Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Product pictures


The majority of the product photographing is done.

Done. Finished. Closed. Thank. Gód...

Over time I had become a bit quite very extremely stressed out about the product pictures. I guess that's what you get for being an impossible perfectionist while at the same time being not that stress-resistant ánd of the avoidant type. Procrastination, self-doubt and stress galore. Really, any longer and I would've gotten some serious wrinkles.

Which is why I shot these pictures with a plain white background. Much easier, faster, and less stress. I will create the "scenic" pictures with props when I have the time and feel like it later.

So the action plan for my next designs is to decide on the product description and product photo setting right after ordering the design and shooting the pictures immediately after receiving the products. Which is, by the way, also the advise that I got from one of the more experienced designers/sellers on Shapeways.

Right now I only have to make the scenic pictures, tweak the product descriptions and markups in my webshop and integrating everything in my personal website. Oh, and not to forget doing the whole social media & marketing thing. After all the stressing out, I'm now in a state of not really caring anymore. Luckily, I know from experience that this is the perfect state of mind to finish tasks like this. Prevents me from over-thinking again: enough is enough!

The 6th of december is the deadline for ordering things at Shapeways (where I have my webshop) for those who want to receive their order before Christmas. For me, that means that until that date I'll continue to market my designs. And at the 6th of December, midnight: radio silence. I'M DONE! Well, then my 2012 jewelry collection will be done at least and I'll give myself a few days off. And after that I'll continue with the next phase of my plans: focusing on product design! Hopefully with a slightly less demanding schedule...

But before I forget: here are the photo's of my 2012 jewelry collection!




I'm very happy they're all done now, and what's even better: now I finally get to wear them! Whoohoo!

...Okay, maybe it's better to wait until the scenic pictures are done as well. Hmm.

Oh, and many thanks to J. for all the help!.

Sunday, November 11, 2012

A lesson on why to listen to your elders

"Drawing skills", my coach in university once said, "are the most useful tools a designer could ever have". And he added that during his education, he would have drawing practise for at least one-and-a-half day per week, for several years.

Well, than it stands to reason that my drawing skills are not on par with those of traditionally educated designers. My education was more of the "define you own curriculum" kind and I've always considered function to be highly superior over form. Therefore, spending an eternity on practising how to make 'pretty' drawings was not very high on my list of priorities.

Until now.

It started when, after graduating, I started to use more sketches and doodles during brainstorms. After a while, I noticed that the ones with the better-looking sketches were far more pleasurable to go through again and again, and that browsing through those sketches would give me lots of enthusiasm and motivation to continue working on the concept.

Now, I highly prefer working on paper compared to making digital drawings (or worse: only descriptions with no pictures at all). Even though digital drawings or renderings can be much more precise and beautiful (and not to mention, there is an 'undo' function that paper sadly lacks), when it comes to brainstorming and concept development, drawing on a sheet of paper gives so much more freedom. On paper it is so much easier (at least for me) to put down your train of thoughts, ponder, compare, take it with you, make some minor adaptations etcetera.

There is just something about a drawing that cannot be captured in words. Even though words are often needed to emphasize or explain aspects of the design, a drawing communicates so more about the idea or concept. That is, as long as the drawing is accurate.

And there's the challenge: making drawings that are both accurate, aesthetically pleasing and not to mention drawn quickly. That calls for quite some skill... Maybe the extensive drawing practise was not such a bad idea after all!

During my "Sleek & Futuristic" challenge, originally meant to discover the form language of sleek/futuristic looking items, I rediscovered and tried out new drawing techniques. I learned a lot, although I cannot say I already have a good grasp on how to make something look futuristic or sleek, but my understanding definitely improved and that's what I was aiming for. The rest will come over time, I'm sure.

The first days, I was really lost on how to start, but after studying reference pictures it became easier. I used 3D software (1 and 4), pencil sketch on paper (2) and digital drawing software (3).

Two more 3D modeling software renderings (5 and 7), and pencil sketches (6 and 8).

After that, the challenge turned more into a drawing training assignment. I even started to use markers (day 10 to 14), which I hated during my education. And I liked it! I also discovered the awesome effect of drawing on colored pape, using a sharpie (Dutch: fineliner), grey markers and a white chalk pencil (day 10 and 11). Whoa!

