Exhibition Text:
I wanted to make this piece for a demographic that I felt was not often marketed towards in terms of furniture, colorful people who are looking for interesting pieces that match unconventional wants. I was inspired by IKEA’s pride couches because they were meant for a similar audience. I used some shared aspects, but overall the ideas are my own, and I did not use the same aspects of texture that they did.
Inspiration:
In 2021 IKEA unveiled their pride couch collection. It was a total of ten couches all inspired by different pride flags, the collection was meant to boost inclusivity in the company and therefore boost their image, but a lot of people thought it was a little distasteful. I wanted to use this inspiration to make a creative couch, I had been a little tired of uncreative and boring monochromatic couches. So I wanted to make something that was very creative and out there. I had this collection in the back of my mind, not something that was my favorite, but that was creative. I loved the use of color in the couches and wanted to use some of the colors, shapes and textures. I planned on using a couch cover for the different designs I wanted to make but I thought the fairly simple shapes of the couches would be a good starting point for making creatively colored couches. I liked the meaning of the couches, creating something that was not normally created for an audience not used to this kind of attention.
The artist intent for this is to pander to an audience outside of their normal demographic, young people. There is a lot of texture and color in these couches, much different from typical couches. My first reaction to the couches was shock at first, it was a very out there design at the time, a lot was going on with these couches. I thought some of them were slightly more distasteful than others. I think I had a sort of negative reaction because a lot of people did not like these couches, but looking at them from a design perspective offers a different look into how creative and unique these couches are. The areas emphasized on the couches are often the places with color and texture, on the rainbow couch the couch panel is emphasized because it is the only space on the couch with color. These areas are purposefully emphasized because they are the areas that resemble their inspiration. The eye moves through these couches with the use of organic shapes, specifically the asexual pride flag couch has a large organic shape that moves the eye through the couch. They did this with the texture of the shape and the colors in it. This collection was created for: 1. People to talk about it, and 2. for IKEA's image. I think this because, a lot of people did talk about it, but it did not affect IKEA's image in the way they thought it would. I think that this artwork is meant to convey happiness, it is for pride after all, and it achieves that, it has lots of color and organic shapes that make it look inviting.
Planning:
My planning began with drawing out some ideas on a whiteboard, I had thought of some things I wanted to do and came up with a couch after realizing they were an underlooked household piece of furniture, plenty of things had undergone innovation in color, rugs, lamps, side tables, but most couches on the market were very boring. I wanted to make them holiday themed to match other holiday decor that people might have up around those holidays. They would be a collection of sophisticated couch covers that went over a base couch, with built in storage to hold over holiday covers, of course, this was not my initial idea, but grew with the time I spent thinking about this idea. I put my idea on this whiteboard to visualize it and eventually get some more feedback on it. I wanted the design to be loud and exciting, my way of doing this was through color. I wanted to make the final designs around the same size, a two panel couch, with possibly some other sizes as well.
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My idea grew with the feedback from my classmates, I presented my ideas and got some more ideas about what kinds of things could be on these couch covers besides holidays, I got ideas like color changing fabric, different textures, different sizes (which I amended in my mind to use), pillows and blankets as a set to match the couches, ones with optional cat scratching material, a couch with materials you could draw on, and ones that you could design yourself. I liked a lot of these ideas, but I did not want to use all of them; some were too off of my initial theme guided by my inspiration, and some I thought would be a little weird. My theme of identity plays into this idea through the idea that these couches are meant for people with more out-there taste. These drawings were just ideas of what I could create, but I did end up taking a more literal approach to some of these designs.
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Process:
I started this process by drawing some sketches, I first did one of the whole couch, which was a little too messy for it to be the final. I also drew some couch cushions so I could have reference for any couch I wanted to make. I was pleased with my skills for both, getting the lines to be perfectly straight and just how I wanted them was a struggle but I ended up with something that I could put on my posters. These drawings were integral to figuring out my style for the final drawing, I feel that without this practice I would have been a lot more lost and without clear knowledge of what the final should look like.
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I finished this process with making the second poster, I had messed up a little bit, but I fixed it and ended up with something that I was really happy with. I learned about photopea's type tool and their font selection and found a new skill there. Looking back I wish I would have found a better scale model, but he looks just fine, I changed the opacity slightly so that the couch could still be seen. Looking back at this process I realize how hard it is to make a piece of furniture and seeing my inspiration I realize that it took many people and a long time for them to end up with the pieces they did.
