Process
Here you’ll find the different stages of my design process - from ideation to finished product.
Step 1.
The first step of the process when working with an already existing brand, is to listen in on the customer’s wishes and formulate a goal.
Let’s say we are starting the next collection for a fashion brand. I would start the process by researching the brand and asking questions:
Who is the customer?
What is the mental age?
What price range are we working in?
Where is the collection sold today?
Where do we wish to sell it tomorrow?
In many cases, these questions can be answered by the operating sales team of the brand in our example.
Step 2.
After collecting feedback it´s time for me as a designer to make some more research and find inspiration so that I can present an idea for the new collection.
I find inspiration everywhere. I look at what is already at the market and in what direction it is going. You can call this trend research. You can travel to a major fashion city, or just a city that has a buzzing vibe of a lot happening right now. You can walk around in shops, go to culture events, listen to music, browse Instagram, follow the news e.t.c. Me personally? I often get inspired by architecture, looking at buildings and shapes. Famous historical places often gives me ideas of lines and patterns I can transform and use in my collections.
Step 3.
Now I’m done with my research. In this stage, I have a mood board ready, sketches, color proposals and some interesting fabrics. It is now time to collect your team again and have a talk. Do we need to add something or take something away? I’m always relating the work to the customer’s wishes and the goal we set out in the beginning of the process.
Step 4.
This is the production stage. Here, I prepare all the artworks and tech sheets together with the size charts needed for factories to produce a first sample. A close and professional contact with suppliers and manufactures really is the key ingredient. Somewhere along the way the collection might need changes. Perhaps certain costs were too high, or time limits came in to play, resulting in certain styles being dropped.