Design Basics

After coming up with our combined concept, I decided to focus my designs on having many small words/shapes within single designs as opposed to Phil, who chose to focus on designing using just one word per design in it's entirity.

Some of my initial shape layouts:

Experimenting with Words as Shapes

I'm really pleased with how this project is going. There's so much freedom involved with the whole process and I'm liking how the shapes are each so different from one another. Their placement distorts the natural silhouette which is making us think we should work only with a nude colour palette so the garment becomes an outer skin that has been distorted and emphasised with these random words.

Geometric Shapes to Inform Language & Silhouette

So as we can create a language using geometric shapes, we created an alphabet using shapes similar to those in the experiment, where each shape is unique to one another and each is allocated a letter. This way, when certain letters are pieced together in a 3d form, a word is created on the shoulder, hip, arm etc.


Our shape encoded alphabet:

in order to create words with these shapes, we needed some words, so we randomly selected a number of words from the English Dictionary and went from there....

The words selected are: SLAKE... MEASURE... BLIND... ACHY... BLAME... ORGASM... WARDAY... WHOA... NOSTALGIC... PARENTAL... BAGNIO... VERGE... TRUCK... TRUST...

Here are a couple of the words in their 3d form using our alphabet:

Group Workshop... COLLABORATING OUR IDEAS

Today was a chance for us to spend the day working with each other and collaborating our two ideas and concepts. Philip Lord, who I am working with in this collaborative part of the project, has been looking at miscommunication and misperception within language. Below is a mind map of our ideas of portraying both our concepts through one design idea.






After talking through our individual concepts and ideas, we are both very interested in the pattern cutting techniques in the 'T-Shirt Issue' garments. We both want to take our designs down a pathway of creative and innovative pattern cutting techniques (as opposed to technology) to help inform a language (that we will create) through structure and silhouette. Our aim is to create a 3D form through pattern cutting in a similar way to that of the 'T-Shirt Issue' where in our case, geometric shapes will have meaning and create something else within the garment that may by misinterpreted by the wearer but overall will represent either a word or phrase through a language within the fabric pieces.


We had a play around with simple geometric shapes to create a 3d structure from paper that we placed around the body in order to change the silhouette. Pleased with the result, we made one up, 1/2 scale size in a grey cotton and attached it to a basic front and back dress block.

As you can see from the photos above, in fabric it worked just as well with a nice soft touch to the edges.

Summary Of My Ideas

As language can be portrayed in many different ways through encoding and decoding, as I've found out through my research, my main idea for this project is to create a language within our designs through creative pattern cutting and silhouette. My main interest is to experiment with new and innovative ways of cutting the fabric as opposed to the general flat cutting that we as fashion students are used to.

Laser Cutting... THE T-SHIRT ISSUE

Mashallah Design and Linda Kostowski designed and created three t-shirts that combine a biographical memory and a 3d digital body scan of each of the three people used. The 3d data is turned into a pattern to cut from using an unfolding function which is often used in industrial design processes to make paper models with. The edges are cut using a laser cutter and once constructed, the 2d fabric once again becomes 3d.

No 419: MARKUS

No 378: PAUL

No 318: LINDA

I find this process very intruiging and personal to the wearer as a personal memory is combined in the design. It really is a very innovative way of pattern cutting, and although it's quite a complex process, there is a lot of freedom within the way the pattern is cut.

These pieces make me think more about how I can become more creative with pattern cutting of a simple garment, changing the silhouette of the figure simply by the way the fabric is cut and falls on the body.

Laser Cutting... MARK LIU

After the pattern cutting workshop last week, I've been thinking about how I can use creative pattern cutting in my designs in an innovative way. Following on from laser cutting ideas, I came across designer Mark Liu.

Liu's collection works on the concept of 'Brinkmanship' and uses a technique of cutting the fabric in order to use every last area of it and not a scrap is wasted.

