Millinery

We got given our Millinery brief today, but I haven't read through it properly yet. Partly because i've been so busy focusing on the Digital Realisation Techniques module but also due to the fact that i'm not looking forward to it.

If last years module was anything to go by I don't know what to expect. As soon as I saw that we had Alison as a tutor again it filled me with dread. I feel she is a poor, misdirected tutor, who is appears nice initially however was extremely harsh and critical when marking.

Finally picked up the brief today. I have a weekend to follow through my research and if I just do it, I'll be fine.

I've decided to select the title 'Super-Structures' as a starting point. The area involves architecture and product design. Subject matters in which a large number of successful, innovative designers use.

I spent a couple of hours in the library and have found some really well designed innovative pieces of architecture and furniture. The majority of which have been constructed using smooth lines to create a dynamic statement. I was also inspired by the designer's Hussein Chalayien and Therrier Mugler in terms of fashion design and how they manipulated millinery into several of their collections.

Although I'm still not looking forward to next week I feel happy with the subject matter. Now I just need to start the design process.

I managed to generate quite a few designs this weekend which definitely helped me today at uni. Knowing pretty much exactly what I want to construct made it so much easier when selecting a hat block to work with as it means that I won't have to design backwards (like i did last year) It was a bit annoying that the fabric hadn't been delivered by 9 this morning and when it finally did arrive it was a little to late to start the whole process so i'm just going to get straight into making first thing tomorrow morning.

As we only have 4 days for completion, I made sure didn't waste the day though, as I used it to build up the number of samples in which need to be incorporated into the sketchbook.

Alison liked the work i've done to date which i'm so happy about, cause wasn't to sure if I had done it right or not. She seems a little more organised this year in terms or what she's doing and talking about (so far) I hope I still feel this way at the end of the week.

I picked up quite a selection of finishing booklets, so tonight i'm going to have a flick through, so which ones would be relevant to my work and produce as many as I can.

I got the crown made from start to finish today yayyy just need to add decoration, line it, bind it with bias binding and i'm done.

I spend a few hours making strips of sinamay, that would be used for the loops. I keep testing them against the crown though and i'm not happy with how it's going.

I like the idea of a contrast between felt and sinamay but in reality my experiments havn't been so successful. I'm going to have another look through my research and see what else I can come up with.

I've just found this picture

I really like the composition lay out and am going to make a shape similar using felt. I shall make around three and lay them on top of one another at varying points. I might use two red and a white felt one in the middle as the crown is white. But I shall make a sample first and see what the end result will look like.

Here is a photograph of a sample I made.

It was constructed using 7 circles and then sewing each side together. Tight stitching holds the seperate pieces together really well. I like the general shape and so now will create more in order to place them onto my hat

Really pleased with the direction my hat is taking now. Was deffinately the right moved in deciding not to work with sinamay. I feel the shapes create a strong structual form and relate more to the brief title 'Super Structures'

My fingers are in agony as the felt has been so hard to sew together but it has been worth it.

Looking at hat produced by the House of architects also generated inspiration for positioning.

I have decided to place 3 shapes asymmetrically on top of one another. I experimented with fewer samples but felt that the hat appeared to simple. Working with a large number made my final design appear to busy and not structurally thought through.

After assembling the shapes to how I wanted them, I still feel that my hat needs another additional feature to create interest.

Looking back through my research I came across these images

They made suggestions towards metal studs and buttons so I began to experiment with these additional features.

When contemplating how they ought to be placed on the crown the metal ball chair suggested an aysemetric placement along with surrounding the geometric shapes.

This was the outcome

For my lining, I was inspired by the egg chair to use a pleated lining method of application. However before I followed through this process, I referred back to the lining booklet and asked Alison for her advice. We both felt that the pleated lining method would be most appropriate as the crown is only small it was important that the fabric lay closely to the felt.

