Design Poker, Round Two

I got up and played six more games of Design Poker this morning.  It’s addictive!  It’s like free-writing – there is no right and no wrong, it’s OK to make mistakes, it’s OK if it doesn’t work – it’s a five-minute sketch and you can throw away the results if you want.  No investment, but lots of good ideas!  I think I’m going to incorporate this game into my Creative Design Process workshop – it’s a great way to get past designer’s block.

Here are the six results:

Some themes are emerging.  I like cutwork, as evidenced in three of the four left-side garments.  I am envisioning them as yellow/gold/orange fabric cut away to reveal a bright red design, usually flames.  I think it would be neat to do these in stitched doubleweave, then cut away just enough of the stitching (if possible) to allow parts of the yellow to be cut away and hemmed, leaving the red fabric beneath.

I also like bell sleeves, particularly the dramatic one (which also involves cutwork!) in bottom center.

I’m not so enthused about the straight-cut designs, as in top right.  It feels too severe and constrained, unlike phoenixes and fire.

On the whole my favorite is bottom center, with the bottom left coming in second.  But I plan to play a few more rounds of Design Poker, to see what I can see.  Then I’ll take the more successful designs and play a “winner’s round” of Design Poker, using my favorite designs as inspiration for yet another round of Design Poker.  I’m hoping this will eventually refine into my final idea.

But whether it does or not, I’m having great fun, and coming up with lots of new ideas!