My design process

I’m not very good at sharing my design process (for the details rather than the form) so I thought I’d do a little journal entry,

I love industrial, brutalist building so obviously water towers are up there in my top ten. Which lead me many years ago to the photos of Bernd and Hilla Becher, best known for their images of industrial structures.

I use repetition in my design process and I find a starting point which is generally some lines, then build on that. The starting point for this design is a cooling tower from the B and A book, front cover in the photographs.

I tend to draw the images, using thick sold lines, in my sketchbook then detract from the piece, removing parts until I’m left with a few lines forming an abstract line, detached from its original item.

My favourite medium for the next step is tracing paper. I enjoy being able to trace the lines, turning the tracing paper as I go to see if a new placement takes my fancy before committing it to the paper. Exploring the new designs in front of me. I’ll keep working over and over the lines, placing them in different ways, different angles, until I find what I am looking for.

I always have an idea in the back of my mind of the resolved design I’m looking for, but try to blot it out so I can see if something new pops up. Much like my work is rigid, my ideas are too so I never seem to stray very far from my original idea, but lord develop it into something better.

Once I have my final draft I’ll switch over to illustrator and create it in there, so I know all lines and angles are straight and accurate, and the repetition is perfect. I found this way of working suits me, and is something I’ve been doing since my degree.

Below are some snaps of the development from image, to abstract line, to variations. These are not the final draft, and I haven’t yet mentioned where, what of how they will feature on my work. That’s for another time…