Updated 60's Interactive Book

This blog post is an update on my ibook, as last post I just had 7 pages and there was a lot of changes that I still wanted to make. For example I have now added lots of moving GIFS, a video from Youtube and various hyperlinks to different pages. All of which makes my book a lot more interactive and therefore more interesting to the audience.

I have also changed a few of the pictures and fonts, to fit in better with my theme and so that it all ties in together. I tried to make the layouts and colours reminiscent of what was used in the 60's, as well as being similar to what 60's book covers looked like.

Below are my 10 final pages of my 60's inspired interactive book:

60's Fashion Research

The theme of this project is 'The 60's'! I have chosen to especially look at 60's fashion, and also magazine covers of this time. Below I have a screenshot of my sketchbook, which shows some fashions and outfits that were popular in this day. For example I have included coloured tights, shift dresses, mini skirts, pointed shoes, bold patterns and flowey sleeves.

On the image below I have put together a mood board of many different 60's magazine covers. I have included models such as Twiggy and Jean Shrimpton, who were very popular supermodels in this time. In many of the images it also shows the dress code, style and makeup that was favoured in the 60's and how it is presented on the magazine covers.

Final Magazine Updated- FMP

Since my last blog post on my magazine so far, I have changed and updated quite a few things design wise on most spreads. In this blog post I am going to identify what I have changed/added.

Below I have uploading images of my magazine finalised:

For example, I did not have my front cover designed and completed. Above is the final cover layout, I kept it very simple and therefore the main focus is on the image. The next point of hierarchy would be the masthead and the cover lines, which would entice the audience further. The photograph I used was black and white, as this connotes classiness and comes across very chic.

On the Imogen Cambridge article page I changed the font of the title, as I think the last font was quite hard to read and looked unprofessional. Whereas now, it ties in with the other fonts on the introduction title page and therefore is kept within a theme. It is also very clear and draws your attention to the article and gives the target audience an idea of what the questions are about.

Same here, as I used the same fonts throughout the whole magazine, which really creates a strong brand image and overall makes the magazine look a lot more organised and professional.

Above, I changed a lot of this spread as I didn't like the photo used on the previous blog reflection. I picked a more suitable image, which adds a fun element to the article and is more exciting for the target audience. As far as the opposite page, I completed re-desgined this layout and used a pull quote for a title to really draw the audience in. The background used was another picture that I took, however I made it transparent and a lot darker so it wasn't so distracting. I did this so that the main text body could be easily read and clear for the readers.

Here I added a whole new double page spread and a short article on a new makeup range launching. I let the image overlap over both pages, as I think this adds a bit of interest. I did not use a flat black background because I think this can look quite harsh and almost as if the image has been cut out. Instead I distorted an image so much that it was un recognisable, as well as darkening the colours, adding some texture to the page.

Finally, this is the last page of the magazine, I chose just to design an advert as this is very conventional for a magazine. I kept this very minimalistic, because most high fashion brands do this and I wanted to make it look as realistic as possible.

My FMP Budget

The budget for the production of my fashion magazine is going to be fairly limited, as I used my friends as the models and therefore did not have to pay them and instead featured in their projects in return. I also used the college for most of the locations for my photo shoots, this meant that I only needed to pay transport to the college as usual because I take the bus.

I did not provide any food or refreshments because each shoot was fairly quick and did not cover lunch times/break times.

As far as printing costs, this will cost me around £30 for 5 magazines printed in colour and on 150gsm for the pages and 250gsm for the cover (A4). Shipping would be an additional £3 or £4 and more for express delivery if needed.

I have taken this cost into account and is the main extent of my budget, however I want my magazine printed professionally and on silk paper, as this is a high fashion print magazine. Also because I don't have too much cost for anything else, I am happy to spend a little bit more on the printing element of the production, if it means that I will have an actual copy.

Overall my budget altogether will be £45 maximum and do not want to exceed this limit.

FMP Presentation Reflection

My FMP pitch overall went really well, as I kept the presentation really simple and did not look down at my notes throughout. The slideshow I created was very minimalistic, as the majority of the pages just had picture mood boards and photographs. This is because I wanted all the attention on what I was saying, rather than the audience reading off the board. This makes it feel more personal, especially when I make eye contact rather than speaking word for word off either the board or my notes.

