How-to design a concept | brief, colour & images

How-to concept design
Brief, concept and different ways of looking at colour

A day in the studio with diploma students working on stretching a brief to develop a concept, including different ways of looking at colour which in turn translates into material choice.

Artists and designers all have their methods: ceramicist Louisa Taylor takes inspiration for her condiment sets from the subtle palettes of 18th century dining vessels, and Bridget Riley works meticulously through different combinations of the same colours to check effects.

The recent Bridget Riley Hayward retrospective had a whole room devoted to studies on graph paper and full-scale mock-ups testing the visual and emotional results of one colour next to another, and revealed just how interesting these alternative arrangements are.

I like advice given to me by a textile designer that any composition (fabric, apparel, interior space) with a light, a bright and a dark will work no matter the arrangement or ratio.

No harm in looking at how others work.

More on teaching including short courses & workshops here.

Louisa Taylor Ceramics
Bridget Riley Hayward Gallery