My Design Process So-Far.

Hello, Brooke here.

For my IDC Project, I am designing a line of feminist merchandise which I will have manufactured. I will also market and sell these items online on my etsy store, as well as in school as a fundraiser for the Fearlessly Girl club.

I am currently working on the designs for the products in my line. I knew from the start that I would like to include 3 button designs, 3 sticker designs, and 1 or 2 textile designs, which I am thinking will be iron-on patches.

When designing, I first did some research. I have done research on feminism and women’s rights in the past, but wanted to know more about not only famous pioneering feminists and modern day feminism icons, as well as current and classic feminist catchphrases and slogans.

I then looked at designs on buttons, stickers, and shirts that I like and think will appeal to my audience/client group of teenagers and young adults. I want to include well-known elements of the feminist movement in my designs to make them relevant, but design them in a way that is current and will attract people. I want these designs to make feminism fun and familiar and approachable to those who are new to the concept or title of feminism.

After I did some research I then had a visual of what direction I wanted this to go in. I got design inspiration from tumblr, from art pictured below: (as well as art that is similar to it)

From there, I pulled colour combinations, slogans/catchphrases, and other design elements (such as floral accents or the female gender symbol) and sketched away in my sketchbook. Several pages of rough work later, I have now narrowed down my ideas to 8 or so designs. 3 buttons, 3 stickers, and 2 patches. I am now working on refining the designs.

I will need to sketch and ink the designs that I want to hand draw, scan them into my computer and open them with photoshop to clean them up. Others, I will be making entirely in photoshop or illustrator. From there, I will send the jpeg versions of my designs to manufacturers and have them put onto products! I am so excited to see how they will turn out. Tune in next week to see my progress <3