Brinkmanship

-noun

the practice of pushing a dangerous situation to the verge of disaster in order to achieve the most advantageous outcome

The fabric is cut using laser cutting technology and the edges of the pieces are cut to follow lines of the prints which are inspired by a lifestyle of danger and extreme luxury. The pattern pieces are then stitched together along their original construction lines and the excess fabric become outside seams that look a lot like lace.

I really like this innovative way of thinking and it's made me think that there are a lot of boundaries that can be pushed when designing with the aid of laser cutting technology.

Could I create edges that follow the shapes and contours of sign language letters?

Could the edges simply create a message by laser cutting letters into the excess fabric beyond the seam allowance?

Taking My Ideas To The Fabric... LASER CUTTING

When thinking about how I can take these ideas to the fabric, my research made me think about cutting techniques and ways the fabric can be cut not only within pattern cutting but also within the fabric itself. One idea I had was using laser cutting to project my idea of code and language within my designs. Laser cutting can create some great shapes and shaddows within a garment when not fully cut away. Here are a couple of examples af laser cutting within fabric.

I really like how this one creates windows and I was thinking I could develop something like this into my designs where a code or message can be seen through these windows. The one below shows how the laser cut areas can create their own shapes and 3d elements to a design.



As code and language is one of my main concepts, I began to think how I can involve this within my designs and I like the idea of using the laser cutting technique to remove a message (in morse code for example). This way, the fabric will have two meanings, when the correct way round, the message could be figured out if realised it is in fact a hidden message and when the incorrect way round, it merely portrays an interesting, intricate pattern.

I found this image below of a scarf that is made entirely of letters using laser cutting technology. This is a basic idea of the kind of thing I wish to develop.

More Work by JK Keller

How To Photograph A Design Poster
This photograph is of Keller holding up a poster of 90 other photographs all linked together of other designers holding up their posters which he has cut out.



I find this piece interesting as it leaves you with an air of curiosity as to what the posters were of.

If I choose to use code or language as a visual in the form of morse code or sign language, maybe I could erase sections of the words by cutting away the fabric.


Harmen Liemburg Lecture Poster
This poster is created using plastic letters to form a shape and image.

What I like about this is that the letters used could actually form sentences or a code could be used to almost hide a message in the face.

Repetition Over Time... DAILY PHOTO PROJECT

I previously posted a piece by artist and blogger JK Keller. After looking at more of his work, i found this piece named 'Living My Life Faster'. It is a video consisting of a daily photo of his appearance over eight years, 1998-2006. This video also has the same effect as a game of chinese whispers as the main structure of his face very rarely changes and it's just his hair and slight facial differences that occur.

Repetition Over Time... CHINESE WHISPERS

Going back to the Decode exhibition and the Troika: Digital Zoetrope exhibit, I wanted to look at how sound can be misinterpreted as the writing does in Troika when broken up into code. I also wanted to look at how the use of repetition over a period of time can cause slight changes due to misinterpretation or the general duration of time.

Here is a video I've found of an advert celebrating 250 years of Guiness. Within the advert, the cheer shouted out at the begining becomes more and more altered as people repeat it and as time goes on. Each person repeats what they have just heard, or in some cases, what the mind wants them to hear and as a reult, the end cheer differs greatly from the original almost like the game chinese whispers.




Could my designs only portray minor changes from one to the next in a similar way to a chinese whisper?

Maybe the way the fabric is cut in a subtraction cutting method, the shapes used to make the tunnel could vary slightly from one to the next and even the positioning could alter slightly as this will result in a different outcome of garment each time.

Hidden Messages... 3D STEREOGRAMS & ANAGLYPH IMAGES

An idea I've thought of to present a hidden message within a garment is within the fabric print itself. The print could be a stereogram where it becomes 3d when viewed through a red lens. Therefore the original image is distorted and unrealistic but becomes realised when viewed through a lens.

