IFFTI 2012 Conference
Fashion Beyond Borders

ID No.: 137,  Abstract No.: 164

Sub-theme: Educational Responses
 
Title: Motif Matrix - An improved model of trend analysis 

Author -Tim Rundle

Introduction
This paper takes the conference theme of ‘Fashion Beyond Borders’ and aligns it with the author’s call for the dissolving of design discipline barriers when teaching idea generation and the revisiting of traditional working practices in reference to forecasting . All this in turn stands in relation both to analysis and application of trend, in educational institutions and in the wider professional context. Also in relation to the conference theme, the paper proposes an approach to diagnosing the nature of ‘fashionability’ that moves beyond the borders of the existing formats, platforms and services.
In the context of this proposal, trend refers not to specific product outcomes (garment silhouette, colour palette etc.) but to trend in relation to motif. The work focuses solely on motif as its observation allows for a more cross disciplinary investigation. Trends related to media and materials, scale and dimension, confine the study to a narrow disciplinary perspective. Numerous texts, platforms and services focus on the classification of Icons and Logos (too exclusively graphic orientated) , while other analyse pattern and decoration (too exclusively textile and garment orientated).This study takes a motif, cross-industry approach, it claims that there is an institutional and commercial benefit to having  less of a product focus and a more interdisciplinary perspective. The Motif Matrix being presented provides a unique mechanism in that its overview avoids too partisan a perspective by only archiving motif examples that impact across the full design spectrum.
The revolution of digital media and the associated avalanche of imagery has altered the landscape of design research, and reconfigured the practice of most design students and professionals. As a result of the acceleration of our interaction ‘with’, and increased consumption ‘of’, design outcomes, the effect of common consciousness has been magnified. Nevertheless, despite the emergence of these new design pedagogies, traditional approach to the practice-trend research with design still persists, with a variety of predictable modes of response, each confined within particular design disciplines (this is particularly true in the context of balancing innovation with trend responsiveness). This paper reflects on the cause of this discord in terms of current curriculum development and studio practice. It considers the development of new design paradigms that synchronise better with the contemporary digital environment and the increased pace of contemporary experience.
To provide a context for the proposed methodologies and restructuring of curriculum context, the paper starts with an overview of the more traditional design pedagogy through a self-conscious process that reflects the inductive research methods and experience based nature of the work. The paper then outlines alternative pedagogies and methodologies that better reflect the newly evolved working practices and the consideration of interactive tools that signal a new cross disciplinary approach; the Motif Matrix. Finally, ideas on how a more active and ‘ethnographic’ research model (designer as a member of a particular community with key intrinsic behaviours and perspectives), might be reflected in an initial set of activities designed to test these hypotheses are considered, with a framework of structured sessions that will attempt to validate the key claims of the research undertaken so far. 
 
Self-reflection stage
As a practicing designer and full-time lecturer for over 24 years I have witnessed a constantly changing design environment, resulting in an ever wider disconnect between generational approaches to trend awareness and initiation of ideas. This body of work (started in 2003, responded to this observation) commenced as a form of critical reflection of my own creative processes, both in my role as principle lecturer with  involvement in curriculum development, but also in terms of my own design practice. As a graphics and illustration graduate, with a post graduate in print, my professional life has evolved to have a much stronger relationship with fashion and interiors. This has created an unusually cross-disciplinary professional perspective that focuses on the design of live style products and the relationship between commercial success and ‘fashionability’ across the full spectrum of design. There is no doubt that self-reflective nature of the initial stages of this work were heavily influenced by the multi-layered nature of my personal experience as a designer.
Initially then (from 2003 to 2005) I charted my own routines and the repeated sequences of research (that attempt to keep me professionally updated in terms of the reoccurring trends), and identified the key tracking objectives and the explicit benefits of certain processes. This investigation highlighted that while the pace of interaction had changed over the previous decade, the media and source points had not altered very much and still relied heavily on printed matter (magazines, tear sheets, reports, files mood boards etc.).The ultimate compulsion of this first stage of analysis was that while my experience had allowed for the evolution of a consistent and strategic trend research model, the tools identified were no longer in sync with the shifting media environment. The Student’s media touch points for inspiration and information were obviously much altered and their methods were no longer truly reflected in the curriculum dedicated to supporting them as they sought a resonant and timely understanding of trend.
The shift from paper to digital portals and the move towards more targeted media information within key demographics have both impacted heavily on the way students interact with trend information. The volume and proportion of time spent looking at ‘end product’ as habitual online consumers, rather than more lateral and serendipitous visual traveling of previous generations, is also a contributing factor. The community-driven content online (particularly with sites such as Ebay, Etsy, icraft and Bigcartel) has also impacted on the volume of dialogue and exchange between young designers, positively encouraging their entrepreneurship but artificially prolonging ‘craft’ trends beyond their lifespan through supposed affirmation on a non-professional level. This online ‘amateur’ community supports small batch production which does not reflect the realities of commercial design, and provides false confirmation of trend response that can mislead students looking for trend confirmation.
As a result of these changes, these young designers experience is much more compartmentalised, with the benefits of new interactive opportunities being undermined by the volume of information that is specifically targeted at them, restricting their contextual understanding and limiting their historical perspective. So it became clear that there was a need to develop a new set of tools that would adopt new digital platforms and online research methods and then combine them with some of the best practice associated with a previous generation’s confidently broader contextual perspective.