In order to secure the hat to the head, I worked with elastic. Although Alison said in reality the elastic would remain hidden, because I was using a satin bias binding, it had to be attached on the inside otherwise the binding would become distorted. When asked i was told that this implication would not matter however from last year I noticed she has a tendency to hold back until feedback.

Looking at my final piece I am pleased with the outcome. I believe it successfully meets the brief that was set, originating from a variety of different sources of inspiration.

If the elective was to be followed through again I would have made sure that additional fabric choices were bought before hand. Although this would not have saved a tremendous amount of time it would have enabled me to work throughout he entire studio time set aside.

In relation to design, I believe i would work with the same subject matters, providing similar designs and the same end product.

What have I learnt from this millinery elective?

Although I already held the knowledge of basic construction, I have been able to develop my method and technique. Previous, I had not worked with the fabric sinamay however now I have an understanding to how it maybe manipulated successfully along with how it could be applied to the crown. If an idea it not as successful as envisioned it is always important to keep on referring back to research, making sure that the final design relates strongly throughout.

Design Realisation Techniques

I'm quite excited about this module! I recon it might be a little intense though as we are expected to take in a new computer programme through each tutorial.

We were tough Adobe illustration today. I thoroughly enjoyed this tutorial! I've wanted to use this application for design for ages but I've never know where to begin. At the beginning of the day I found the pen tool a little frustrating as it was hard to generate curved lines through the use of anchor points. However as the day progressed and we experimented with various images I began to gain confidence.

I really like the overall image this application projects and can't wait to get adobe on my laptop so I can practice in my spare time!!

We have our DreamWeaver tutorial tomorrow, I am a little apprehensive about this one. Although I know we will only being tough the basics, I have a feeling we were going to be bombarded with complicated language and overloaded with information.

Well that wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be!

I took ICT at A-Level, so I already had a basic understanding of how a website is put together. But with the subject being taught a number of years ago I couldn't remember everything.

This tutorial though did recall the information and so really in theory I wasn't taught anything new.

Now we are expected to go away and compile a website of our own. I think I shall construct one in which displays images of the work I generated last year. As well as include current projects, bibliography and contact information.

As I still don't have Adobe CS5 on my laptop yet I missioned into uni today. As I enjoyed the illustrator tutorial and I know it is one of those programmes that takes a while to get used to I thought I ought to practice a bit!

I generated a couple of images, thought they all need a lot of work doing to them to bring them up to a profession standard, i've found myself becoming more compitant at using the pen tool.

I've just had a quick read through the book 'The Adobe handbook for fashion Illustrator'. It pretty much covers the basics in which were were taught, however it showed me how to use the mesh tool.

I've started to use this feature a lot in my designs as it generates a suggestions towards a 3D image.

I need to start remembering to copy the outline first though as the mess tool removes this aspect.When working with flat drawing, I feel an outline to a fill provides a cleaner finish.

Although I had been shown the gradient tool, I hadn't considered using it when applying a colour fill to the buttons. This generated a metallic appearance and works really well!

I've also started using the drop shadow effect quite a bit. Again it's another feature in which helps to generate another dimention to design.

I'm happy with the compositions in which I have generated for my A3 portfolio. I fell I have demonstrated a wide range of varied techniques and followed through with my brand logo.

We had our Flash tutorial today. I has definately been the most testing out of the three. Its annoying how a slight typing error can completely screw up your entire animation!

The basic classic tween animation seemed relatively easy to work with and in my own time I decided to see how I could apply it to various images.

I wanted to make a bird fly across the stage. It took a while to do as each wing needed to be adjusted through numerous Key frames however I am happy with the end result.

Bruce offered the class a flash extension tutorial. Although no one else seemed interested I thought as I now have CS5 at home, I would take him up on his offer in order to benift my website.

Personally when looking through websites it annoys me when I have to scroll down for about ten minutes to find an image. So I decided when generating mine, through the use of flash I would provide the user with thumbnail versions of my work. These thumbnails would be buttons, so when clicked on a larger scaled version of the image would appear alongside.

