OUGD603 — Brief 08 - Tokyo Fixed Jersey Kit - Boards

Evaluation:

This brief was extremely rewarding to work on and finalise with the Tokyo Fixed team. Being approached by a client of this caliber was a new experience for me that has increased my confidence and professional practice along with an amazing project that will look great in my portfolio when the physical product is made.

I have never done pattern design so I was surprised to be asked to work with it as a first brief from Tokyo Fixed but it was exciting and a really useful process that I have learned how to work around.

Having the opportunity to not only develop a full pattern for high-end luxury cycling jerseys but also given the freedom to design the actual jerseys myself too was a valuable and enlightening process which has been really interesting to work through with professionals that have been doing this for years.

I found it a real shame when it was made clear that they wouldn't be made in time for submission as that would be an amazing product to submit, but experiencing the whole process has showed me how long-winded it is and how it needs to be reworked again by a fashion designer to be sure it all works together consistently.

I am really proud of the outcome of the pattern and the jersey mock-up, as even though it is not the sort of thing I would personally wear, I could imagine a lot of my friends to be interested in them and seeing professional riders race with them will be an amazing feeling.

OUGD603 — Brief 08 - Tokyo Fixed Jersey Kit - Pattern Update

As I feared, the process after the pattern was finalised has taken a lot longer than I anticipated originally. I had an e-mail on the 6th of May to ask for the original pattern file for final stages of development for sampling which granted me that it wouldn't not be complete till long after the module hand-in.

For this reason I am going to find a way to mock-up the pattern as if it is already on the jersey to give a more defined idea of the final piece for submission.

OUGD603 — Brief 08 - Tokyo Fixed Jersey Kit - Jersey Mock-Ups

"Hi Alex, 

We have some more work for you. Could you have a go at applying the Bonsai pattern to the Jersey template attached please. Trying out a few variations with different spacing and sizing. We want the design to go all over the jersey but when doing this mock up remember that the panels will not align properly because of sizing so mask the front and back panels separate from the sides and arms. 

Just use the the final colourway you sent over with the finished design. We dont want you spend to much time on this if possible just a few basic mock ups.

Thanks,

Josh"

I opened up the pdf attachment supplied and cleaned it up a bit before preparing the fill masks below the lines on which I can apply the different variations of pattern with a more natural cut and sew effect on each panel.

I started with more close together trees and created three variations leading to the most space between trees. I also added some variations of pocket finishing at the end as mentioned in the e-mail.

Personally I felt that the first option was far too busy to remotely look appealing to the eye, but the second and third had a charm from the breathability which would work really nicely with the line based half-tones the print would be finished with. 

In regards to the pockets, I wasn't keen on the pink one as it stuck out like a sore thumb and wasn't working as an attribute to the kit or style. My favourite was the blank one as it simplified the design slightly more and gave a bit of rest away from the rest of the kit.

My next e-mail from Josh read:

"Hi Alex, 

This is a good move forwards! We really need to get the design wrapped up now. Is it possible for you to do a version when the trees are much larger and randomly spaced out? Dont worry if the trees get cut off in parts 

Some of the smaller ones seem to look messy I think. 

Just 2 versions both with the pink pockets. 

Thanks,

Josh"

Fortunately, he completely agreed with me with the spacing and after thinking about it, the pink pocket could look quite good in final form (not flat illustration mockups).

I created two more variations to respond to his request, one with much bigger trees but both with more random spacing and pink pockets.

I was very happy to hear that they had resorted to an earlier colour way I completed based on traditional oriental china ornaments. I felt that this worked best in it's minimalism and it wasn't at all garish.

In the feedback e-mail, detail was brought up and it was mentioned to experiment with key-lines for a more textured outcome.

Max and Josh were really happy with the finished piece and decided it was ready to go into the final stages of development by their in-house team before getting sent off for production. 

I am no longer sure if they will be made in time for the module hand-in but I am holding onto hope that it's faster than I assume!

OUGD603 — Brief 08 - Tokyo Fixed Jersey Kit - Colour

The colour started off with pinks and blues as first described in an e-mail Josh, (brand director at Tokyo Fixed) had sent to me.

As the patterns developed however, the colour began to change too. Nothing was really fixed while developing the patterns themselves as the colour could be altered at any given time.

The background turned to a light sand colour to give a more natural feel to the pattern.

When I began playing with line-based halftones, I oversimplified the colour-scheme which was mentioned in the feedback received from Josh, from there I said I would go a bit crazy with colour and send them a load of variations to choose from so every direction has been scoped.

In the feedback gained from the selection I sent over, he said he loved the pink and green ones but felt they should be a bit paler and more natural than vibrant and for all the soil to remain the same colour.

This was finalised and sent as an illustrator file to Josh so he was able to mock it up in a jersey template and discuss it with Max.

OUGD603 — Brief 08 - Tokyo Fixed Jersey Kit - Patterns

Now that the illustrations were completed, the next step was to develop a strong pattern that could work in print on cycling jerseys (example above).

I created a series of variations with amazing constructive feedback flowing back and forth until coming to a final decision.

After the first four variations were sent, I received feedback to attempt constructing a weaving branch that flowed throughout the pattern. I felt that even though it worked, it felt too bust still.

This was noted in the emails between us and I tried an extreme of simplicity by removing all but one colour and creating an image from line-based halftones.

They loved the halftone texture but felt that the trees needed to be bigger and contain different colours for the branches and leaves still. This was amended and they were really happy with it and considered it finished.

Colour was also decided amongst these examples, however for the purpose of documentation I have created a separate post for this.

OUGD603 — Brief 08 - Tokyo Fixed Jersey Kit - Illustrations

I started my illustrations by gathering a selection of references to understand different branch constructions and leaf patterns. 

From these I sketched a selection of four trees in fine-liner.

Once the sketches were complete I got to work on vectoring the trees into a more detailed, stylised format to allow for quality printing and simplicity in design.

 

Even though it took a lot longer than I had originally hoped for, I was very happy with the outcomes of each of the illustrations, they all looked different but at the same time part of a set. This was something that would be an important element upon developing the pattern.

I sent the first one to Kinoko just to make sure that I was fulfilling the look they were envisioning and fortunately I had understood what they were wanting.