Image//Scale/Frame/Format//Designs.

After my initial research, and generating some simple hand-rendered pattern ideas in my sketchbook, I turned to generating some vector-based design for my final A2 poster which will later go on to be screenprinted (on Wednesday night at the Vernon Street drop in session, time permitting).

My initial idea for the one colour plus stock design was to use a warm, autumnal colour with white or cream- perhaps red? Something a little festive and bold- with one of my very initial concept ideas being "Christmas socks"- and knew that the red and white colour combination would work well together in a screenprinted design.

I began working with the length of socks to determine the order of my eye chart, as previously discussed on past posts on my blog- though felt that the length alone perhaps wasn't enough, and therefore went on to define a series of styles to break up each of the lines- 

1/ Ski socks, 2/Hold ups, 3/Knee highs, 4/Ankle socks, 5/Trainer socks- ensuring that the style of socks in terms of pattern was consistent on each of the lines to show that they were part of a "set", and, as a result, ensured that the design as a whole wouldn't look too messy or cluttered. Originally, (image two above) I considered designing the "gentleman's golf sock", though the argyle print was too fussy and bold in comparison with the other styles on the page.

At the level of tired (it's been a very long working weekend), I felt that I needed some back up as to whether or not my design was effectively communicating socks- and whether or not it was clear as a stand alone design piece. I was very happy that it was generally understood- one friend even guessing that it was for an eye test. Crakerjack!

However, one piece of feedback from fellow GD friend, Luis got me thinking that perhaps the red could cause confusion and miscommunication- looking like more of a "Christmas" design than one about socks. Therefore, I decided to play around with different colours, and I found that a dark, navy blue worked well against the white- still bold, yet maintaining interest without being too gender specific.

The final design chosen- played around with the scale just a fraction to enlarge and centralise the design. Ideally, I would have liked to have spent a great deal more time on the design, but with current project demands through other modules, I unfortunately have to prioritise and put these first- though I still intend to spend the time screenprinting the design, not only to add more diversity to my module portfolio, but also to experience the process again (it's been too long!).

Both digital and screenprinted designs will be posted on the blog as and when they are produced before Thursday afternoon's image session.