Finding inspiration in the work of designers
Studying the work of different designers should give you ideas for your own work.
Choose designers and works that are relevant to your chosen design area.
For each design you should:
- describe how materials, techniques and/or technology have been used in the design.
- describe the designer’s creative choices and design decisions and how these have affected the design, eg:
- their choice of style
- their use of visual elements, eg line, colour, shape, pattern
- the visual impact of their design
- describe how the purpose and function of the design have been approached
- investigate social and cultural influences and describe how these have impacted on the design
- consider the target market and how the design meets their need
The spidergram below sets out different parts of a designer's work that you should consider.
Checklist
- collect images of a variety of designers' work when you begin your research. Keep an open mind.
- select designs for analysis which are relevant to your own chosen area of design and the design problems you are interested in
- choose designs in styles that you like and which use techniques or materials you would like to try
- choose designers that you can find reliable information on so that you can research their techniques and find out about social and cultural influences on their work
- ensure that all comments about social and cultural influences in your critical analysis relate directly to the effect on the selected designs
