Spice it up with accessories

Image source:https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk

Image source : https://www.dhgate.com

Have you ever tasted strawberries with cream? And after that can you imagine having strawberries without cream? Off course not! I feel, that is exactly the role of accessories in fashion. Suitable accessories complements clothing of the wearer and adds value to fashion statement. Younger generations are well aware about fashion accessories and how it affects your look. I mean literally young. My four year old niece 'helped' me to choose a pair of shoes I should be wearing to accompany her to the park. ''These sports shoes are perfect for your track pants! Heels, you know you should wear only for parties!”, she added!
Handbags, shoes, scarves, sunglasses, wrist watches are all accessories we are using everyday, sometimes being unaware about how it is affecting rest of the dressing and our overall look. If chosen wisely it can accentuate the clothing or otherwise can contradict it badly. The accessory that accentuates your style statement need not be an add-on fashion piece like expensive jewellery; it could be something that you cannot escape wearing like footwear or a bag. Suitable size, shape of a bag can balance the outfit and body shape of the wearer. Width, material and placement of a belt can be used to enhance the waist or hide it depending on wearer's body type and outfit.

Different types of belts

Traditionally in India, jewellery seems to be predominant accessory worn in everyday life not only for festivities. Footwear is another. Scarf or dupatta in traditional Indian context, I believe is inseparable part of clothing and never seen as an accessory. For males the traditional accessory over different regions has been headgear, footwear and jackets in some parts. But in western fashion the list of accessories is quite extensive. They are broadly categorised as those which are 'worn' and those which are 'carried'. Handbags, purses, eyewear, umbrellas, wallets, canes, hand fans are accessories which are 'carried' while jacket, scarf, shawl, belt, hat, socks, stockings, gloves, bows and ties, jewellery, wrist watch are some of the accessories which are 'worn'. 
In the context of total look of the wearer these products are referred as 'Accessories' but they serve some function to the user. e.g. Handbags are to carry essentials while on the go, Hats and sunglasses protects from harsh sunlight, footwear protects feet while jewellery adorns the wearer. Thus it serves the purpose of convenience, safety or attractiveness. While satisfying one of these functions it adds value to the overall look and hence named as 'accessory'. 

Earlier these variety of products were handcrafted. The skill, creativity of crafts person led him or her to be emerged as a trusted brand. Louis Vuitton and Guccio Gucci are examples of such brands in fashion world who started as master craftsperson in leather products and travel accessories. Fashion designers used to outsource accessory design to other specialist crafts person. Later they started working on in house design teams for different accessories and offered a 'total look' under their own label. The meticulous design process, exhaustive efforts and creativity justifies the expensive pricing at which these fashion accessories are available. The luxury segment products exhibit intricacies in terms of details, creative approach, material exploration and manufacturing process. 

Image source
https://www.porsche-design.com/en/Fashion-Sports/Fashion/Shoes/

'Design process' is the soul of these designer collections. Few of us are aware that most coveted automotive brands like Porsche, BMW, Ferrari and like offer their own collection of fashion accessories. Consumer electronics brands Apple and Samsung offer smart watch which could be termed as fashion accessory. Design language of such brands is so powerful that it is reflected in their fashion accessories too which consumers yearn in their fashion statement. 
Though these products play complementary role in the overall look of the wearer, each of them are a design saga in themselves!  

Some useful links     
https://youtu.be/tq4ZVdyGpIE
https://youtu.be/N-vR0MWnrKI
https://youtu.be/xnN_Z8XMOr4
https://youtu.be/vWtk47HxXpM
https://youtu.be/9oCVLTjlLB0
https://youtu.be/nCk_5-9cVCE
https://youtu.be/8Uk_XxAudq8 

Note:

The writer has no rights on the images used in this article. 

Fashion and You...

I have been talking about how design is part our day to day life. Every action that we do, design is involved in it in some way or the other. I have discussed different design disciplines and how they affect our everyday activities or we can also put it in this way that bringing more life in these activities gave rise to these design disciplines. 
Receiving feedback from people that these small reads are helping us to gain a different perspective to look at things really encourages me. People share that they have started noticing details of the products and spaces around them. Sensitising more and more people towards design is one of my goals for writing these posts, as I believe design impacts us all!
One of my friends asked me about my last post 'Dress up your attitude!' how fashion design affects us, we common people? We cannot afford designer clothes displayed in a fashion show. In fact some of the clothes look so weird to be worn in real life.
What we see in fashion show is creative work of designer based on a 'theme'. The theme need not be from our day to day life. It being a creative show it takes liberty to break away from practical themes. It's an opportunity to witness fantasy! At the same time it gives clues to the audience which could help them evolve their own style. 
“Fashion is what you're offered four times a year by designers and STYLE is what YOU choose” - Lauren Hutton (American model and actress ). 

