Internship report MEXX by Scarlett Rachamim

Scarlett Rachamim International Fashion and Branding Amsterdam Fashion Institute

PERSONAL INFORMATION

Name: Scarlett Rachamim Studentnr: 500532289 Study direction: Fashion and branding Internship: Creative Marketing department, MEXX Europe B.V Function: Art-director Intern Period: 01-09-2011 â&#x20AC;&#x201D; 27-01-2012

PERSONAL

Supervisors: AMFI: Stephen Fetherston MEXX: Andi Hinsenkamp ,Senior Art-director Trainings institute: Amsterdam Fashion Institute Mauritskade 11 1091 GC Amsterdam Internship Company: MEXX Europe B.V Johan Huizingalaan 400 P.O. Box 90092 1006 BB Amsterdam The Netherlands Tel: +31 (0)20 514 40 00

MEXX campaign Summer/Spring 2012

Shop at mexx.com

Yulia + Flower Print T-shirt

FOREWORD During the past 3 years of Fashion and Branding at the Amsterdam fashion institute I have gained a lot of insights within the fashion industry on many levels. After three years it was time for me to put in to practice what I have been testing at school for the past few years to obtain some real experiences, and to become familiar working with real clients and projects.

FOREWORD

The study gives a possibility for several directions, but during the years I pursued the role of an art director or creative director for my future career, and hoped to find out if I was right about my choice during my internship. My motivation for this direction is the combination of conceptualizing and designing, and also having an overview of the whole process. After some interviews my choice went to the creative marketing department of MEXX B.V., who offered me an internship as Art-Director under supervision of senior Art-Director Andi Hinsenkamp. With this offer I would have the chance to gain more insight into the daily tasks of an art director and the structure of a big company. During this internship I would be working and assisting on the main campaigns and brochures and have some small assignments on my own, so the result of my work would be immediately measurable. Next to the fact that I would get a lot of responsibility and freedom, I noticed during my interview there is a very open and social working climate at the department. MEXX is also working on a new visual identity what made an internship at this company an extra challenge. There is a lot to learn from a company during a re-branding, when the brand is facing itself in a difficult position. Furthermore the brand is operating in many countries, and it will be a good learning objective how to keep consistency in a brand through the world from a main quarter.

Thank you For 5 months I have been part of a small creative team that is working on the visual identity of a global brand. During my internship I received a lot of help and guidance, and I have learned a lot from the people around me who enthusiastically told me about their role in general and their daily tasks in the company. I have always been able to propose questions, and the people from the department have always been helpful and patient enough to explain everything,

FOREWORD

I would like to thank some of the people for their help and guidance during my internship. First of all my thank goes out to Andi Hinsenkamp for guiding me through this 20 weeks with patience. Next to that I would like to thank all the other people from the department for their help, and the great atmosphere they have brought during these 20 weeks. Next to the people at the MEXX Europe B.V. I would also like to thank my internship supervisor from AMFI, Stephen Fetherston, and the people from the internship agency. I hope this report gives a clear story about my internship at MEXX and I hope you enjoy reading it.

TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction p. 11 THE BRAND 1.1 Background p. 15 1.2 The department p. 16 1.3 Communication p. 18

2.1

Learning objectives & expectations

p. 20

2.2

My role in the company

p. 21

2.3

Case 1: Campaign Brochure SS12

p. 22

Case 2: DTP p. 24 Case 3: Window design p. 27 Case 4: Bed & Bath

p. 30

Case 5: Gift box & Gift voucher

p. 35

Case 6: Footwear Brochure FW 12/13

p. 38

Case 7: MEXX Denim on-and off-line CONCLUSION

p. 41

TABLE OF CONTENTS

MY INTERNSHIP

3.1 Reflection p. 44 3.2 Conclusion p. 48 3.3 Recommendation p. 50 Bibliography p. 55

INTRODUCTION This report is written as a result of a 5-month internship at the creative marketing department of MEXX.B.V that has been done in the 4th year of the Amsterdam Fashion Institute. This document is made to inform about all aspects concerning the internship. During these 20 weeks I have worked on several projects. I will use them in my report to show the development I have made, and to paint a picture of the content of the internship for students that are maybe considering a work placement at MEXX, or exploring future possibilities. The first chapter will contain background information of the brand, furthermore I will explain the structure of the creative marketing department I have worked at, and I will give insight on the communication of the brand

