Touchpoint 4! The final!

Touchpoint 4! The worst and the last thing to do for PNC2 this has been a long and annoying unit but lets finish this off in style anyway!

So touchpoint 4 was all about presenting your most recent project to the rest of your class mates and getting SWOT feedback on how you can improve and continue on with the project of the Easter break.

So I am going to take you through my most recent project, at this stage i am only half way through it so if it doesn’t seem complete it is because it isn’t.

Being on the Textile Design course my project was a competition piece for BRORA which is a cashmere fashion company. They gave us a very specific brief. The wanted us to design an accessory to fit in with their brand. They then gave us three choices of inspiration 1) Enchanted forest 2) Antarctica or 3) tribal. We were encouraged by lectures to go out side our comfort zone so i chose 1) Enchanted forest. So with this comes specific colours and words to work from.

MY idea idea of an enchanted forest is something quite magical with fairies and lights and almost a mythical element so nothing scary about it and i wanted it to be quite natural. so i went along the line of wood and lights throughout the wood.

The next three pictures are primary source photos of some types of wood near me.

From this i did drawings and mark making. Using all of the colours I i was given to make marks that i can convert into knitting styles and patterns.

From these drawings i have decided to go with a simple design incorporating a mix of the colours and 3 different knit styles. the last picture is off the accessory i want to make, a snood.

For this presentation we also have to do a SWOT analysis so in this case SWOT stands fro Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. so I am going to tackle a few issues and good things about this project. For me to achieve the best out of it over the Easter holidays.

So STRENGTHS:

1) I think they my marks are quite strong and go towards turning into knit well.

2) The shapes flow through my sketch book well.

Weaknesses:

1) The limited brief, i think i could easily get too bogged down in it and miss the opportunities to expand the project to it’s full potential.

2) This one is a truthful one: it is the end of the semester and getting through it is really hard to push through and i fear that the need to finish will effect my project.

Opportunities:

1) Writing this post gives me the opportunity to really think about what i want to do with the project so even though i am feeling disheartened about it i can now see a way to work through it.

2) I have identified the strength of the project and feel happier in proceeding on with it no.

Threats:

1) time restrictions

So i have now analyzed parts of my project and they way forward is to continue to work on and produce lovely knit samples.

Thanks for listening, if you have any comments please leave one.

Bye for now

The finale!

This was a fantastic ending to 3rd year!

The Business of Freelancing, Blogging, and Books, According to Author Jennifer Armstrong

Worth a read!

WordPress.com News

First, I should note: I am not related to Jennifer Armstrong. But! I have followed her writing closely over the years — first during her years at Entertainment Weekly, and more recently as the author of books like Mary and Lou and Rhoda and Ted (Simon & Schuster), which offered a definitive history of the classic TV series. Her blog also happens to be a must-follow on WordPress.com: She gives glimpses into her current work (she’s doing a Seinfeld book next) and she’s refreshingly transparent about the business (and hard truths) of being a freelance writer in 2015. I spoke with her via email about the business of writing and tips for how she makes time for her own blog.

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Touchpoint 3

Hello,

Sorry to say that I  was unable to make it to this touchpoint due to another commitment.

but here is a link to this amazing and creative experience.

https://www.list.co.uk/article/66982-v-and-a-dundee-hit-the-road-in-2015/

Thank you

Design Enterprise Part 1

Hello,

Welcome to the other module on my course which is all about Creative enterprises and setting up your own business.

With Professor Mike Press leading the way and the module what could be more exciting?

I am about 4 weeks into the programme so I am going to give you a breakdown each week on this post then hereafter I will be writing separate post for each week after. So let the breakdown begin,

WEEK 1

Well week one is like all week one’s a big load of waffle and information! but luckily this one also had a dash of inspiration thrown in. so you get all the usual information including how the grades are split which is terrify when it is 50% to a presentation and 50% to our business plan.