Motif Matrix generation stage
The  reflection outlined above provided a critical framework with which to design and develop a completely new intuitive mechanism for designers to use when balancing the difficult (and often conflicting) needs to respond to the broader trend driven design environment, while still addressing their own unique creative perspective. By combining strong image based archival practice and visual analysis, with accessible and interactive platforms, the Motif Matrix reinforces key observing, collating, editing and categorising skills. These have always underpinned traditional contextual and visual awareness skills. But by placing them in an innovative format (one that better reflects the model of interaction that has evolved since the digital revolution is better) the model provides the opportunity to develop these professional attributes on a platform that is employs the contemporary tracking methodologies.
In summary, the ‘Motif Matrix’ archives key motif trend on a monthly basis (prioritising examples that demonstrate an industry wide adoption rather than trends which find resonance in only one discipline). The study has now encompassed eight years of data, consisting of multiple examples of best practice in response to motif trends on a monthly basis (roughly identifying 12 – 20 emerging motif trends per year). The data base has a key function in tracking the entry date and therefore the longevity of trends as well as the topography and categorisation of trends against key narratives and evolving trajectories. This information has then led to the creation of four unique platforms of interaction and analysis; motif timing (chronological evolution of the full matrix), motif narratives (evolution of families), motif shapes (evolution of form) and motif combination (evolution of practice).

    1)    Motif Timing (challenge the timing of the response)
The evolution of the Motif Matrix as a whole provides a testing ground that helps designers identify the genesis of trends and the tipping point when the adoption of a particular motif can be tracked as being truly cross-disciplinary. This entry point (e.g. Spring Summer2008) then provides a start date against which the longevity and resonance of a motif trend can be charted and challenged. For example ‘bird on a wire’ (entry 2003)  had waned by 2006 (shift from urban to rural), ‘Bird on a twig’(entry 2004) flagged by 2008 (shift from oriental to Scandinavian) but ‘bird in a cage’ (entry 2005) still has trend energy in 2010, is it because it has been strengthened by the other emerging trends that have helped keep the motif buoyant? If so what were they?
The Motif Matrix provides a critical framework within which motifs can be classified in terms of their design penetration and lifespan. Perhaps most crucially, it allows students to benchmark their own understanding of innovative trend, often highlighting the tardy nature of their personal perspective.
    2)    Motif Narratives (keep the theme, refresh by changing the shape)
Here the emphasis lies in the grouping of key motifs by narrative or story ( e.g. Historical influence-  Victorian trend story , Cultural influence -oriental trend story, social influence – Military trend story) the Matrix groups all the hundred plus examples into families of icons and symbols. The arrangement of these ‘families ‘allows the chronological analysis of the evolution of the motifs across the trend timeframe. For example in the six years of the ‘Circus story’, there have been various evolving motifs, each of which has helped to prolong this motif family's lifespan. So if we moved from ‘Circus horse’ (2005)to ‘Clown’(2006), to ‘Ring Master Moustache’(2007) to  ‘Circus poster font’(2008) to ‘Balloons’(2009) then (if we believe there to be further mileage/appetite for the circus narrative), what might be the next member of that family to add a new breath of life to the flagging trend? This task become even more explicit when the prediction of the next family member is the result of the parallel underlying trends (if social, then what are the historical ones? if cultural then what are the social ones? etc.) This analytical model allows designers to focus on responding innovatively in a more complex manner by understanding the overarching narrative trend rather than a one dimensional adoption of an overused motif.
    3)    Motif Shapes (keep the shape, refresh by changing the narrative)
By reinterpreting the matrix through a key shape (rather than association or story as above) , this creates a second analytical platform revealing an alternative opportunity to review trend responses. The scale and volume of the archive provides the opportunity to identify key forms by removing any narrative association or pictorial meaning. Through the analysis of only the basic rhythm, silhouette or the compositional contribution made by each shape (technical, organic, freeform, symmetrical etc.) a pattern is revealed. By aligning all motifs with a common form, a new trend trajectory is highlighted, that suggests that at any one point there are a limited number of shapes available and that each trend shift sees these same shapes take on new meaning. For example, the ever present grid form would be one such repeated shape, reinterpreted across various year's trends; Pylon grid (2005), harlequin checkerboard (2006), shards prism (2007), tumbling blocks (2008), Patchwork (2009). Having identified the last classification in the list and by comparing it with the next set of influencing narratives it is possible to predict more keenly what the next point on the evolving form path might be.
   4)    Motif combination(keep the narrative, refresh by merging it with others)
Finally, the matrix provides the opportunity to work against the linear structures of its framework by exploiting more lateral and serendipitous possibilities; by combining unrelated motifs together and producing hybridised outcomes that touch on more than one trend at once. This reflects a growing practice of collaging motifs and trend bricolage; deliberately fusing trend shapes into a new and innovative pastiche forms, ones that benefits from being a timely acknowledgement of trend yet still offering up a fresh and unique interpretation. For example, the matrix reveals design solutions that combine the motif trend of ‘Galleon’ with as broad and as unrelated a range of partners as ‘Galleon + Antlers’, ‘Galleon + Russian spires’ and ‘Galleon + Scandinavian leaf’. The matrix contains over 2000 examples of motif combinations (referred to in the Matrix as Motif Maths), enabling designers to see the benefits of proactively responding to a particular trend, but also the advantage of fusing it with a parallel trend create a more innovative interpretation, that subliminally refers to multiple trends at once.