INTRODUCTION

In the following chapter I will discuss my learning objectives and the experiences and insights of selected projects during my internship. The succeeding chapter will contain a reflection of the whole semester in which I translate the development I have made on my learning objectives into the 6 AMFI competences. I will also give a conclusion of my time in this company. Furthermore this chapter will give some recommendations to students who are considering a work placement, and to AMFI and the company for future improvement.

â&#x20AC;&#x153; Some people think that building a successful brand is all about having a good idea, but in fact, it is a constant challenge â&#x20AC;&#x201C; to maintain an inspiring image, design a desirable product, guarantee that your logistics are in order and create store environments that draw people in from the street. From buttons to buildings, a brand must stand for something and have a clear point of view. In fact a brand has its own personality; it is a living thing, which means that it is constantly changing and growing. At the end of the day, very few people really need clothes, but everybody needs to express themselvesâ&#x20AC;?

Rattan Chadha, MEXX founder

MEXX MEXX, a brand that started locally in 1986 and now 25 years later operates in 66 countries over 4 continents. The brand has 35 offices, 10 product lines and 6225 employees, 66 showrooms, 1100 stores + in-store shops, 10.000 selling points and 1.000.000.000 Euros in sales, and I have got the chance to do an internship at the main quarter under supervision of senior art director Andi Hinsenkamp at the creative marketing department, the department that is now in charge of the visual communication throughout the world.

Mexx campaigns 1986 - 2009 “ It started with a kiss”

BACKGROUND Rattan Chadha, who was born in New Delhi, India, founded MEXX. He started two separate brands in the 70â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s. Moustache was a brand for men, and Emanuelle for Women. In 1986 the two brands were joined, because the two brands shared the same values and it was easier and cheaper to advertise and promote under one brand. Moustache (M) and Emanuelle (E) were united together with two kisses to form: M(oustache) + E(manuelle) + XX = MEXX

BACKGROUND

In 2006 Rattan Chadha left the MEXX Corporation and the brand was taken over by Americans. In this period the brand lost a lot of awareness and customers. In 2009 Thomas Groote joins the company as CEO together with Knut Burgdorf, who has been appointed Vice President of Marketing for MEXX Worldwide, and will be responsible for all brand Marketing activites, from creative to production. Together they start a change in the direction of the brand to get the brand back on track. They have experience in products, brand building, vertical and wholesale retailing and marketing among similar markets and consumers as MEXX

RE-BRANDING After the change MEXX gets a purple logo, which is a mixture of the colour green and red of Emanuelle and Moustache. The logo is attached with a stitch on many communication tools as advertising, the website, products and brochures. The clothing of MEXX is also becoming more personal and with the new campaign motto al pieces should emphasize the individuality in style of each person. The two XXâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s stand for the extra you add to your personality with MEXX clothing and replace the symbol of a kiss. The advertising becomes more minimalistic and focuses more on the personalities. In the campaigns MEXX is trying to emphasize on strong characteristic and unique personalities with an individual style as for instance Carice van Houten, who is used for the Netherlands. It should also become visible again that the brand is inspired by the big city, and the people who live there. The brand is positioned as metropolitan casual. MEXX is fresh modern casual smart personal and metropolitan. Not only the identity of MEXX gets a change, but they also start building several concept stores throughout the world in style of a loft in a metropolitan city. A difference between the old campaigns and new ones becomes visible by the advertising in the beginning of this report, and the advertising on the left page. At the moment MEXX is still busy with brand building on their collection and a consistent communication, and the vision is to go even more minimalistic in advertising.

