FMP - PRESCHOOL PLEASING PATTERNS

For my Final Major Project I decided to focus on a surface pattern route, with the aim to create a design suitable for applying to items aimed at preschool (ages 1 - 4) children, using normal interests suitable for this age range. I wanted to give my design something additional to it , not just over purely visual appeal, making it interactive in some form, again suitable for the intended audience.

I started off generating drawings and sourcing imagery of potential interests for the intended audience. This mainly inclu
ded animals (pets, farm, zoo, safari, insects) and transport (everyday and farm)

My research began looking at artists and designers that simplify images down to a line level, use a child like drawing style or would be suitable in another way. I also researched how children of this age learn particularly through drawing and interactive involvements well as what skills are expected of this age group. This skills research gave me a problem in that, during this age group there is a huge variety and variations in what children are capable of, so finding a task that all would find stimulating and/or grew with the child became an issue that needed to be addressed during the ideas stage.

I used dot - to - dot as a starting point for inspiration, since it is a common interactive activity for younger children, that would create imagery, with the potential of making it more simple or complex based on the child's skill level.

Quickly, I found that to create a realistic looking dot to dot would be very complex and involve far too many dots then would be suitable for the average 1-4 year old to do. So, still inspired by the dot to dot activity, I created the imagery myself, with the aim to incorporate a suitable activity to these generated images later into the project.

Experimenting with a variety of techniques including layering (similar to what was used during the earlier architectural cut project) and also placing pins then wrapping string to create simplified images.

I began using tracing paper to pick out sets of 10 dots to join together, forming a simplified lined image of the initial drawing. I further developed this by shading in the formed shapes that were appropriate to the subject.

Realising that this shading was making the entire design appear very gloomy and therefore inappropriate for the intended group, I experimented with the brightness of the shaded shapes and found that the lighter versions look far more appropriate. In an effort to incorporate more light into the design I removed chunks of the shaded shape to form the letters spelling out the subject, so in my original experimental subject the word 'Giraffe' formed the silhouetted shape of a giraffe. I had initially chose this animal to work with because of its instantly recognisable features.

I applied this technique to other animals that I had identified as appropriate interests for the age group, some working substantially better or worse than others, showing that this was not a technique that could be applied to all subjects I would have liked to use. Following this I experimented with application of ink using stencils and coloured backgrounds over monochrome.

The experimentation with coloured backgrounds made me identify that I needed to step away from the multiple lines and dominant dark imagery. I still used the structure created by the lines but instead went back to layering techniques and applied colours in different ways, completely eliminating the need for harsh dark colourings in the designs, which I felt looked much more suitable for the brief. Whilst experimenting with how the different layers of colour could be applied I used thread and both machine and hand stitching to help add sensory texture to the design

I picked two layers, simplifying my design very much so and experimented with ways of applying this design using the stencil approach I had used with inks, this time I used paint and created textured surfaces within the paint.

Here my intention for interaction was to use the sensory touch experience alongside using black templates of the subjects so that the user can customise the design how they wish, this allows the design to be suitable for the age range specified in the brief but also for growth with the child as well as parental interaction.

I further experimented this technique with a zebra and tiger, before drawing up compositions and trialling colour schemes and compositions on photoshop. From these I decided on my final design which was then hand printed onto wallpaper.