Fashion Professional Practise Laura Arnold 5503DFT T U TOR : AM Y LI DDLE SU B M I SSON DAT E : M ON DAY 8 TH M AY 2017
Critical Analysis
What Is Fashion Branding?
What is Fashion Branding? To build a strong image of a brand To sell a story To communicate a service To sell a product
What is Fashion Branding? TRADITIONAL
CONTEMPORARY
Newspapers
Viral video’s
Magazines
Social media; facebook, instagram, twitter, snapchat etc
Catalogs Radio
Phone apps Email / subscription Newsletters
Tv
Gorilla advertising
Celebrity endorsements
Hashtags
Billboards Fashion shows
Fashion show location Online magazines
Inspired Directional
Expression
Creative
Contemporary
FDA 2017
Complimentary
Conscious
Fun
Confident
Contrasting
Fusion
Defining our key words Conscious (6) Diverse (5) Contrasting (1)
After creating our mind map we then all voted what words we think best describe our brand:
Diverse
Conscious
Global (1) Unique (3) Fun (1)
Chosen Key Words
Directional (1) Creative (1) Fusion (3) Attitude (1) Inspired (1) Open (1) Cutting Edge (1)
Unique
Fusion
Defining Our Keywords Issues
Open minded
Conscious
Trends
Age
Unique Individuals
Influences
Respectful
Personalities
Diverse Unique / Individuality
Cultures
Collaboration
Merge
Fusion Contrast
Global
Deciding on a name The class decided on the name Open Café. Unfortunately I had a hospital appointment so missed this vote. When I got back to class I was informed of the decision and raised my concern that it doesn’t sound very fashion-like, it sounded like a food review magazine. I discussed it more while creating the moodboards with the creative team and Georgia and Lauren agreed with what I was saying. Over time we eventually changed it to Spectrum which I was so glad about. Spectrum definition: “a broad range of varied but related ideas or objects, the individual features of which tend to overlap so as to form a continuous series or sequence.” (dictionary.com, 2017)
Fruit Cake
Global Wave
Conscious Collection
This Is Us
Open Fusion
Thoughtful Collective
Open Cafe
Global Age
Age Of Diversity
Brand Name
Personal Wave
Culture Collaboration
Conscious Cafe
Marmalife
Pineapple
Imagenarium
Circuit Wires
Multiwave Khaki
Strawberries
Creative Team - moodboards Laura Arnold Lauren James Georgia McGee Alice Weekes Tracey Wilson When creating these moodboards we picked some of the images we’d added to our pinterest board and then added them to the boards.
Branding Strategy Marketing Strategy Spectrum ‘used to classify something in terms of its position on a scale between two extreme points’ For our brand we decided to select the name ‘Spectrum’. The brand name portrays how diverse we are as individuals as well as showing the class’s wide range of personality, style, and views which link us all as a group. This word therefore links with our chosen themes; fusion, diversity and conscious. The first word we chose was fusion as we will be merging and collaborating for the brand. Diversity, shows our differences in terms of personality, culture, age etc. Finally, conscious was chosen as we are all very aware of global issues and trends, as well as being open minded. We felt that these words best represented us as a collective and were used as inspiration to base our brand name off. ‘Exploring global issues through the power of fashion’ Our initial concept for the brand is for it to be fun, visual, quirky and colourful. We aim to offer an unusual and unique outlook on conscious and current issues. Within our brand we will create content reflective of the world now from our individual perspectives using transmedia storytelling techniques such as a fashion film, magazine, Instagram, invitations, business cards, fashion show programmes and other merchandise such as bags, stickers and badges. We will be targeting the magazine at millennials who are aware and conscious of issues already that are open to learning more and gaining a deeper understanding. In order to differentiate ourselves from our competition, we will combine a mix of our skills and design styles which will be fused together to make a collective and cohesive brand.
Created by Nadia Mohammad, Laura Mar, Megan Rue & Megan Connolly.