THE DEPARTMENT During my internship I have worked at the main quarter in Amsterdam on the creative marketing department. This is the department that is in charge of the global communication of MEXX. VP Global marketing coordinator Knut is supervising the department, and is guarding and controlling which direction the identity of the brand will go in the future. Knut will approve every decision before it will go in production. Andi hinsenkamp is senior art director and supervises the whole creative process on the department. He has been working for about 2 years at MEXX.B.V, and works on conceptualizing and designing for projects as the brochures, campaigns and the website. Eva Tellman, who is also art director, works under his supervision. During my internship I will also be under supervision of Andi Hinsenkamp. Robert does the E-shop and banners. Dianne works as creative desktop publisher (DTP) and designs POS material, hangtags and manuals, and is closely related to visual merchandising, she is working under supervision of Andi. THE DEPARTMENT

Maurina is responsible for the PR on a global level and supervises April Brown, who is Intern PR. Christoph krick is strategic marketing planner, and is also managing the facebook and twitter page. Most of the briefings for new projects come from Linda or Marscha, who are both project managers on the department. Linda works mainly on brochures and campaigns, and Marscha works closely with retail and clients, and is in charge of for example gift vouchers, boxes, Christmas cards and giveaways. The licensees are also located on the marketing department. The team exists out of Saskia who is responsible for the perfume packaging and glasses, Mechteld who is product manager of socks and Bed&Bath, and Nienke who is operations coordinator product licensing. Furthermore the connect program is based on the marketing department and is under supervision of Janneke. Janneke works together with Eiske and Juliette, who is intern for Janneke. The connect program gives insight into buying behaviour of customers. The program offers special invitations, discounts, sales and more to the customer, and by a special email program and cards with a personal colde that they use in store, the program is able to view the behaviour of the customer The department is in charge of the creative process, but they also work with external companies and agencies to finish the process, for instance to build the website and for retouching of the images.

Figure 1 : MEXX Europe B.V

Figure 2: The marketing department

COMMUNICATION

TASTE GROUP: MEXX appeals to a broad taste group of both men and women between the age of 25 to 45. They have a middle to higher income, and an education above average. They are independent & individual, young at heart and mind, big city bound and they are interested in fashion but they are no fashion victims. They are not looking for special items but just for a little extra. PRODUCT: MEXX offers a broad line of products, which are a combination of smart and casual city wear. The brand extended with a Metropolitan line, which is more minimalistic than the main line and will soon focus on a denim line. MEXX also have their own shoes and accessories, and they have licensees in glasses, socks, carpets, bed & bath POSITIONING: MEXX is a mainstream lifestyle fashion brand that walks the line between casual and smart city wear.

COMMUNICATION

STORES: The new concept stores of MEXX reflect the authentic â&#x20AC;&#x153;metropolitan casualâ&#x20AC;&#x153; identity of the brand. The stores have a loft atmosphere, which makes them feel like a home with surprising details and use of modern authentic materials.

MEXX store Krefeld

LEARNING OBJECTIVES & EXPECTATIONS Before starting this internship I expected to gain a lot more insight into different aspects of Art-direction, and that I would develop my knowledge and skills in conceptualizing and design to a higher level, especially in how to verbally and visually communicate with professional clients and internal colleagues, measured up to the expectations of a corporate company as MEXX. I expected to gain a lot of insights from team meetings and working with real clients. I hoped to develop my design and visual communication. An Art director supervises the whole creative process that is why my objective was to improve on all levels. I have set some objectives that would help me during and after this internship. In my conclusion and final reflection I will translate the development I have made on the learning objectives of my internship period.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

LEARNING OBJECTIVES:

Get better insights into the world of branding, the structure of a big corporate fashion company and their way of working

Gain more insight into the role of an Art-director, and finding out if this career direction I am pursuing is the right one for me.

To function and work professionally and independent on realistic projects in an already existing fashion company

Gain a more rigorous insight to my personal strength and weaknesses, namely in relation to a commercial company.

Improve visual communication internally and external on an efficiently and professional level

Learning to conceptualize and to formulate and visualize this in the right way by gaining and improving knowledge of several computer programs.