I think this is the role of fashion in our daily life. It keeps us updated about current trends in clothing and accessories such as fabric, colours, print and patterns. This helps us to come up with our own dressing style everyday. In India, it's not only fashion shows, magazines, celebrities but also Indian Cinema and TV shows that influences current trends in fashion. Which in turn influences the clothing available at retail clothing stores which is affordable to masses. Fashion influences are so evident that no one can forget solid chiffon sarees worn by late Sridevi or Bell bottom pants of Amitabh or casual look of Karina from Jab we met. 
Everyone wishes to look their best. How you dress is how you are perceived by  others. It becomes your style. Few makes conscious efforts to select clothing by keeping in mind the whole picture, own personality, comfort, occasion, trends. Those who can do this succeed in coming up with their own style. Awareness about latest trends help choose right clothing for right occasion. For practical clothing comfort is utmost important. There is no point in wearing a Lycra dress on a hot day of sight seeing no matter how stylish it looks on the wearer. Costume designers do exactly this, they style the actors as per their character that they are playing. It is not true that only expensive, branded clothing is required for a great style. The key is to choose appropriately as per your personality and occasion.

Same dress looks different on different people
Image source:https://lovin.ie/lifestyle/fashion-beauty/this-new-asos-
feature-shows-the-same-clothes-on-different-body-types

Famous fashion designer Oscar de la Renta says "Being well dressed hasn’t much to do with having good clothes. It’s a question of good balance and good common sense.” 
Many of us like the fashion of celebrities and we aspire to look that charming. Copying the clothes ditto won't make us look like them as every person is unique and have their own way of carrying clothes. Same dress will look different on different people. 
So I would like to sum it up with quote by Oscar de la Renta. “Fashion is about dressing according to what's fashionable, style is more about being yourself.”
As mentioned earlier Fashion is not only about clothing but accessories are integral part of it. More about it in coming post. 
Some useful links
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4TuLSx3doEA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Es-6kFYe9ME
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5yAz6FOUvKA&t=310s

Dress up your Attitude!

http://www.jiangluosan.net/FamousFashionDesignerSketches290nykalhlu/

In my last post I talked about fabric and what could be the next one to follow? Off course, clothing, apparel, fashion. This is the most popular stream of design, people from all socio-economic class are aware of it! What comes to your mind when you hear the word 'Fashion'? Glamorous models walking the ramp, celebrities flashing on red carpet flaunting in Designer wear, big fat weddings with talk of the town 'Designer bridal wear'; isn't it? Well, what we see is only the final outcome of the laborious process that's happening on the backstage for months together by the designer and the team.

It's interesting to know about the hard-work that goes into making these wonderful designer fashion clothes. It all starts from an inspiration, the theme. Designer researches on the theme, looks for inspirations to come up with basic sketches which undergo lot of refinement in the process of getting finalised. Once the design sketch is ready, fabric for the same is sourced. It could be directly available in the market or could be woven or printed as per the design requirements. Patterns(templates) are then made generally out of paper or other plain fabric to make prototypes of the garments based on the sketches. This is a testing phase and therefore iterative i.e. it goes back and forth till satisfactory results in fitting are achieved. Then final fabric is cut as per templates and stitched as per details. This is tested on model and final finishes are done after that. Apart form clothing it also include other accessories like headgear, bags, footwear, jewellery etc. That is the whole process it goes through before we see it on the model in a fashion show.

