ME MAM’S BANKSY
I teamed up with Hannah for the workshop, we decided to pretend that Banksy was a woman and was in fact our mother. We wanted to write a book on our life of being in hiding and having to be home schooled, etc.
me mam’s banksy
forget what you thought you new about banksy. meet our mum. learn our story.
The invite I created for the Topman launch, using just the logo and the texture pattern I’ve used throughout my designs.
The designs for the front of my sewing pattern packets that will be given out for free to promote the store opening. It’ll allow you to create your own limited edition Topman denim tote bag.
Premium Sky B l u e S w e at s h i r t Sporty fit Raglan sleeves which continue to the neck with no shoulder seams for added comfort Crafted in a premium lyocell mix fabric
Premium Silk Pocket Square
50% Cotton, 50% Lyocell Colour: Blue Code: 71B05MBLE
Colour textrured pocket square in 100% silk as part of our premium collection. 100% Silk. Machine washable. Colour: Blue & Black Code: 84X32KNAV
Premium Grey Fleece Short Peak Cap Short peak Grey fleece
Premium Black Skinny Chinos Skinny fit - narrow on the waist, thigh and hem. Zip fly fastening Crafted in a premium cotton twill fabric, woven for visible texture For a sharp smart look
style fabric.
100% Polyester Colour: Grey Code: 56J94MGRY
100% Cotton Machine washable Colour: Black Code: 68F10MBLK
Premium Gold Knitted Socks Honey gold flat knit design 76% Cotton, 22% Nylon, 2% Elastane Machine washable Colour: Gold Code: 85G17LMUL
Premium Green Silk Texture Tie Textured ties in luxurious silk fabric as part of our premium collection. 100% Silk. Machine washable. Colour: Green & other colours Code: 84T06LGRN
Reflective Questions
Research What are the key influences you have identified out of your research? And why?
We started by researching what the word Fantastical actually meant, a lot of words like bizarre, odd, weird, wonderful came up as synonyms which was really interesting to see as I just associated it with magic, mystical themes. It was good to go from seeing the word, thinking we should do it on mythical creatures to then coming away with a magazine encouraging weird and wonderful behavior!
Our magazine was focused on teenagers, aged 14-19, when researching current teen magazines I realized that there really is not any around. It is pretty shocking that all of the teen magazines that we knew and loved at that age have all stopped being made and sold. The only teen related magazine that relates to a mature teen audience is Teen Vogue, which you do not actually see that much in stores. I went to Sainsbury’s to see if any magazines like ours were on the shelves but all they had were younger children’s magazines that were all about games or the big leap to young adult magazines. It is such a shame but I feel our publication definitely fills a gap in the market. There isn’t a physical printed version of a teen mag that makes girls that age feel ok in their skin by celebrating the odd things in life that that they might be worried to share. We are celebrating that and definitely not shaming anyone or telling them to dress a certain way if they want to be popular or how to look like Kylie Jenner. I felt it was a big selling point and really made us stand out from the rest.
I also realized that most of the magazines that are produced have a cover girl plastered all over them. Sometimes the images used on the front give people unrealistic presumptions about how they should be. By researching different way we could make our cover I realized we hadn’t even thought about putting a person on the front and went straight for a textured, material approach. I think this goes to show that not everybody wants to see a person airbrushed perfectly on the front of a magazine. I feel we went around this well by creating some fun and interactive covers for teens to keep and even use to decorate their rooms.
I have also realized that a lot of my research and inspiration was less colourful than the overall magazine is now. We have introduced a lot of colour within the magazine and at first I would have liked to restrict myself to a few colours but after finalizing our theme of the Weird & The Wonderful we all wanted it full of bright colours and wacky shapes. I had researched a lot of illustration and hand type pieces too but after a few days of trying to make all of that work we set ourselves some rules. No illustrations within the magazine unless they are all the same as if we all created illustrations
within our own personal style the magazine really would have gone a bit hectic. The more colour the better. Stick to fewer typefaces and not over crowd it. Keep the layouts simple.
Investigations Creative responses. Identify aspects of the projects that you developed further in line with your own creative practice.
As a designer I am always up for trying new projects, concepts and styles. I think this project has helped me spread out a little and work on something I haven’t before. I decided to choose the target audience that would challenge us more instead of going down the easy route of choosing a magazine for young adults meaning no boundaries and more of what we currently do as people. By doing a teen magazine we really had to think about what was going in there and the way things were designed. We had the decision of carrying on the on going clichÊ of a tacky magazine or are we going to re brand the teen mag altogether and make it modern and engaging to the now mature teens that are walking around.
I think the project really tested me, as I was the one doing the layout, art directing and making the biggest decisions. I have created a magazine on my own before but working with another 4 girls really does change things. Sure, there is more help and you have more brains to think up how things are going to work and what to cut and what not but sometimes it felt that it was just me doing it and it really did encourage me to get it finished and motivate the others to do their tasks.
Designing to a magazine that was meant to be bigger than it was but then having to scale it down to smaller that a4 and squared was another worry but it really did not look too bad. We were really worried about it at first but I am glad I have got a lot of patience.
I am also a very crafty, creative person so outside of working on the mac and designing I enjoy making things and seeing how they turn out. We were in desperate need of a front cover by the time we had printed all the inside pages, rookie error but I managed to find a way around it. I thought why not make it interactive and a way to reminisce about how we all enjoyed making things as kids. I got my glitter out, made some different coloured and textured confetti and created a front cover you could shake and see all the glitters and confetti’s move about. I have not seen a front cover of a magazine like this before, sure it was not very cost efficient but it definitely related to the theme of the magazine and the rest of the group liked it. I got everyone making their own, it was pretty fun as well and productive and we ended up with for very different, yet sticking to the same concept, glittery front cover.
Reflection Reflect upon your engagement with each aspect the unit. I feel I did very well within this unit, I do enjoy group work and I am glad that I know how to work efficiently within one. During the idea generating of the project I feel I can contribute a lot of ideas to the table, I am always there making mind maps and lists and branching off from other peoples ideas too. I realized that people get quite offended when their ideas are not considered but as a group of 5 people not everyone’s ideas will get chosen, it is not how things work and I am glad I have been taught that. I felt myself taking on pretty much all of the roles within the magazine, at first I did not expect to be designing the logo, the whole layout for the magazine, the poster and making half of the decisions that we really should have made within the group as a full team but I found it very hard to get everyone together to make big decisions and as much as I tried nothing would seem to get sorted. I basically fell into a role of trying to help everybody as well as trying to help myself with my part of the project. I did enjoy feeling like an art director thought but ideally I would’ve liked more input from the group as sometimes I felt very stressed and by myself with the whole thing. As for attendance during this project I have been in every single day and at every important discussion when we had them. Putting late night hours in to finish things too and being the go to person for help with their sections did keep me really busy which to be fair I did not mind as it is better than feeling like you have not contributed anything to a group project. With the whole design process I feel quite bad that the front cover, logo, layout and poster were all done by me but I felt no one else really cared about all of that. We all created logo ideas but we voted and preferred the simple one I put together as it went with everything. I was trusted to do the layout so that became my role and no matter how many times I asked for poster and front cover ideas no one would give me any so yet again I was left to do that too. It is a shame as I really feel we all could have been more creative with it if we had all contributed the same but I guess that is sometimes how it is. I was also there when we were printing and binding the magazine, I actually really enjoyed that and I think I have definitely learnt more about what needs to be done when curating a magazine. Overall I do think I had quite a big role within the group and I hope the other group members have learnt a lot and feel more positive about creating a magazine too as it was a very enjoyable project and I think we all have learnt a lot.