I want the images for the screen protectors to have quite a hand made feel to them, I dont want them to mimic the clean vector art work that is seen on most of the professionally produced decals. There are a few graphic designers that I have been inspired by recently but I have come to appreciate paintings more from going to galleries, I like the work from Picasso and Matisse and this is something that I would like to explore further in this project.
I want to do a series of images because they should be easy to make considering the size of the area I have to work in. I want to do some
Illustrative pieces - faces, cartoons, modern graphic design styles
Patterns - shapes, colours, geometric
Art - mimicking some classic styles with my own twist on it
For the patterns I have come across a designer called Benny Arts, some of his work I think would work really in this kind of application. This is some examples of his work.
I really like this contemporary style of design and its something that I feel would work really in a sticker form.
I also want to do a series of images using faces as a basis for the designs
I mentioned early I would like to create some images inspired by great artists like Matisse and Picasso
I really like the abstract style and the way it still looks contemporary even today, I will attempt my own drawings taking inspiration from these styles with my own style implemented into the images.
This is a self directed project that I have identified as a potential gap in the market. Recently Apple showed an advert on tv displaying mac decals you can buy to customise your mac, personally I dont see much point in them as personalising your computer isnt particularly about buying an uninspiring sticker its more about making it unique to you.
Obviously this must be quite a large market if Apple a personally advertising it for the macbook air. From doing some research I have found no really artistic designs, most of them just seem to be simple vector images with no real artistic merit too them.
As a Mac is undoubtedly a tool for a designer I thought there could have been someone producing decals for macs that are really geared towards a graphic designers taste, most of these decal designs just seem to be geared for mass marketing purposes.
This is where I decided that I should produce my own stickers for macs and iphones as I feel this falls under the same category. One thing about the existing decals is that they offer no protection for your mac in terms of resistance to scratches because they are just a sticker of the image. My idea really grew from something that would look good and would also serve a purpose in terms of protecting your device from cosmetic damage, thats where I felt the decals failed in terms of a product.
From some quick research I found it was quite expensive to buy a blank mac scratch protector because they are come in parts to protect every are of your mac. In terms of production this might be difficult to achieve but is something I will consider when mocking up images. This made me rethink my own brief to turn my attention to iphone decals. I feel this idea is actually stronger than producing decal for a mac for a number of reasons.
The market for people with Iphones is much larger than people with macbooks
Iphones need protecting more than macs do
Like macbooks, iphones all look exactly the same opening up a market for people who do want to customise their phones to express their own personality
Screen protectors for iphones are very cheap and are already used by millions of people
Having checked online I have found that decals do exist for iphones but they just tend to be smaller versions of the ones available for macs, they also dont offer any scratch protection. From identifying a genuine gap in the market I think if I do this well then they could become a genuine product, this is all in theory though. One of the first things I need to do is too establish weather I can screen print onto the screen protectors and if so how long the paint will stay on for, if it will rub or scratch off ect...
Screen printing is the main method I wish to use to put an image onto the screen protection, I can also use the laser cutter to kiss-cut an image which would make it more permanent, I could even combine the two to see how they work together. This is something I will need to experiment on as I go.
This brief is a self directed one that has stemmed from the need of something. In our house we didnt get and lamp shades on the hanging lights when we moved in. Lampshades are relatively in expensive if you just want to go for the wire and paper ones that can be found in pretty much any home wear store. This got me thinking about the different variations you can buy and the price range they come in, I wanted for this brief to create a lampshade using the ancient Japanese paper folding discipline origami. From some basic research I have found people who had created their own lamp shades in a similar way I had envisioned in my head. One particular woman had created her own due to the high price of the professionally/commercially available ones that had a similar look to them.
With this I have decided to create and package an origami lampshade with an element of DIY to it, there are only a couple options in terms of style that I can use but within this one folding technique I can make variations by changing the placement of the folds and the size of them.
These are all lampshades that can be bought online from shops like habitiat and etsy. The prices can range from £20 to £200 depending on the size and the seller. As much as I like these I feel it is just as easy to recreate them with a bit of practice and some decent guidance.
The main origami technique used to make most of these lights is called the magic ball. This is a series of X shape folds in rows that overlap in a zig zag fashion. This technique has to be altered slightly because i have found through actually attempting the ball you dont need as many rows as necessary when creating a sphere.
After about 5 failed attempts I manage to make something that could potentially be wrapped to make a circular shape, from making this trial and error is the best method. I have learnt so far that I need to increase the length of the paper by about twice what I have already been working with. If i want to make a much larger lamp the paper I start with should be over 2m long and potentially around 50cm in width.
Other things I will need to consider with this lamp is -
Can the paper be potentially flammable?
Opacity of paper, stock, weight, colour, texture.
fastening method for the light fitting
packaging
diy instructions
After ive got the right shape and size for the lampshade these are all things I need to consider. Some brief guidelines I have set my self are that I want to the lampshade to be one sheet of paper and I would also like the fitting to be made of paper, either an adjustable card fastening or something alson these lines. I dont know how realistic these guidelines are at this stage in the project but it will be something that will be challenged further on.
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