Also I found that when I was presenting, the images jogged my memory on what to say next and therefore everything that I wanted to cover was mentioned. Something that I would improve about my presentation would be to have some sort of theme throughout the slides, sticking to a colour scheme and maybe one font, so that the overall pitch would come across more professional and organised.

The feedback given made me really think about the content of my magazine, as I needed a more definite idea for an article and a clearer theme for my photography. I have now got a 'Style inspired by nature' article topic, where I can interview the star {Imogen Cambridge}. I also need to decide on a structure at which I am going to stick to when designing the layouts of my magazine pages, as this would make the project look accomplished and would confirm my brand image.

I would also like to go back and write an introduction to my primary research infographic, so that the data collected and where I got it from is clearly stated. I also need to continue with the majority of the secondary research, so that I have enough knowledge on high end magazines for when I come to compare and critique. After that, I am going to write my reflection blog post on my research overall and how collecting information/data is very important and can be useful, before starting the production process.

FMP- Secondary Research

As part of my secondary research, I have looked at a few magazines in the fashion/creative photography genre and generated ideas at which I want to pursue when creating my own magazine. The magazines included; Vogue, Dazed and confused, as well as fashion books such as the fashion memoir Yves Saint Laurent by Pierre Berge.

I took a lot of pictures from within the magazines to achieve an idea of the fashion photography used. I really liked the creative edits and unique layout choices of some of the adverts, as they are very different and therefore quite intriguing and eye-catching.

Below are a couple of images of inside Vogue magazine, representing the layout of the Vogue beauty segment. It is quite a busy composition, with almost a collage feel to it. However, this is broken up by simplistic full page adverts to break down the clutter and so the pages flow together nicely, instead of many busy images back to back. This would make the magazine look unprofessional and could come across quite over whelming.

Next I looked at 3 different fashion magazines and analysed the covers. Here is a link to a Google document with my textual analysis' continued.

FMP- Fashion Magazine Focus Group

Today I conducted a small focus group, as a part of my primary research for my final major project on fashion magazines. This allowed me to get more detailed responses to the questions that I wrote especially for this focus group.

Here is the video that is posted on my Youtube channel:

I just recorded this footage on my Iphone and uploaded in a low resolution, as I primarily needed this for the audio information.

The answers and opinions that I got during the focus group included a variety of responses. A lot of which depended on the individual and personal preference, for example what interests you and other opinionated questions.

The advantages of a focus group is that it can save money and time, as this could be a replacement for individual interviews with just one person at a time. It also gives them a chance to confer/exchange opinions and preferences. It also provides a broader range of information and useful material for primary research.

The disadvantages of focus groups are that they can be difficult to control/manage, as people could be talking over each other which is what happened in my focus group. Also irrelevant topics could come up and therefore time wasting on subjects which are not that useful. Some people could feel pressured to agree with the dominant response.

I found out during this focus group that not all of the audience that buy high end fashion magazines, are actually looking to buy luxury fashion. They instead enjoy the unique photography and read to help spark creative style choices and for in season trend inspiration.

Bristol Fashion Week- Primary Research

On Friday 8th of April I booked to go to Bristol fashion week to get some inspiration and ideas on what trends are in fashion, and the style that I want to include in my own fashion magazine. Although a lot of the clothes displayed on the catwalk were from high street stores, it still gave me an understanding of the type of garments that are in season.

Unfortunately I was not allowed to take pictures during the catwalk, as photography was prohibited.
However, here are some images of the summer 2016 Bristol Fashion Week catwalk show, that I found on Google Images and the Cribbs Causeway website (https://www.mallcribbs.com/events-and-activities/bristol-fashion-week-ss16):

When it comes to the photography of my magazine, I now know the type of clothing I need to dress the models in, to ensure that all the fashion is current and up to date. I have also put together a few outfits that I want certain models to wear and the locations at which I want the photos taken. My idea is to completely contrast the clothing to the location, for example a really elegant, fancy dress in an urban street environment.

Fashion Magazine Research Survey Results

As part of my primary research I chose to create a questionnaire, here is a link to my introductory blog post on the survey.