MY ROLE IN THE COMPANY During my internship I have been under supervision of senior art director Andi Hinsenkamp. My weekly tasks and projects changed continuously during my internship, but in general I was working a lot on conceptualizing and designing and assisting Andi in Art-Direction on several projects. The people on the creative marketing department work in and out of the office, this is also why I didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t see Andi part of my internship when he was out of office for shoots or other projects In times there was not enough work from Andi his side, or when he was not in the office, I got assignments from others on the department, what made it possible to work on very versatile projects, and which helped me to develop in many directions as for instance the technical side of design. Also a weekly Monday meeting kept me up to date with all the current projects on the department. For the internship assignment I would work, and give input on several projects in the company from my expertise fashion and branding. MY ROLE

Projects that I worked on during my internship are for instance the Bed&Bath brochure, creation of POS (Point of sale) material as show cards, window stickers and price indications, updating of manuals, copywriting, working on the development of several communication channels as MEXX.com, fragrances, the E-store and cooperationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s for MEXX, and I have worked on several brochures. At the end of these 20 weeks I can say it has been an all-round internship. In the following cases I will explain a selection of projects that have been part of my development. I will explain my function in these projects, the insight I gained and the difficulties I faced.

CASE 1: SKETCHES CAMPAIGN BROCHURE SS12 I received a briefing to work on the ideas for the shoot of the MW collection brochure for SS12. The concept of the brochure was already there, and the idea was to shoot a loft of a couple, who live together. The men’s collection would be shown on one side of the brochure and the women’s collection on the other side, and in the middle both would meet. For this shoot the idea was to have clothing presented in a funny or unusual way, for instance a t-shirt hanging in a frame, flip flops in an aquarium or accessories hanging on reindeer horns. Andi showed me a mood image for the loft, and the shoot-list with sketches that they had until now. He asked me to come up with possible ideas that could be added to the shot-list and to think about props for the final list. Furthermore I had to think of a way how the middle page would look like where you would see they live together.

CASE 1

For this brochure I worked on an already existing and developed concept, which sometimes de-motivated me to show what I was capable of, cause I felt I didn’t really had the chance to create a story or showcase all my skills, on the other hand it was a challenge to come up with good sketches that would improve the photo shoot. In the beginning it was quit hard to come up with some innovating and funny ideas, because most of the ideas or similar ones where already sketched out on the list. I tried many ways to come up with inspiration, creating mind maps with things in the house, looking in living magazines and on blogs on the internet. Though I thought in the beginning that this assignment would not be difficult and challenging, I soon found out it takes a lot of sketches and ideas to have a couple of good ones (see figure 3). I discussed the final result with Knut before a selection was added to the shot-list. Though there were some really strong ideas in my sketches it turned out that more than 50 % was not working for different reasons for instance because they would work better in a winter brochure, similar sketches where already in the shot-list and some of them where not placed in the right context. The explanation of the creative director behind the choices he made gave me a clear view on why to use them or not. He gave me the right reasons why some things wouldn’t work, and what i should do to improve my ideas in the future. The reflection moments have been most important for my development during my internship. This is the moment when you learn from your mistakes and take in information on how to improve yourself in the future. When I will have a fulltime job it is more difficult to make mistakes. For this assignment I especially trained my conceptual skills and organizational skills next to the fact that I taught myself not to use a computer all the time, what is difficult if you sit behind one the entire day.

I have put the final shot list and prop list together and I can take this with me in the future for my organization. During my time at the AMFI I already created several shot lists, but when you work with professionals you learn to approach these things from a more proficient angle.

Lamp + scarf hanging

Bike + ACC in basket

EXPERIENCE CASE 1

Water boiler + Steam written MEXX

Portrait face + coat hanging

alarm clock with collection 2012 S/S

Door + card hanging + collection 2012

Winnebottle + tie

Lamp + scarf

Door + Shoes at entrance + MEXX written on door

Portrait face + suspenders and pants

Figure 3: Impression of my sketches for campaign brochure summer spring 2012

CASE 2: DTP During my internship I have worked a lot on DTP jobs, that came from Dianne, as for instance window-stickers, show cards and updating of hangtag-manuals. I also received a lot of briefings from Lisette, who doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t work on the department but is project manager of visual merchandising. She gave me projects for POS recruitment cards, price cards, the Friends & family mailing (figure 5), cropping of images, and creating PDFâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s from indesign files, all of these assignments where more design based, and although they did not really challenged me, they where very important for my design skills. The projects taught me how to work within the restrictions of a brand and how consistency is created. All designs that were made followed the rules and guidelines of the brand, especially in the beginning this made me a bit insecure. When you are new in a company and you have to design things that fit the identity and guidelines of the brand it is quit hard to not make mistakes, after a couple of times though it became a routine because I became familiar with the criteria and guidelines. CASE 2

