Its always exciting and challenging to design a whole new collection of bags. In this case i'm designing a range of pinstriped bags to co-incide with the opening of the new London Museum at the end of November. Its going to be really exciting.
As i was designing both the bags and also the print of the fabric, i thought i would let you in on some insider tips as a bag designer on hacks to ensure the best possible outcome when designing a print for a bag or range of bags.
Firstly once you have decided on what print you want, you need to make sure that it is a repeat print, and that it can be scaled to become a whole fabric print. Designing a print as an all over print is in art in itself if it were for example a tartan or floral design. You can have a look at my tartan range here. I also re-created this iconic fabric myself to my own scale for the tartan range of bags for Goodordering.
I konw this oven mit is a real product in real life, so i got my own oven mitt out and printed out the picture in roughly the same size as the real like oven mitt. I then measured the space in between the lines to work out the scale that i wanted for my print. This works if you do find a product that has a similar print at a scale that you like the look of.
It might seen crazy but even the difference between a couple of millimetres can make a big difference visually. What i'm looking for is a harmonious size stripe that neither looks too big or too small. this is entirely a personal opionion obviously, so i am relying on my years of experience and my own taste to decide. The trick is not to get too bogged down in making this decision as, when designing a bag there are literally hundreds of decisions to make as it is. Some of those decisions include:
- Should it have inside pockets?
- If so, should the pocket have a zip or be open?
- If it has a zip, should the zip pull be the same as the external zip pull or different?
I find it useful to even cut the print out and place it on something similar or of the same scale so i can visualise the fabric in real life. This is a really important step because it brings the fabric to life. I also think this is useful for testing colour as well. Things on the computer don't always turn out the same in real life as we know!
Its all about translating your print to a 1:1 scale using a combination of digital and real life mocking up.
Here is a summary of the steps
1) create the print make sure it is a repeat print
2) print it out at different scales
3) hold the print outs up against a bag roughly the same size as your bag design to see if you like it.
4) try different scales and decide which one you like the best
5) create the print at 1:1 scale , i do this on an a4 size page
6) print the final size out again making sure its 1:1 scale for the printer
7) decide on the colours you want to use. referencing pantone references
