Stevies art and design blog

One of my favorite side projects was the design of my business card, which was initially spurred by a course assignment at the Level 3 Art and Design Extended Diploma. I decided that rather than simply designing a conventional card, I would approach the business card as a UX problem, understand the ideal use of business cards by real users, and then design a card that would uniquely serve those needs. I only had about one week to design the cards, so I tried to keep the research and design process as simple and focused as possible. Even cursory research (and personal experience) showed me that the primary goal of the business card was to be informative, memorable, and ideally actually kept by the recipient of the card. Therefore, I researched the habits of those who were most effective at retaining and later using business cards, as well as the cognitive influences on impressions of people and on retaining objects and information.

My first Business Card was a corporate business card I designed from card.
This is it below.

My Second Business Card was a Creative business card that was a heat transfer onto cotton.
The image is below...

FMP Evaluation

For my FMP (final major project) i focused on the 3D side of interior designing and designing my own home interior lamp. I chose to focus my project on sea life because I enjoy the colours and looking closely at different type of sea life. I decided to focus my project just on jellyfish, as they are bright and vibrant. Therefore I made a 'Jellyfish inspired spiral lamp' which contrasted with a sea life interior design theme very well.
After thinking about the project I have now completed I feel I managed my time for my sketchbook quite efficiently and consistent. Sketchbook work has never been one of my strongest points as I never know where to start, what needs to be included etc. If I had to do my sketchbook work again I definitely would do a lot more research what to add into my sketchbook as well as do a lot more annotation on each page.
The research I undertook throughout this project was primary research which included going to the 'Blue planet Aquarium' to take photos of the different type of sea life, ranging from, small fish, to giant sharks, and jellyfish, as well as turtles and snails, there was so much to see in such a small time. I also undertook research for secondary research which included me going onto google images and searching different type of lamps, bulbs and jellyfish as well as different types of artists. I drew a few observational studies throughout my sketch book by drawing and extending photos. I developed my research doing different type of mood boards to show an understanding of how to create a jelly fish inspired lamp.
The artists/designers I have chosen to support my project is Pierre Yovanovich who is an interior designer, Marcia Baldwin who is a sea life inspired artist and Jenny Blanc who is a interior designer.
The critical studies I have created relating to elements of art and design is texture, for my samples/final piece I used sycamore which is a type of wood, which is a rough wood until it is sanded down and made smooth to touch. I also used MDF to show different textures it would create if I used a different material to make my lamp. For my final piece/ lamp I used a varnish as it gives a shiny and smooth touch to finish it off. In my sketchbook I achieved a lot of colours for backgrounds that where vibrant and bright. I also added batik in my sketchbook as well as different fabrics to show patterns and composition. I also have lots of sponged/ coral to show different shapes.
The elements I took forward into my designs would be that I tried to show more of an interior/ architect blue print designs, using measurements, and different media’s as well as drawing perspective drawings as it’s a lamp design and not a painting the reason I drew the blue prints designs and perspective drawings was because I wanted to show how lamps and any type of wood work is designed. The reason I was influenced by designing a sea life lamp was because I love sea life as well as items that make a home your own. As I am moving out I wanted to design something for my home.
I had a lot of constraints such as I couldn’t use a piece of unseasoned wood as it would just crack and break. I also couldn’t use steel or plastic as steel would’ve made the lamp far too heavy to carry and college didn’t have the materials to cut it and shape it. I also couldn’t use plastic because it would be a safety hazard as it can melty and set on fire and it was at risk of cracking extremely easy.
The experimentation I did was going into wood work and making 2 samples made out of different wood such as sycamore and MDF, I found out that MDF just splinted and cracked and didn’t varnish well, whereas Sycamore worked perfectly. I also went into textiles and did a heat press for my creative business cards and I also did batik in my sketch book as well as for my textile file. I also did puff binder on some fabric for sketch book as well as in my textile file.
The problems I encountered through this project was making time to get primary research as I work on weekends and every other day I am not in college. Others problems I encountered was doing my final piece as my wood work teacher was not in on Mondays so I had to wait an extra did, this was also helpful because I could get sheet work done these days. The other problems I encountered was that I could not fix my log if it completely cracked. Other problems solving to do with my final piece was that the pillar drill got stuck in the in the middle of the log and I had to remove it which was extremely time consuming. I also had to make sure I found the centre point of my log otherwise it would fly off the lathe and smash. I also had to constantly clean the varnish brushes and repeatedly varnish my lamp because it was just getting little bits of hard varnish from the previous varnish that had hardened over, I also had to hand sand my lamp for about 3 days because I did not have a sanded capable of fitting into the small spirals and making it perfectly smooth.
If I didn’t have no time constraints I would of defiantly of made a bigger lamp and experimented with more different types of wood and material. I would’ve also done a lot more sheet work and annotation, I would’ve done surveys and gone to a lot more galleries and different places for primary information, I would’ve also done a lot more observational studies.
My chosen artists/designed linked to my work very well as Marcia Baldwin is a sea life artist so I could link my work to hers as I did my whole project on sea life inspired. Jenny Blanc and Pierre Yovanovich are interior designers and they linked to my work because I was designing a piece of furniture to go in my home.
I decided my final piece because I really like lamps and light shades, and due to me moving out and not having a lot of money to buy luxuries like nice lamps and objects at the moment I decided to design a lamp to my specification because it would work in my living room because it has beams on the ceilings.
The processes I used through this project would be the different media I used such as, inks, pencils, T squares, paints, water colours, batik, wax, and string. In wood work the processes I used was the pillar drill to make the spirals in my lamp, the lathe to make my lamp cylindrical, the mirak sander to make the outside soft and smooth, The chisels to crave away at my lamp. The varnish to put the last touches on the lamp to make every detail stand out, and LED tape lights for the lamp so they can entwine down the spirals.
The things that went well throughout this project would defiantly be my final piece, as I got in completely to a very high standard and it never broke or splinted. I also am proud of the amount of sheet work I completed to a high standard. If I had to do this project again I defiantly would link all my sheet work with very similar background colours. I would also spend a lot more time in my sketch book to get it to a higher standard as possible as I always struggle with sketch book work. I feel I managed my time very well considering I was a week behind due to hospital appointments. I used my time management sheets to help me because they’re extremely helpful. I did leave my research file a little late to complete but I did get all my work completely with annotation and tech file as well as a research file and samples. I did use my blog effectively because I put every single piece of work photographed on there as well as showing what media I used on each sheet and the different progress steps I was at as well as putting annotation for each piece.
Overall I am satisfied with my project work. My strengths throughout this project was designing my lamp and doing my final piece to a high standard as well as doing my artist research sheets and annotation. The things I could’ve done better to improve this project would be spending more time on my mood boards and sketchbook and putting a lot more effort and more observational studies into them. I handled my amount of work for my FMP really good to say I’m quite bad under pressure, My organisation skills where extremely consistence because I had my time management sheets to help me succeed and help me complete all my work before the deadline.