The button process was harder to get my head round than the motion tween. There are so many more stages and layers that have to be taken into consideration. It took me an entire day to understand each process exactly, but after producing several pages and following a template step by step, I've finally got the hang of it.

Persistence paid off with experimentation as I am now happy with the final website. I wanted to produce a layout in which appeared relatively simple yet effective. Something that contained clear and precise navigation. Finally I didn't want anything that was to image heavy as I believe a more minimal approach works more successfully as the eye easily skims the page.

I am please with the final result. If given more time alterations would be made however in the time were were allocated I feel I have successfully presented a varied selection of acquired skills in this module.

Although these two weeks have been intense in relation to time spent on each application, overall I thoroughly enjoyed this module. I feel we were taught a varied number of technical skills and I am looking forward to taking them further in order to help me develop my personal design style.

Enterprize

'How To Get Yourself Out There'

Through out the lecture Bridget explained to us that with an ever expanding industry, once creative individuals have completed their course at university it is not easy to 'get yourself out there' She stressed the importance of individuality and how you must market and promote yourself to others both confidently and creatively.

Give others a reason to remember you.

Make them feel that their line of business must 'have you'

Be willing to offer your services for free in order to achieve work experience.

Although previous to this lecture I had a relative understanding about the term 'networking' and how important and opportunity it remains through out your career. There were several tips we were given that I found to be useful.

These being:

. Provide others with information about yourself. Give them one key fact about

yourself as you do not want to overload hem with information.

. Give a brief over view of what you do and what you would like to achieve and

experience.

. Ask others about themselves. Asking questions to others about themselves, not only

keeps them interested but it also provides you with information. This information

could ensure another 'useful' contact.

'Ideas and Opportunities'

What I took away from this lecture was the definition of an Idea and an Opportunity.

It is important to differentiate between an idea and an opportunity.

If you do not differentiate epic failure could be experienced.

Failure is experienced when:

. A product is created at the wrong time

When an individual is not aware of:

. Political changes

. Economic changes

. Social changes

. Technological changes

. Other competitors -

. How many other companies are producing a similar product,

. Pricing of similar products

. How well they are doing

. What they are doing well

. What they could improve on

'Value'

'What are you worth'?

When generating a product/service you must ask yourself how could it benefit others? Through research you are able to generate a value proposition. This proposition is composed from overall aims, specific aims and objectives.

You must keep your value proposition short and straight to the point. Make it clear to the customer what you attend to achieve and what you could achieve. However leave generalisation in terms to the business's specific outcome when writing the mission statement. This will provide the company with the option to branch out into different subject areas later on if desired.

My value proposition

Mission - Through various aspects of fashion design, creatively provide, promote and communicate inspirational ideas and concepts.

Vision - To provide society with the most innovative, creative brand/product/service.

Values- Actively recognise and develop a concept/product or brand in which invokes creativity and professionally whilst delivering quality.

'How to Successfully Promote Yourself'

This lecture was my least favourite. From each of the others I feel that I have learn something however with the information provided today I feel it was all self explanatory. Common sense really.

I don't think anyone needs to be taught that if you don't promote yourself you aren't going to get a response.

We watched a You Tube Clip of the Jonny Cupcakes world tour.

Iv'e heard about the designer before and think he has unique, original ideas in terms of self promotion.

I remember hearing about when he first opened his store in New York. With the store name Jonny Cupcakes, Americans queued for hours, thinking that what they were queueing for was a new cupcake shop. Instead once entering they were presented with limited addition t-shirts. Displayed underneath glass casing to represent a bakery. T-shirts were also removed from ovens when more sizes were required.

I love this idea!!

Paul Pensom

Paul Pensom, a creative art director held a lecture at uni today. Although it wasn't compulsory for us to go I felt attending could be beneficial in terms of magazine layout and creatively.

Although the lecture dealt more with graphic design (as expected) I did find this lecture useful and beneficial.

How the magazine Creative Review has been branded successfully at times and not so at others, leaving its popularity to raise and fall.

