When completing the first stage of the unit, the group presentation, I felt I contributed some useful ideas as to what we could base our project on. When the group as a whole decided to go in a direction I had very little knowledge of and didn’t really like I fell away and didn’t work as well as I could have in contributing new ideas. I think this was because I was out of my comfort zone in terms of style and concept. As I began researching the basic idea I became much more confident in providing positive and negative feedback to the group as well as suggesting thoughts and processes which I felt would improve the over all concept. I felt my strength in working in a group was allowing others to speak and let their ideas known and push theirs forward as well as contributing my own and making my voice heard. My main weakness is when I am not really sure of an idea or concept I tend to hold back at the beginning and I feel I should have been quicker at pulling ideas together and bringing more structure to the project, something which I feel the group as a whole struggled with. In the future when working in a group I plan to be more organised and forthcoming with my ideas but more open minded to researching and learning about concepts which are not necessarily to my style or ‘taste’. I think it will really help me improve on all areas of my work as I feel I can sometimes be too defined in the work in which I am doing and need to open up more to ideas, concepts and styles which I would not normally look at.
On the overall project I feel my time management has greatly improved since last year, as I had learnt from my mistakes! I set out plans of what needed to be done and when and how it would affect the work I had left to do. I was extremely pleased with the progress of my work when my computer crashed and everything I had already done was lost with only a week before the second part of the project was due in. Unfortunately I had only saved a small amount of research to my memory stick, something I will not be doing in future! As I had to start from scratch I felt extremely pressurised but I didn’t want to let myself down and redrew a plan and started again. I did find it extremely difficult but I pushed through it and made me work even harder. I have now learnt that time management is so important for a successful project and even with the smallest amount of time if you plan it well you can achieve what you set out to.
I was really motivated to do well in this project as it was something I was really enjoying and I wanted to show my ideas to the best of my ability. I tried extremely hard with this project and when I suffered the set back of losing my work it made me even more determined to complete the project well. When working on the first group part of the project which I did not really enjoy I didn’t feel the same amount of motivation which I did when completing my own individual project something which is a huge weakness and I know cannot continue.
When given feedback and advice I always try and take it as it can only improve my work and feel with this project as a whole I did. I didn’t change the initial name of my trend ‘Boudoir’, something which I was advised to do, as I couldn’t think of another suitable name which I liked but with other concerns such as colour scheme, adding darker shades to give more variety I did take the advice and it as I knew it would, it did improve my original colour palette.
I began by researching two completely different ideas for my trend book and once I had gathered enough relevant research to develop my ideas I chose the one I thought would be the most interesting and there was enough information on, saving the one I didn’t use for another time. I researched a number of designers new and old collections, as well as current trends in popular shops and past trends which could be brought back. I tried to gather as much research as I could have to give me a better basis for my trend.
When developing an idea I made the mistake of choosing something I like rather than something which could be predicted from a current climate or event such the olympics in london. I chose to focus on luxury as I think consumers will be buying more expensive items which they can wear for longer than lots of cheap tid bits which fall apart and cant be worn from season to season. By choosing nude as my main colour it will always be fashionable and the luxurious fabrics with last over time. By choosing a wide range of silhouettes from loose, frilly structures to more structured underwear inspired shapes there is a wider variety that can be worn for more than one season and will suit all shapes and sizes.
I really like the overall look of my trend presentation and I think it is visually pretty but I think I could have been more informative with explaining the ideas. Looking back over the project I think I should have explained the finer details more as some slides do look a bit summery rather than the winter season it is intended for. In future I know I need to show my ideas more clearly and be more explanatory in my work.
Overall I am pleased with my project, I know there are a lot of areas which need improving such as communicating ideas but for a first attempt I am pleased with what I have produced. I have always struggled using Photoshop but this project has taught me so much and I know I have greatly improved from last year. I hope to expand the original ideas from my trend book further and continue to use them in the projects I will be completing this year. I feel I have let myself down in terms of explanation and the translation of ideas and hope to improve on this along with my Photoshop skills through out the year.