Press Pack Research
Defining our identity Different Perspectives
Canvas Bags Instagram
Snapchat
Matte paper
Collage
Badges
Brand Langauage
A4 size
Mixture styling
Random & inspirational quotes
Dafont
Documentary Reality
Fashion Film
Visual
Style
Nostalgic
Artsy Fartsy
Pop Art
Newsletter
FB Page GIF Faces
Fun
Bold
Quirky
Bright
Creative Pastels
Colourful
Website Research
Competitors OPEN EYE GALLERY
WE ARE FASHION - LJMU
We Are Fashion - LJMU WWW.WEAREFASHION.CO.UK
WE ARE FASHION IS A WEBSITE (AND MAGAZINE) PRODUCED BY LIVERPOOL JOHN MOORE’S UNIVERSITY. For that reason this is our number 1 competitor. I like how they use a slider at the start of their page which shows the most recent posts. A fault with this website is the lack of content they publish, their latest post was March 5 th, 2017 “Studio: Stop Motion Animation” and before that was 4 th January “North: Identity, Photography, Fashion”. I think that in order to create a good identity, you need to post regularly so there is a reason for people to re-visit. For example a website what does this is www.i-d.vice.com. They post numerous times a day and divide them up into different topics:
Open Eye Gallery WWW.OPENEYEGALLERY.COM
OPEN EYE GALLERY IS A MUSEUM WEBSITE. Although this is not a brand, I still see this as a competitor as it is a company who advertise the work of creative people. The layout is simple with a clear section directing viewers to their social links. Blog posts are lengthy and descriptive and unlike on www.wearefashion.co.uk Open Eye Gallery post a lot more frequently. Their most recent post, “Pauline Rowe: Uncovering The Northwood Community” was published on 2 nd May and before that, “Kyle Shipstone, Skelmersdale: A New Town” was published on 26 th April.
Magazine Research
Un-Fold Magazine UN_FOLD MAGAZINE IS THE PAPER EDITION OF WWW.WEAREFASHION.CO.UK “WE_ARE_FASHION is an initiative that aligns higher education to industry practices within the context of the creative services industry. It is about providing an educational experience that is stimulating, challenging and reflective of the fashion industry today.� (We Are Fashion, 2017) When looking through this magazine, I seen lots of creativity. Pages are vibrant and the graphics throughout are interesting. There was also a good balance between photography, moodboards and articles to read. I really like how the magazine cover is made of matte paper, I think this is very current and looks sleek.
i-D Magazine “I-D HAS BUILT ITS REPUTATION ON BEING A CONSISTENT SOURCE OF INSPIRATION IN FASHION CULTURE. IT BEGAN AS A FANZINE DEDICATED TO THE STREET STYLE OF PUNKERA LONDON IN 1980” (I-D, 2017) This magazine is very photo based but also contains interesting articles to read. I really like the cover photo and how it is black and white, I think this gives a high-end feel. The logo is simple and to the side unlike the most common way most other magazines have where the font is across the top like how vogue do. Doing their logo in a different way matches their identity of being alternative to your classic fashion magazine such as vogue.
Promotional Platform Research
Social Media WHAT IS IT?
IS IT USEFUL?
Social media is an online platform and is the easiest and cheapest way to share your brand identity with the public. It was originally built for personal use but more and more brands are using it as a way of bringing their content to the viewer. Creating a short punchy status with a link to the website entices people to click the link and visit your page, something they might not of thought about doing had you not placed it there for them to see.
"The Power of Social Media. With the millions of apps, websites and other platforms for people to communicate through media that are all over the Internet these days, this is truly the age of social media.�
To put this into perspective, you will see (above) how the number of post views spikes dramatically for �the Spectrum front cover� post compared to all of the other posts. This is because I shared it to the Facebook page for viewers to see. When looking at the stats on facebook I also found that it had a positive reaction on there too:
(Goodyear, 2014)
Website Analysis
Faults Because I have used a free template and created the website on my personal account, after every post it comes up that I posted them with my profile picture. I have searched high and low throughout the coding to find a way to remove this but have had no luck.
“Your website is the main face of your business for most of your new prospects. You have to make a first impression that gives them every reason to believe your company is legitimate and trustworthy. That means creating a website that conveys professionalism. “If the website itself doesn’t appear to be high-quality and well thought out, why would anyone believe the company’s work is any better?” (Hicks, 2017). The above quote leads me to think that we come across unprofessional due to not having a custom domain address.
Magazine Analysis
Front Cover & Magazine Quality The border was out of alignment so half of it is cropped off, I think this could have been down to the spine being added when placing the order. Either that or it could have been to do with Lauren opening it and changing the format when she wanted to change all of her pages. I tried to do it but the files she sent me was the wrong size. It was 2 days after the deadline and I had to go to work when she asked me to change them, so I asked her to change them herself. Really she shouldn’t of been allowed to change her pages but it was unfair that Tracey was not allowed to be in the magazine because she missed the deadline. The reason why I think that this was the reason was because her pages are the only ones what turned out good quality, her pages and Alice’s first page, what she updated for me too.
