Looking Back

I am supposed to reflect on the first half of the semester in this posting.  It has really been a roller coaster of sorts, with big ups and big downs.  Finally after six weeks I am coming to understand there is in fact a method to the madness of this class, but it took a really long time to get there.  I began frustrated in general with this design class because I felt we really got off to a slow start, and I wasn't sure how the first few projects related to interior design.  And despite going through a pack of xacto blades, curbing my self-hatred at my lack of any knowledge to do with Creative Suite, and coming up with a final presentation that looked like a three year old made it, I have in fact leaned more than I expected about the design process.  Specifically, how detail oriented it is.  I think this profession will reward those with strict organization skills, and a strict attention to details, both of which are processes I need to put a little more effort in to.  But  I also learned how much of a struggle the design process can be, or how straight forward it can be.  I think the line between the potential for struggle or ease of the process really stems from the strength of the design idea.  If it is a mediocre idea it really falls apart during the design process.  But, if it is a strong design idea it holds up very well from one design aspect to the next.  The strength of the idea really becomes apparent in the design process.

On a side note I have really come to understand how time consuming this professions has the potential to be.  I cannot at this point imagine designing an entire room, let alone a house or a building.  There is so much thought that has to be incorporated into any given space, that any time I see an interior I like it now reminds me of the headache the designer must have swam through in order to get to that final finished product.  I am also getting a little nervous about what the design process would look like if you had to cater your designs to a client's taste.  I am no way excited about that process.

Overall I think this class up until this point has been successful at teaching me how to think differently about design, a feat that is probably more valuable than memorizing standard dimensions in space planning techniques.  It is not what I expected, but it is pretty interesting to feel the effects of learning a new way to view the world, or at least the interior spaces of the world.

The Shelf and the busts

I wanted to include my sketches so far for my shelving unit for my boxes.  I am thinking that I will make this out of black bristol with the shiny black coating as a finish, I was also thinking that I could pop the underside of the shelves with a bright emerald green to add a little color.  I was going to stack the boxes vertically like books between two bookends on both the top and bottom shelves, and then have them open on display in the middle.  I think my biggest challenge is going to be making the busts and not the shelving system.  

I want the risers to be thin, like I drew here, but the support legs to be wider and have a soft curve, reminiscent of French antique furniture

Ok these busts are going to be pretty tricky to make.  I would love for them to be constructed out of plaster, but my sculpting skills never developed, so I am thinking more of a two-dimensional, or abstraction, of what the busts would look like, we will see how that goes though.

And were off... Design Project #4

Now that the container is done and we are finished with our crits we have been handed a new project, create a display for our container(s).  It can be either a counter top display or a floor display, and as per normal, we have to relate the design of the display to our object and to its container.  I decided with the way this class is progressing I see a full on store design coming up, so I need to create a display that would work well into a room or a shop, so literally I am restrained by the parameters within a normal retail space, such as ceiling height.  Therefore, the display unit must not be too grand to fit inside a store with 8 foot ceilings.  I like the idea of taking a classic antique display and reinventing it with modern day finishes, like a Lucite shelving system, similar to the way Kartell reinvented the French antique (see photo below). Although, finding a way to cut curves into a shelving system may prove difficult and are certainly outside of my finish level with my handy dandy Xacto knife and my Alvin cutting mat.

Photo From www.allmoden.com

 So after an afternoon of calling around to the available plastics manufacturers, I was able to find out that this shelving system of mine would cost an arm and a leg and also that they would most likely only be able to cut the shelves out of acrylic sheets, and not the legs, because they can only cut on 90 degree angles.  So my Lucite shelving system went out the window about as quickly as it came in.  So, now I have to come up with a way to make the shelving system out of chip board, and then cover it in the same glossy black paper I used on my box.  Also, as part of my design I thought I could create a plaster bust of some sort based on the silhouette I used in my container.  Except that the silhouette would be used as a bookend and and I would be able to use the jewelry boxes as books, and stack them.  Prof. Anderson liked this idea, so I pulled some pictures together to constitute my design inspiration for this project.  I especially like the idea of popping a color on the shelves, like a bight Emerald green, so I included some rooms that had that sort of black and green color combination.  Please see my design inspiration collage below:

Photo Collage of Various design elements and furniture

Adding some sketches for project #3

I just wanted to add some photos I took of my sketches of project 3.  The photos go in order from my first design idea (the hat box) and then go through some ideas I discarded before I created the models (see the quadrafoil?), until finally I came up with the idea for the final design for the box.