Stereogram
–noun
1. a diagram or picture representing objects in a way to give the impression of solidity

2. a two-dimensional image which, when viewed correctly appears three-dimensional

Anaglyph
-noun
1. An ornament carved in low relief.
2. A moving or still picture consisting of two slightly different perspectives of the same subject in contrasting colours that are superimposed on each other, producing a three-dimensional effect when viewed through two correspondingly coloured filters.

Maybe the garment could come with red lensed glasses so only yourself or other wearers in possesion of the garment can read the hidden message. A more wearable way could be to have a multi layered outfit where the under layer is printed with the stereogram and the over layer could have sections cut away using laser cutting techniques and the red film would be visible through these cut out areas allowing the stereogram underneath to become 3d in these areas.

How to create a stereogram:

• Print hidden image in light blue or reddish gray ink.
• Avoid using think lines or solid areas.
• An open face type font can be hidden easier than a bold type face.
• Spread the image across the entire area covered by the mesh background.
• A larger image is more difficult to identify without the use of a viewer.
  

Silent....

"OUR LIVES BEGIN TO END THE DAY WE BECOME SILENT ABOUT THINGS THAT MATTER."
-Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

This quote made me think that even though one or more of your senses may not work, such as your sight or your hearing, there is no reason for us to not communicate with one another.

Why should this not also be possible in fashion and garments?

Why should our clothes not speak to us, whether that be literal or through form, shape etc?

Sign Language... GOABOVE.COM

Sign Language Tour
The artist behind this work goes by the name 'Above' on video streaming and blogger sites. His website, goabove.com illustrates in more detail his work through quotes, photos and videos.

"When I was 17 I would skateboard with my friend Larry. He swore that I had Tourette's Syndrome because I used the 4-letter word a lot. I didn't believe him then, but now I see what he was talking about."

'Above' visited 26 countries on a five month "SIGN LANGUAGE TOUR" around Europe. 'Above' was hanging his Word/Play arrow mobiles that spin around to create a form of silent motion Sign Language. Some of them state the obvious, whilst others are a little more daring to say what others think but prefer not to say.

"BIG/BRO"

Barcelona, Spain 2006

"OHHH/SHIT"

Paris, France 2006

"SHOE/TREE"

The Nevada Desert, USA 2004

Sign Language... SIGNS AS A LANGUAGE

Sign Language
I came across this short film aptly named 'Sign Language' which has been chosen as a competition finalist for short films in the workplace.



This film me me think more about signs themsleves being a language as opposed to sign language itself. Signs surround us every day and most of them we don't even notice as they're so normal in our environment. It's only when something changes or often is new and unrecognisable that our eyes are drawn to it.

Sign Language... COMMUNICATION FOR THE DEAF

Sign language is a form of communication between those part of a deaf community. It greatly touches on our senses when communicating through sign language as the speakers must translate their words to hand signals. It involves the use of certain hand, arm and body signals all of which individually mean something. Often the use of facial expressions is also used in order to convey the speakers thoughts.

Could sign language sybols be incorporated into my work?

Below is an example of sign language symbols being portrayed through the use of matchsticks in American matchbooks as a piece of art by artist and blogger by JK Keller.


Going with the idea that sign language could be used with garments, maybe the fabric could be folded and cut in ways that represent the individual sybols similar to that of the example above.

Morse Code... ABSTRACTED ART

Les Bell: The Morse Code Series

The title of each of his pictures in this series are all taken directly from the subject matter and the title is turned into morse code. The code is then drawn onto paper in a variety of styles of dots and dashes and colour is applied to portray the right mood and feeling for the painting.

An abstract image is then created using computer manipulation and the final painting is taken from this in either oils, acrylics or mixed media. The paintings have each been derived from language, to code, manipulated through computer technology and finally to paint.

I like these pieces as they have a hidden message within them which is not obviously visible at first sight.

Morse Code...THROUGH ART

Portrait of Samual Morse in Morse Code
This piece by artist Ken Knowlton creates an image of a person through the sole use and placement of morse code letters. I find this piece really clever and thought provoking as it makes me think about what can be illustrated using code.