WEEK 2

Ashamed to say that i missed all this week due to a nasty cold and i went over my ankle…. I know… I missed Joanna Montgomery 😦

But Our group for presentations were formed and we are called @doorstepcreate check it out

WEEK 3

So onto week three. This week we had @Mikepress for two hours! Yay! it was great really enjoyed it. This week came with lots of labels and an exceedingly good quote. We start off with competition and who are they for us as emerging designers. Mike covered Chine (briefly) and how they are producing some of the most interesting designers of our generation and how we must always push to be our best otherwise someone else will take that opportunity. We then went onto how the education system that Generation Y went through is useless as it doesn’t tech creative thinking and that “everything you have been told about your future career is WRONG!!”a little scary. But it is true you don’t have to slot into something be different and do something you love.

For the team presentation we started researching our chosen designers which were Katy Birchell and Concrete Wardrobe. We sent out consent forms and arranged interviews this week.

Quote of the week: “Keep your eyes open, learn as much as you can and be enterprising” Mike Press.

Just to throw this in at the end but we also learned the MEANING OF LIFE! which basically comes down to this thing called the Sigmoid Curve. Check it out.

And that was that week..

WEEK 4

This week was began Feb 9th and on Wednesday the 11th we travelled to Edinburgh to Interview James Donald who is a partner in the business in Concrete Wardrob. It was really insightful and we learned lots about how a creative business and partnership is run. We then went to interview Katy Birchell who is a sole trader, her Business is called Winston and is a luxury knitwear brand. Through this we found out how much social media plays a part in setting up a creative business.

We asked James what business model do you follow and the reply was “by the seat of our pants!” so best quote of the day.

On the Friday 13th of that week We had a talk from our other lecturer on the corse which is Lindsey Gardiner and she is an internationally renowned children’s book illustrator and she spoke to us about how she started up and got into drawing children books after taking a textiles design degree.

Lindsey’s best quote ‘you make your own luck”

Our second lecture was then on how to present our work and do presentations. Lots of good things came from this including how to not sway while talking to horror stories of where people put there hands!

Week 5

This week was all about What is takes to run a business and a second lecture from @ali_mcgill about the dreaded TAX, HMRC and NI. You are problem thinking that this is your worst nightmare but Alasdair McGill really made it easy to follow 🙂

Week 6

Wednesday 25th Presentation!

Copy and paste this to view our presentaiotn.
http://prezi.com/zno2codh5-f7/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy&rc=ex0share

Just to let you know even though i was nervous as heck the team got ……an A!!!!

And for now that brings us to the end of the presentations blog section. Next will be about workshops and lecture pertaining to our Business Plan.

Thank you for reading.De

Touchpoint 2, this time it’s serious!

Hello everyone,

On the 29th of January I had the second instalment of the touch points.

For the touchpoint we had two guest speaks who are very well known in their fields. We had Professor David Gauntlett and Dr Amy Twigger Holroyd talk to us about platforms for creativity.

Professor David Gauntlett is the author of the book ‘ Making is Connecting”, which showed hoe design and craft are vital elements in our digital culture.

Dr Amy Twigger Holoryd is known internationally for her research and practice in fashion, sustainability and amateur making.

This lecture was the beginning of a celebration due to Dundee receiving the title of UNESCO City of Design status.

The morning consisted of a lecture and in the afternoon there were workshops with them but due to a tiny slip i went over my ankle and missed the second half of the day so just a blog on the morning i’m afraid.

Now I am going to be putting up both positive and constructive feedback on here about how it went so please feel free to comment on the blog.

The lecture started off about defining platforms for creativity and the quote they gave is this,
“it’s about people having opportunities to creatively express themselves and transform their worlds.” to me that sounds pretty amazing, to have a tool that would allow for unlimited creativity so that my own world morphs and changes into something both useful and wonderful.

After this David went on to give us his 8 principals for Online platforms and how the internet and social media could elevate our creativeness.

1) Embrace ‘Because we want to’
2) Set no limits on participation
3) Celebrate participants, not the platform
4) Support Story telling
5) Some gifts, some theatre and some recognition
6) Online to offline is a continuum
7) Reinvent learning
8) Foster genuine communities

Once explained all of these principles make sense and are actually quite useful.

During this time we flitted back and forth between Amy and David and due to them not practicing the delivery of this lecture instead of it coming across in one smooth dialog it came across as jarred and confusing which is a shame because what was actually being said was inspiring.

