattern I still intend to use silver in the circles on the pattern this will add something unique and special to the pattern (you cant see it on the mock ups).

This first bedcover works really well I have altered the pattern slightly so it is a little different to the wallpaper patter, this will make it more interesting but it still all ties together. The pattern faded out at the top of the cover is a traditional bedcover design and works really well with the pillows which are covered in the same flowers.

I dont like this second cover as much as the first, I also feel it doesn't fit the Laura Ashley theme as well as it could, it looks more like a cheap bedcover than something from a luxury range.

The third bed cover, I really like the pattern fading up into the cover it works really well fitting in with the feminine and elegant feel you get from the pattern. However I dont feel the pillows are working at all, they take away the expensive feel of the cover and make it look cheap.

This pattern almost reminds me of Ikea and is definitely not the look I am hoping to achieve, even with the gold added to it, I feel it still wont fit in with the laura Ashley style. The plain pillows however work well with the very cluttered bedcover. After looking at the above pattern, the colour of the below seems too bright and wild to fit in with the style I am hoping to achieve, although this could fits in more with the tropical theme.

For some reason this bedcover pattern reminds me of china, im not exactly sure why but this makes me like it even less. The style of the pattern works well but it doesn't flow as well as it could. It doesn't jump out to me or make me feel it is anything special or expensive or even from Laura Ashley.

I quite like this design, however I do feel it would work much better if the colours on the main sheet were opposite, this would add a more expensive and delicate feel to the bedcover than it already has. If I am to use this pattern I need to find a way of making it look more delicate so it fits in better with the Laura Ashley theme.

Final Swatches

As i mentioned on the previous post I wanted to further develop my new patterns and add something to them to define them as speciality wallpaper. I have used the same approach for all of the wallpaper samples. The first was my original pattern developed, I have change the birds so they are silver, this works really well and definitely adds the unique quality I wanted to achieve. From the change of the few areas I decided wasn't working I much prefer this developed design and I can imagine it spread across the range of products in my brief.

This second design I have added gold, it is slightly warmer than the other two designs and reflects the theme of tropical slightly more. However with this addition of the gold circles I think it has moved away from the very typical Laura Ashley look a bit too much. But this aside I do really like the overall affect of the the wallpaper design.

The final pattern was one of my original favourite and I thought the added affect of the metallic ink would really set it off and improve it and it does look good, but just not as successful as I thought it would be. I actually prefer it without the silver and the whole pattern just using one colour worked much better as a wall piece.

New Patterns

I have got straight on to designing some new wallpaper patterns to move forward with. All 3 are developed patterns from my previous swatches, I have taken aspects from the ones I personally like and ones that fit well with the Laura Ashley brand, I have tried to mix both of these and come up with 3 new patterns. All 3 of these patterns are shown in their basic form and all could be printed as this version as a 'basic' range, however I intend to add something a little extra to these to make them speciality.

This first patten was one of my favourite from my original designs, I wasn't convinced however that it would fit in with the Laura Ashley Brand, so I went back to the shop and looked at their range within this colour scheme and pattern. I found this design does fit, however it is not an obvious Laura Ashley design, which is what I have found when getting feedback from other people on which pattern to choose. This could be problematic but as I am designing speciality wallpaper I think I could work around this.

I really like this pattern and its different from the rest with the choice of colour, this flower pattern is probably the most similar to the Laura Ashley range, this is positive in the fact it fits in as an obvious choice, but I never wanted to design something obvious, which puts me of developing this further. Finally I have really struggled with laying this pattern out side to side and top to bottom, I have only managed to achieve the top to bottom, as matching side to side includes corners which is where it becomes complicated. With this in mind I dont really have to time to spend working out the layout which would be needed for a repeat pattern of this.

This final pattern is a development of my first attempt at screen printing. I decided to do this as I originally got the best feedback for that pattern and the individual aspects of it, I felt I just needed to develop on the points I rose on my previous post. I have firstly changed the colour, making them deeper in tone and less harsh making the illustrations clearer and more fitting with the Laura Ashley colours. Secondly I have changed the layout and size of the birds and central flower. To achieve a fuller affect I have added two bird to each flower and enlarged the central flower, this really helps with the overall composition of the pattern. I much prefer the final pattern design now I have developed the weaker areas.

