Week one – 06/02/17 This week was the beginning of our class project. As a class we went through to research the four most important steps of fashion branding. We then created a triangle with these four steps. Starting from the bottom there was to sell, then to communicate the service, then tell a story and at the top build a strong brand image. Each of these factors are what we need to keep in mind while we make decisions and work together to build our own branded magazine. From here we was set homework to look into two different branding strategy's. One in which are our competitors (I chose LJUM) and one which was highly established brand (I chose Miss guided). These will help me with what ever task we decide to set me on. I also plan to do future research into the specific element in which I am given for example the branding strategy for the website or social media.
Virtual reality After this we was set into pairs. Each pair was given a different type of digital pathway to look at in which brands us to promote themselves. There was Instagram, snapchat, apps, virtual reality and Facebook. I was given the task of virtual reality. At first I understood what this was however I did not know how brands used this to promote themselves. With research I found out that some high end brands like Moschino and Topshop were using this method to display there newest catwalk shows. The positive elements which I found for this type of digital display was; • It makes the viewers feel like they are actually there and apart of some of there favourite brands catwalk shows • It adds a personal engagement to the fans of the brand who don't have the luxury of making it to there shows • It gives the catwalk a wider live audience • it creates an experience for the viewers like no other • it creates a telepresence experience • It is a great way to global market • This idea is new, fresh, different, unique and innovative to the competitors as not all brands have done anything like this yet • It creates more media coverage as the brand may be the first to do it or the first of there time • With research even more high end brands like Dior and Balenciaga are planning to follow
Meeting 2 week 1 • We then started to look at traditional and contemporary ways in which we can use for our own branding strategy these are the ideas in which we came up with. Traditional
Contemporary
Fashion show Billboards Tv adverts Magazines News paper Radio Catalogues celeb endorsement websites
Social media Fashion show Gorilla advertisement Collabs Fashion films Videos Bloggers newsletter
After all this we did a mind map of all words we collectively thought about in which our magazine should be represented off. Here is a picture of our mind map. When then using a tally chart system chose our favourite 3 words. However instead of ending up with 3 words there was 4 due to a draw these words were CONSCIOUS, FUSION, DIVERSITY AND UNIQUE. It is these four words we plan to use to help build our brand around.
Week two – 13/02/17 • At the start of this lesson we had a recap of last weeks decisions. We decided as a group that four works is too over crowding to work from for our branding strategy and wanted to narrow it down to the original plan of three. Therefore we decided to get rid of the work unique. This is because we felt the three words CONSCIOUS, FUSION AND DIVERSITY could have the work unique interpreted into them in different ways. After this decision we created another mind map as a group. This time the mind map was to decide the magazine’s name. Here is a image of the mind map. Again we did a tally chart and picked our favourite three from the list. The winner was ‘OPEN CAFE’. The reasons behind this name is due to a cafe being filled with diverse people, the word open to portray our opened mindedness and consciousness of all the issues around the world and also the fact that we are a fusion of different people trying to create one whole magazine.
• After the decision of the group name was finalised we split ourselves into two groups. The first group was the mood board group this consisted of Georgia, Lauren, Alice and Tracey. It was there job to put together four mood boards. One for the main concept of our overall magazine an one for each of our three words. The second group was called the branding strategy team, this group consisted of myself, Megan r, Nadia, Lynsey and Laura m. It was our task to write up the proposal for our branding strategy. • However, before we began this task we though it would be easier for us all to create one mood board each to display what we through the magazine should portray. When showcased these to the class and explained what each image we added to the mood board meant. This helped the mood board team a lot as many of the images and ideas that the whole class really liked they used on the mood boards to represent the magazine overall.
Week three – 27/02/17 • This week we came to another change. Due to an illness the only two people in the class this week as Megan r and Lauren. They set themselves the task of creating the logo for our brand. While they was creating this they felt that the name Open Cafe did not look eye appealing. Therefore they began to brain storm some more and came up with the name Spectrum. They created a range of logo’s each containing both names so that they could pitch this name change idea to the rest of us next week and show the difference. They then delegated us into two groups again. One was a digital group who were in charge of the fashion film, social media and website. While the other group was the print group. These were in charge of everything physical like the merchandise, invites, programmes. As they put themselves in the print group they went to do decided which deliverables we will be creating over the next few weeks for our goodie bags.
Week four – 06/03/17 • To start off this week we was presented a slide show by Megan R and Lauren. To explain to us that they through a name change would be best for our magazine due to the eye appeal it had on the logo. This was all agreed upon and the name was changed to Spectrum, due to myself personally feeling it was much better fitted to the group. As each of us had now been spilt into two groups the print group or the digital group we then broke off which task each individual would be in charge of. In the Digital group Laura A would be in charge of the website, which we chose for her as she was not in however we all agreed this was one of her strong points. Laura M and Alice would be in charge of the fashion film and both are confident in this section and Myself and Georgia would be in charge of the social media pages. Which would be spread across Instagram, Facebook and the group email. For the Print team Lynsey would be in charge of the merchandise as she had already done some research on this part. Megan R would be in charge of the invitations as writing and presenting is her strong point. Lauren would be in charge of the business cards and stickers as she had already created the logo. Nadia would be in charge of the programmes as she has an eye for presentation and Tracey would be in charge of the magazine theme and weather we would have any background on each page or ideas.