Amy introduced her self and her work, talked about her knitting tent which aims on building a community that teaches each other and can express themselves freely and siege what becomes of that.

We also got information about people that they found interesting such as Smorgasbord by Melanie Bowles and Kathy Round. Which I have to say look amazing and it worth going to check out.

To sum this small rant up the main thing i learned for this lecture that creativity is unlimited and that even if you are scared or unsure of what to do try it anyway and that it is OKAY TO FAIL!! HOORAH! sometimes you forget that it is alright to fail and not get it right the first time, it shouldn’t be seen as a negative thing just as a learning experience for next time.

So with this in mind I ma off to start my new project with gusto an unlimited creativity.

I will let you all know how this goes,

Thank you for reading and please comment.

Bye for now

New Year, New Touchpoint

Hello Everyone,

On the 19th of January I started back into my second semester of 3rd year at DJCAD.
With this came my first touch point for the module, PNC2 (partnerships, networks and connections) the 2 is because it is the other half of the module.

The touchpoint was really interesting, apart from recapping all the basics about general uni life and course particulars, I got to see what other classes would be doing.

For instance Jewellery, there first brief was a competition and they had to design a medal it looked really super.

For me being in textiles our first mini brief was the Bradford Competition, which we develop a piece of work that we completed last semester and rejigged it to enter the competition, it has been entered and I shall let you know how that goes. Fingers crossed for me!

I also learned about other competitions for Brora and SDC which is the Society for Dyers and Colourists. Which i have just started. So really excited about that.

The rest of the presentation was about how the year was going to proceed and all the other touchpoint. So without any further ado, let’s enjoy this semester!

Bye for now 🙂

Bringing something different

Blog post 3 of 3

Hello,

As my last blog  post I wanted to discuss how i think my product is something different and how it would work into a woman’s every day lives. 

This product is something different it could give thousands of women an extra boost of confidence and bring breast checks into your everyday health routine to help catch anything early. 

 

Concept and Development

Blog post 2 of 3 

Hello, 

 

After much research I decided to focus on woman who have gone through a mastectomy and have decided to go with a prosthetic breast.

There are not that many companies who who produce mastectomy bras and unfortunately even though they do the job they are not the sexist of things which after loosing something that makes you look outwardly female can be a bit upsetting. 

So my idea is to create a beautiful sexy bra for all women including those who have had a mastectomy. I would like to work with the pink ribbon foundation and for every bra sold half the money would go to the foundation. 

Working through this i spoke to women on breast cancer forums and how they felt about before during and after there cancer and this gave me my first prototype. 

 

After discovering these feelings it became really important to provided a bra that helps to not only support your breast but to help support you emotionally to make you feel great. 

I then move onto the look of the bra and how you may feel.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Along with this bra there will be attached a label with a QR code on it which then sends you to a website on how to check your breasts and a video. So that you can keep aware of your body and help fight breast cancer. 

 

 

Ideas and Research

Hello , 

This is blog post 1 of 3. 

After receiving my brief for a project on Breast cancer awareness I started to research into breast cancer  and peoples awareness of it, including how to check yourself,  where to go if you find something and what information is out there and what happens if you are diagnosed. 

To get a better understanding of breast cancer I went to the NHS website and looked at what happens physically. Then I went to multiple breast cancer sights to see how women were dealing with breast cancer emotionally and mentally. There are links below to some forum discussions. 

To gather more information about everyday well-being and checking yourself for breast cancer I sent out a questionnaire. Which came back with a results that barely any women that replied checked there breast for lumps, some less than once a year some saying that they would if they remembered. 

So what I learned from this is that people need a little reminder to check your breasts and how to do it. Something that would fit into there busy lifestyle and also an incentive to to do it. 

 

This link is for breast cancer forums 

http://forum.breastcancercare.org.uk/t5/Younger-women-and-families/bd-p/4449

Breast cancer stories

http://forum.breastcancercare.org.uk/t5/Younger-women-and-families/35-and-diagnosed-yesterday/m-p/856893#U856893

Reconstructive surgery

http://forum.breastcancercare.org.uk/t5/Younger-women-and-families/Surgery-experience/m-p/785676#U785676