When developing ideas towards my FMP project, I decided on a topic which I am very passionate about and have quite a lot of self developed knowledge on. The aim of this project was to progress around the theme of Health, Fitness and Wellbeing. I believed that choosing a topic which I have key interest to develop my understanding on would allow my project to continuously be exciting and rewarding.
Writing my proposal and reading the feedback from it is where I became aware of important key factors which I did not intend to expand upon. A comment that stood out to me from my tutor is that my proposal sounded like I would be developing a campaign rather than creating a project from a designers point of view. This immediately made me re-think my proposal, as being a design student I have always focused on developing and creating designs from my ideas.
When re-writing my proposal my aim was to think about how I could turn my original concept into some sort of garment or textiles. As my project proposal resolves around the health and fitness industry, I thought about designing a sportswear rage, making sure to include elements colour and pattern in my designs, I would create signature repeated patterns to be printed on these sportswear garments. Although I believed this concept could be very successful for my FMP project, the idea of designing and creating sportswear garments did not make me feel particularly confident, as when I explored the project ‘Progressive Detail’ in developmental stage, I found that designing for sportswear was quite difficult as it requires lots of research on the quality of the fabrics and making sure they are durable, and the best possible quality for all weather sports whilst being sustainable.
So from this I decided to completely move away from my original concept, but rather focus on designing patterns as I believe this is my strongest aspect in the fashion and textiles industry.
Autonomous Substrates was the last project to be explored in developmental stage, so unfortunately I begun and completed this project the week after writing my proposal. Personally I believe this was my best and most successful project, as it resolved around designing repeated patterns to create the outcome of wallpaper designs. This gave me the inspiration to incorporate this topic into my FMP, as I feel very confident in my ability to deliver a strong 8 week project and outcome.
My new concept I have decided on, is to explore the industry of wallpaper prints, designs and trends from early 1950s up to present day. I will be researching trends from Psychedelic, Op Art, Floral, Minimalist and Contemporary inspired designs, to gain knowledge and inspiration for when I come to designing my own. To help reference my work I will be keeping a bibliography, where I can keep track of all the websites, galleries, shops and artists I explored, also to visually track how my research is being constantly developed over the 8 week period. When exploring each decade of design I intend to thoroughly research the colour palettes used as well as prints used on textiles items displayed in homes. In terms of my response to each decade of design, I would like to take inspiration from my secondary research, and primary evidence to design my own interpretation of wallpaper designs to suit each decade trend.
