Assignment 5B

Our next assignment was to combine what skills we have learned from our design studies class with our existing studio projects. This is helpful to me as a textile designer as a large portion of what our jobs entail is to understand in depth what consumers want. It is an intrinsic part of our job to take into account social and political aspects as this, be it consciously or subconsciously, will effect what people want to buy and will view as a good design.
This idea has been particularly prevalent within the past few years as the economy has been fluctuating. People have become more aware of their finances and what they spend money on which in turn becomes an issue designers have to consider within their work. To be able to extract these social, political and cultural issues, again alot of research is compulsory if i successful design is to be developed. We can here also refer back to Barthes discussions in "The Rhetoric of the Image" in that he suggests that in a way, designers have the ability to manipulate people and influence them in seeing an image in the way we desire. If all the appropriate information has been collected that surrounds an issue, using our skills we can manipulate and transform it in a way society may find themselves attracted to i.e. by extracting those issues society can relate to and developing design ideas from them, the general public will be more likely to buy them as apposed to something which has no reference to their background or lifestyle whatsoever.
On studying magazine such as "Textile View" and fashion magazines such as "Vogue" we can identify a strong connection between current fashions and current affairs. A strong theme which comes to mind is "Military"- one of the spring/ summer trends of 2010. Not only does this conjure literal images of events such as the war in Iraq, but it also can be seem as a metaphor for being in control in times of economical struggles. Textile designers must also use a well considered colour pallet for example using pastel colours (another extract from the spring/summer fashions) to generate a positive, calming feel.
Up until this point in my course i feel i have maybe not considered all these social factors in my studio work as importantly and as in as much detail as i feel i could have. In a way i have detached my studio work and social events in the knowledge that being at university, what i have done to this point is not very significant in the professional world of design. However by researching what is going on in society i now feel that my work has the ability to go in better directions and actually have some sort of relevance.
My first studio project had the title "Culture" and from that i created the theme "Communication". Within this i explored the ways in which cultures communicate within themselves and the modernisation of communication.
The two main branches of communication i researched was language and travel. Linguistics is something which determines where you are from, cultural background and can even be a way in which we can determine someones social status. In my studio work i predominantly investigated the formation of words and maps in order to create interesting textures and patterns. By experimenting with linear shapes and developing a colour pallet i felt best conveyed my subject.
On considering the skills I've learned throughout semester two of design studies, i have reached the understanding that if i want to establish a successful outcome I should incorporate some well grounded research. If i was to continue, or in fact restart my communications project, keeping in mind what I've learned, i would most likely take a different route in developing the ideas in my sketchbook. Again, as mentioned in assignment 5A, i would likely gather information on what the general public considered the work "communication" to mean and perhaps conducts interviews in order to establish a better understanding of how the public interpreted the brief.
The area of design I find myself most interested in is fashion, predominantly for women. This therefore tells me that my main targets for interviews would indeed be women who hold some sort of appreciation for fashion. After establishing the desired market for my design I would then begin further research of the client. What social elements will effect what they want to wear? What are the current trends and how can we take this and create it into a design? These are again factors which I would have to elaborate on to begin the design process.
My communication project considered the issue of line and structure in maps and streets. I wanted to investigate the roads people travel on in their day to day life, what journeys they took. This interested me not just in the use of line and colour i could incorporate in my studio work but it also tells a story about a person as an individual. This idea opens another window for possible research. I could interview people or give them questionnaires about their day to day journey they would make and what this says about their lifestyle and background. The only downfall i could see here is that some people may find these sorts of questions slightly invasive as it is disclosing where they go, who they see and where they work and live.
If i was to expand my research of communication within cultures I feel it would be beneficial to explore the ways in which we used to communicate and how this has changed over the century. For example letters used to be a popular form of communication and now texting and emailing seems to be taking over. This in turn poses the question what now, as technology has progressed, have we as a society become lazy?
By collecting this research and developing some of the ideas I felt were most important to my subject, I could begin to translate these into textile design and produce an outcome most suited for the client.
Throughout this semester I have realised the importance of research within my work referring back to my "communications" project as an example I feel alot more could have been gained from my final designs by researching the subject and the impact it has on society.
As designers we aim to achieve an end product which clients feel have been designed solely for them. Thus educating ourselves on social and political events becomes a massively important part of our work and developing a wide range of possible design outcomes to gain an understanding of what the general public can relate to.