Unit X is all about collaborating with fellow students to create new and exciting work. I chose the Dianne Harrison interiors brief as I knew it would give me a chance to work as both part of a design team and individually.I also chose this brief to also help me decide if its interiors or fashion I want to design for.
My group was set the Exploration title to research. On the first day we sat together, shared our ideas for topic and created a mind map of which I made a later digital version which can be seen below. I found working with interdisciplinary students really helpful, they have a different outlook and different ideas for the brief. After our first meeting, we decided to go and research into all the elements of the category and then meet in two days’ time with our research findings. At which point with more knowledge about the topic, we could discuss and apply what we had learnt; and then divide the task up into manageable sections.
I found the ‘Discovery’ section really interesting and this is something I want to take forward. In particular, I would like to research into sea discovery: coral reefs, marine plants, marine invertebrates, marine fish and reptiles. When I was in Egypt last summer they had fantastic coral reefs there. The environment provides a kaleidoscope of vibrant colours and always fascinates me. I have never had the nerve to go deep sea diving to the alien world of the deep ocean floor, but there are many breath taking secondary photographs of wonderful sea life such as: sharks, whales, octopus, jelly fish and giant shell fish.
For my individual research I created the following boards. ‘Adventure’ brought up some good imagery, but although there was plenty of imagery it did not inspire me because the examples I found were not interesting or diverse enough. For ‘Travel’ I researched stamps and maps because modes of transport do not interest me as a Designer. Stamps research was inspiring; I had never realised that stamp design was an occupation for a Graphic Designer. I discovered that the graphic element of a stamp has four categories. It was the picture element that motivated me as this is the biggest selection of stamp design today. Stamp pictures range from plants, animals, transport, landscapes to pieces of original art work. I really liked this idea so I may bring this into my project along with what I had discovered about old passports and maps; they have some nice qualities too.
‘Media’ was the board the group as a whole struggled with most. I ended up putting it together for the final presentation. We looked into how the ‘Media’ can effect where you choose to travel, for example you would not travel to Iraq or Syria because of what is happening there in the news and it is being broadcast world-wide. Most tourists would give such places a very wide berth. ‘Media’ is interesting, but it would be very difficult to collect primary sources for this.
As a group I think we worked well together; we jelled as a team and everyone got involved; we communicated effectively and shared ideas; we got the right balance of when we needed to work together and then separate to do individual study; in our second meeting we all looked at each others' research and ideas; I enjoyed working in a group because people interpret things differently, it can bring a new twist to the work as when one person has an idea, we all sparked off each other and developed it.
As my starting point I have decided to keep this theme, but concentrate on 'Sea Exploration' as this was the research that inspired me the most. Throughout my time at university I seem to be drawn to projects that have natural theme, this is why this section of the brief appealed to me.