Proposed test stage
This Paper (having been submitted in Dec for the March conference) predates a set of proposed data gathering activities that will provide the opportunity to test the hypothesis and methodologies developed so far.  These activities will be conducted with BA (Hons) undergraduate students in a British post 92 university; Nottingham Trent University. It will involve sampling as large a range of design cohorts at this level as is possible (within the given institution this represents up to 14 alternative programmes). This paper outlines the key claims and the details of the initial round of research that will be undertaken in February 2012, with the analysis of the initial data results to be shared during a presentation to be given in March.
The key ambition of the Motif Matrix is not to replace current forecasting platforms and services, but to move a step forward and generate new methodologies with which to challenge, contextualise and reinterpret trend information irrespective of the source.  The Matrix provides various routes of analysis (through timing, though narrative, through shape and through combination) and ultimately makes three key claims; To improve the timely response to trend, to support more innovative interpretation of trend and finally to aid a better contextual understanding by providing a more interdisciplinary perspective. The next stage of this research will be to test these claims  and set up a series of activities that use a common format of a test groups (to whom the full range of tools as represented by the Motif Matrix will be provided) and control groups (who will not have access to the Motif Matrix, and use conventional research techniques). The outcome of these sessions will allow for further critical reflection of the proposed methodologies (through the compilation of data across these two groups) and will be run in the following sequence;

1)    Test group/control group-  Test the claim of cross disciplinary benefits
The focus of the first group will to be to investigate the perceived relation to trend and the variety of importance given to its role across the departments within the school of design. The format will allow students from each department (fashion, knit, textiles, graphics, illustration, applied design, furniture, product etc.) to reflect on their existing portfolio in terms of trend responsiveness. They will select two examples which they believe to be either ‘trend neutral’ or ‘trend sensitive’, and then test them against the Matrix provided. The workshop is designed to reveal the participants varied perception of trend, and to highlight the acknowledgement (or lack of) of the role trend plays (implicitly or explicitly) in the development of their work. The project anticipates that responses could range from the affirmation of an existing understanding (while highlighting the lack of strategic processes validating trend choices), to allowing the experience to act as a critical lens through which the students come to better understanding of how their subliminal and unconscious response to trend colours their ideas. The aim is to arrive at a shared understanding of the impact common consciousness has on the design process. Either to be able to embrace it or to circumnavigate it, having tools that enable you to track trend is an important element in both creative and professional understanding.
2)   Test group/control group – To test the claim of a more timely response
Having held up a mirror to the role trend plays in the varied practice in the first workshop, the full range of analytical tools will be provided to the test group (but not the control group). The test students will be asked to bring their current project work and use the tools to test the adoption of any trend-related elements. The Matrix provides a chronological outline of key cross-disciplinary trends. This allows students to make direct judgments on whether their choices represent timely responses or not. The control group will undertake the same task without the use of the Matrix tools , but instead using conventional print and online information.
3)   Test group/control group - To test the claim of improved innovation
Finally, again in relation to their current project work, both student groups will be asked to test the levels of innovation and uniqueness of their design responses. The test Group will be provided with three different testing formats using the matrix (narrative, shape and hybrid, as outlined in the previous chapter) while the control group will only be able to use whatever strategies they already have to their disposal with which to challenge their response to trend against parameters of individuality and innovation.
This first trial of validating activities will provide a test bed for the design of the activities themselves. If the student response and the data retrieved suggests that the activity successfully supports  best practice, then a slightly alternative format will be design to apply to a professional context. At this stage a range of different fashion brands have been approached at various market levels who have expressed an interest in the Motif Matrix and by providing an exchange of staff development in return for participation in the research, its hoped that six different brands will take part (scheduled for summer/ autumn 2012).

Conclusion
This paper represents the summary of work to date, resulting from five years of primary research (influenced by self-reflection and personal practice), culminating in the creation of an innovative interactive framework (two years of collation and creation), archiving key aspects of motif trends; The Motif Matrix. The next stage (to be reported on at the conference in March) will involves the presentation of initial testing data, to provide a context for critical reflection of the implementation of the Matrix, not only in terms of the curriculum and educational context but also in terms of its use in the broader professional design community.
The unique aspect of the work is the formulating of new  analytical tools that provide a diagnostic platform that better predicts new image and motif use. The resulting model  is more intuitive, able to prompt keener analysis, accelerated interpretations and more innovative responses. It enables users to produce better informed and more timely outcomes, and support their working practices by interpreting the deign landscape using a structure that mimics contemporary design processes better than existing  professional platforms and support services.