One of the first briefing I received from Linda was to create show cards for Valentines Day (see figure 4) and Fatherlands day. These cards would also be used for pr reasons, and these cards gave me a bit more creative freedom. For this project I first had to design a general idea, and afterwards I had to brief back to Linda how the products needed to be photographed for the final show cards. I also had to send the first idea for the card to the copywriter of MEXX, so he was able to come up with copy for the cards. These where one of the first show cards that I made, and when I discussed them with Knut, I immediately had some small mistakes that didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t followed the guidelines of MEXX. During the internship it became like a routine and mistakes disappeared. With creation of show cards for in-store use (see figure 6) most important is, to have a certain consistency in all the designs and that they also follow the guidelines of the brand, the same with window stickers (Figure 7). Visual merchandising briefed the size of window stickers, colours and text that should be used for the sales periods, and it was my job to make sure they would all look exactly the same in measurement, outlining etc. At AMFI I never really had to think about measurements and prepress files only the booklets I was printing, but in a company as MEXX every cm is important, files will be sent to other countries for huge productions so you cant make mistakes. Because Dianne works so close together with visual merchandising, I also joined her to the photo-studio to see how they shoot the look-book of the collections, POS show cards and directions for the visual merchandising.

For the look-book and POS cards photos are immediately selected during the shoot, this saves a lot of time with selecting, and the photos can immediately be zipped and sent to the retouch agency. For visual merchandising they have a representation of a store wall in the photo-studio, and when they have a new collection they shoot the clothing the way it will hang in the stores and they send these photos out to all shops in the world to create a consistency in visual merchandising. All these projects have been really good for my actualization, presentation and organizational skills. I was never really free to use creativity this is also why I preferred working on brochures and development of communication channels, though I think it is very good for my development. These were most of the times the projects that I worked on individually instead of with a team.

CASE 2

LOVE FOR FREE Buy three items & get our valentine-scarf for free *

MEXX.COM

Valentines promotion.indd 1

* THIS PROMOTION IS VALID FROM 31ST OF JANUARY - 14TH OF FEBRUARY

Figure 4: Showcard for valentines day

07-10-11 12:43

Figure 5: One of the Friends&family emails that I have updated to the current dates, locations and with the current campaigns

CASE 2

Figure 6: Example of POS showcards I created for visual merchandising.

BUY MORE,SAFE MORE*

20% OFF*

20% EXTRA OFF

ALL SALE ITEMS*

ONLY TODAY* Figure 7: Windowstickers for visual merchandising

CASE 3: WINDOW DESIGN Visual merchandising works closely together with the marketing department to create the shop windows. The general ideas for the windows come from visual merchandising, and the art-directors decide on the final look by working them out into a final design in Photoshop. They will collect images that will be blown up and can be used for the final shop windows. During my internship I have assisted on 4 shop windows. For the first three windows my role was to collect images and think of further props that would fit into the windows to visualize the concept in the right way. I discussed all the collected images with Eva and she has put them together to create a final look for visual merchandising (see figure 8). During my research I found out it is not always easy to find the right images that support your vision, and if so they mostly don’t have the right size to be blown up only stock photography as fotolia and istockphoto for instance.