Now I have collected all the results and put together an infographic on Piktochart. This is to present the data in a more interesting way and to be easily interpreted by the audience.

I have made a chart or graph for each question of my survey, to clearly demonstrate the demographics and to have a visually pleasing representation of the data. I also added small icons and images to correspond with each question theme. For example, the money related answers I used cash symbols and picture icons as well as phone and laptop icons for the platform question.

I tried to keep the text on this infographic fairly minimal, as I wanted it to be interesting to the eye and not too busy with typography. This would come across quite cluttered and over whelming to the audience and therefore would defeat the purpose of an infographic. I kept the background very simple and dark so the light font and bright colours stand out. This method is very eye catching and could draw people in to read more.

Finally, this method of primary research worked well because I got a large quantity of results (78) in a short amount of time. Also, because I collected the information first hand, it means that the results are accurate from my point of view. On the other hand, this could mean that the results are not that reliable, as I don't know how much effort people put in to fill out the survey and therefore some feedback might not be exact.

Another disadvantage of this method of primary research is the fact that most of the questions are multiple choice and therefore not a lot of detail is put into the answers. In this case, the research is more quantity rather than quality, although it did give me an idea of the target audience and demographics of certain magazines. So is still useful in the pre production process of my final major project.

Here is the final image of my infographic:

Fashion Magazine Research Survey

Today I put together a survey on Google Forms about fashion magazines. It is a quick survey to help me gain an understanding of the demographics and target audience of certain magazines. I am using this as a method of primary research for my final major project.

I posted the link on my Facebook page and am awaiting responses. After the information has been collected I am going to put together some pie charts, representing the results and for a different way of interpreting the data.

Here is the link to my fashion magazine survey.

Click here to see the results blog post!

Inspiration Mood Board

Today I put together a fashion photography mood board for inspiration, I did this on Adobe Photoshop and got the images off Google. Here is the finished project:

I incorporated images that interest me for example the more creative, art-inspired fashion photography I think is very unique and interesting. Also a lot of the pictures used in high fashion magazines are quite abstract and different, to stand out from conventional, plain background studio settings.

I like the different effects used to edit the images, for example the mirrored effect and the pattern/colour overlay to exaggerate some of the photographs.

The typography in magazines such as; Harper's Bazaar, Vogue, Dazed and confused, etc are often very simple and clear to read. The typeface also tends to be serif, as this is considered more classic and sophisticated. This is very conventional and here are some examples in the magazines I listed above:

The font also starts much larger at the beginning, so that the title stands out and catches the audiences attention. The images however, range from a studio setting to a full spread image including landscape, used as the background of a whole page.

FMP Subject- Fashion Magazine

For my final major project I have decided to design my own magazine cover and double page spread. It is most likely going to be on the subject of fashion and beauty, however I might include other topics within the double page spread. The target audience would be females aged between 20-35, as the fashion included will be on trend and very fashionable. Stereotypically, these are the people who are going to be the most interested in this topic. Also I have not incorporated teenagers in the target audience, as the magazine is going to advertise quite high-end, luxury fashion and therefore for people who have a full time career.

The topics I am going to research include:

• Cover layouts and designs of high fashion magazines
• Demographics of magazines such as Vogue and Harpers Bazaar
• The types of articles often published 
• Advertisements used and how they are placed
• Photography used 
• Colour schemes
• Brands included within other high fashion magazines
• Search starting up magazines/new to the market

What I will need:

• Camera for photography
• Lights, backdrop (setup)
• Model
• Outfits-fashionable clothing
• Makeup/hair for cover- (most likely do this myself)
• Adobe Photoshop for editing purposes

Peer Publishing- 'Meg's Fashion' Article

This is the start of my article on 'Meg's Fashion' created on Indesign.

The first thing I did was create some interesting, fashion related questions that I could ask Megan, to achieve the information I needed for the article. I then interviewed Megan and wrote down her answers in my notebook. After typing these up I presented the article in a simple Q & A format.

Later in this lesson, I learnt the basics of InDesign including; creating a new project, inserting columns, adding text, making the text continue to other columns, experimenting with layouts and how to insert, move and resize an image. Along with adjusting text size, colour and font.