Wallpaper Screen printed

I have finally got round to choosing my wallpaper design and screen printing it so I can move on with the rest of the products I intend on making for this brief. After spending all day and more making the screens and printing, it is a fail. First of all the screen beds had been recently greeced and not wiped down so a large area on my paper got greece on it, meaning I couldn't use it for my final hand it, which was very frustrating. However looking back at it and evaluating it I decided infact I didn't like this pattern in full size, it just doesn't work as i had hoped. There are potential simple improvements I could make to it such as, adding more flowers and birds as there aren't really enough and as well as this changing the colour scheme because I really dont like these working together. Or my second option is to go back and redesign.

Redesigning does raise several questions to me and gives me the opportunity to improve on the areas I feel haven't worked on my first attempt. How can I make the wallpaper look more desirable? How can I use the current designs but in a more interesting and successful way? What colour scheme looks expensive and homely? These are the 3 most important questions I need to ask myself whilst redesigning the final wallpaper, these I feel are the 3 weak areas of my first attempt.

The colour scheme is really important to me, especially as I want it to feel like a Laura Ashley product, they have a very limited and fresh colour pallet, this doesn't fit in with their collection. Although it is a specialty wallpaper which gives me more freedom, this still moves too far away from what i am aiming for. I think for me to achieve this I will need to go collect some more samples and use a current colour pallet they have, and add something to my design or ink to make it more desirable.

Possible Final Pattern

After speaking to several people and a few tutor feedback comments, I decided this was the most Laura Ashley like wallpaper and fitted in with the theme I wanted to carry on with. I used different aspects from the swatches and developed this pattern. It has taken me a long long time to set out the flower pattern, the background flowers need to match top to bottom, side to side, corner to corner... HELL. I have finally achieve it and it works. To achieve the expensive and more desirable affect I want for my specialty wallpaper, I have been and spoken to some technicians in the print room and they have suggested the best method for me would be to digitally print the background flowers and screen print my bird and large flower.

Swatches

I thought the best way forward before making any initial decisions it would really benefit me and my choices, by printing out the designs I had developed so far. As the wallpaper designs are intended for the print process and not digital, I was beginning to find it really hard to tell what was and wasn't working, as the screen developments weren't a true reflection of the swatches.

Some of the designs I thought really weren't working seem to work much better printed and its been really helpful to me to see what the patterns would look like life size and exact colour. I have however from printing these swatches realised there is much more development needed, some work and follow the Laura Ashley theme much better than others. I think at this stage it would be really helpful to get some feedback on which people think are working and which they think need developing into a more Laura Ashley feel.

Finally from an over all look of the swatches, something is definitely missing from giving the designs an extra special touch, Laura Ashley hold a 'high quality' range and my designs or my final design need to look more specialist and unique as they currently dont stand out from the crowd. I think the best step after feed back is to look at different print techniques to see if I can get a better quality finish. The wallpaper need to look expensive as well as feel homely, I am going to ask how this is best achievable in crit.

Crit feedback.

I have just had my crit and got some interesting feedback from it, some positive and others not so. I think overall people didn't really understand what i wanted to get from my brief and what my outcomes were. I feel this may be because its not a typical graphic design brief. However this aside I feel much more comfortable with this brief and the feedback. The suggestions i got were:

• Look at brighter colour schemes that reflect Tropical better.
• Look at the depth of the imager I am using.
• How can I tie the designs together to make the brief more successful (more graphic design?)

Crit feedback

I found todays crit quite hard as the work I am producing this year is quiet different to what everyone else is doing in the class I felt in my crit people were struggling to understand my briefs and what I wanted to produce/they were about. However this aside I still got some good feedback mostly in support of my work for my context blog, which was really helpful as I feel this is the time I need to look for new directions.

WallPapers Developed

After printing out my initial wallpaper samples, I looked at what was working best and also asking others opinions on what looked the most professional. The flower pattern I have used on this post seemed most popular and I have finalised a colour scheme of blues. The first wallpaper design, is working really well the two birds rather than one adds a bit more to the image, however a few comments have suggested I make the branch link to the flowers so it flows a bit more and not make the white space so circular, so I am going to develop this and see if it works any better.

I commented on the fact i really liked the detail of this flower, however viewing it on screen wasn't doing it justice and you couldn't fully appreciate it. Now i have printed it, it works much better and works clean and clear across a wall. The above wallpaper is much fresher looking than the previous similar designs, I think establishing a colour theme has helped this, but staying with just flowers doesn't introduce too many themes into the room.

This is probably my least favourite, I don't feel the bird is working to its advantage, the flying birds work much better with a large singular flower. However I could potentially add a larger flower into the wallpaper and reduce the amount of smaller flowers to avoid it being too cluttered.