• As each of our tasks were so different and we could go off into many different ways and styles I suggested that we all created mood boards on our individual tasks. This would be to help us get a real idea of what path we plan to take out task down and present back to the class. This way everyone could have an agreement with the style and everyone had an idea of what everyone else was up to, so that we could all help complement each others. It also helped in case anyone was stuck so that they had the class to help resolve the issue with different ideas. What I did was make a mood board for the layout form I planned to use for our social media pages. These including the types of images, the types of quotes etc.. This is displayed in my research book and evaluated.
My first ideas for the social media page’s was too • carry out a consistent font to keep it looking professional and for that font to then have a presence to our brand • have fun, relative quotes that will always be displayed within our own style, font and have our logo on • have a feminism feel by using colours such as pink and purple • also be women empowering with the images and quotes used • maybe have a different bae of the day or that style of on going event each week or day • maybe have a best dressed when events are on keeping up to date and on trend • use pictures related to traveling, places around the world, beauty and celebs • use a white frame on all images to make the whole page neat and each page key together
Meet two week 4 • For the second half of the day we decided to plan our magazine layout and content. We first decided that each of us will have a 15 page spread within the magazine. We also decided that each of us will be completing a photoshoot for these 15 page but also came up as a group what else we could fill the pages with. We decided it would be a good idea if some people had written articles including global context, this is to key back into our conscious idea. We also thought that if some people wanted to they could key in previous projects and re work back into these and experiment further to get more outcomes, if they did not want all the pages about there collections. We also decided upon opening and closing with a group shoot with all our models together at one location also having our logo on. Our homework this week was to work on our individual tasks, set up our diary's, set up our research books and create a mood board of what we would like to have within our own segments of the magazine
Week five – 13/03/17 • This lesson was more independent than the rest as we had al been given our own tasks now, we all new we needed to research what we wants to fill out our section of the magazine like and all knew we needed to keep up to date with our diary's and research books. In the morning I began to create mood boards for my photoshoot e.g. location, styling, hair and make up. We then found as a class it would be much easier if we all had one drive we could put everything into for everyone to access. This is when I set up a google drive for the class to use. We used this drive so that everyone could have access to the same logo’s fonts and images. I asked everyone in class this week to upload there line up and illusions they would like me and Georgia to put on the social media page. We then set ourselves a task to post at least everyone's line up, one illustration and one behind the scene of there new shoot for the magazine pages on the social media sites. We monitored this using a chart that I complete within my research book. As this was the first lesson I asked not everyone done it for me however, I had more days to wait for them and keep asking as I did not plan to add these all in one day. • For the second half of the lesson we come together to begging to discuss cost. As Lynsey was planning the merchandise she had done some research on the different prices and when they would arrive. We planned to have tote bags for our goodie bags printed with our logos on, t-shirts for the fashion show to wear with out logos on, stickers with our branding on and business cards. She found it cheaper to order plain bags herself then print the logo’s on in the bags in college which we all agreed on. We also planned to use our own money not the budget to purchased our tops so that we had more of the budget money for the goodie bags. The stickers and business cards we could order together of the same website which I had a discount voucher for meaning that we saved 25% on these also. We then decided on a budget of £30 each which needed to be paid as soon as you could. This was using the evidence Lynsey had found from her research and then the price of the magazine. She then said she would keep a chart on who had paid and what date, while also keeping hold of the money.
Meeting two lesson 5 • For the second half of the lesson we come together to begging to discuss cost. As Lynsey was planning the merchandise she had done some research on the different prices and when they would arrive. We planned to have tote bags for our goodie bags printed with our logos on, t-shirts for the fashion show to wear with out logos on, stickers with our branding on and business cards. She found it cheaper to order plain bags herself then print the logo’s on in the bags in college which we all agreed on. We also planned to use our own money not the budget to purchased our tops so that we had more of the budget money for the goodie bags. The stickers and business cards we could order together of the same website which I had a discount voucher for meaning that we saved 25% on these also. We then decided on a budget of £30 each which needed to be paid as soon as you could. This was using the evidence Lynsey had found from her research and then the price of the magazine. She then said she would keep a chart on who had paid and what date, while also keeping hold of the money.
Meeting two lesson 5 • We also decided on creating a model casting poster this day. To put up around the college and advertise on social media. At first this was so that everyone in the class has a model for there photoshoot segment in the magazine, the fashion film and also the fashion show. However, after speaking to the college they said they did not allow us choosing models from outside the college and not before the actual day of the fashion show. This was not helpful as we had planned to be extremely organised for the fashion show and keep everything consistent throughout all three segments. But we had to make do and use at least the same model within our fashion film and magazine segments. So far it has had a great response and we began to make a chart containing all the models information to make it easier to narrow them down and select our own when it comes to it. As for the models during the fashion show we will have to make sure that if we do need to share models that the people sharing are a few sections apart so that the model is not to rushed and we have time to make the models look the way we would like. We have also planned to add in a short fashion film for each of our individual sections so that there is more time between each one. Giving each other more time to get each model ready to our own standards.
