Apparel design students focus on creativity and careers

A gift of sophisticated software makes possible formation of intricate textile patterns

Lunchtime looms this late Monday morning. However, the minds of nine undergraduates are elsewhere, for they are experiencing U4ia at computer work stations. In this apparel design class, they are groping their way through the extremely powerful, extremely sophisticated, extremely complex state-of-the-art design software, called U4ia, a $1 million gift to the School of Human Ecology from the French design software manufacturer Lectra.

Every now and then a student calls out a question, always starting with, “How do you get it to…?” Whoever knows the answer—or has some insight into the problem—calls back instructions.

“Oh. I know what happened,” says Anna Stevens, the senior lecturer who is teaching this course in the Department of Environment, Textiles and Design. “You just have to make sure that the printer and your preference settings agree, and that both, both, are set on “center.'”

Once understood and correctly applied, U4ia allows students to quickly create intricate textile patterns and experiment with colors, textures and more. Meanwhile, Stevens and her students are discovering the meaning of “we’re all in this together.”

“U4ia is not at all intuitive,” Stevens says. She and other apparel design faculty spent much of the summer redesigning their classes to make good use of U4ia. Stevens’ students, for example, are tackling a color project, working with a two-dimensional piece of art and reproducing its color scheme on original clothing designs.

Tenzin Kunsang, a senior with a double major in apparel design and retailing, has selected Robert Delaunay’s 1914 “Homage to Bleriot.”

“I was attracted to all the colors in it, especially the pinks and oranges. I think they would appeal to children,” she says. Indeed, Kunsang plans a career combining retailing with children’s attire design. She displays a printout, or “flat,” of several Empire-waisted frocks.

Apparel design senior Allison Cowee is enrolled this semester in Stevens’ U4ia-using apparel design class and in assistant professor Jennifer Angus’ course in computer and manual-generated pattern and design. Here, Cowee will use U4ia and Photoshop to complete four projects, all drawn from the real business world.

“We have to create a group of designs for a woman’s scarf or shawl, fabric used for an office or studio, or something for a client of our choice,” she says. “We have to develop the designs, clean them in U4ia and then put them into “repeat,'” so that the patterns will be able to be used in other ways, Cowee says.

“The “repeat’ function is the trickiest thing about creating a design for printed cloth,” Angus says. This skill has to be developed over years of practice, but U4ia allows the designer to cycle through many, many possibilities. Previously this was done by hand and very labor-intensive.”

“U4ia will enhance learning and give students a significant professional edge,” Angus adds.

However, unlike the highly specialized U4ia software, that edge will apply to a broad swath of professions and life experiences, Stevens says.

“I hear over and over from employers that our apparel design graduates are absolutely the best at solving problems,” she says. “Our students also excel at visual and written communication, verbal presentation and critical analysis. Working with U4ia will only enhance those skills.”

UW–Madison apparel design graduates work in virtually every sector of the apparel design industry, at companies like Lands’ End, Jockey, Oshkosh B’Gosh, Dana Buchman, Calvin Klein and Victoria’s Secret, to name a few. Many spend a few years in the industry, then migrate to other occupations in vastly different fields, where they and their new employers discover how well the skills first developed and refined in SoHE translate, Stevens says.

Sari Rozins, a junior majoring in apparel design, adds patience to the list of life lessons she is learning from U4ia. “I am such an extreme beginner with computers. It’s frustrating,” she says.

Next semester will bring even more challenges. Already the apparel design faculty are redesigning courses to use more fully software like U4ia and Sketch. For example, one class previously required the design and execution of three garments; in the new incarnation, garment execution probably will be replaced with more in-depth design documentation process. In addition to the grant from Lectra, the U4ia project also is made possible with financial support from a DoIT Teaching and Learning with Technology grant. For information about using technology in the classroom, contact Christine Y. Lupton in the DoIT Academic Technology Solutions Learning Solutions group, 262-0123; christine.lupton@doit.wisc.edu.