Tigerprint Pattern Design Competition Responsive OUIL505: Orlaith Conlon
I decided to take part in this competition brief because I haven’t yet explored the realms of pattern design and I want ed to challenge myself. The brief itself is very open and fun, it asks you to explore mark making and use Spring/Summer trends and palettes to inform the design. The company themselves are very interesting, based in Yorkshire and London it seems they work primarily for Marks & Spencer’s and run monthly competitions for them to source new work which is a crafty way to drum up new talent and buy work for the low-low price of £200 pounds, but hay, I’m still applying! I took each design as a spontaneous fun project to explore mark making and then fitted the results into designs which I felt fit a Spring/Summer aesthetic. I submitted the maximum amount of entires I could, which was five, and I feel like all of the patterns answer the brief in different ways. In terms of audience I didn’t focus on what Marks & Spencer’s as a company are already doing at the moment but I did bare in mind their demographic which is the 55+ female and found some research beforehand which suggested this demographic of shopper wanted to be more challenged and stimulated by this company, which gave me the confidence to not stifle myself within my designs. This brief was a great introduction for me into surface pattern design, I’ve grown a confidence that I want to challenge with the more technical aspects of pattern design.
Research into Marks & Spencers typical shopper was helpful in establishing a tone. The YouGov profile website has very detailed information on areas such as lifestyle, compatible brands and even personality. I also found some articles which displayed critisism toward M&S from the point of view of the key demographic, this was interesting in establishing what the brand is missing or what could be challanged. *Articles all date from past two years.
Spring Bluebird- Finger painting & hog brush Pro: Fitting to Spring brief. Pro: Bold take on traditional bird patterns, challanges demographic. Pro: Balanced & light, Con: Doesn’t challenge the mark-making aspect of the brief enough.
Dahlia- Black dip pen with soft pastels Pro: Spring colour palette. Pro: New take on traditional polka dot. Pro: Airy Con: Doesn’t push the possibles of the colour palette enough.
Flower Splash- Ink & wax resist applied with sponge. Pro: Vibrant & happy. Pro: Interesting texture’s stop this feeling too flat. Pro: Appropriate for both Spring & Summer. Con: Pattern sample may be too large, I would like to try a scaled down version.
Chunky Chalk- Pavement chalk on ink wash on cold pressed watercolour paper. Pro: Great texture from the resistance of the media. Pro: Incorporates black to challenge Spring palette. Pro: Would suit outdoor material/furnishings. Con: Maybe too young for the intended demographic, may be more suited to a children’s range within the store.
Seaside- Dried brush & ink/ gouache & sable brush/dip pen & ink. Pro: Playful and exciting. Pro: Contrasting colours work well & feel balanced. Pro: Instantly Spring/ Summer. Con: I would like to see a larger scale version of this to fully realise it’s potential.
Unused Texture Experiments
Leaf Stamp made with a flattened copper wire curled and shaped then dipped into ink.
I was really disappointed with the result of this, I abandoned it as the quality was so low.
Leather Belt dipped into ink. I had hoped the ink would pick up some of the design on the belt, instead it just slipped off.
Glove finger dipped into pink & white acrylic.
Old glued up fan brush and ink.
I wasn’t expecting much from a wool glove and paint but I quite liked these, they just didn’t find an appropriate place in my work.
These were super fun to draw and it was great to re-use a previously abandoned tool, I did try and fit these into my last pattern design but it looked out of place.
Live on the Tigerprint website with social media page included.