We were showed several of the grid layouts that Paul uses in order to generate a magazine spread. These ides could also work well when translated through visual research, initial ideas, look books etc so shall use them as a reference for the future.

Although for the mean time we have completed each of the Enterprize sessions with Bridget we shall now be putting what we have been taught to the test.

Within a brief we have been asked to built a

Ten Pound Business Plan.

This plan must be a product or a service.

Whilst you may not exceed the 10 pound limit, it is possible to receive donations or use any old fabrics (these must be accounted by through a nominal fee.

After the brief was set, I was a bit lost. I was really stuck for ideas and found it hard to see how a business foundation could be started with as little as 10 pounds.

I tried to think of a few original product ideas however with 10 pounds, they will be impossible to make.

So with careful consideration, I have decided to provide a SERVICE.

I started to think about where my talents lie and working with Bruce in the digital realisation module, I began to pick up to knowledge of how to compile a website relatively easily. He showed me how to incorporate flash animation into a website and how it could be manipulated within the layout itself.

Through this consideration I have decided that I want to promote myself to young, up and coming designers. Offering them the chance of web design.

After speaking to Sue I feel the website idea is definitely the root in which I want to follow. She seamed relatively enthusiastic about the idea and suggested that when offering my service. I should promote myself to Pathway B students.

This will be my main target market as the students within pathway B are tough nothing about web design. They may see students from Pathway A using one which could possibly generate a desire. They may also see it as an important aspect of promotion used within their final collection.

If successful this business plan could be easily be followed through next year and years after I leave Leeds. Through word of mouth and reminder e-mails send out by university.

Now I have got my idea I must start:

. Researching the target market. I will put together a survey and ask third year students a couple of questions.

. Looking at the competition, what is successful, what is not?

. Pricing

. By the time we come back in January, I need to have my website built and online!

I also need to have put together a powerpoint presentation and promotional package, to show the third years. It is important that I have this done as this is when I shall start to begin offering my service. Any later than this and I will miss the entire target market. The quicker I am, the more time it gives the customer to think about whether they want a website or not. They will also just have been given their loan - a good time to approach. If I approached them at the end of a term this is the possibility that few customers would desire the service as others may not be able to afford it.

I put together a target market audience questionnaire and provided it to the third years. From this research I gathered my target audience is:

. Female

. Aged between 20-22

. Live in a house with friends

. They use the internet on a regular basis

. They shop online and although the majority were not influenced to purchase undesired items on the internet several were

. They believed there is a need for this service within Leeds college of Art and know others that would be interested in paying for this service

. The required additional features would be a domain name, hosting, upkeep and maintainence, audio and media files, several also felt that flash annimation would be benificial

. The lowest students would be prepaired to pay was £50 and the largest £300. With an average of £60-£100

Have have decided on a price list for my service. This will be

Template design - 50 for 4 pages and 10 per page after

Bespoke design - 80 for 4 pages and 10 per page after

Flash annimated website buttons - 20 per 4 images

Flash annimation

classic motion ween - 10 per 4 images

Bespoke flash annimation - quote

I have just presented this price list to the 3rd year pathway B students along with several template designs. They seemed pleased with the templates that I have generated. 1 girl raised the fact that within their final module they are expected to presented an electronic form of promotion. In response the group found that my website would eliminate this area from their practise and my website would be seem appropriate.

As I was packing my equipment away my price lists were all grabbed straight away. I over heard several voices also say I definately want one already but I don't have any images yet.

I believe the price list, I compiled will obtain a number of contacts. I am deffinately going to have to keep on top of my work in order for Charlottes Web to be successful and make sure that I don't take on more than, I can cope with in order to provide quality websites and succession in m own area of practice.

