Review of Scotweb Tartan Designer and Resulting Product

[Rex_Tremende]

In a previous post in the Tartans and Heraldry section, I introduced a tartan that I designed through Scotweb. I'm not 100% sure, but I think I may be the first user to have actual output from the tool and the various processes involved. I thought it might be useful to others thinking about going this route for me to jot down some of my experiences and reaction to the outcomes.

For starters, be aware that I began this project well before the designer was announced to most everyone else. I have seen it through various incarnations, reported bugs, provided design suggestions (Nick cut me off on that, eventually), and exercised the process while the process was still being worked out. Because of this, my experience is probably quite extraordinary in that I may have a bias toward the service that Scotweb ended up with, and also that the problems I encountered along the way may be unlikely to be seen again, in part for my having trod that road. To be sure, though, I have nothing to gain by sharing this and no axe to grind.

First, let's talk about the designer. It's been a while since I've toyed with this thing in earnest, but I think it's a fairly remarkable feat of webineering. I see they've added some quick tips since I was last there - that's neat to see. But you can start from scratch or browse existing tartans and users' designs and modify them for your own use, too. I designed my tartan from scratch.

Three ranges of colors make it easy to choose colors from common choices, a typical weaver's supply, or custom colors. I chose weaver's colors from an earlier version of the designer. Unfortunately, these were not available when I placed my order, but Scotweb helped sort that out later. I am fascinated by the unlimited color palette in the "Pro" section, but not so much (yet) that I'm willing to find out what it would cost for custom dyes. You can specify the RBG codes to get a particular color if you know what it is. I have a couple of designs in my private gallery (more on that later), that have used this feature, and I like the result on the screen. Would the colors be true on a real tartan? Someday I may find out, but you know - what you see on any monitor and actual colors may vary.

Having said that, when Stewart Robertson later asked for my input on finding approximate matches for the colors I had originally chosen, they listened when I said, "If in doubt, go for darker, ruddier, or more weathered." I was sent a nice sampler and a printed prototype which ended up looking remarkably like the final product. And it turned out the colors were not that much different from my original choices.

Other features that the designer has that makes it easier to manipulate the design include drag-and-drop colors, and if you are unsure which color input is causing the output to look funny, you can point to the stripe in the sample space and the source will be highlighted. You can change or delete the offending bugger - and undo it with a click if that didn't work out the way you thought it would.

You can save your designs and make them public or keep them private. You can opt for public commentary if you like, but there are SOOO many public designs out there, I think it is hard to wade through them all. Maybe a future edition Scotweb will feature a "Rate My Tartan: Hot or Not?" game, with user designs displayed at random - so long as they can figure out how to prevent people from gaming the game.

I think the tool is easy (and fun) to use, but designing a good tartan is not as easy as it looks. Of course "good" is in the eye of the beholder, but the historian, the weaver, and the kiltmaker all may have something to say about it. Before I ordered my tartan, I wanted to avail myself of their professional review service. Now this was where I believe the process was not entirely ironed out. There were some issues related to how a review would be delivered, and the order in which you finalize your design and request a review that prevented you from going back and making recommended changes. The operations people had to do a few things by hand behind the scenes to get my feedback to me and to put my revisions into a usable state. I understand that those things have been worked out now, but I can't speak to it first-hand.

Getting professional advice can be a bit of a shock. You might think your design is lovely and perfect. But when you pay for a critique, you really need to be open to the idea that a concept can be improved in some fashion: From the weaver's point of view, there are practical considerations - some of which have been built into the designer; The kiltmaker may tell you that you might want to avoid a lot of narrow stripes that make tapering difficult; And the historian probably has a completely different aesthetic than your own. Brian Wilton sent me a suggested design revision that looked (to me) nothing like what I had in mind. In the end, I took everyone's input that I got, made revisions that respected all points of view in some fashion, but still did my own thing.

When I finally pulled the trigger on the purchase, I think the expected delivery time was set twice. The first time, I think it might have been a standard wait time for a typical run of mill fabric. But when the issue with the colors cropped up, the date was set for about three months hence. That didn't seem inordinate to me. So, I steeled myself for the wait.

Now, that was a lot of writing, and I'll pause here and come back in a little while with a review of the product - so...

More to come...

[Rex_Tremende]

And now for the resulting product. I ordered 10m of 16 oz wool tartan.

Now, I'm not an expert on wool tartans, but I'm very pleased with the quality of the finished fabric. There is a definite front and a back - the front was labeled with a little sticky note in the corner, and the back reveals a join in the yarns here and there. These joins are not visible on the front at all.

The finish is not what I would call hard, but it's denser and slightly smoother than the McCreary that Barb had woven for me, and the Auld Lang Syne modern that I got through Rocky.

The colors are true to what I selected, and indeed, though it is hard to tell from the photos, the printed prototype is nearly a dead ringer for the final product.

The kilting selvage is as sharp and clean as any I have ever seen. You can see a few sprocket holes here and there, but there is no fuzz a half inch up, no change in density. The reason for this, I suspect is evident on the opposite edge. There you can see where the yarns have been cut, and there is a row of stitching (I think) that keeps the whole thing from unraveling.

