2. TRIP TO V&A – THE BRIEF
On our initial trip the V&A we were met by the clients, who briefed us on the project, and what it would entail as a final
outcome. This was team working abilities, and the design and production of a website specific to our chose material
object from within the V&A.
We were asked to come up with a website
homepage with animation and a video
about a chosen object within a specific
material given. We were put into group – or
design teams – and each group was given a
material. Prior to our meeting with the V&A
we were given a material to research. Mine
was TEXTILES.
It was only after we went to
the V&A and met the client
there, that we then worked as
a group to start creating the
home page. However in a
real life situation would
probably would have had
interim reviews and meetings
with the client.
As with a professional practice, we needed
to listen carefully to the client’s brief and
take appropriate notes which would help
us further into the project.
It probably would have helped to have
been able to have one more meeting with
the client with our group and only about
our material to get a more specific brief.
3. RESEARCH
This was an important part of the project, as we had to look into our chosen object and come up with a way of either using the history to
represent them, or an as aspect of the objects themselves. It also had to work with the other objects in our group .
We did some
observational
studies at the V&A
of our object
A painted study that I
did of the purple velvet
coat flower detail.
As with a real life professional practise, we had team
meetings regularly while still researching and on our
individual objects. My object was a heavily embroidered,
velvet evening coat.
4. TIME MANAGEMENT
Time management was a key aspect of working within a team. We had to work out a way of collectively designing the
homepage for the website on our objects, and also deciding on the correct style , colours and images for the final
outcomes. Our team sessions were mainly time spent in class where we would discuss and decide what needed to be
done by each individual before the next class.
As with a real design
company, the team
worked on each
person’s strengths
and as such we
designated certain
parts of the job to
each member. As I
had the most
experience with the
computer, I worked
mainly on the set up
of the page while the
two other group
members worked on
the images (with my
input)
These are some of the colours that we
will use for our group homepage
animation which were obtained from
the Kuler website. We chose these
colours because they were softer than
the original red tie dye colours and
also they do not conflict with the
chosen textile objects.
In the initial textile research, I had done a tie-
dye experiment and we decided to use this
idea as our fabric unzipping. Here’s a
screenshot from the Kuler website using our
tie dye image re-coloured and showing
which colours on the bar are represented.
5. DEVELOPMENT OF IDEAS
As a team we had lots of initial ideas and drawings for how the page should look. We each presented our ideas to the
group before deciding on the images, some of which transpired to our final outcome.
Each team member also had to develop a storyboard
video specifically about their object. Mine concentrated
on the embroidered flower that was on the evening coat.
It started with the coat and no flower which eventually
grew through the animation.
One of the team actually created textile buttons that
we then scanned and re-coloured for our page icons.
Each object and page was given a different colour.
These looked great but were not used for this purpose
on the final outcome. We decided to use two of them
on the last slide of the opening animation.
6. FINAL OUTCOME & EVALUATION
Our final group outcome for the website homepage, and object videos was well received by the V&A client.
For our FINAL
textiles
homepage, we
created an
animated
webpage that is a
fabric unzipping,
to reveal a
multicoloured font
made from rolls of
fabric and saying
‘TEXTILES’. Above
that was 2
embroidered
buttons and an
image of the
unravelling thread
– all of which
immediately
indicated textiles
to the viewer.
Overall I really
enjoyed working
with a team to
come up with ideas
and was happy that
the client felt our
work was
professional and
interesting.
If we had had more
time I would have
liked more ‘material
specific’ meetings
with the client. Also
would have liked a
full run through of
the presentation
prior to the final, so
that any hiccups or
mistakes could be
sorted out first.