Finally got round to securing my domain name!! I wanted to have

Charlottesweb, however the majority had been taken and the ones

left exceeded my 10 pound budget. Alternatively, I have decided

to use charlotteelizabeth. I will still include a section within

the website dedicated to charlottesweb and will state in my cash

flow statement that if allocated a higher budget I would have been

able to secure my preference. I feel charlotteelizabeth still

provides and insight and it means I shall be able to use the website

to promote myself to designers when applying for work placements.

Altogether so far I have spent:

7.18 for the domain name www.charlotteelizabeth.co.uk - for 2 years

10p on 10X price list and contact details for 3rd year students

Total = 7.28 giving me 2.72 left to work with. Thomas knows a friend

that constructs websites for a living, he recons he will be able to

host my website for free. There are no other areas in which require

funding. I may want to print out several more price lists for the

students in a couple of weeks if, I don't have any response to the

presentation, I made today. This however will only cost me around

50p at the most if printed in university.

I had a tutorial with Sue and told her that I intend to display

Charlottes Web within charlotteelizabeth.co.uk. I asked her because

I am doing this would, I have to factor this domain name within my

budget as it is not the domain name I would use for the business

however with a larger budget I would have worked with

www.charlottesweb.co.uk. She seemed a little unsure but agreed that

it didn't. This will means that I have the option of securing

hosting myself. Enabling me to get charlotteelizabeth.co.uk up and

running ASAP! Hosting will need to factor in my budget plan, though

as the business is being run through a different website URL, I just

need to work out how many pages my website consists off and divide

the number by how many pages hold Charlottes Web together. This may

be an uninominal fee of 20p.

I seem to have got the majority of paper work done for what is

required at this point in time. Just need to write the exact

marketing and promotional tools, I intend to work with down. How

they could be extended if the business was the be carried on and

write a press release. This all need to be sorted out

professionally as well as in my visual journal for the final

business plan hand in.

Sue was also stated that because I had done a lot of prep work

for the service that it was important that I didn't let the planning

and schedule of time allocation get of top of me. It could be useful

to find out the exact date this brief is to be handed in, along with

the date of the 3rd year final hand in.

I would then generate a trading list schedule allocating

however many websites I would be able to compile in a week

(probably 2 depending on the required content and size)

I have officially secure my first client! Katherine. Looking over

her work, she requires a basic template with an addition page. Also

manipulation with flash buttons for her portfolio. I've compiled

a template ready to import her details, its just a case of getting

them off her now which may take a little time as photographs haven't

as of yet been edited by a photographer. With the template done, I

feel I will be able to manage my work load and any further websites

in which maybe required.

In college today and I have 3 further students in whom require my

website service. I wanted to get started on construction. However

as they do not have any work to give me as of yet this will have to

take place after reading week. Talking to 2 of them they both seem

like they just want the basic 4 age template. Nothing particular

strenuous or time consuming as they just want to use the website as

part of a web presence required for their PPD module.

It is important that I keep on top of all more work at this stage!

I'm going to try and get the majority of my essay completed over

reading week (if not finished) as I know that when we come back

March is going to be manic with the application of design hand in,

the essay hand in and a potential large number of websites to

construct.

Depending on how many students approach me after reading week, I

many have to turn down several contracts, as I do not want this

aspect of the module to drag my own work down. However I am going to

do what I can to prevent this from happening as I don't like letting

others down, and i'm not going to lie the money would be good!

Well several students have approached me saying that they definitely

want a website however they don't know what their images are going

to be ready. So whether or not, I will actually end up designing

them a website who knows?

I have managed to secure a definate second client however. Charlotte

She wants a simple website with no flash animation. With a template

page virtually the same as Katherine's so thats going to be easy to

put together!! Her domain name has been set up and, I ought to have

several images off her on Monday with the rest on Friday so fingers

crossed, I shall have my first official paid website online by the

end off the week.

I was approached by the third year student called Ella. She seemed

really enthusiastic about the website business and really wanted

one however with the amount of fabric she had to buy for her Final

Collection, she could not afford the expenses for Web Hosting.