Content I think this is a good example of when not to use an image for a double page spread. The right page is just of a wall, if it was a picturesque background then it would be ok, but of a concrete pillar is a wasted page in my opinion. If text of some sort was put over it then that’d be ok but as it is, it doesn’t work. I also think the outfit colours don’t work with the surroundings. In the group photo-shoot, I had to keep repositioning the model so she didn’t fade/get lost in the background. Finally, I don’t think the location suits the elemental theme, somewhere a bit more rural or even at the beach would of worked much better.
Georgia produced some amazing images from her photo-shoot, the colours of the outfit really stand out from the surroundings, the styling is well executed. On these 2 pages however, I think they should be separated with a white border on one of them. The models face is looking in the same direction on both pages too which I think looks a little repeated, so to avoid this, I wouldn’t have put them next to each-other.
Lyndsey’s pages are one of my favourite sections, she is the only one who has talked about a global issue within the industry. The only downfall to her work is her use of hyphenation with the font used. I don’t usually like hyphenating at all in articles but for this case it’s worse due to the symbol being a square with a cross in, I think this is misleading as if there is an error there. Besides that I really liked her photoshoot and the use of 2 models, it’s something different compared to everyone else’s shoot. The location also suits the style of her collection, all the details have been really thought out.
I’m really glad that I opted for black and white when editing my photo’s, it stands out in the mage for this reason. If I was to do anything different about my pages, I would of liked to of had an article in there or some quotes to give the viewer more to look at than just photo’s.
Content Nadia’s pages are my favourite within the magazine, she mixes photography with illustrations which gives the magazine a creative vibe. I think it truly shows off her skill and style and the location of the shoot works really well with the style of her collection. I also really like how she has cropped the photo’s (as seen pictured left) and then how she has digitally illustrated the models face.
Lauren’s pages have also been put together really well. I like how she has placed her print onto her photo’s. the only thing I don’t really like is how she has used a whole page to showcase a print, I get that her collection is all about the print, but I think it should have a logo or a quote on it to fill up the page a bit. The location for Lauren’s shoot matches her theme very well with suitcases and it being the wanderer. I also like how she made the dress herself.
Laura’s pages are completely different to everyone else’s. They are vibrant and creative. The image pictured left has been stretched though which is a shame because I really like this page otherwise. Also on her last page she has wrote a quote, it looks like it was done with her finger on her phone, to make it look more professional, it would have been better to use a font on photoshop.
Megan’s pages are very photographic with hardly any description of what her collection is about. The small caption what she has is straight to the point though so the message is delivered to the viewers. The styling is true to her theme and she has taken some good images at decent angles.
Finally Alice’s pages are very different to everyone elses in a sense that she has used an illustration instead of a model throughout. I like the bio and how she describes what her collection is about, it really suits the urban activist theme.
Social Media Analysis
Social media content In order for Georgia and Megan to share our work on the social media sites, we all uploaded our files onto the shared drive. For some reason though, they’ve never shared any of my work. I also noticed on the 3rd of may that there had only been 2 posts shared on the Facebook page. I raised this in the group chat and asked if they need some help with content and Georgia said yes so I shared a post off the website. I also added a bio to the page so viewers can understand what the page is about. My only concern with the Instagram posts is that a lot of the images are not our own and no credit has been given to who they belong to. I also think some of the quotes are irrelevant and don’t match the vision we originally set out for the brand identity, which was to be vibrant and to showcase our work.
Quotes I like the use of the logo used in the background, doing this confirms our brand identity. I don’t think the logo is needed beneath the quote though. It would look good on there if the background wasn’t there, but doing both looks repeated and cluttered. I also think the text should have been aligned inside the white box to give a clean look.
Press Pack Analysis
Program Analysis I provided Nadia with the wrong web address. It should be www.hausoflau.com Things I would of done differently would be the alignment of the content. I think it would of looked better if it was all centered. I also don’t think the card was the best choice for how the program is folded, it’s too thick. I like the look of it but a thinner version would of worked better in my opinion.
