OUGD603 - Brief 5 - Live Brief - Conscious Creatives - Wildflower and Fungi Exhibition - Initial Ideas

Initial Ideas Sketches 

- One idea was to make mushrooms from wood and create a scene of them as if they were in a forest. The mushrooms could use scrap pieces of wood as a way of using sustainable materials whilst the use of the wood would create a natural feel to the design. By filing the tops of the mushrooms angular patches could be created. The mushrooms would have different forms to reflect the variety of native fungi within the UK and would celebrate this. The mushrooms could potentially be painted to reflect the colours of the different types of mushroom. Collected leaves or cut paper leaves could be used around the base of the mushrooms to create the effect of the forest floor where mushrooms are often found. Alternatively the mushrooms could be mounted on a piece of wood to reflect how they grow within the wild on dead branches and roots. The words 'organic alchemy' could be laid across the ground between the mushrooms so that they twist around the mushrooms. This would make reference to the process of mushrooms converting dead waste into nutrients and use some of the words used to describe this process found during research. As the design would be three dimensional it could either exist as a physical thing within the exhibition or as a photograph. 

- The words 'organic alchemy' could be further played upon by making them out of wood and attaching wooden mushrooms to the letters. This would allow the words to act as the support for the mushrooms in the same way as trees and dead wood. Leaves could be scattered around the bottom of the words to create the impression of the forest floor. 

- Alternatively mushrooms could be arranged so that when you look down on them they form the words 'organic alchemy', with leaves all around them.

- a selection of wooden mushrooms could be placed on different forms of wood where the mushrooms would be naturally grow. They would act as studies of the environments in which the mushrooms are found e.g. a cut log or the side of a tree. Having these different environments would also allow the variety of different fungus to be shown as they live in different places. 


Modelling foam was used for quick mockups, reflecting the effect of filed wood. The geometric but imperfect shapes from the filing created a refined but organic feel to the mushrooms and captured the quirks of the mushroom forms. Placing the mushrooms on a ‘log’ created context and elevated them making them more of a focal point. The typeface used within the mockups had a rugged outline which created a natural and textured feel which worked well alongside the wood in the design. Photographing the words on top of the wood, above the mushrooms allowed the words to be covered by the mushrooms creating depth. Photographing them from the side allowed the different forms and heights of the mushrooms to be visible. Mushrooms and leaves could be added along the bottom to soften the piece of wood. 

- As another idea it was considered three dimensional wildflowers could be created. These would be 'growing' from a small patch of soil or in a bucket / container. This would make reference to the fact that wildflowers can easily be grown in any small space. The words 'Bursting with life' would make reference to the idea that even a small patch of wildflowers will support a range of wildlife and pollinators. Potentially the flowers could be made from wildflower paper so that when they are finished with they can be planted to create wildflowers, however this would depend on the colours available of this paper. This would also make the design sustainable as the paper would be biodegradable and contribute to the growing of wildflowers, alternatively recycled papers could be used.

- To reflect the idea that wildflowers support lots of wildlife in particular pollinators it was considered that butterflies and bees could be intermingled within the flowers on wire to create the sense they were in flight. The same could be done with the words 'Bursting with Life' as this would allow the words to become part of the design. Alternatively if the wildflowers are put within a container these words could be put on the front of this. Using brightly coloured papers would create a celebratory feel to the design. 

YouTube tutorials allowed simple mockups of a daisy and poppy to be made, with these  combined with text and coloured  backgrounds in rough compositions. Photographing the flowers from above on brown paper and scattered green paper reflected the ideas of them being in soil / grass with flowers growing up around the text. Photographing the flowers from the side created the impression of them growing out of the ground. Placing the words separately within the composition created a playful feel to the layout of the text. The use of Basic Sans as a typeface, with its flicks within letterforms creates a sense of growth and reflected the imperfections and curves within nature. 

- As a final idea it was considered that images of different aspects of the environments in which wildflowers and fungi grow e.g. leaves, bees, wood could be collaged in an abstract composition. Snippets of wildflowers and mushrooms could also be photographed to go with these e.g. flowers . Physical items could then be layered over these images such as soil, leaves, wood etc and rephotographed to create extra layers within the composition. The photograph as a whole would celebrate the different aspects of both wildflowers and fungi through its exploration of their different components and environments.