Although by the time it comes to her Final Major Project hand in, my

Enterprise will have 'finished' I have told her that, I would be

willing to provide her with a website, if she would like one.

Although after the end of March, I know that, I am still going to

have work to do, the majority of it will be completed. Giving me the

option to carry on my Charlottes Web, if I want to (or even just for

a little bit of money)

Feel quite content, I have just published my first commissioned

website online. www.charloo.net

There is just something about the internet that makes your work

look so much more professional. I took the designed website to show

Charlotte before it was published, I had to make a few alterations

involving the composition of the background but overall she was

really happy. There are several more files still to go on the

website however she was not able to give them to me so will e-mail

them this weekend just in time for her hand in first thing Monday

morning.

Katherine's website in nearly ready also. The majority of it has been

constructed however i'm still waiting on a few more images that

will be e-mailed to me by Sunday night. I set web hosting for her

whilst setting up Charlottes. So everything will be uploaded by

Monday.

Meaning Once Monday is over and done with, I have no more websites

to design. Need to speak to my third year Kate to see if she would

still like one. However she is not going to be getting one for free

like several third year students insinuated!! Although we've had

literally had so much work at the minute, I would be nice to

actually see the third year I was assigned to, she never seems to

be in uni!! such a contrast to Lara who, I was assigned to last

year.

We have to hand in our Enterprize journal and documents this Monday.

Not for a final hand in just so Sue can make sure we have actually

done work. Not stressed out about it as i'm planning to do load on

it over Easter (when I will actually have a spare moment to myself)

Plus I must be doing something right if Sue has already scanned

several of my pages (which may possible be published in the

fundamentals of Fashion business book this September)

I can't believe it one of my pages is definitely going to be

published! Sue showed me the page today. Its so weird thinking that

my work is actually going to be in a book. Although the enterprise

module will have been completed by then, I may just have to

purchase. Quite a sense of achievement!

Well the final hand in was yesterday and the presentation today. I

was relatively nervous as others came out saying how bad it had gone.

However I was and still am proud of Charlottes Web. I think it is a

successful business and provided me with a profit and so didn't find

it hard to talk about as when you are talking about something you

you have set up form start to finish there is a definite sense of

achievement and pride.

Although, I talked about the positives of the business, I also made

sure that, I stressed where I could have improved and what changes

would be made if the module were to be followed through again.

If given the opportunity again, I would have provided the target

audience with a larger variation in marketing tools. For example, I

could have potentially generated posters and placed them around the

fashion studios, I could have also created business cards, hosted

a second verbal presentation along with set up Facebook group and

send out reminder e-mail via student accounts.

The marketing tools would have continuously reminded my target

audience that, I was there to aid them with their own form of self

promotion. It may however not made a difference to to number of

contracts secured as I was approached my several other students,

all of whom did not have an adequate amount of imagery to provide

me with.

The feedback in which, I received from Sue was phenomenal. She

mentioned how professional my business plan appeared along with how

my presentation was delivered. The only criticism that was made was

that my lecture notes had been bound together with the business plan

itself. A mistake, I know, I had made and if that was the only thing

that was wrong, I am happy!.

An external moderator shall be present within several of the

presentations next thursday. I was asked to speak to her about my

business plan. I expressed that am happy to so as long as, I

was not required to conduct my presentation for a second time.

Although, I was happy with my overall presentation, I wouldn't find

it fare if, I was have to hold it a second time.

I still find it weird that others want to talk to me about my

service. All, I did was take something in which I had been taught

earlier this year. However, I surpass that is what constitutes a

successful business...taking something you enjoy doing.

After being asked whether or not, I would take this operation into

consideration for my future. I began to think although, I enjoyed

creating websites for students, it is a business in which, I would

run in my spare time. It is not something that, I want to do for

the rest of my life but it could be a useful form of additional

income. Being a sole trader however is definitely a path in which, I

feel could work for myself. Being the perfectionist, I am sometimes

it comes as a hindrance. However working for myself this trait

could be utilised for formulate a successful business.