Cath Kidston Development

Cath Kidston Surface Pattern.
After my primary research I decided that I am going to do my print using the British Bulldog, also using the colours of the union jack, because I think it will be appropriate. Also after doing research about the British Bulldog and designs that have been linked to the Bulldog (see Design Context Blog), I noticed that they include the colours of the union jack. Which I think just reenforces the idea of Britain.

British Bulldog Illustration.
I started my prints by creating an illustration of a bulldog.

Although this resembles a bulldog, I don't think that it has enough detail. The Cath Kidston prints currently have quite a lot of detail in one single illustration. Therefore I want my bulldog to have a lot more detail than this in it to show more of the attributes that bulldogs have, for example wrinkles in the face.

Adding more detail to the face makes the creases look more evident and more like an actual bulldog. Although it makes the body look too plain, so I think that more detail on the body is needed.

I am happier with this amount of detail as it looks more realistic. Cath Kidston prints often include a lot of detail in the illustrations, which is something I want to do, so that it keep within their aesthetic.

The background for the illustrations needs to include the Union Jack colours, including red, white and blue. To do this I created a union jack then distorted it so that it would be so harsh.

This doesn't look right, the illustrations are drowned in the background, it is too harsh and bright. Something needs to be done, turning down the opacity or making the colours more muted might work.

Trying to change the opacity only made it look worse. I think that this looks really tacky and busy, it doesn't look like Cath Kidston, I need to change the background and incorporate the colours in a different way.

For both this brief and another competition brief I wanted to look into how to create a water colour effect on illustrator. After researching this I was able to create these shapes, and using the lasso tool, make the parts I want in the shapes, a different colour, which I chose white, then distorted it and wrinkle it.

I think that it is a bit harsh still so I turned the opacity to make the colours slightly more muted. This makes it look more like the aesthetic style of Cath Kidston.

Stepping out the pattern made me see that I need to have some sort of order to the illustrations, use a grid system so that it looks better and will work as a print, rather than just randomly placing things.

It looks more organised and there is more of a structure to it like this.

Trying out different layouts, and different colours with the different layouts allows me to see which will look best, although all of these so far don't look right. Something needs changing, maybe having some more different sized bulldogs.

I have tried to change the water colour effect shapes in the background to make them look more flag like. Reminding the audience that it is about the Union Jack because they are British Bulldogs. There is still something not right about this, I really don't like it and don't think that it would suit Cath Kidston looking like this. I think that it needs some more/different illustrations in it, as right now it doesn't look right, and I personally wouldn't buy anything with this print on it.

I started to look through everything else that is thought to be British. Thinking that I can create a range of things that link towards the British Bulldog and maybe walking it through a park in London. A typical British walk in the park.

The phone box in the design looks a lot better than the circles. It works well as a red colour injection to the blue background, I think that I might need to produce a few more illustrations to put it into context more.

Trying it on a lighter background means that I can include the water colour effect circles behind the illustrations to break up the large white patches. Although I still don't like it, and don't think it works.

Using the water colour effect shapes on the back and putting an opacity on them, means that the block colour is broken up and gives is a more Cath Kidston aesthetic. At this point I think I need to create some more bulldog illustrations, if I want to keep it linked to the British bulldog.

I set up a mini crit with some peers, showing them the different screen shots I have got, showing some of the water colour effect shapes on the background and just the bulldogs, and showing the different phone box variations. Explain the ideas I have with each of them, so that I can find out which idea I can take forward. I think that I should create more bulldog illustrations and maybe include some of the things that they do, like a lead or collar. It's just the time limit on the brief is running out and I don't want to leave it too late. After the crit I found that people preferred the idea to create more bulldogs because, if I do a walk in the park in London, it may look similar to a print that Cath Kidston already has. Therefore I am going to move forward by producing different illustrations of different bulldogs.

Different Bulldogs could be created.

• Sleeping
• Playing fetch
• Weeing on a pole
• Going on a walk
• Eating/Drinking
• Sitting

Starting with the sleeping bulldog, I made an illustrations and used the same colours as the first bulldog, this is so that I make sure I don't go over the maximum 12 colours that Cath Kidston stated on the brief.

