A while back, we talked about two website - Spoonflower and Bonbonkakku - which make it possible to design your own fabric. And since you have to try (almost) everything in life, we decided to check out the working of Spoonflower.

The first question was of course: which design? After some brainstorming we decided to make our business cards (which we still don’t have) out of fabric! Not only because we’re both part of an research project concerning clothes, but the choice for fabric is also related to the name of this blog: Social Textiles!

A second question concerned the amount of fabric we would order. But since this first time is just an experiment: we’ve chosen for a swatch (8×8 inch or 20,3 x 20,3 cm). If it all goes well, we can always order a whole yard for each business card!

With some essential help of Maarten, the designer, the business cards were ready for print! And from there on, I took over and frankly, it was a piece of cake! After registering, I just had to upload the TIF-file that Maarten already made! The next step was choosing the lay-out of the design: center, repeat, half-step, half-brick or mirror. I went for the option repeat and indicated that I wanted to order a swatch. So, these options are on the right side of your computer window and on the left side, you see your design with an indication of the size (kind of a ruler).

So far so good, but when I looked at the design the colours in the Spoonflower menu were different than the ones in the original TIF-file. However my attention was drawn to a title called  “preview color shift” in the left corner. This was a short, but clear text explaining that:

If you observe colors shifting in the preview: don’t worry. We print from your original file, not the preview.

So what’s up?: TIFF files and LAB colors won’t display in browsers, so to create this preview the Spoonflower elves have translated your original into a PNG file with RGB colors. Despite their care, color shift can occur.

This preview is created to give you a sense of the size and placement of your design in repeat.
When the elves prepare your file to print, they use a very fancy digital textile workstation that operates directly from your original file.
Most folks are really happy with the result, but if for any reason you aren’t, just let us know and we’ll reprint or refund your order.
Please keep in mind that colors on a computer monitor are not the same as colors printed on fabric, so if you’re sensitive about getting just the right color you’ll want to order a swatch first.
Unfortunately textile design and the web haven’t spent a lot of time together. As a matter of fact, we’ve only recently introduced them, but we hope the marriage will be long and fruitful! We’re working very hard to improve the accuracy of this preview. Apologies for any flaws.

So, I was reassured and went on with my order. I can say that I’m very anxious about the result. And as soon as that little piece of fabric arrives, I’ll let you know!

The concept of a worldwide network which enables its users to shop, chat, share info,… without the limitations of time or place is what we now call the internet. The video below features Jean D’Arcy who as the director of the Audiovisual Department of the United Nations in 1969 predicted the coming (and impact) of the internet.

The documentary was part of the television program ‘Eureka’ and features predictions of e-learning, video on demand, network gaming, online shopping & e-mail.

The documentary starts from the television as the main technology, but it becomes clear that this prediction goes beyond the limitations of television. At the end of the movie D’Arcy correctly indicates that this evolution needs its own name and that their is a great difference in the passivity of television and the active participation this new ’system’ needs.

UPDATE: I received a smaller English version of the movie from my Macedonian friend Darko.

This week I came across two great examples that perfectly match with the title of this blog: Social Textiles! They combine social media with clothes; more in particular with T-shirts!

Firstly there is the Facebook application, Status king which makes it possible to order T-shirts with  some basic Facebook information about yourself printed on: more in particular your Facebook status, user picture and how long ago you’ve updated your status. So if you want to let  know “what are you doing right now?” in a non-digital way!

But if you say: I’m not so a Facebook-fan. I’m more into Twitter, than I have some very good news for you! Similar to the Facebook application there is a service, called TWitoShirt which displays your tweets on a shirt, exactly as it appears on the web; so not only the message is printed, but also the username, user picture and the time that has elapsed. An additional feature is that you can also customize the size and colours.

Source: Mashable, Status king, TWitoShirt

It is not our intention to post in Dutch (though it is Katriens and my mother tongue), but we are in search of people to participate in our research project. If you are interested in fashion (buying and/or designing) or in online shopping contact us.

De Media en Design Academie (KHLim)  is partner in een Europees onderzoeksproject - Open Garments (http://www.open-garments.eu/) - dat handelt rond kleding en het ontwerpen ervan door gebruikers.
In het kader van dit onderzoek, plannen we 3 focusgroepen (groepsinterviews), die plaatsvinden te Hasselt.

17 februari: focusgroep met eerstejaars cursisten kleding of mode.
18 februari: focusgroep met mensen die regelmatig kleding online of via postorder kopen
23 februari: focusgroep met mensen de geïnteresseerd zijn in mode en kleding

Elke focusgroep vindt plaats in Hasselt, gaat van start in de vroege avond (vanaf 18.30) en duurt ongeveer anderhalf uur tot twee uur.

Het spreekt voor zich dat elke deelnemer een vergoeding voor zijn/haar deelname krijgt (kilometervergoeding en cadeau).

Indien je bereid bent hieraan mee te werken of nog wat meer info wil, aarzel dan niet om ons te contacteren (via comment of niels.hendriks AT mda.khlim.be of katrien.dreessen AT mda.khlim.be)!

In this era of mass customisation and user-creation, very often questions are raised whether everyone can be a designer and if this doesn’t mean a loss of quality? A very famous critique is the one of Andrew Keen, who argues on a Fast company article that:

The consequence of this design democracy is an ugly spectacle of deep purples and electric oranges. It’s a culture of me-me-me: my hideously personalized car, my hideously personalized sofa, my hideously personalized house. It’s that fat woman in the tight dress that only exaggerates her obesity. It’s that loud pick-up truck with the tinted windows and the tastelessly sexualized exhaust pipe.

But according to Matt Sinclair on the Fluid Forms blog, the critique above isn’t about design, but about taste! And this opens a whole new debate: what is ‘good’ taste? According to him, the question of whether joe public can be designer, depends on how one defines design:

Professional designers think of it as a process which encompasses everything from consumer research and blue-sky concepting to the constraints imposed by manufacturing. Consumers tend to understand design as a noun, rather than a verb - something which is added to a product rather than something which fundamentally decides it.

New manufacturing technologies, and the companies which are giving consumers access to them, will not turn consumers into designers. But they will allow consumers to act creatively to interact with a product and make decisions about its form and function. For me, that’s better than just shopping.

Via Robin Hamman, blogging at Cybersoc, I found a great presentation on the use of Twitter called “How Twitter changed my life” (by Minxuan Lee).

Most interesting elements of the presentation are:

* The 5 stages of Twitter acceptance (Denial - Presence - Dumping - Conversing - Microblogging)

* The fact that it’s not about the question “What are you doing?”, but about “What has your attention?”

* About the open API: “For every pain you face, there is a Twitter app. Otherwise, create it!”

via: Cybersoc