CASE 3

Next to the use of images VM also works with real material, so sometimes they would use a small image to find similar real props. Due to the problem of not always finding the right image size I also was pushed to come up with creative ideas. Eva needed vintage photography of waving hands, stock photography didn’t offered me this so I used a modern image of waving hands and later placed a vintage layer on top of it. Even though I was only collecting images, and it was not my concept, I was still in charge of the look of the shop window and this motivated me during these projects. For the following month Andi gave me a briefing to create some proposals myself for the final window of April. Due to earlier projects I knew the requirements already, and how to find the right images, and in one day I already had a couple of proposals. Although I was able to communicate my ideas, I found out already soon that I had to take it to a much higher level working in a company as MEXX. When I showed my first proposals to Andi he offered me a small course in Photoshop for the next day with some usable tricks how to work with perspective, shade, and using shortcuts, This helped me what to improve the final window design (see figure 9). During this small lesson he also showed me examples of brochures he made, where he replaced whole billboards with images of MEXX, and gave me a lot of assignments to try it out. With these tricks you have much more possibility’s for final designs, and it can save a lot of money for photo shoots if you can replace things later by adding two photos together. This small session from Andi helped me further in several assignments during my internship and really brought my visual communication a step higher, which is really necessary when you work on a professional level and when you want to convince others.

At the entrance of the company visual merchandising did their first test of the window I created together with Eva. Next to working on the look of the window it is a real motivation to see a window on which you assisted in real size. Furthermore it is interesting to see which material they use to create the final one.

CASE 3

Mainly by working on this assignment I have learned to make things look more realistic in Photoshop for instance by the use of shadows, perspective and 3d design. By presenting something that is closely to reality you will convince people more easily because you almost present them a final product and this brings your concept to life. This assignment also trained me again in using the right words and resources to collect images.

handbag

lARGE (MAN & WOMAN) NEW COLLECTION

NEW COLLECTION

handbag handbag

Figure 8: Shopwindows for February and March, for which I collected the images.

lARGE (MAN & WOMAN)

CASE 3 Figure 9: Shop windows for April. Theme: “Pool Down”

CASE 4: BED&BATH

CASE 4

The Bed&Bath brochure has been one of the leading projects during my internship, mainly because I followed the whole creative process from starting point till finalization, and was able to give a lot of input. For this project I have also worked with internal and external people as other art directors, licensees, sales managers, a photographer and a stylist. During this project my role has been to create a briefing for photographer and stylist, to think about lay-out, copywriting and binding, to assist during the shoot, to help with the organization and to also create some proposals for the following Fair in Heimtexx, where the collection would be showcased. One of the first assignments was to create a briefing for the photographer and stylist (Figure 11). This briefing had to indicate the feeling of the atmosphere, lighting, and styling of the props for the shoot. Furthermore I had to collect ideas for packaging and lay out for the brochure. For my research I looked at old brochures, competitors on the market and PowerPointâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s with the new identity and strategy of MEXX, to see which direction they are seeking for the future. For the next 2 days I have been collecting as much images as possible in line with my vision for the new brochure, images of lofts, presentations of towels, locations and everything that could be of great importance for the final briefing. I did this by looking into magazines, brochures and especially a lot of blogs. I later filtered my results down to the best images. In the briefing I tried to focus on real daylight, shadows and depth in photography, the combination of authentic and modern props and a more natural way of styling them, also the location would be very important to create a realistic and authentic feeling. The old brochure (see figure 10) had a somewhat rehearsed feeling in styling, the size and angles of photography made the brochure quit monotonous, and the brochure was not linked to the philosophy of MEXX. The program visual culture that I did at the Amsterdam Fashion Institute has been quit beneficial to create this briefing as well, because I gained much knowledge about photography during this minor. During the first meeting with my supervisor and a freelance Art-Director we discussed the ideas for briefing, packaging and lay out, both of them where very positive about the briefing I created.

30 Figure 10: Old Bed & Bath brochure from previous collection.

CASE 4 Figure 11: Part of the briefing for Bed & Bath shoot 2012

31 29

As visible in the examples of the final results (see figure 12), photos from the briefing (Figure 11) where closely followed in the shoot. I was facing more difficulties with working on a lay-out, and noticed already working out ideas was one of my weaker points although I have a very clear vision of how something should look like, so I just discussed some ideas I had, for instance about image size and adding text with philosophy. The freelance art-director would work on the lay-out and implement my ideas as well, also because I created the briefing already, and soon the starting points for the Bed&Bath brochure and sales catalogue where there. I have joined meetings with the photographer and stylist, and the contact person for sales. These meetings gave me insight knowledge about costs, printing, details of production, preparation of a shoot, retouch of the final images and language in a brochure. During the first meeting we discussed the briefing and location, when the first location was not possible I offered to look for locations as well. During visual culture I was working as the creative producer, which gave me the experience to quickly find a location that was used for the shoot. CASE 4