Morse Code Forever
This piece by artist Ward Cunningham, shows a very perspective point of view, with rings of continuous morse code letters. I find this piece quite repetitive and almost like the Troika exhibit at decode where code is repetitive around a circumference and only forms words, in this case, when worked out. I think the use of morse code within my designs would work quite well if it was to contain hidden messages within the fabric.

Morse Code...THE BASICS

Morse code is a method of communication of which can be heard, seen or read. Each letter has it's own combination of 'dots' and 'dashes' or 'dits' and 'dahs'. Above is an image of a group of men leaning the morse code and below is a table to show each letters value.

Subtraction Cutting Workshop

On Wednesday, we as a class, split into pairs and between our pairs created a half scale dress all of which followed the same process but each had a different outcome. The pattern cutting process we followed was a new technique known as 'subtraction cutting' and 'tunnel method'.

Julian Roberts is the man behind the creativity of this innovative new process and he has shown that with experimentation, it can create some beautiful silhouettes on all areas of the body. It is a process that is hard to realise at first, but with visual aids, it all becomes clear.


HOW?

A front and back bodice block is needed and also a pattern of a circumference circle of the widest part of the body. Two lengths of contrasting fabrics (for a more creative visual) are to be cut at least 40cm wide and 100cm long (for half scale). These measurements can be greater depending on the wanted outcome.

A sack is made from the fabric by stitching three of the four sides together. The front and back bodice are traced out onto the fabric with the shoulder seams facing each other. Lines are drawn to join the underarm seams together. The empty space is then cut away from the top layer.

For every tunnel in the dress, two circles must be cut away and the raw edges are sewn together from the inside of the dress. When stitched, these then create the tunnels that will go over the body. The front and back bodices are sewn together from the underarm to the end of the opening.

The lining is then stitched together down the sides and slipped over the dress with right sides together. Shoulder seams are sewn together, armholes are sewn together front to back and front and back neck seams are also sewn shut. The dress is then turned the right way round and the lining must go through the tunnels so that they would go around the body and the hem overlocked together.

THOUGHTS?

I really enjoyed this technique as it was unusual and very innovative. What I liked most about the 'tunnel technique' and subtraction cutting was that the final outcome was to be a mystery as each turned out completely different with only minor differences between the layouts of the bodice pieces and circumference circles. With experimentation of this technique, I think the outcome could become more predicted with a greater knowledge of what results the placement of the tunnels create.

I would very much like to experiment more with this and also with the shape of the tunnels as Roberts states that as long as the circumference is large enough, the shape can be anything. Even at this early stage in my project, I feel that I would like to incorporate this form of cutting in my designs.

Decode: Digital Design Sensation... NETWORKS

The Listening Post 2003
Not shown at the V&A museum, but part of the Decode exhibition is an exhibit called 'The Listening Post' by artists Mark Hansen and Ben Rubin. This is a wall made up of hundreds of small screens of which uncensored snapshots taken from real-time, public internet chat rooms and bulletins individually scroll across one of the tiny screens. The Listening Post 'sings' various snapshots and the whole screen allows you to experience an extraordinary snapshot of the internet and gain a great sense of the humanity behind the data.



After researching this piece, I've found out that it is on show at the Science Museum until the end of 2010 and I've become really intruiged by it and would love to see it in person. The Listening Post plays with a number of our personal senses as it draws you in to watch and listen to it very carefully in order to not miss anything.

Decode: Digital Design Sensation... CODE

In this section of the exhibition, I found it helped fuel my ideas for the use of code or misinterpreted words within language and communication. Some of my favourites are detailed below.

Troika: Digital Zoetrope 2008
In this exhibit, a bespoke computer programme controls the pulsing light emitted from the centre of the zoetrope, making the fractured typeface (broken into verticals, horizontals and diagonals which merge into letters and words at speed) readable.