Week six – 20/03/17 • This week was all about photoshoot planning for our individual sections and our group photoshoot. For the group photo shoot we set the date 20th April at 12pm St Georges steps and a back up date of the 23rd if a few could not make it. The main aim of this shoot was to get the front and back cover for the magazine and footage for our fashion film. As Alice and Laura are in charge of this all the footage was planned to be taken by them. All we needed to do was to turn up with our models fully dressed on time. We also decided on using a few other photos through out of magazine so that it flowed nicely. • For our individual shoot we went around the room and explained our ideas to the class to get some feedback and ideas.
Individual shoot planning meeting 2 • For our individual shoot we went around the room and explained our ideas to the class to get some feedback and ideas. The things that got mentioned for me off the class was • Maybe try change my order around and spilt the pages so that it looked distorted • Keep with my strong theme colours of pink black and white • keep the location natural maybe a park or brick wall back grounds so that all attention is on the model and her clothing. Also urban areas were brought up • find a model who looks indie. Someone bald was a suggestion, someone who looks edgy and quirky • my plan is to hopefully have some garments done for the model to wear if not I will have to style with similar things • I wanted to look around for pink graffiti to have as a back drop • 7play around with my images shaping and maybe Photoshop them into my logo or the words girl gang
Lesson 7 27/3/17 was off As I was off ill this week I worked on my research book and diary from home. I also continued adding on the social media pages with at least 3 posts a day between me and Georgia. Once I had spoken to the class this week they had done a 360 feedback on one another. This was to help with there team work skills, on what skills they was good at and what they needed to work upon.
Lesson 8 3/4/17 • This week there was only me, Lauren, Alice and Lynsey in. As our deadline was coming up we decided to create A3 boards to hand in. These boards were mood boards for our concept, colour texture, fashion film and packaging. I created and selected the images for the concept board and packaging, Alice created the fashion film board and Lyndsey and Lauren selected the colour texture images out and I placed them together. We also added more fabric samples onto the colour texture board so that there was more added texture.
Packaging experimenting • As we was still unsure about what packaging we wanted out sweets to be in we decided to go to the shop and see what we could find. The main type of packaging which we found looked the best once filled with sweets was plastic bottles. These we found for £2.00 for 4 which worked out 50p each. This meant for 100 they would be £50 out of the budget. We also experimented with what stickers would look best at the front of the bottles or packaging. After looking at them physically we decided that circle stickers would be the best to order and have on our packaging, therefore this is what we sent of to print. As I had a 25% off voucher for an online print company we used this to get money off.
Lesson 9 28/4/17 This week was getting closer to the deadline, meaning we all got on with our individual roles and tasks for most the day. Lyndsey went around the class and helped sort a chart which included everything each individual have a part in. This would then help to make it clear to the class were they was up to within there role and weather there was any other parts that needed to be complete before the deadline. Megan R and Nadia also gathered the class together with a range of programme and invite options. They then did a tally so that the favourite one was selected. In the end for the envelope that would hold the programme the class helped take there favourite elements of all that Nadia had created to make our final one. This meant that the whole class had a final input on the choice. What me and Georgia decided to do this day was on the social media pages was create our own quotes and add more to the Facebook. Georgia set herself the task of adding a page for everyone on the Facebook page containing there line ups, illustrations and magazine pages. I created 12 quotes for our Instagram page. I made an original frame using our print and added our logo at the bottom. I then researched our competitors Instagram accounts to see what style of quotes they use and made up my own that we could use on the page.
Lesson 10 5/5/17 As this week is our last lesson before the deadline there was a few last bits to catch up on. This week we had to complete our t-shirts which we plan to wear for the fashion show to promote our brand. The invites for the fashion show and also the programmes. After these were all complete so was our press pack’s for the fashion show, as Nadia had planned to complete the sweet packets. What I did this week was my diary and research booking making sure that there was nothing that I missed out on. I then began to organise and evaluate all my work and make sure that all the images I needed I had contained.
Overall Evaluation Overall I feel I contributed to the group hugely and really tried to help my team members in all aspects in which I could. I came into every lesson apart from two and messaged the group to see what delegated roles they needed me to work on over the week I missed. I kept on track and on time with my own personal roles so that the group did not have to worry about my parts not getting done. I also tried to include them within the social media aspects in every way that I could. I held a small meeting each week to gain feedback of them all and see if any changes or adjustments needed to be made and took everything that they said on board to help me. I also managed to post three different aspects of my team members talents so that it could be reached world wide. Although my role was the digital side, I feel I had just as much impact on the physical evidence too. I made A3 boards for the class to hand in and helped with the experimenting of the sweet box containers. While also helping everyone finalise there ideas. If I was to redo my task I would of added more research into my research book and looked at more of our competitors social media pages and evaluated them. I also would of liked to complete more experimental pieces for us all to achieve the best outcomes that we could.