General design proposals

The design brief and specification give the information needed to begin the design process. It is important to understand the nature of design work. In industry, some designers specialize in designing one type of product or system whereas others are happy to design a range or collection of product.

Designers may be employed full- or part-time or work on a freelance basis. A designer may produce totally new design ideas or may change existing designs to create interesting variations. A technique known as attribute analysis is often used for this process, where specification points are listed and customer needs considered. There are different stages in the design of a product before manufacture takes place.

Initial ideas or thumbnail sketches are a mass of basic sketches done quickly. These can be worked on, discarded or developed further. This type of sketching is useful to experiment with styles, shapes, patterns, etc. that are in your mind from previous market research ideas.

In industry, designers will start with a collection of pictures, magazine articles, photographs and realia that can be put together in thе form of a mood/story board or design notebook. This could include street scenes, man-made or natural shapes, colours, fabrics and patterns.

Designers use many things as a starting point for a design idea such as natural imagery (for example a garden); painting or works of art to reflect in a fabric print; or a musical trend, for example the come back of platform shoes as worn by the Spice Girls.

Role models such as pop stars or sports personalities can influence, such as the popularity of the bandana or the sarong once worn by David Beckham.

From the range of working drawing a final design proposal needs to be identified. The final design helps to produce the manufacturing (product) specification, so it needs to be fully annotated and evaluated, with reasons for selection clearly evident. This can be done in a variety of ways:

- clear annotations with additional notes made around the sketch examining construction details such as seam finishes, fastenings and possible assembly ideas

- the use of a chart or star profile to show visual evaluation of the design against the main specification points

- notes, which must be clear, precise and well written, but they do not cover any part of the design with text.

You must also remember that alongside the evaluation against your specification points you must clearly identify your final design choice with supporting evidence.

Factors which a designer must consider when preparing the final design idea are: current trends in fashion, retailer, the competition, ease of industrial manufacture, colour trends, fibers, cost or target price, existing ranges, quality, commercial viability, target/consumer groups.

Computer-aided design (CAD) helps to the rapid development of garment prototypes from initial sketches to finished garment. This is an important process because a potential buyer wants to see and feel a garment before they decide to produce it – the faster this stage can be finished the faster production can begin. This is especially important in the sports/leisurewear industry because of rapid changes in fashion. In industry, some designers like to work directly on a computer; others find it easier to sketch by hand.

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