The text relates to individual experiences of living in London and is repeated around the circumference of the zoetrope. Some Examples:

"a year ago...from spain...in film...opportunities...cold...expensive...my own company...better and better"

"Italy...7 years ago...first job...people liked it...Harper's Bazaar"

What is a zoetrope?

• zoetrope
  –noun
  a device for giving an illusion of motion, consisting of a slitted drum that, when whirled, shows a succession of images placed opposite the slits within the drum as one moving image.
• Origin: 1867, lit. "wheel of life," from Gk. zoe "life" + trope "turn"
  

Having looked up the definition and origin of the word 'zoetrope', I am inspired by how the exhibit is almost directly literal to the origin of the word translated as 'wheel of life', as the sentences that become readable are all individual experiences of living in London, repeated around a wheel.

The Troika exhibit was probably one of my favourites as I found it quite memorising to watch and intriguing as you wait for the words to appear. Also, it works quite well with my initial idea of repetition and code.

Lia: Arcs 21 2009

The arcs that build up over time on the screen are a set of pre-determined programming rules. Once the screen is filled with arcs, the screen becomes blank and a new set of arcs are restarted by the programme.

What I like about this piece is that the individual arcs layer over one another and gradually build up over time leading the colour to continuously intensify. I also like how many of the arcs are quite discreet at developing and it's only when you look closely that you can see them appearing.

Decode: Digital Design Sensation.... INTERACTIVITY

Upon visiting the Decode exhibition, I was very impressed and inspired by the interactive exhibits. I enjoyed how they allowed the viewer to be involved and I liked the idea that they were constantly changing depending on the user and their actions. Some of my favourites in this section were:


Mehmet Atken: Body Paint 2009


Body Paint allows you to paint on a virtual canvas with your own body. Each individual movement is converted to the wall with a colour of paint.

Could this be transformed to fabric in the form of a print in relation to body movement?


Ross Phillips: Video Grid 2009


This exhibit is made up of 25 squares each replaying a one second video clip. These are constantly changing as new visitors take part, becoming a ongoing collaborative piece of artwork.

Video Grid made me think about repitition as the one second clip plays over and over until someone selects to change it. Also the use of personal actions once again.

Initial Thoughts

I am initially drawn to the idea of involving the wearers senses into my designs through live or previous interaction with their sound or movement for example, and the fabric. Maybe the way the fabric is cut could depend on the mood at the present time.

As a language is 'seen as a particular kind of system for encoding and decoding information,' I looked up the definitions of encode and decode,

ENCODE
–verb (used with object)
to convert (a message, information, etc.) into code.

DECODE
–verb (used with object)
1. to translate (data or a message) from a code into the original language or form.
2. to extract meaning from (spoken or written symbols).
3. Television. to unscramble (an electronic signal) so as to provide a video picture for cable subscribers.


From these definitions, it led me to think about how we also use our senses through language and other communication methods such as:

• braille (touch)
• sign language (sight)
• the morse code (sound and often sight of signals)

These methods of communiction are all a form of encoding and decoding information as the message is turned into a code by the sender and once again turned back into the message by the receiver.

I've been advised by my tutor to visit the 'Decode: Digital Design Sensation' exhibition at the V&A museum in London. As my initial thoughts are very vague at the minute, before I can develop them any further I feel I need to see this exhibition for myself as it is split up in sections named, CODE, INTERACTIVITY and NETWORK and I am hopeful that this will help expand my ideas.

Innovation Design Briefing...

A language is a particular kind of system for ENCODING and DECODING information.

During this project, you will explore the idea of LANGUAGE and COMMUNICATION.

Interaction through TOUCH, SOUND, MOVEMENT and DIALOGUE should be explored and inform RESEARCH PATH.

Your research should then seek to inform a DESIGN PROCESS that reflects a DIRECTIONAL and FORWARD APPROACH that encompasses INNOVATION within CUTTING, FABRIC and DESIGN.