I suppose that when you design a tartan, you have to decide where to start on one end or the other, and here the weaver chose a small strip of brown. It's not something I had input on, or even thought about much, but I'm happy with the choice, since it doesn't result in one of the brighter colors landing on the bottom edge of the kilt.

I'm not sure what else to tell you about this tartan, but I'll be happy to try to answer any questions anyone may have about it.

My next post will include some pics.

Regards,
Rex.

[Rex_Tremende]

This is the final design:

Click to enlarge.

Here's a pile of the resulting tartan.

Click the image below to see a larger view that includes the kilting selvage.

It's hard to tell from this photograph, since printed paper and woven wool reflect light in different ways, but I swear, these are a near exact match.

Cameras are funny that way.

I thought this was interesting. In plain daylight, which was coming from the east just before dusk, the highland purple turned blue, the browns came out, and the redwood faded.

Click to enlarge.

That's all I have. RSVP or PM me if you have questions about the designer or the process.

Regards,
Rex.

[Rex_Tremende]

Oh, one final thought.

This self-service tool is for the person who wants near-total control over the outcome. If you are unsure of how to design a tartan, or want something that has some historical connection, or is looking for someone to help them interpret and incorporate the things that have some sort of meaning to them into a design, you may still be better off consulting with an experienced tartan scholar/designer.

I cannot speak to price-to-outcome. A run of custom tartan by another designer may cost less or more (I have not done comparison shopping), so do your homework and make the best choice for you to meet your objectives.

Regards,
Rex.

[KFCarter]

I've spent quite a bit of time on the designer and am seriously considering moving forward with the process on one design.

Thanks very much for this thread.

And once again, congratulations on a very beautiful tartan.

[Nick Fiddes]

Thanks for your kind words, Rex. And many thanks again for all your very helpful ideas and feedback... and patience!... during this process. It has indeed been quite a marathon, and quite a challenge trying to create an intuitive interface for this process whilst respecting traditions and standards, whilst making it realistic to weave actual fabrics without too many time-consuming (and therefore costly) interventions by us or our weavers. Yours was indeed the first off what we hope will be a long line of successful DIY designs, so congrats for staying the course! :-) For example, it's only within the past week or two we've finally achieved a fairly clear means to show pricing, including the total order cost, and also help customers find further items in the same fabric clearly (we hope) to use up any leftovers from the minimums. And we are still working on things like a user-friendly way to show volume discounts for people like pipe bands or businesses wanting larger pieces, without confusing everyone else. But we're getting there... Once it's fully bedded in, we'll be adding a few more bells and whistles of the kind that you and others have suggested. Watch this space. And do keep the ideas coming!

[M. A. C. Newsome]

Just one word to add for anyone thinking of using this service. And that is to actually read the Terms and Conditions that you agree to by checking off the little box when you design your tartan. Part of those terms states, "By saving and/or publishing a new tartan design using this system, you are granting Scotweb Marketing Ltd an exclusive right to weave, license, or otherwise use your design commercially."

I don't say this to be critical of Nick or Scotweb -- they put forth a lot of time, effort, and no doubt capital, to create the tartan design software and they deserve to reap the benefits of that. But there was a thread a while back where someone had used the software to create a tartan, which he planned to have woven by someone else, and only found out after the fact that he had given that exclusive right to Scotweb without realizing it.

Another time someone called me up after designing their own tartan on Scotweb and asked if I could have it woven for them, and I had to tell them no, respecting the terms and conditions of Scotweb's design program. They were dissapointed, but those were the terms they agreed do by clicking the little box.

So just be aware what when you use this feature of Scotweb's site, you need to plan on having the cloth woven through Scotweb.

[Nick Fiddes]

Indeed, as you say Matt, it's been quite an investment for us, as the major project for three techs for most of the past year, plus some outsourcing, so you do the maths... so we do feel we deserve a commercial return. I'd only add (a) that our prices are eminently reasonable and the quality excellent; and (b) that we do offer to let users have the fabric woven elsewhere, in return for a release fee for use of the service. We hope most people would consider this fair.

[Jock Scot]

Indeed, as you say Matt, it's been quite an investment for us, as the major project for three techs for most of the past year, plus some outsourcing, so you do the maths... so we do feel we deserve a commercial return. I'd only add (a) that our prices are eminently reasonable and the quality excellent; and (b) that we do offer to let users have the fabric woven elsewhere, in return for a release fee for use of the service. We hope most people would consider this fair.

A couple of purely theoretical questions Nick. Should one take up option "b" and purchase a "release" does that buy the exclusive use of the tartan in question too? If not, is there an option "c" to allow for this?

[Nick Fiddes]

A couple of purely theoretical questions Nick. Should one take up option "b" and purchase a "release" does that buy the exclusive use of the tartan in question too? If not, is there an option "c" to allow for this?

Make us an offer. :-) As I recall, it's somewhere in the T&C that we're happy to discuss both. But the honest answer is that this whole facility is too new for us to have shaped up firm policies or indeed prices for this sort of thing - we've been far too busy trying to make the mechanics of it work. My guiding principle is simply to be reasonable about it, which means fair to us as well as to the customer. We're not in this to create a stranglehold, but at the same time we think it's fair that we get a return on the work we've put in.