Rahul Mishra Collection in Paris Fashion Week
Image source:https://www.woolmarkprize.com/news/
rahul-mishra-debuts-at-paris-fashion-week/

Like the process, the history of fashion design is interesting to know. In India clothing was influenced by the regional culture, art and craft practices, climatic conditions. Clothing and accessories of Royal families would display the grandeur in every detail like fabric weaving, motives, embroidery. The value of dress was judged on the quality of fabric and work than who made it. For common people clothing was of similar type which varies according to the region. On intentional scenario too it was similar situation, where Royals got their clothes made from dressmakers as per their own style. During19th Century in France, English designer Charles Worth, for the first time designed dresses with his own label. He dictated his customers what to wear than following their demands. This started the beginning of Fashion houses and fashion industry. Post Independence slowly international fashion influenced Indian Cinema. But post globalisation with global exposure international fashion started influencing common people too. 

Fashion was not restricted up to occasional clothing but emerged with many possibilities like formal, casual, bridal, sports etc. During 1980s Indian fashion designers started establishing themselves on International platform. Today many designers have made mark and have presence of their label across the globe.

Fashion industry is based on trends. It needs to change by every season to keep the industry going. Researchers  forecast trends which are followed globally by fashion houses and retailers. Trend forecasters determine colours, patterns, textures, fabric those would dominate upcoming season. Clothing is second largest industry in the world ans generates as many job opportunities.

Today in India, with the help of fashion designers many textile craft practices are being revived and have seen application in modern garments. Indian textile craft and design is once again sought after on international scenario.

More on fashion accessories design in the next post.

Some useful links

https://youtu.be/RhPiaqKWMcw

https://youtu.be/sjLBbWbBTPc

https://youtu.be/367veujwj_Y

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTxT0vL8EcQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ReD9RSQ1vlo

Weaves of creativity!

Image source: http://www.cityshor.com/pune/banjaras

We recently had a long journey through widespread streams of communication design. You must have noticed that most of communication design work, we can appreciate through our visual and auditory senses. Another stream of design which is perceived using visual senses is textiles. Off course tactile perception is equally important in textiles. The word 'textile' originates from Latin word 'textilis' which means 'Woven'. Weaving process gives fabric self textures both tactile and visual.

We feel like touching a beautiful texture of a curtain, getting wrapped in a soft cotton quilt is such a joy, it's difficult to avoid temptation of cuddling a cute furry soft toy. We want soft cotton cloths during summer and warm woollens in winters! In short, we keep appreciating fabric for different qualities unknowingly. Here I am talking about textile design which, I feel is like extension of graphic design, as prints and patterns are inseparable identity of any piece of cloth; traditional, modern, woven, non-woven, natural or synthetic. I really enjoy the visual treat by taking a stroll in a fabric market. Colours, textures, patterns, prints, feel are all elements of such visual treat.

Image source: http://minister-industries.kerala.gov.in

India has a rich tradition in textiles. Every region of India has wide variety of textiles derived from local counters. 'Woven fabric' had major contribution in Trade and commerce of ancient India with foreign countries. Indian cotton, silk and muslin clothes have always been popular and in demand all over the world. Cotton is woven all over India. Each region has it's own distinctive character ranging from weaving technique, knitting, dyeing process, colours, motives, patterns using different printing processes or embroidery. Few examples of Indian traditional textile related crafts are intricately woven Pashmina shawls of Kashmir, Phulkari work from Punjab, Mirror work from Rajasthan, tie and dye varieties from Gujrat, Chanderi fabric from MP, fine silks from Benares, Balucheri, Bengal, Paithani from Maharashtra, Ikat and Kalamkari from Andhra, Kanchipuram silk from Tamilnadu. The list of this treasure is endless.

Traditional fabrics are crafted on hand-looms. The final product is a blend of complex processes of selection of yarns as per required result, selecting colours, dyeing yarns, pre weaving treatments, generating design of border and other patterns, actual weaving process. Apart from technical know-how of the weaving process artisans have to use their visual design skills to come up with fine fabric.

Image source: http://www.flagprintingmachine.com

Post industrialisation textiles are mass manufactured in industries. Synthetic fibres are used to create durable and economical fabrics. Research activities in the field come up with fabrics for special requirements like fireproof fabric. The process of digital printing on textiles has opened up enormous possibilities in terms of visual creativity.

A textile designer has knowledge of different fabric manufacturing processes, various materials like natural, synthetic fibres as well as visual design expertise to work with new patterns, prints, colours of fabrics. Two major sectors where textiles are widely used are furnishing and garments. Roles of textile designer include coming up with designs of fabrics for various purposes, make samples for construction of fabric, research on colour and trends forecast for new development, look for inspirations and themes for new design development. It's about experimenting with colour, texture, processes, patterns, materials, techniques. Textile designers work for fashion and garment houses, furnishing studios, furniture and automotive upholstery, other textile accessories like bags. They can have their independent studios. In short sky is the limit to weave their creativity!