The shoot was separated in 5 days, 2 in November and 3 in December. During the first two days the whole team and me faced some difficulties. There was a lot of delay, it became dark outside earlier than expected, ironing the sheets took longer than expected, and not all the sheets arrived because of a delay in production. I noticed external facts can also have a lot of influence on the results, and made it possible we did less than we expected in the first days. The second part of the shoot went better than the first one, what was also due to better preparation than the first part. I over thought a lot of mistakes that were made and things that went wrong, and used them to improve on several levels, for instance by creating a schedule for the next shoot. For the next part of the shoot I also worked on ideas to present the towels of the bath collection. After the shoot still a lot of things needed to be done. The retouch of the images, the final lay-out and copywriting for the brochure. I did not do a lot anymore because everything was already decided on forehand for the lay-out, and it was Eva her job to finish this. I did however helped to look for good examples to brief the copywriter for the text in the brochure what was easy because I had a clear vision from the beginning, and Eva and me shared the same vision. I also helped looking at possible things that needed to be retouched by Edge (The agency who does al the retouching for MEXX) . Furthermore I came up with proposals for the fair invite (see figure 14) where the Bed&Bath collection would be showcased, Eva designed the final invitation that became a mix between our proposals. Last year

Figure 13: Impression of the final Bed&Bath brochure SS 2012

the invitation was only a double printed flyer, my first proposal was to create a small booklet this year and have the invitation on the inside. This would give more space for philosophy and text and would look less like a flyer to my opinion. During the bed & bath shoot I have worked together with photographer Alexander van den Berg and stylist Marianne van Heusden, who make decisions from a different point of view that can develop my view on things and the decisions I make in the future.

CASE 4

Figure 12: Shoot by photographer Alexander van de Berg and stylist Marianne van Heusden for Bed & Bath 2012

I really learned a lot with this project by also looking on the angles other people take for instance the art director which finished this job, and who I assisted during the bed & bad shoot. I also noticed how important it is to also stay sharp during a shoot, mistakes that are made during a shoot are hard to fix afterwards and this is not efficient in time and costs.

CASE 4

In the final product (see figure 13) I see a lot of input from myself. With this project I really had the chance to show what I am capable by using my vision from the start to push the brochure in a certain direction. I also learned most from this project by attending many shooting days, working with a lot of internal and external people and by seeing every process of the brochure from start till end. This project has been good for my all round development from orientation till organization. I have been busy on many different competences and also had the possibility to closely look at others.

34 Figure 14: One of the proposals that I made for the Heimtexx fair.

CASE 5: GIFT BOX AND GIFT VOUCHER Project manager Marscha briefed me on several projects that were needed during the Christmas period. Retail requested a gift box and gift voucher on which I would work together with Eva. The gift box and gift voucher needed to be updated to the new identity of MEXX, and for the voucher was asked to think of improvement on closing and lay-out, so stores could easily print them out themselves as well. Furthermore Marscha briefed me about a giveaway brochure. For this brochure I had to come up with some short and catchy lines that would describe the giveaways. My role in these projects has been for the voucher to think of the look and closing options, and possible examples of copywriting to brief the copywriter. For the gift box I had to think of colour, placement of the MEXX logo and text on the box and look of the ribbon, furthermore to design prepress files of the ribbon and gift boxes in different sizes, so they could be send out for production. I would work alone on the copy for the giveaway brochure, and would check the final results with Marscha, and Saskia from licensees.

