module specification

Successful fashion design outcomes are reliant on sound design principles. These principles inform and create opportunities for students to apply their creativity to the conception, development and eventual realisation of effective design solutions.

This module will introduce students to a range of contemporary and traditional discipline-related design approaches and processes, some of which will be tested in design exercises and some of which may be realised in studios and projects carried across other modules.  Processes experienced will involve research, documentation and analysis, alongside experiment and discovery.

Design concepts will be tested through the application of workshop and studio methods. Materials, processes and technologies will be discipline-specific, developing creative outcomes relevant to the possibilities and constraints of the context intended.

Students will be encouraged to develop a critically informed and personal approach to the process of design. Studios and projects will encourage understanding of practice and engagement with materials, media and, processes in the context of a rapidly changing contemporary culture with ever-developing needs and problems.

Pre-requisite of equivalent of standard University entry requirements in a related subject and portfolio submission and review.
Co-requisite with DN4005A Workshop Practice for Fashion

The content is indicative and will necessarily reflect current debates and thinking. 
Topics covered will normally include discipline/ course specific design studios, a series of project briefs which offer a range of contexts and problems for creative response, methods of research, idea generation, problem solving, analysis, critique and reflection, idea generation and exploration through discipline-specific design processes.
The studio will support course identity and subject knowledge. Open, exploratory projects will be supported by exercises, visits and group critiques.
Studios will be designed to allow students to work with a range of content and formats to gain understanding of how different contexts require differing approaches, processes and research methods. Projects will be selected or designed to ensure growing competence and understanding of essential skills, strategies, techniques and technologies used in 2D and 3D design.

LO 1 - 4

Scheduled teaching ensures that independent study is effective and addresses the learning outcomes and assessment tasks. Students are expected to, and have the opportunity to, continue with their studies outside of scheduled classes. There will be a range of learning strategies deployed and individual learning styles will be accommodated. The module’s learning outcomes, its contents and delivery, have been scrutinised and will be regularly reviewed to ensure an inclusive approach to pedagogic practice.

The module and course utilise the University’s blended learning platform to support and reinforce learning, to foster peer-to-peer communication and to facilitate tutorial support for students. Reflective learning is promoted through assessment items and interim formative feedback points that ask students to reflect on their progress, seek help where they identify the opportunity for improvement in learning strategies and outcomes, and make recommendations to themselves for future development. Throughout the module, students build a body of work, including reflections on progress and achievement.

The School’s programme of employability events and embedded work-related learning within the curriculum supports students’ personal development planning. Through these initiatives, students are increasingly able, as they progress from year to year, to understand the professional environment of their disciplines, the various opportunities available to them, and how to shape their learning according to their ambitions.

At the end of this module, students will be able to:

1. Knowledge and Understanding
demonstrate a basic understanding of the key principles and practices integral to fashion design;
2. Cognitive Intellectual Abilities
solve simple design problems and generate ideas, criticising and reflecting on practice principles throughout;
3. Transferable Skills
begin to test conceptual ideas through workshop and studio practice and research;
4. Subject Specific Practical Skills
select and apply selected discipline-specific methods of research, recording and presentation.

Students will produce and submit a body of project work demonstrating engagement with studio intentions, module aims and achievement of the learning outcomes. Work in progress will be assessed formatively and feedback will be provided as an ongoing process.

Students will produce coherent 2D and/or 3D fashion presentation(s) supported by written, drawn and visualised record of project research, development, and concepts/findings, together with critical self-evaluation of work.

The final mark will be awarded in relation to the completed project work presented at the end of the module. Summative assessment will reflect on the whole body of work and qualities demonstrated throughout, including research, idea generation, problem analysis, solution, critique and reflection in 2D and 3D design.  Written feedback will be provided corresponding to published assessment criteria and guidance given towards future development. Precise requirements for submission will be given in project briefs.

Work must be carefully organised and presented to communicate the development of ideas and the content must be clearly labeled with name, student number, module code and date. Students must attend timetabled sessions.

Braddock, S. and O’ Mahony, M. (1998) Techno Textiles, Thames and Hudson
Doczi, G. (1989) The Power Of Limits: Proportional Harmonies in Nature, Art and Architecture, Shambala Press
Health and Safety Executive (2006) Essentials of Health and Safety at Work, HSE
Hoppen, K. (1999) In Touch: Texture in Design, Conran Octopus
Lefteri, C. (2008) The Plastics Handbook, RotoVision
Pye, D. (1995) The Nature and Art of Workmanship, Bloomsbury Press
Thompson, M., Thompson, R. (2014) Manufacturing Processes for Textile and Fashion Design Professionals, Thames and Hudson
Thompson, M., Thompson, R. (2017) The Materials Sourcebook for Design Professionals, Thames and Hudson