Some useful links

https://youtu.be/iF5wef6lUXY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wb0Hpj9VfVE

https://youtu.be/FCarXRadOnk
https://youtu.be/a-2vxvNmYhY

Entertainment, entertainment, entertainment!

storyboard

Image source: http://www.evolvemedia.tv/free-storyboard-templates-

for-filmmaking-projects/

Watching a movie is a trip to a different world. The story that is being communicated is made so realistic that audience feels to be part of that environment. What enables the storyteller to create such enchanting effect? Is it the way the story is being narrated? Yes, but not only that. Reading a story and watching a story on screen are very different experiences. While reading you are visualising it in your own way but on screen the audio visual experience that you get adds another dimension to the story telling process. Whatever you witness in the cinema hall forces you to believe it to be real. It is a holistic effect that is designed using various techniques to narrate the story.

The film making process can be understood by visualising it in three stages. First is the preparation before shooting, second is actual shooting process and third is putting everything together like visuals, sound etc. as a final product. These are known as pre-production, production and post production stages. This is a common process that we follow to complete any task in a presentable manner; first the preparation, then actual task and in the end it's presentation. Considering various aspects to be worked on to come up with the final product, film-making is a complex process. Design has role in all three stages of film-making.

The groundwork begins with a story idea which is converted into a screen play; scene by scene story. This story in text is put in form of series of visuals like a comic strip in a  storyboard. The storyboard helps in understanding the characters and environment in great detail. It's done by a team of concept designers and graphic designers. Final storyboard leads to the design and selection of locations, sets, characters, costumes, props etc. The detail in which the environment is designed gives the film realistic effect. Audience starts believing it to be real. Thus preparations are done before film shoot upto minute detail to save on time and budget. 

filmshoot

Image source: http://www.bhopalonline.in/city-guide/film-shooting

-locations-in-bhopal

During production stage, the film is captured as a video scene by scene. Audience is looking at the film through the camera. Each frame captured through the camera is going to impact the viewer's perception about the story. Cinematographer designs each frame keeping in mind what effect the director wants and how the story should be progressing. Lighting, camera positions, angles, lens focus, movement such details are carefully selected so as to get depth in the shot as it's going to be viewed on two dimensional screen.

Adding visual effects

Image source: https://onset.shotonwhat.com/gallery/the-power-of-

visual-effects/

Once all the scenes have been shot post production stage begins. The raw shooting is edited for better visual appearance. Colour corrections are done, unwanted clips are removed. Special effects are added. Sounds like dialogues, songs, background music are added. The music is generally composed during pre-production stage. With all these post production treatments the film is ready as a final product to entertain audience.

Other communication design products in entertainment sector are game design. In digital and virtual reality game design visual designers contribute in creating the realistic environment used as setting of game. Game designers work on the strategy to enhance participant and audience satisfaction and pleasure. 

After this read, I hope you will appreciate the grand efforts by creative team that goes in the making of film apart from glamorous cast that you see on screen!

Some useful links:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5EoMcoUI2Q

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQsvhq28sOI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmRxjtjSc1E

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5E_zB7pmlY

Poetry in motion

Photograph has a story to tell

Since last few weeks we have been looking at different domains where communication design is used. Till now I talked about Branding and Identity, Print and Publication, Campaigns and persuasion, Packaging and digital products. Let’s look at expanse of communication design in entertainment sphere of our lives.

As we human are social animals we love stories about people, other lives and stories in general. Isn’t that a means of communication? It conveys some thought, some feelings. We enjoy the indirect feel of different experiences. The presenter of the story communicates the idea or thought in interesting way so as to give pleasure to the audience. Drama in the story presentation makes it more engaging and joyful activity unlike watching mere information about any topic. Thus drama, joy becomes key factors in story telling and in turn in the entertainment. Both visual and auditory mediums are effective in entertainment communication.