If it is a blue background, I can include red illustrations so that I have all of the Union Jack colours in the design, to reenforce the British message. I thought that as I have created a sleeping dog, I could make a bed as it is related to the dog.

Putting the two illustrations together, it just doesn't look right. No matter how much I want to use the red phone box. Its not appropriate and looks slightly out of place with the doggy bed, and will look more out of place if I include more bulldogs and dog things, as a phone box isn't anything to do with a dog.

A puppy makes the bulldog look even cuter without it being 'too cute' like the brief suggests, it also puts a softer side of the bulldog on the design unlike the aggressive side, which most British Bulldogs suggest.

The way this puppy is sat is like it is looking at you as if to say come and play with me, therefore a ball would be applicable here. Simply constructing a two circles and making the back circle darker offers a shadow to the ball and looks 3D. Also using the darker colour in the bulldog as the darker circle means that I won't be using more colours.

Lastly composing a bulldog eating out of a red dog bowl, again using the same colours as the first bulldog.

I am so much happier with these illustrations, they are aesthetically pleasing and they appear to all relate to one another, their not just random illustrations put together like before. Although I think that it needs something as it looks quite plain.

Adding a few more smaller illustrations will fill in some gaps, all of these are relative to the bulldog, so they will work well.

So pleased with this tile, the layout of each of the bulldogs means that when the print is stepped out, there won't be massive gaps, and they will all look like they fit together, without being too straight.

Final prints.

When doing my final prints, I started with the blue background and red extras, with the second print I reversed them. Then the third print, I thought I would go for a more neutral colour and mix up the blues and reds with the extras. Doing this I noticed that the third colour variation is my favourite. It is aesthetically pleasing and fitting with the Cath Kidston brand, therefore I am going to use this as my original print, and the other two as colour variations.

Mock ups.

Producing mock ups allow me to see what the print would actually look like on different products, products that Cath Kidston sell in their shop. The iphone case is so that there is a more current product. I think that it looks pleasing although in this screen shot it is quite pixelated.

I have used a generic white purse so that I could Photoshop my design onto it, as Cath Kidston sells purses, I thought that it would be appropriate to create a purse.

The bedsheets have worked really well, because of the angle of the print, it has been made to look like real sheets on the bed. Putting an opacity through the sheets means that you can see the contours of the sheets, which makes it look more realistic.

The classic Cath Kidston ironing boards was actually mentioned on the brief therefore I thought it would be appropriate to mock up the print onto an ironing board. I have constructed many different products that are sold in the Cath Kiston shop, ranging from women's acsossories to household products, which is what the brief has asked. Mocking these up show that I am answering the brief, and that my print is very diverse and will work on a range of different products.

Submission boards.

When producing my submission boards I was cutting the deadline fine. Also my InDesign was being really slow and kept skipping because of the large files that I had placed onto each of the pages. Having too big of a file size made it go slow, and the more I tried to add, the slower it was working. Therefore I did the best that I could to make the boards consistent and aesthetically pleasing, but due to the time limit, I had to submit them. The boards communicate the design and my ideas well, although if I left myself with more time I would have tried to incorporate the design into the boards to make them look less simple.

Evaluation.
I am really pleased with my print, and I'm happy that I organised a mini crit so that I could get some opinions on my designs as I had hit a wall with it. The mock up work really well, I have only started mocking things up recently, so I am pleased with the results of my mock ups. If I were to do this brief again I would have not wasted so much time on the water colour effect shapes and concentrating on the background. I would have focused on the illustrations and the concept of it being about the British bulldog. I would also have left more time to create the submission boards as I don't think that they were the best, and for the Responsive hand in, I will be changing them up a bit so that they are more aesthetically pleasing. After reading the brief I thought that this would be a good brief for me to do, as I enjoy creating illustrations and I like Cath Kidston, I also thought that it would be quite and easy brief to do. Although it took a lot longer than I thought it would take and was a lot more difficult to create a similar aesthetic to current Cath Kidston briefs. Overall I am really happy with the print I have designed, and am positive that it is different to the current Cath Kidston prints in reference to the theme, but it similar to their aesthetic which is what the brief is looking for.