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EXPERIMENTATION:
I drew out my ideas for a base couch on paper because I thought it would help me to get a feel for what the final shape would look like. I liked this idea, I found it helpful to know what the final would look like in terms of shape before I drew the final or knew the specifics of what I wanted it to look like. I found that this drawing was a little bit off, which was good for me to prepare for the final and get mistakes done now.
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I also drew what I thought a design-your-own couch could look like. It was a brief idea on paper but I liked what it showed me about customizability of the couch because of its shape. I did not have a lot of colors available to me so I used what I had, if I was going to do something experimental like this next time I would have more color options available to me.
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I experimented with underlining some of the very important part of my writing, I did this for emphasis. I liked this idea it added what I wanted to the composition. I thought adding emphasis in any capacity was probably a good idea. Next time I would not do so much thinking about if it was necessary I would do it based on instinct.
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I experimented with using the refine edge tool on photopea, it was not my first time using this but it was a good opportunity for me to develop my skills with it. Next time I use this tool I would come up with a better plan as to how to use it in a faster manner. Using this tool is a huge amount of time to spend with the tool, and finding a fast way to do it would be a huge help.
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This was a mistake I made, when looking at the requirements for poster two I thought it was just the final photo, but once I went back I found out I needed to add some things. This taught me to be more careful and check things twice before finalizing them. This also taught me to be more careful in many more aspects than just art. I was doing my best to complete this project, and got lost in going through the motions without checking.
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Critique:
Similarities may include:
- The use of color, both pieces are full of varied color choices, choices that remain in the same color scheme for example the inspirational couch in the bottom right corner is in the same color family, and my couch is made up of reds and pinks.
- A design of a simple shape, both couches have relatively simple shapes that you could find in any furniture store but without a boring color palate.
- Similar use of line, in many of the inspirational couches there are lines that point to the focal point of the couch, as is in mine, lines of the couch that point to the couch cushions.
- Texture: the use of texture is seen in the inspirational couches, but not in my couches, this is a very good part of the design of those couches, but I did not want to take away from the main part of my couches with texture.
- The inspirational couches have a lot more going on, they have many textures and bright colors and shapes that make the couch so unique, but mine does not, as I did not want the design to be to out there.
- My couch has emphasis around the whole thing, whereas the inspirational couches use emphasis through texture.
- Success rate: the inspirational couches are made by a team with lots of resources and many people to come up with ideas, my couch was a way for me to express some ideas I had.
Reflection:
I feel as though I used lots of rusty skills during this project, I used photopea and some new tools with that. In addition, I used markers which is something I haven't used in a while. I developed in many ways, I learned that Photopea has a lot more to offer, and I learned that creating furniture has a lot more things to think about that I thought. My inspiration for the project was IKEA's collection of pride couches, I thought they were similar in what they set out to do: create something very creative for a specific audience of people. My biggest challenge during the project was thinking of ideas at the very beginning, and using the refine edge tool on photo pea, which I had used in the past but in a different context, this time it still took a long time, and was just a very long process. I learned about photopea in the past, but this time I did not have a lot of guidance in which tools I used specifically so I went out on my own and used some new tools, as well as old ones. My favorite part was creating the body text for the poster, it allowed me to explore my ideas in a new way. My least favorite part was creating enough drawings for the poster, it was a time consuming process, and making all the drawings took longer than expected. I hope that others see the creativity in my work, and how I wanted it to come off as a new idea.
Act Questions:
Clearly explain how you are able to identify the cause effect relationship between your inspiration and its effect on your artwork?
- My inspiration has many colors throughout, but all are based on a singular flag, similar to how I wanted to go about my couches with one holiday or theme surrounding it.
What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
- They have a very simple approach to the topic, they put out the couches and did little else.
What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, culture, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
- IKEA very much reduced LGBTQ people into something they could benefit from.
What is the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?.
- The theme of promoting people's interests that are not often promoted.
What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
- That IKEA did little to respond to questions about the couch line after the fact, regarding production or reasoning.
- My inspiration has many colors throughout, but all are based on a singular flag, similar to how I wanted to go about my couches with one holiday or theme surrounding it.
What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
- They have a very simple approach to the topic, they put out the couches and did little else.
What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, culture, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
- IKEA very much reduced LGBTQ people into something they could benefit from.
What is the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?.
- The theme of promoting people's interests that are not often promoted.
What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
- That IKEA did little to respond to questions about the couch line after the fact, regarding production or reasoning.