FMP journal 1

Over the last few days we have been preparing ourselves for our final major project and starting the flow of ideas and concepts.

Monday 06/03/17

Today we began by being given a presentation on all the details of the FMP and what we needed to include in our 500 word project proposal. We then got into groups of around 4 to start discussing section 1 of the proposal; the review of progress so far. This group work was really useful because it enabled me to talk about some of the skills I have gained over previous projects which triggered some wider ideas which I hadn’t previously thought of. We then stayed in these same groups and with a tutor each person described some of their initial ideas for the concept of their FMP. Before this exercise I didn’t have much of an idea of what I wanted to focus on specifically, all I knew was that I wanted my project to have strong focus on pattern within textiles since this is the area I feel most passionate about. However I found it extremely useful to listen to other people’s ideas and to give feedback and advice to others, as this helped to spark an idea for my own project.

I decided that I wanted my concept to look at less conventional forms of pattern because I want my project to be more abstract in nature. So I came up with the idea of looking at how writing can be seen as an abstract form of surface pattern. The only reason we understand writing and read it as words is because we have been taught this but when we deconstruct writing to what it actually is it’s just shapes and lines on a page; much like what pattern is. Some of the feedback I got from my peers and my tutor was really useful as I was suggested to look into the development of handwriting through age which I thought could be an interesting area to look into. Another piece of feedback that someone gave me was that I could look into layering up lots of different writen pieces to help give an abstract affect by taking away the sense of words within the writing as it will become more like mark makings. My peers seemed to like my concept which gave me confidence in my ideas.

Overall the group discussion we had was massively useful in the generation of ideas for my concept and I took on board lots of the feedback I was given. We all found it useful so we have decided to make this more of a regular thing and meet up to discuss our projects and ideas every week or so. When I got home I wrote out my first draft for section 1 of the proposal with the notes I had made throughout the day.

Tuesday 07/03/17

Today I read through the writing I had done the previous night for section 1 of the project proposal and realised there were some areas I could take out since they weren’t necessary and I needed to get my word count down. I found it useful to come back to my writing the day after as I noticed things I wouldn’t necessarily have done if I’d have checked over it straight away.

I then began writing out my first draft of section 2; the project concept. To begin with I found this quite difficult because I wanted to keep it quite broad at the start so that I wasn’t restricting how my project could develop in any way, but I also wanted to put in as much detail as possible so that it was clear what my project was going to be about. So I spoke to a couple of my peers and asked them for advice which was useful because they gave me tips from what they had written and adviced me to try to be as broad as possible.

I also began writing my first draft of section 3 of the proposal; the evaluation. Here I explained how I would reflect on and evaluate my work throughout the project both on this online journal, through annotation in my book and in regular group discussions.

I spoke to Sarah later in the day and explained to her my initial ideas for my concept and she gave me feedback that I could look into typography and trends within this. She also read through my project proposal and said that it was good because it was kept fairly broad but that I should mention what I aim to produce at the end and she also adviced me to keep my journal in an online format on my blog. I took this on board because I thought it would be the easiest way to keep as much detail as possible in my journal by including photos as well as keeping track of my ideas.

Wednesday 08/03/17

Today I have been re-reading through my project proposal as a whole to see whether I can find any areas that need changing and reflect on the feedback I was given by Sarah yesterday. I also started to create a timetable to plan my time within the project effectively.