Sketches of hat box idea

Sketches of hat box with some different color combos

Sketches of different box ideas, square, quadrafoil, picture box

Oval Box  Envelope Box Sketch

This last photo is of the final box, with some different ideas for color I had.

I also wanted to post some of the comments I received from my piers during the pier critique in class.  I wish I had received more comments giving me ideas on how to improve the design.  However, the comments I did receive made me feel pretty happy with the success of my design.  People really clearly understood my message of old and new merging together.  In fact, my favorite comment was from someone who just wrote the word, "timeless" for their comment, which is EXACTLY what I was going for.  Someone else wrote, "Elegant, regal. Love that the necklace is depicted on the silhouette! Allows you to imagine wearing the necklace."  Someone else wrote, "Great job! I really think you captured the "timeless" quality. The black and white and silhouette work really well together and evoke elegance, femininity, and the necklace without referencing any particular time."  A few people did say they thought that the size of the box was bulky, and while I agree the size could be smaller, I really wanted the necklace to have room to hang within the box, instead of having to be folded into a smaller space, as if the box was made just for the necklace.  (which it was).  

Final Box, Finally!!!

Since my last post I thought of a design, bought the materials, spent about 20 hours building my box, and then finally turned it in last Tuesday.  Here is the final submission:

So, as you can see I decided to stick with the black and white, revamp the non-descriptive female advertisement in the form of a silhouette, and put it together with a clean, simple box.  The black was just a glossy black finish, and the white was a glossy, pearlized paper.  I liked the idea of the double frame and the look too once it was together.  I added the gold necklace to pictorally suggest and tie in the necklace.  I had a really difficult time hinging the box, so I used a black ribbon on the back to create the hinge.  I am really happy with the overall design, I really liked the way it looked and would certainly be able to translate this box to multiple iterations of antique jewelry, not just my necklace.  I think I finally was able to come up with a design that spoke both of the old and of the new and with that I am most happy.  It is funny because I came up with a finite problem and gave it a designed solution, and that is the acheivement I am most proud of.  However, the final box gave me some difficulty, I should have applied the paper to the exterior edges after I scored and folded the corners, it would have been a little cleaner.  I also should have reinforced the interior hinge of the box, because as of yesterday it was already tearing.  I had some difficulty figuring out how the necklace was goign to sit within the confines of the box.  I finally decided to use the interior of a roll of tape, glue it to a square piece of chip board, stretch black velvet over the top, and then add bendable wire covered in velvet to act as arms to hold the necklace.  See below:

Once I submitted this box for crit on Tuesday I found out that we were doing a peer critique in class.  I felt pretty confidant about this because what I lacked in precise construction I think I made up for with the aesthetics of the design.  It turns out that I was right.  My peers really liked the box, which was more rewarding than any grade from a professor.  One student even wrote that they thought the box was, "timeless".  Which is exactly what I was trying to convey through my design.  Someone else also mentioned endearing, which is how I viewed the design too.  I am really happy with the comments and feedback I received.  Unfortunately, with the good news comes the bad, and now I have a new assignment to work on.  Stay tuned for my initial ideas.

Desperate

It's late and I am not able to sleep because I am really bothered that I cannot find a creative packaging idea in my head ofter two weeks and four models that conveys this idea of timelessness.  I feel like I am still at square one with this project.  I spent saturday scavenging the aisles of Michael's, AC Moore, G Street Fabrics, and Joanne Fabrics to no avail.  Exasperated I went to the mall and went into every jewelry store/department store in the homes that some supreme idea would waft its way into my thick skull.  I have what ever the equivelent of writer's block is but with design, maybe designers block.  Yes, that's it, I have designer's block.  Officially.  I have done so much just to realize how little I have come.  I need to add the photos of the other models I made, so below take a look.  Again, as with the first model, please keep in mind I was only looking for a shape that would work. 