As you can see, I still have a LOT to learn and train when it comes to perspective, shading or even just setting straight lines. That's fine. I'll just need to keep on practising and experimenting, and then maybe, maybe after a looong time, I'll even reach the level of a classically educated industrial designer!

For those of you who are interested in using markers for drawing, here is a nice tutorial on how to use them. The website idcreatures.com (I'm a fan) has many more of those, very convenient if you want to learn more about making product drawings.


My next challenge will be drawing people in interaction with objects - talk about challenges!

Saturday, November 3, 2012

Photoshooting

I've (finally) decided on my shop colours! Red, black, and wood colours, beige en brown. Warm and strong colours, but not too feminine. The dark grey in the logo en website are not a bad combination with this, but I might change the colour to a warmer dark brown just to be sure. We'll see how it looks when the photo's are integrated in the website.

It is also a good colour scheme for fall, winter and the holiday season, I think. Maybe around spring, I'll change to a grey with lighter blues and greens? Would be nice to do things like that in the future.

But, for now it is dark, warm and red colours. I tend to move to those colours anyway. Dark orange en red hues have always been favourites of mine, and when I walked around in the IKEA for props, those came naturally together. Did I say I'm really happy with it?

So... I'm currently in the process of creating stages for my jewelry and making decent product photo's. It's really difficult because I tend to over-think on the stages while I should just try things out, while at the same time I also want the shop pictures to look cohesive. Demands, demands! Ah well, they'll be done when they're done.

I also went to a make-up make-over/photoshoot: me in full make-up? Whaaat?

Okay, if you don't know me in person this might not have come across as shocking, but for those who do it certainly must have been unexpected. I'm really not adverse to using make-up, I just simply never use more than a teeny bit of eyeliner and maybe some concealer where necessary. Too much of a hassle, and an abundance of make-up usually looks weird on me anyway. But last week I went to do a photoshoot at a drugstore (they had a special event) where a make-up artist did my make-up and a photographer shot some pictures, I certainly liked the result. Wow!

So: now the challenge of learning to recreate that look. And find a hat. I want a hat. Really.

Okay, now from airs and graces back to the mundane: due to consistent design-activities-induced negligence in the household department, our house is currently in a state of Greater Mess (instead of the usual great mess) and some major maintenance would be in place. I tend to lose track on what needs to be done and become overwhelmed by all the chores, so I decided to make things a bit more fun & organized. And with fun, I mean a cross-check list with all the tasks that are not the normal daily/weekly cleaning chores. Not to be crossed but to be stamped or something. With a self-made stamp or something, I don't know yet. Something fun, at least.

Looking fun enough already? Some examples of the chores include:
- slap the big pile of mood board pictures I cut out earlier onto a big sheet of paper (i.e. make a mood board, but don't take too long)
- empty the stairs of 'needs to be taken up/downstairs' stuff
- sew a second curtain
- sew a third curtain and get J. to go to the hardware store for curtain rails (despite all emancipation, he's the in-house technician and I do not wish to be bothered with such tasks. My excuse: he's better at these things than anyone I know, including me)
- make an easy to access drawings & drawing paper filing folder for on my desk (as I'm starting to draw more nowadays, this is becoming a necessity: drawings everywhere!)
- file the big pile of 'finished but to needs to be saved just in case' administration
- collect old shoes to take to the recycling bin (you know, the ones that are completely worn down but still kept 'just in case' and subsequently forgotten for years)
- and of course the many 'empty and deep-clean this tiny little corner of the house, that specific shelf, that box over there, etc etc' tasks

I'm going to try doing one of these tasks every day. It should all take less than an hour, otherwise it'd take up too much of my time and energy, and by having both big and small tasks, I should be able to adapt it to my energy level each day. To make it even more attractive I might have to come up with little rewards, but at the moment I really can't come up with any. We'll just see how it goes!

And lastly, a little creative mini-project. Some time ago, I received a letter from my friend F. (btw, she has a blog as well, in Dutch though: Festina Lente). An actual handwritten letter, not an email! Receiving (and writing) a letter is just so much more fun than emailing. It made my day (thanks F.!). Of course I wrote a letter back, and because I felt like doing a small creative activity, I cut a bookmark to put in the envelope as well. I've made bookmarks before, and I love doing this (I've made a pile of those before). You can make it as simple or complicated as you want, and the end result is always useful!