My sketchbook pages played a big part in the design/experiment aspect of this project, this is because I did most of the experimentation and design development in this so that it would all be in the same place and it would be physically evident how my work has developed day by day. My sketchbook started with three mood boards which were the very first thing that I did in this project, it provided me with a good starting point. In theses sketchbook pages, I experimented with using watercolour paints, coloured pencils and collaging. I used lots of different types of papers and images in collaging background for my found imagery to go on. I enjoyed collaging as it provided backgrounds with something extra to work on other than just plain white paper. I experimented with watercolours by using them to add something extra to the backgrounds, but also tried linking them to the chair designs. I did this by picking out colours in my pictures and found imagery and added 'splashed' of paint near these images as if the ink has bled off the imagine and into the background. I did the same thing with coloured pencils, making it look like the images carried on into the background, the patterns didn't stop when the images did.
I continued to experiment with things for the rest of my sketchbook. One of these things were the way I displayed measurements without them looking boring. I thought that adding a lot of colour and making these pages involve the viewer by having pages fold in on each other, meaning they have to be spread apart to see the results. I think this worked really well as the pages with measurements on looked really good, and fit in with the rest of the sketchbook. They looked good as they were eye-catching but didn't take away from the information on the pages. They also looked tidy and not as if I chucked everything onto the pages without thinking of how they would look.
For my designer research in my sketchbook, I tried to experiment with displaying my information. I wanted my sketchbook pages to look tidy and organised, not looking like a mess which some of my previous sketchbooks have. This was shown in my designer research pages as they were organised, looked good and included everything that I needed them to.
Primary research played a big part in this project, as it does in all projects. I struggled at first in thinking about how I could find any primary research that would fit into the project brief, I may be surrounded by chairs at college and work, but they don't fit the brief of 'designer' chairs, these chairs are typical, mass produced chairs that don't look very appealing or 'different'. Despite this, I kept an eye open for chairs that I could photograph while I was out and about. One chair that I really liked the design of and thought fitted well with this brief was a chair for a ID Photo booth. This chair was a very simple oval type shape, and it glowed and the lights inside pulsated when someone was sitting on it. I thought this chair looked really good and interesting, and the thought of finding it in an ID photo booth just goes to show that designer chairs can be found everywhere. For my other primary research, I wanted to include a chair style from the designers that I researched. I original found a chair that Arne Jacobsen had designed in the chain store River Island in Meadowhall (Sheffield). I knew that in some shops, you had to ask permission to photograph anything that is in the store, furniture included, so I decided to ask the manager of the store if I were able to get a couple of photographs of it, explaining that it would be for my college course and I would be careful to ensure that I would get no member of the public in the photograph. Despite this, and the manager thinking that it was a good idea, they stated that it was store policy not to allow anyone to take photographs. This set me back a step on the primary research aspect of this project as I only had one chair design that I had photographed. On a day out with one of my friends from high school, I showed her some of my designer sketchbook pages, one of which she stated that she had a copy of the chair in her bedroom. The chair was the Barcelona chair by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. Thankfully, she allowed me to take a lot of photographs of this chair, and I was able to link my primary research to my designer research. I wish that I was able to take photographs of a lot more chair designs that I saw in many other stores and shopping centres but unfortunately I was told I would not be able to.
I studied a lot of designers in this project, more than I have ever studied before. Each of the designers that I studied I hadn't previously studied before, so all of the information that I found was very new to me. I studied 8 designers in all, two out of which inspired my work and my final piece. These designers were Ron Arad and Frank Gehry. Ron Arad inspired my work as I really liked his style of work, the way that he uses materials such as metal and plastic and bends them into very strange ways and shapes is very interesting. I feel like his work is very imaginative and very unusual which I wanted my final piece to be like. I also liked how Arad used bright colours in his work but in a way that they don't look childish, his work almost looks playful. Frank Gehry inspired me in different ways than Arad did. I really liked how Gehry used corrugated cardboard for his chair designs, which is something very odd. I liked the idea that I could design a chair, and when its days of use were over it could be recycled and it not harm the environment. The influence on my final piece from these designers is evident in the materials that I have used for my final piece. I used Plywood as the lines on the edges of each piece resembled the lines in corrugated cardboard, I used plastic to resemble the plastic and bright colours used in Ron Arad's designs. I also chose to not put a finish on my design as I wanted to leave it looking as natural as possible to resemble Gehry's work.
Whilst working in the workshop, the only problems that I encountered was having to sand my entire design together to get the right smooth finish. This was a problem as the bobbin sander wasn't tall enough to sand all of the design as one. I overcame this as I split my design into two before gluing all together, sanded one side so it was all smooth, re-aligned the entire design then marked out what parts needed sanding and to where on the other half of the design. After I sanded the other half, I had to put the pieces back together and start marking where else needed more sanding on either that same half or the other half. This process took a lot longer than if I were to just use the bobbin sander on the design as a whole as I kept having to re-mark, sand, measure, then remark again.
I think that my final piece is very effective. I think this because it fit the brief really well, along with this, I have shown a lot of developing my designs to come to this final design throughout my project and also showed where designers have inspired me. I am very impressed with how my design has turned out as I didn't think I would be able to finish it when I was half way through. I am impressed at how good my skills are in the workshop and I have defiantly shown myself that I can achieve things that I didn't think I would be able to if I put my mind to it.
In order to make my project as a whole better, I feel like I could improve a lot in my drawing skills. This is because I was so focused on trying to get my ideas across that I didn't pay much attention to my drawing. If I were to have some more time on this project this is defiantly something I will improve on as I have stated in many previous posts. Other than this, I don't think there is anything else that I could improve on, I am immensely proud of this project and the amount of time and effort that I have put into it is clearly shown by the amount of work and development that I have done. I feel like this project has run very smoothly for me, I made myself a time management plan and stuck to it very well. Because of this, I didn't forget any pieces of work to do and did the maximum amount of work that I could possibly do in the time frame that I was given. This project is something that I am defiantly going to keep reminding myself about when I work on my final major project as it is a perfect example of how important it is to keep organised and that being organised actually helps you in ways you wouldn't think.
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