Image of circular model

Ok, so here I decided after the French label box to go back and try at least to make a model of my original idea (the hat box) it its most basic form, the circle.  After making it though I realized I had just made a round box in an attempt to make a hat box.  This round box was no different though than any candy box, or anything else for that matter.  I also made an awful attempt to create the insert for how the necklace would lay inside of the box, here is the result (its very crude):

Circle Model Box Insert

Those lines were Prof. Anderson's attempt to try and teach me how to more cleanly create an insert, which I really appreciated.  I feel sort of desperate for any instruction at this point, so even if she is teaching me how to make an insert I probably won't end up using in my final model, I am really grateful for the lesson.  My next model was more traditional; instead of trying to reinvent the box, I just build a box and tried to come up with some ideas on how that box will be unique.  I decided on a box that hinged up to reveal the necklace, inside of a more temporary packaging that was like an envelope that just carried the box inside.  Here is the result:

I liked the envelope box the best, because I thought it had some clean, minimalistic lines and because I like the idea of the flap opening to reveal the box within.  However, I still for the life of me cannot justify how this relates to my necklace, or how any box will relate to my necklace.  I have tried a ton of different shapes here.  I even thought to do a quadrafoil until Prof. Anderson told me that it was the trademark of a modern day jewelry company, Van Cleef Arpel.  Great, I am lost.  I even had a discussion on the basics I know of what consists classic.  Maybe I should reiterate them here.  First of all when I think classic I think of black and white, as a color combination.  I think of a pearl necklace against Jackie O's bubble gum pink Chanel suit.  I think of the french twist (yes the hair style).  Finally, I think of pretty much everything Audrey Hepburn.  How these relate I do not know.  How I can relate them to my necklace I do not know.  I wish I had a Tinkerbell of design wishes in my pocket and hopefully the idea would just flash into my skull.  I know I really like the idea of a silhouette, like the ones from my original advertisement, but more old school, like a real profile silhouette.  I also like the idea of the black and white contrast here.  But I cannot have a box of just a black and white silhouette, can I?  I am lost, tired, and stressed!  Welcome to GW grad school right?  I really want to do well on this project, I just feel like nothing cohesive or even legitimate has struck me yet. Maybe sleeping on it will help.  Otherwise I will have to make that envelope container that I cannot even begin to rationalize how it relates to my product.  Stay tuned... 

Design Project #3, Models

This past week I have really struggled with my quest to create a box that speaks to the "timeless" aspect of my necklace.  How exactly does a container say timeless?  In my brainstorming I had the thought that timeless equated to classic.  So, I was trying to create a container with a classic shape.  I was also trying to make a container that spoke to the feminine aspects of the necklace, especially considering the heritage behind the item; four generations of women in my family have handed this item down from one generation to the next.  I had to then come up with a shape of a container that while spoke to the timelessness of the necklace also would have been available in the original era where the necklace was created.  To me, that meant that my container could not be completely minimalistic and modern, because that would not have existed when my great-grandmother was alive. So I tried for a vintage, feminine shape first.  I thought soft curves would speak to the feminine aspect of the locket.  After a little online perusing, I found the shape that appealed to me, the French label.

Image From www.acharmingchest.com

 I found this image of a compilation of a few different French labels.  Thought the colors are distracting, the shapes are really what I was looking for.  Some of the shapes are more friviluous than I was looking for, and others were overly simplistic.  I finally settled on this shape to create my model:

French Label Model

 Upon presenting this first model in class for desk crits, I was told that it really speaks to a vintage or antique era, rather than a timeless theme.  Also, the corners probably would not hod up for a very long time as they are sharp and not made of a very durable material(I made this first model out of Bristol).  I personally was happy with the shape, but not the effect, as the box and the necklace do not speak the same language. They do are not reflective of each other.  I am really struggling with an idea of how to create a container that can sufficiently reflect the necklace.