FINAL CONCEPT DEISGN

After being inspired by several different sources I finally put my work together to form my final concept design. The last thing left to do was to colour it in using different kinds of media to bring out the effects of the materials used in the best way possible. For the soft leather part I used a black Promarker. Since it's a marker which blends its ink really well lines weren't present on my drawing giving off the effect of soft leather quite well. I then used a black chalk pastel for the suede parts of the shoe. The parts which I wanted to stick out, I decided to go for a gold marker which would match the design used for the Snitch wing. The Snitch wing itself was coloured in with gold marker and other parts left white making it stick out from the rest of the shoe which was just different tones of black separated by a white outline to show the different parts combined and match the rest of the shoe. As a last minute detail inspired by the Christian Louboutin shoe I made the inside of the shoe red. It only shows when the shoe is off but like that it gives off a more appealing design when not being worn. 

Side View

Back View / under-heel

Quidditch for muggles.

Upon creating my designs I felt like I was limiting myself. I went through my previous blog posts seeing whereabouts I might be able to improve my design. Whilst scrolling down I remembered about the runway show I posted about when dealing with transformation with clothing. I posted a runway video of Alexander McQueen and a certain shoe used for this runway caught my eye. It was original, appealing and unique. 

Looking at this shoe I felt inspired and decided I could use it for my concept shoe design. All I needed to do was improve it and go round it. The design caught my eye straight away. I loved it's shape and thought it would fit my final piece nicely. Therefore I started coming up with a few sketches and finally decided on the shape I wanted to use. [See Below]

I finally decided to go along finishing off my concept with the design above. Original, new and fun. Finally having been inspired by Alexander McQueen's design, it was time to move onto the next step. Adding film/media into my concept design. I decided to go with Harry Potter more than the Life of Pi for my final piece. I chose to go along this path because I myself being a fan of harry potter will be more interested and motivated to create something with a better outcome along this film and not another. I also thought people might be more appealed to the design I had in mind for this piece along the lines of Harry Potter. 

Whilst doing research I came across a car many people are familiar with and one of its latest designs made by designer Jeremy Scott. The Smart Car. Looking at his design gave an idea which I could add onto my shoe design based on Harry Potter inspired by this car's unique look. 

For the above sketch I applied the inspiration I got from the smart's design; the wings. It gave it a sleek look and flow throughout the shoe making it more aesthetically pleasing. 

I then altered it based on the ideas I got from the Snitch in Harry Potter. The wings I drew on the shoe for my final concept design were inspired by The Golden Snitches wings, giving it a more serious look. 

''Quidditch is a fictional competitive sport in the wizarding world of the Harry Potter Universe. It is an extremely rough but very popular semi-contact sport, played by wizards and witches. Matches are played between two teams of seven players riding flying broomsticks, using four balls and six elevated ring-shaped goals, three on each side of the Quidditch pitch (field). In the Harry Potte runiverse, Quidditch holds a fervent following similar to the position that association football holds as a globally popular sport.''

'' In the films, the wings on the Snitch are gold. The winged Snitch is enchanted to hover, dart, and fly around the pitch, avoiding capture while remaining within the boundaries of the playing area.''

 [Wikipedia, 2013]

Fresh Start

Whilst looking back on my work I was still quite confused as to how I wanted to proceed with my concept. I took a look at my blog with one of my unit tutor's, Ms.Sharon Abela. She liked the idea however thought it might be a bit too cliche'.. a bit too mainstream. Looking at it over again, scrolling through my work I agreed. Even though it was a good idea, it wasn't anything new. the design and inspiration might have been original but the way I went around designing the shoe wasn't; So it was time to look back and reflect and see where I can improve my work. My initial idea for my concept design was to come up with an original sneaker which I would like myself. Thinking it over I thought it would be best to design a woman's shoe; a design which in my opinion will be able to open up more windows when it comes to the design. With a woman's shoe there is much more to portray and I think I can express my creativity better. Looking at my previous research, not only within this unit but also in that of my other tutor Ms.Vella, I took a great liking to the signature shoe of Christian Louboutin. A classy shoe, loved, wanted and appreciated by many fashionistas and fashion icons. They're simple, yet elegant and look better than many other rival designer shoes; matter of opinion of course. I initially got inspiration from the shoe on the poster of the film 'The Devil Wears Prada'. Simple, elegant, and it portrays the title in the shoe itself.

