It’s not always easy to design. We are going to look at a range of tasks that hopefully will help you with designing skills. We call these tasks, design strategies. These strategies can be helpful when you are designing any product. We are going to look at the following design strategies:

• Morphing

• Inspiration sources

• Modelling

• Development

Your client Celtic Creations have asked for your design to have an organic theme and be as original as possible.To help give you some inspiration for this project we need to look at organic shapes and what nature’s got to offer us as a stimulus.

Patterns in nature

Designers often get inspiration by looking at things around them. They may look at books and magazines, visit exhibitions and museums or look at the environment around them.

• Inspiration sources

Morphing Shapes

It’s not always easy to design. To help you come up with some ORGANIC shapes and patterns from nature to use for your Tea Light/Candle Holder we are going to do some morphing.

Start off with an image of something curved. Then, begin morphing it into a number of different shapes. Consider flipping it, rotating it, repeating it,

reducing or enlarging it. Think about ‘C’

shapes and ‘S’ shapes:draw a shape

flip it

repeat it & flip it again

join them together

repeat it & flip it again

one original design!!

•Morphing shapes

Modelling

Modelling is important as it gives us an idea of the size,

proportion and overall look of the design.Add natural

scrol – fern here

• Modelling

• Developments

Your client Celtic Creations have asked for your design to have an organic theme and be as original as possible.To help give you some inspiration for this project we need to look at organic shapes and what nature’s got to offer us as a stimulus.

Patterns in nature

Designers often get inspiration by looking at things around them. They may look at books and magazines, visit exhibitions and museums or look at the environment around them.

Using organic shapes for inspiration

Inspiration – Line & Pattern

Inspiration – line and pattern

Inspiration – Shape & FormInspiration – shape and form

Inspiration from an innovative designer - Raewyn Harris

Designers can also get inspiration from looking at the work of others – artists or craftspeople in particular. Raewyn Harris is a New Zealand based artist who is inspired by her local landscape, coastline, hills, trees and the sea. She includes the patterns of nature in her paintings.What do you think of her work? Will it inspire you?

Morphing Shapes

To help you develop organic shapes and patterns from nature, for the Tea Light/Candle Holder we are going to use a strategy called morphing .

Start off with an image of something curved. Then, begin morphing it into a number of different shapes and designs. Consider flipping it, rotating it, repeating it,

reducing or enlarging it. Think about ‘C’

shapes and ‘S’ shapes:

draw a shape

flip it

repeat it & flip it again

join them together

repeat it & flip it again

one original design!!

Morphing shapes

stretch it & rotate it slightly

break it

up in half

rotate it

draw a shape

repeat it & flip

simplify the shape & add a curve on the end

repeat it & flip

add an extra curve

add extra holders

Repeat & flip

vertically

add an extra curve

another original design!

This is an example of using organic forms as a source of inspiration for design ideas.

Organic inspiration source for design ideas

Sioned Davies

A further example of using organic forms as a source of inspiration but a different presentation style – which do you prefer?

Organic inspiration source for design ideas

Ben Watkins

These are some examples of creative, quick idea generation.

Sara Thomas

Modelling

Modelling can be a helpful way to design. It can help you to

judge the size, proportion and overall look of a design.

inspiration

final product

Once you have a design that you are pleased with and answers your design specification, you need to think about how you can make your product. Think about e.g. which materials you are going to use and how to join them together. You will need to annotate your drawings.

Look at the next slide to see how to annotate your work effectively.

Kim Lewis

Annotation is when you write short comments to explain your design work, a sort of “design chatter”.

What could you include in your annotation?

• shape

• size

• style details

• colours

• materials

• how easy or difficult the tea light holder is to

make.

Annotating your design work

Caryl-Anne Davies