Assignment 5B

Design Essay Part 2

The brief taken from textiles which I intend to relate with design studies techniques is a brief on ‘Trend Forecasting’. In this brief we had to research new trends for 2010 and 2011 for male, female or children’s wear. There is a magazine in the library called the ‘Textiles View’ where we all chose a trend and had to research from there. I felt design studies made a difference to my way of researching as I did a mind map of all the different things I could look at and where I had more branches, I decided was the best idea. I also learnt from design studies that discussion with peers would help me gain information. Every week we have a seminar with a tutor and 8 other peers where we would talk about our work, and everyone would discuss each other’s work. This helped me a lot with my project. Out with the seminars I would ask people who aren’t art related to view my work and give their opinion to see what they think as I feel a wider audience will give a fresh look to the subject and may give interesting suggestions. These discussions with people are useful but very limited. From all the research methods I have learnt from design studies I would like to incorporate them with my future projects. Another method which was used in our studio was a brain storm of 3 titles, 1 being ‘what do you perceive textile research to be?’ 2’what is your understanding of the design process?’ and 3’what are the skills and knowledge which are different to other students in other disciplines?’ This was very helpful as my peers where pointing things out which I wouldn’t have thought of. Short discussions on each point was also useful because everyone interpreted the points differently also therefore having different points of view on a subject gives you a wider horizon to work from.

Techniques that I used similar to design studies, and carried out from the beginning and throughout my projects, was to look up books in the library for inspiration to see what other people have done. For the trend project in particular I found looking up books, magazines and the internet was very vital in getting the project right because trends are already made up therefore its your own interpretation on the trend which counts. Fashion trends can also change up to four times a year so the internet is a great tool to keep up to date as information online is constantly updated. A technique which I could have carried out was the interviews as I felt this would have benefitted my work. I would have carried out an interview at the beginning of the project because I would have liked to find out what females from the high street would like to wear in the future and to see if they follow trends. I would have a few trends in mind which I would show them as visuals and get them to choose the one they liked best. Using these visuals is a similar idea to the culture probe technique which I haven’t tried out yet, this technique requires making up a pack which could have coloured pens and paper, you would hand them out to people and get them to interpret the subject, and then collect this pack after they are finished. This is a good technique as the participants would have their own space and wouldn’t feel under pressure, it also gives a true reflection of the subject. After the interviews I could take all the common answers and work from that. This technique is very useful because finding first hand information and testing the public makes the project more interesting and gives me a better understanding of the subject. I think interviewing is the best way I can get first hand source on a subject because other techniques such as discussions wouldn’t give you an answer as accurate, it would be more of a guess of what other people might say. Although interviews are not 100% accurate for the whole population, I think combining it with secondary source from books and internet will give me a close indication of what I am looking for. This project is very open for the ways to research the project. Other ways I would gather information would be observation because I could sit and observe people coming out shops or going in shops, what people buy, their body language and listening to what they might say to friends while they are looking at a garment. Groups of people would be very good to observe because in the book ‘Tipping point’ Malcome Gladwell mentions that an observer in London saw a group of people in a flashy place in London wearing shoes by Hush Puppies which made them a new trend. So observing groups of people and what they wear might indicate if something might be the next big trend. After observing these groups of people I could make another set of interviews for groups of people and see what trends influences them and why they buy things.

From this information I would go back and have a discussion with peers to see if new points might be suggested and things I could change or try again.
From all these techniques which I have mentioned, I feel that I could use them throughout all my studies, especially in my dissertation as I have all these techniques behind me to help me gain first hand information. Interaction with people will enhance my interest on a subject and I feel this is very important. The most effective method I find is the interviews because I can adapt and choose questions and participants to suit my area within design. It is also important to know what the participant may feel when you are asking these questions which I have learnt in one of the tasks within Design Studies. This helps me word my interviews so that the participant doesn’t feel uncomfortable or reply with little information. Methods which have been learnt from design studies have been used regularly in the studio as my peers and I have tried out using brainstorming and regularly discuss our work and help each other out and it will continue with in the later years.

Bibliography

M.Gladwell, 2000, The Tipping Point, United States, Little Brown