[Photo taken by Me]

IMDb, 1990-2012. The Devil Wears Prada. [online] Available at: <http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0458352/> [Accessed 16 December 2012]

Google it

Before selecting what I wanted to do for my concept design, i did a bit more research on several different things and apart from the first 5 blog posts I added abit more to get an idea on transformation when it came to art film and design.
I was going through a few things on the internet and trying to look up information on shoe design. There were quite a few interesting creations and half of me was confused on what my final piece would actually consist of. I think I'm headed more into the poster design than the actual on shoe itself design. As a student going into graphics I think it would be more down my line and something I would actually enjoy doing. Alas, looking at different shoes wouldn't hurt to get an idea.
One simple one which I found quite cool was the 'Custom Designed Google Shoe'. It's probably because I always like that one kind of accessory which really sticks out, be it a shoe, a t shirt, a watch. Even though it does actually have the word ''google'' written on it, it comes into mind straight away that it could be related to google because of the colours used. It is exactly the same as the search engine typography. It's designed with primary colours, just as is the logo of google. They're bright and they all stick out making the shoe and its design very noticable Be it a gold watch or a lime green belt, pick something that people will remember and associate with you. As Coco Chanel once said ''“Before you leave the house, look in the mirror and remove one accessory.” Lesson learnt - just don't over do it. 

furthering my research I also found some other cool designs of search engines on shoes:

In the above two shoes, it is very obvious  from what source their design came from and is showing off to the public because they made it obvious by adding the logo of the site on the ankle part of the shoe. They're both designed using colours which stick out next to eachother making them catch the eye straight away. Their design is unique and catchy, described as being ''a geek must- have accessory''.

Above is another shoe I stumbled across which has similar features to the ones mentioned before. They are based on the design of De Stijl. They are a pair of Nike's which the concept design comes from the elements of Piet Mondrian's painting. (see below)

Composition with Yellow, Blue, and Red, 1921, Tate Gallery. London.

I am also posting a link I found which has a few other designs such a wii, ps3 etc. http://adventured.com/good-business/social-media/google-shoes-twitter-shoes-halo-shoes/ (adventured.com, 2012)
ZDNet, 2012, Google sneakers: The pair of shoes every SEO and search engine geek should have!. [online] Available at: <http://www.zdnet.com/blog/seo/google-sneakers-the-pair-of-shoes-every-seo-and-search-engine-geek-should-have/2280> [Accessed 16 December 2012]
Roundedoff, 2012, Brass Monki Custom Nikes. [online] Available at: <http://roundedoff.com/2011/02/16/brass-monki-custom-nikes-pictures/google-shoe-nikes/> [Accessed 16 December 2012]

contemporary practice, 2010, Rietveld Schroder House. [online] Available at: <http://contemporarypractice.wordpress.com/2010/01/27/rietveld-schroder-house/> [Accessed 16 December 2012]

Concept idea

For my concept design, I must admit I was quite lost on what to do. I had practically no Idea on what to go by. In my previous posts, nothing was particularly linked to eachother, they were pretty much completely different designs/models/artworks etc. However, analysing them all together, together with work showed to us by our tutors in class, I managed to put a few thoughts together. my concept idea is that of designing a shoe. I'm still uncertain whether I want it to be a poster, an actual shoe which I will transfer a design to or so on. It's still very much open to interpretation.

A poster which I found interesting is the DVD cover of a film which I just saw recently and a fellow classmate of mine mentioned when I was working on another assignment in class. ''The Devil Wears Prada'' was one of the films I'd always watch over again and actually not mind it, even though it's quite the chick flick and I'd rather sit down with a bag of popcorn and a good action film. The design of the shoe is so simple yet so effective. The whole title of the movie is perfectly depicted into the shoe shown. The shoe, which is Prada, and the Devils fork made into the heel of the shoe.

This shoe also came to mind after I had tried photo-manipulating a Christian Louboutin Shoe photo I took myself. I really like the shoe because of the way the poster is made. It is the biggest object in the poster and it's in red so it definitely is the first time one's eyes are drawn to. The background is white making the red shoe stick out even more. The writing is also much smaller in comparison to the shoe so it doesn't take of emphasis from it. I also like the fact that it is kept simple and there isn't too much going on. It is very much 'to the point'.

IMDb, 1990-2012. The Devil Wears Prada. [online] Available at: <http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0458352/> [Accessed 16 December 2012].