end of module evaluation

This module has been really rewarding in terms of being able to explore my individual practice within my work, the micro music genre was really interesting and allowed me to push myself to produce something that i previously had no knowledge of constructing. The research for both projects really influenced all of the design decisions, this is something which i have been working on improving this academic year, as i feel last year i was too stuck in my head when it came to the design but throughout the briefs this year, particularly these two I've began to understand more and more that the research, if done correctly will open your eyes to ideas that have never been considered before. Working on both of these briefs has really affirmed my previous thoughts in terms of the type of design i like to do, which is design that can be held, worn, touched and experienced in person rather than on screen, this is something i'm excited to develop next year.
Product, Range and distribution was a brief i was excited to do as i felt it would be a good way to utilise my preexisting knowledge in terms of making and distributing clothing, i also feel like this is the reason that i was able to gather such in depth, personal research due to the fact that The Prawn Shop has a following of people who buy the t-shirts due to the fact they can relate to the themes and topics the designs address.
I feel as if the amount of type we had to complete the briefs was very generous, i was able to fully develop my ideas through a range of primary and secondary research, resulting in the production of some of the most considered and well thought out i believe i have produced throughout the course.

final images (sb2)

I began to experiment with adding type (as seen above) to the images, i felt that adding type was appropriate in order to give the customer extra details of each t-shirt. I experimented with adding digital illustrations throughout the images however this felt too busy and as if it was taking the attention away from the t-shirt design, i also experimented with adding colour to the type and trying to replicate the wavy use of type in the actual designs, however again this just felt too busy. The type i found to work the most was the white almost hand written type, it was felt that this was most appropriate due to the fact that it's easy to read, the tone of the type meant that whilst it's still visible and legible, it doesn't grab your attention straight away. I also feel that the hand writing style goes well with the overall influence of the designs coming from real women, it adds another personal touch to the overall collection. On each image i've added the quote and the name of the woman who inspired the design/the item name, in addition to this, i've called the collection 'together' which can be seen directly above, this will be the first image that people see and so i think that it's necessary to give a little idea of what the collection is about before they scroll through the images or read the product description.

production & shoot (sb2)

The t-shirts arrived, the printing quality and balance of colours on most of the t-shirts were perfect

However the balance of colours on the 'Lily' t-shirt meant that it could not be used, as you can see on the image below, the background tone is too dark resulting in the type not being legible. 

However this doesn't really change anything about the project, the other 4 t-shirts are all up to the quality of all of The Prawn Shop t-shirts, the number of t-shirts that was going to be made was never released online and so there now being four t-shirts rather than 5 isn't the end of the world.

I understand where i went wrong with choosing the colour placement for this design, i don't think i factored in the fact that each colour would decrease in vibrancy and get darker due to the fact that the design in printed on a coloured t-shirt rather than a white one, and so the tones will adapt to the fabric colour. However, the 4 designs which did print well, look really bold and have a sense of impact on the t-shirts, and the mixture of (dark) purple tones, against the sky blue really work in harmony together. 

I sourced a lilac table cloth big enough for group shots, from a charity shop. The tone was thought to really compliment the purple tones on the t-shirt, and was also light enough that the focus would be on the designs, and the tone of the t-shirt could easily be seen. 

I asked 4 girls to model for the shoot, i tried to use a diverse mix of women as diversity is one of the brands main messages. I gave direction throughout the shoot, whilst also taking the photos, to instruct the models to try and communicate a sense of strength, whilst also showing a community and friendship between themselves in order to reenforce the message that if you have been affected by sexual harassment/abuse, you're not alone, similar to the MeToo movement. 

The shoot went really well and i feel like the models really communicated the sense of togetherness i was hoping to achieve. I tried to capture as many candid shots as i could in order to make the shoot look more natural and easy going. 

Only having 4 t-shirts rather than 5 has actually turned out for the better, due to the fact that the website which The Prawn Shop store is hosted from, only allows 5 images per product and as i was planning to list all of these t-shirts together, as a collection, this means that i will now be able to use a group shot and also individual product images, so that it's easier for the customer to understand which design is which, rather than just using group shots and having to distinguish each t-shirt from each other. 

Above are the best shots from the shoot. All of the images have been edited the same, slightly increasing the brightness and contrast, and adjusting the colour balance so theres more purple tones throughout the images, however i've insured not to edit the colour of the t-shirt/it's design, so that the customers are aware of what they're buying. 

The next step is to add text to the images, detailing the quote on the t-shirt and the name of the t-shirt, i'm doing this as on some shots the text is slightly covered up in certain places, also to make it easy for customers to choose the right t-shirt. 

final (sb1)

Below are the final catalogue pages i created using the images from the shoot, influence has been taken from the layout of 80's catalogue pages previously looked at, particularly the use of positioning smaller images amongst larger ones and slightly overlapping them, in addition to this i've also taken influence from the ay 80's catalogues boarder the images, with the boarder colours been taken from tones within the actual images. 