Invite Analysis I don’t like the use of black on this invite, we haven’t done it anywhere else in the press pack so I don’t think it matches with our brand identity. When I asked Megan Rue about the invite she didn’t want to share any information with me about it, like is it going to be cut out and stuck together so it is double sided? Her being informative like this is not very teamlike, but then she has always had this sort of attitude as long as I have known her. Something I noticed on here too was that the e-mail address was in-correct, our e-mail is spectrumfd17@gmail.com. Things I would do differently would be to make certain text bold or italix, to break up all of that information. I would have the dates of the event in bold to stand out and I’d also use different sized fonts so the key information is eye-catching.
Business Card Error’s WRONG SIZE
WRONG WEBSITE ADDRESS I asked several times throughout this project to buy a domain name for approximately £10 in order to look professional. The class didn’t see the point though. I didn’t know that Lauren had ordered the business cards, she hadn’t checked with me what the web address was and therefore put the wrong address on here. When working as part of a team, I feel that these things are vital to avoid costly and time consuming errors. For our fashion show everyone is going to be mislead to the wrong address now which is a shame after I have put so much effort into creating the website to showcase the classes work. “Like a mini creative resume, a business card is a small but powerful marketing tool that enables you to showcase your unique identity and help you stand out.” (Hughes, 2017)
Business Card / Hang Tag Idea Another issue we faced was that the business cards were not the size of a standard business card. I suggested we add them to the sweet packs like a hang tag and I think it has resulted in a quirky approach for a business card. � Your business card should leave a long lasting impression and reflect a little piece of your personality.� (Hughes, 2017)
T-shirts & Tote Bags
Fashion Film I don’t think the clip at the end of the model dancing goes with the rest of the video. If more of the clips had been used throughout the video, (in between clips from the shoot at St Georges Hall) then it would make more sense. But it just seems like it was added onto the end in a rushed manner. Also, a part of the budget was spent on smoke bombs for the film which they used but did not share this footage in the film. “A behind-the-scenes or documentary approach can give viewers a behind-the-scenes look, while humanizing a brand.”(Ward, 2015) This quote can be felt throughout the start of our fashion film with the behind-the-scene footage of our group photo-shoot.
Budget There were a number of things bought throughout this project where I think the money could have been put to better use such as an official web domain. Things what we could of saved money on was all of the cake packaging samples and the smoke bombs.
Bibliography References AnOther. (2017). About Us. [online] Available at: http://www.anothermag.com/about-us [Accessed 7 May 2017]. Dictionary.com. (2017). the definition of spectrum. [online] Available at: http://www.dictionary.com/browse/spectrum [Accessed 7 May 2017]. Digital, D. (2017). Dazed & Confused. [online] Dazed. Available at: http://www.dazeddigital.com/info/article/824/1/dazed-confused [Accessed 7 May 2017]. Goodyear, S. (2014). What Adults Get Wrong About Social Media. [online] The Huffington Post. Available at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/samantha-goodyear/the-power-of-socialmedia_3_b_5161138.html [Accessed 5 May 2017]. Hicks, K. (2017). Fix These 8 Things to Give Your Website a Professional Look. [online] HostGator Blog. Available at: https://www.hostgator.com/blog/importance-conveying-professionalismwebsite/ [Accessed 5 Mar. 2017]. Hughes, K. (2017). 21 innovative business card designs. [online] Creative Bloq. Available at: http://www.creativebloq.com/branding/business-card-designs-5132829 [Accessed 5 May 2017]. Hughes, K. (2017). 21 innovative business card designs. [online] Creative Bloq. Available at: http://www.creativebloq.com/branding/business-card-designs-5132829 [Accessed 8 May 2017]. i-D. (2017). About | i-D. [online] Available at: http://i-d.vice.com/en_gb/about [Accessed 7 May 2017]. soguemoments. (2015). soguemoments: Vogue Covers. [online] Available at: http://www.soguemoments.com/2015/02/hall-of-covers.html [Accessed 8 May 2017]. Ward, C. (2015). How to Create Artistic Fashion Films. [online] The Beat: A Blog by PremiumBeat. Available at: https://www.premiumbeat.com/blog/how-to-create-artistic-fashion-vide os/ [Accessed 8 May 2017]. We Are Fashion. (2017). About. [online] Available at: http://www.wearefashion.co.uk/about/ [Accessed 7 May 2017].