Story tellers use different mediums and techniques to present or communicate. The basic medium is a still photograph. Don’t you think of any story when you look at a photograph? Our own family photos obviously have many stories to tell but other photos too trigger some message in you. The professional photographer uses the elements used in the frame interestingly to bring life to that photo! It communicates the message to the viewer effectively. Though every viewer has their own perceptions, a good photographer creates illusion of movement in a still image and draws attention to the central theme of the photo. Thus still photography is a creative medium used for communication design.

Image source: https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x4cyd9y

When ‘movement’ in the picture becomes literal it becomes frame by frame animation, another technique that is used for story telling. Most of you must have created own flip book at young age. Flip book makes the still images look like animated picture! Moving things catch our attention fast, which is one of reasons why animation looks so interesting to everyone. Animation is a technique, as the name suggests, of animating the still images. When pictures or sketches are used it becomes 2D animation and if 3D models are used, it becomes 3D animation. The technique could be used to narrate a story as a full length film, a short film, a T.V. commercial or an educations video. I witness watching my son small TedEd animated videos and learning various complex concepts in simple fun way.

Since making animation is as good as making a film, animation designer need to know about the film making process along with animation techniques. The whole process is very complex and animator has to co-ordinate with other teams like story boarding, character designers, concept artists, sound design team etc.

Other alike branches of animation design are motion graphics and Visual effects (VFx). Motion graphics is like animation but not necessarily character based. It is more about animation of abstract shapes like logos and texts. Best examples could be found in film titles or branding animations.

Visual effects are used in film making to make realistic effects which are not possible in real live shooting. It is done by mixing live shooting with computer generated graphics. Animation is one of the many techniques used to create visual effects. It helps in communicating the realistic story to the audience and making them believe what they watch.

More about communication design in entertainment in the next post. Keep reading!

Some useful links

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZbrdCAsYqU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6H31k2o3TBI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpDRftkteFE

Digital World Interaction

In today’s digital world almost any activity like communication, shopping, banking, entertainment, knowledge and skills updating etc can be done using digital products. Digital presence is a must for all organisations no matter what’s its size and segment. Pertaining to the variety in goals of users using the digital product, user expectations from the product too vary a lot. Even if it’s a simple activity like shopping, every user follows a different pattern. Some of them have a predefined shopping list, some just browse and pick while some are impulse buyers. Each buyer is important for the seller. They have to take into consideration all these patterns in mind even in their digital environment so that they don’t loose on their clients.

By now you must have realised that how complex and challenging it is to design a digital product! I personally feel, not being able to handle it physically and still managing to give the satisfaction to the user is the biggest challenge. It’s not about just placing few buttons on the screen. There cannot be a given set of rules which can be applied and the design is ready. There is a huge team working on a product to give users the best experience.

Like any functioning system digital product can be considered to have three major parts. First the basic skeletal structure which gives support to the system and holds everything together in place. Second is network of inside organs which makes the system functioning and third is the outer skin which is look and feel of the product while serving as interactive element of the system. This is more or less a broad structure which exists in our bodies too!

If we consider look into it with reference to a digital product, Information Architect works on the basic structuring of the information system. IA understands need of the product, user’s expectation, client’s need and technical requirements through research. There is a lot of information available but not everything is useful for each user. All this information needs to be categorised to form overall structure of the product. If it’s a banking product, it will be used by different groups of bank employees and end users having various needs. Information architects categorise all information as per its relevance to different users. Once the basic structure is ready it is made operational which is responsibility of the development team.

At a given time users don’t want to see whole information on the screen. They are concerned about the data required to complete their task. They expect they should be able to complete their task easily without hassle. Product is not serving as display of information but it is meant for interaction. Users feed in some input and expects output, feedback based on the input. Interaction designers come up with sequence of frames required as input and feedback loop for each task. Each frame layout for different tasks is designed by interface designers and web designers. Web designers are graphic designers who work for digital media. They are trained to use text, images, fonts, colours for digital mediums. Communication used in the product is combination of visuals and text. This textual content is designed by the Content Strategist. They pay attention to the tone and voice consistency of communication throughout the product. Sound and animations improves the feedback and in turn enhances the experience. Sound and motion designers contribute in this area.

Thus in the communication design of a digital product a team of designers with different roles and responsibilities is working together to give users the best experience! 

Some useful links

https://designshack.net/articles/graphics/interaction-design-what-is-it-and-how-can-you-use-it/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r34XQDoZ0y0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDNngQjN6o4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtPnVtXw6HU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=116sMd5U7UY