I chose to use a bold, italic Airal typeface, taking influence from the use of block text within 80's advertising, i also spaced each character out, so the type could run across the page.

I decided to call the range of ties 'The Office Romantic' playing on the target audience being office workers and the new romantic genre which inspired designs. 

In The exhibition, the ties will be hung up on a wall (pre-tied in to the tie shape) with the corresponding catalogue pages positioned next to them, the catalogue pages have been printed on to thin glossy paper to replicate the type of paper typically found in catalogues. 

shoot (sb1)

I was aiming to communicate the story of an 80s office worker through this shoot, giving the audience a sort of narrative through the images. I chose a small office room within the university to take the images, using props such as book, paper, pens and plants i believe i was able to effectively communicate a humorous yet realistic scenario, showcasing the ties by someone who would of worn them, and in a reminiscent of the 80s.

Above are some of my favourite images from the shoot, each edited in order to look like the image was taken on a film camera in the 80's. The model followed my direction really well, he was able to get in to character and show the ties and also provide a humorous side to the shoot, which is what i set out to achieve. I gave some direction during the shoot of the type of emotion he should try and present, as i was trying to communicate the many different emotions an office worker may have during a working week.
The first set of 5 images are trying to communicate Tom as being stressed, the images have been made a lot warmer in order to compliment the warm tones of the tie.
The second set of images is trying to show Tom as if he's presenting a presentation to colleagues, showing him feeling confident. And the final images show Tom taking a break at the offices water fountain, joking to co workers and thinking about what club he's going to go to later tonight.

production continued (sb1)

I then began the construction of the ties, which turned out to be a lot simpler than i initially thought. 

I laid the tie fabric design faced down and placed the pattern i took from the ties i deconstructed on to the tie fabric, to act as a body for the tie, giving it shape. 

Using wonder web/hemming tape and an iron, i cut out sections of tape and applied them to the inside of the tie, ironing a crease in to the tie fabric to establish wear the material should be secured, i then used the iron to melt to hemming tape in to the fabric.

The overall construction of the ties was very straight forward and i'm looking forward to shooting images of the ties. 

production (sb1)

Using the printing facilities at university, i dropped off my designs to be digitally printed on to paper which i can then heat transfer on to fabric for the ties, however before picking the fabric up i created the patters which will act as a template for the ties.

I went to a charity shop and bought 3 ties to act as a template for each tie, using a seam picker i picked the stitches from each of the ties in order to get to the fabric pattern in which the tie fabric has been sewn around.

 After removing the pattern from each of the ties i measured the end points, marked them with a ruler and cut the end off straight, in order to give the ties a squared off finish to miic the style of ties so often seen during the 80s.

At this stage i am still waiting for the fabric to be printed however i feel more comfortable with the construction of the ties after taking 3 ties apart, as i now feel i have more of an understanding of how to construct the ties when it comes to actually making them.

Before printing my designs on to fabric i arranged to have an induction in to using the heat press.
I collected the disperse paper with my tie designs from the print room and began to cut each strip ready to be laid on the fabric. I was worried about the colours of the ties at first, due to the fact that the disperse prints were a lot lighter than the digital files; however i then remembered that during my induction i was informed that the colour gets a lot more vibrant once heat has been applied. 0

 I then cut the designs in to strips ready to be applied to the fabric. I chose a synthetic cotton which was quite thick and had a ilky quality, similar to how ties usually feel.

 I then used masking tape to stick the designs (design faced down) on to the fabric, due to the fabric being so long they had to be stuck down as there was the risk of the fabric moving during the heat pressing process.

 The heat press had to be used 3 times, pressing the fabric in sections rather than a whole, due to the 50 x 50 size of the press, compared to the half meter length of the ties. This did lead to there being some misprinting and overlapping of the design due to the way the design slightly moved around the fabric when moving it along the heat press. However i was told that a new machine was arriving in a weeks time, however this will be after the deadline and so i won't be able to use it for my tie printing, it's still useful to know, as i could use it for future projects.










The temperate was set to 190 and the timer set to 30 seconds, i found out that from 30 seconds to 1 minute the colour of the design doesn't really change much and so 30 seconds was felt to be the right time to ensure the design colours are as accurate as possible.

The colour of the design came out perfectly, and was a lot brighter than i had anticipated, and the whole process was a lot simpler than i first imagined.
As mentioned previously, due to the fact the design had to be printed in 3 sections there was some misprinting and overlapping (see image below) however this isn't really that much of an issue as when looking at the fabric it appears that the overlapping part of the design will not really be seen as it appears to be part of the design which will make up the smaller end of the ties, which is placed behind the main section.
I will now being to construct the ties.