Year 12 - Design ideas

In my year 12 coursework I had to create a chair, as the first project, and a lamp as the second. The chair I was creating was inspired by Architecture whereas my lamp had to fit around an Art Deco theme. To give me an idea of what I would make for both I drew design ideas which would then lead to my development of both items. So that my images stood out I went over my images in a fine liner and also added colour to many of the ideas I had.

The shapes I created on this ideas sheet were inspired by different well known architectural buildings, one example being the Gherkin in London. Many of these designs were not realistic but could be a suitable chair once developed. My design sheets were focused on the different shapes that could be created into a chair. The chair also had to be flat packed so I had to think of shapes which could be taken apart for example. Other than it being flat packed, I wanted the chair to be interesting and stand out to other chairs. 

Chair design ideas

On the other hand, for my lamp I had to focus it around Art Deco. I took my ideas from different Art Deco pieces. Some of these being furniture, patterns and fashion.I found looking at Art Deco patterns was the best way of getting shapes to use for my lamp as they were the most decorative and interesting, which is what I wanted. Whilst I was looking at different shapes I was thinking about which shapes had the potential of being turned into a lamp. 

Lamp design ideas

Year 12 - Development

Final development 

I developed this idea from my design ideas because I thought I could create a chair whilst it still looking the the building it was inspired by. I wanted to keep the same shape for each of these development ideas and just change the way the chair would fit together. My favourite idea included the straight bars downwards inside the chair as it was a way of keeping the chair secure when weight is being put on it whilst giving it a clearer look of the exact building. As the chair was in several layers it was easy to disassemble. 

Back-up development

Even though I didn't end up using this idea in the end, it was one of my favourite designs because of the unusual shapes it was made out of. There were many ways I could develop this idea including the way it stood, the arm rests if it was to have any and the back of the chair. I tried to create a few of these designs as models but was very complicated to make and wasn't realistic. The chair also had to be flat packed and these ideas were difficult to manage this. 

I focused on the base shape and how I would position my Art Deco shapes. As the shapes were very decorative I thought it was best to stick with a simple base otherwise it would be too much and could reduce the aesthetics overall. I had a circular base with different coloured layers keeping it fun and interesting. I designed several ways of how the shapes would fit onto the rod, I decided that the top design was most suitable as the lamp would look the same from each angle rather than there only having one side with a design.

Lamp developments

On this development sheet I focused on the Art Deco shapes again as well as the shape of the tubing. Unfortunately due to having only school machinery I wasn't able to create many of these ideas such as the tubing with 2 other tubes attached. However, one of my developments was to bend each of the shapes which I could have done but this would then restrict the lighting coming through the tubing so I didn't think it was as suitable. 

Year 12 - Final products

My final products were in my opinion a success and followed each criteria given well. Although I only created prototypes for my chair, I used 2D Design to create each layer of the chair making everything accurate. I then used the laser cutter to cut each individual piece out. For the lamp there were many more processes, which included again 2D Design and the laser cutter, but also sticking the acrylic together with Araldite and soldering the circuit to make it secure and safe.

Chair prototypes

The chairs I made were easy to make because the only things needed to be cut out on the laser cutter where all the same pieces so everything was able to be layered up to create the right width for the chair. Other than the fluted board used for the different layers, for one of my designs I used dowel to keep all the layers in place, this idea was my least favorite as it didn't look aesthetically pleasing. However, the second design was my favourite as it still looked like the building the chair was influenced by.

Lamp -  final product

The lamp project was my main project of year 12 as I got to create the actual product rather than just the prototype. The main material I used for my lamp was acrylic as there were a great range of colours to choose from. Before I created the final product, I cut my shapes which I designed on 2D Design from fluted board so I could make alterations if anything needed changing. The lamp was aimed at teenagers which was made to be a bedside lamp. The lamp was fit for purpose due to the bubble rod going through the middle lit up brightly.

Work experience - Creating logos

To start my work experience in the graphic studio, my task was to create nail polish packaging for a business called "Geek Beauty - Beauty Lab" The first thing I did was to create several logos which would be suitable for the packaging. My initial thought was to make the logo fun and interesting to fit in with the target market and product. The fonts I created were especially girly and pretty-looking to target young and teenage girls.

The logo I decided to create onto the actual packaging of the nail polishes would then be created to scale on Adobe Illustrator. I had several favorite ideas especially the fonts which were curly and handwritten based. However, as I was only on work experience I was limited to the fonts I could use so I decided the best idea was to go with the a modern font and to make it eye catching by having each letter in brightly coloured circles to represent nail polish colours

Work experience - Geek Beauty Lab

 These are my final designs for the Geek Beauty Lab nail polish packaging. I made sure that I kept with a theme so that the packaging looked clean and well put together. On the sides of the boxes I created an interesting pattern which would make the box look eye catching and also symbolises the logo.

For the front of the packaging, I kept with a colour theme - red, pink and purple. I did this as I thought the colours represented nail polishes very well and were also considered as girly. The font I used for the inside of the logo was simple and modern yet effective as it can easily be read and stands out from the colours each colour is associated with.

On the other hand, the back of the packaging was black and had the opposite font colour white to make everything stand out and easy to read. Although I didn't put the pattern down the sides of the packaging like I did on the front, I added it into the corner so it followed the theme well and gave the packaging higher aesthetics. I enjoy the back of the packaging as I think it looks fun and very suitable for young girls and teens.

Work experience - Uniflora

My second task, which took up most of my week in the graphic studio, was to design a logo, website and a van design for a flower shop named "Uniflora" The client wanted a completely new logo due to their old one being too simple and boring. I created a brighter and funner flower logo which then went on to a website and van design I created. I used only the software Abode Illustrator when making these designs.

Unifloras old logo

New Uniflora logo

Uniflora is a new company based in Dubai so I was able to take part in a task internationally. The client asked for different formats, I designed the company’s letter head which needed to include their address and contact details. Also I created the business cards and compliment slips. I made sure I designed both sides of these formats, one of them with a solid colour and the other side white. I made sure the logo stood out on both different backgrounds so I changed the colour of the logo too so none of the colours were clashing.

Van design

The client asked for a van design which would be suitable to use for the deliveries they would make. As the company is flower based I included flowers around the vehicle so people would be aware of the type of company Uniflora was. To make the van stand out even more the front of the van was a solid purple, this would represent the company more due to the great range of colours flowers are.

Website

For the website I created, I used the same colour scheme by using purple to give it a modern, clean look. I also used the flowers which are on the logo to represent the company and to make the website more fun whilst improving its aesthetics. The client asked for specific links to go on the website which were: home, build a bouquet, about, gallery and contact. Other than these links I created my own to make the site easy to access for example: summer, gifts and offers

Year 13 - Design ideas

I am currently working on a project where I am creating an up-cycled beach bag. Although I have not finished it yet, I have recently finished the rapid ideas which will give me an idea of how I want my bag to look. I focused specifically on the shape of the bag which would be focused around teenagers and younger women. My bag also has a theme which is Japanese Street Fashion, so I tried to create the bag looking more unique and eye catching.