CASE 5

For the gif box I started with several designs, and created prototypes from paper to visualize my idea. For the ribbon I brought real examples. Andi and Eva changed the idea for the final gift box a little bit, and after the final idea was there, I was asked to create the prepress files for the box and ribbon in indesign (see figure 17). I was not familiar with prepress files. Dianne helped me to create the first file, so that I could create the rest of the files for production. To work on the technical side of design has been a really good learning experience from which I will also benefit in the future, most of the time you don’t learn these things in school, because you are not working with external company’s or big production numbers For the gift voucher I did broad research and came up with several closing options, options for the look and for copy. I also designed some ideas for closing already (see figure 15), but most of them didn’t worked out because they would be too expensive to produce, or couldn’t be closed anymore after opening. I also came up with the proposal to use plastic and reloadable gift cards as most of the stores do these days, but there was no possibility to do this on a short term, stores have to update their whole system and there was no budget. When the technical design for the voucher was there, which Eva created, I was asked to create 3d images of the voucher, which has later been used for POS show cards (see figure 16). For the copy of the giveaway brochure I tried to work the same way as Dirk who is mostly doing all the copywriting. I came up with several playful proposals for every product, so only the final ones had to be selected by Saskia and Marscha.

For these assignments I have worked on several competences. I have done broad research and next to developing my visual communication I have also learned to prepare files for production. This was also one of the first times I worked on copywriting again, what was a challenge after only working visual for the past few months, or only briefing ideas to the copywriter. I have also learned from several decisions how important it is to keep the end consumer in mind because they are all interested in something else, and especially to think about budgets, because they will limit you in a lot of decisions. It is also not always about the look of a product, but you should also keep in mind how easy it is to produce, or what the costs will be, and again how it fits to the identity of a brand.

CASE 5

Figure 15: Examples I created for closing options of the Gift voucher.

Figure 16: 3D images of the final giftvoucher I created for the final POS. The final POS is made by Dianne.

Printed with lacque layer on the ribbon

Example lacque layer

Ribbon + Sizes 4 mm

CASE 5

4 mm 14 mm

MEXX.COM

300

440

15 mm

Figure 17: Prepress design for the ribbon & the final gift box

CASE 6: FOOTWEAR BROCHURE To present the new footwear FW2012 in a brochure, advertising trade magazines, on posters and invitation cards, to reach existing partners & potential new buyers, a concept and executive idea was needed. The previous concept (“inside a MEXX shoebox”) was highly appreciated but had to be developed further for FW12. The idea needed a fresh look and feel, and production costs had to be reduced. There also needed to be thought about ideas to use high standard images differently, or to create a guerrilla campaign with the images. The focus needed to be on material, straps and other details of the shoes. Other detail was to keep the winter season in mind.

CASE 6

For this project I worked out sketches on paper (figure 18), and collected examples or designed them in Photoshop (see figure 19) to communicate some of the ideas I had for improvement and development of the brochure, and that could be used for the briefing to the photographer. I already worked on 2 brochures before, so I tried to use same ways of research and communication as previous times. I just started sketching, looked up some inspiration on the internet from time to time, and also tried to find visuals on the internet that would support my ideas, furthermore I looked per page from the old brochure where improvement was possible or needed. In the beginning I tried to think as free and creative as possible, but I found out during my feedback moment that the simple ideas which where closest to the old concept worked the best, and where mostly easiest and cheapest to produce. Some of the ideas also became to complicated, and didn’t follow the concept inside a box anymore, on the other hand I think it is good I have tried to think completely out of the box, some of the ideas that where not fitting for the brochure could maybe be used for guerrilla advertising. I was often trying to come up with ideas as creative as possible, but lost the winter season and client a bit in the back of my mind, which is very important because for every end consumer the focuss lays soemwhere else, B2B focuses for instance more on the details while for customers the identity and creativity is also of great importance. B2B should also see the identity and creativity of the brand but this should not overrule the collection and details. To only work on improvement of the brochure and to stay in an already existing concept didn’t looked to difficult in the beginning, but it was very hard to stay so close to a concept that was already there, and to only work on small developments that would focus more on the client and that would blend in. This project offered me not to use too much creativity again, but on the other end it was a really good project to learn to work for a certain client and to learn to stay very close to an existing concept. . As visible in the final result some of the ideas where closely followed, or inspired by my sketches and ideas (figure 20).

At the end of this project I have also seen from Andi how he designed the final brochure. He scanned in a shoebox and designed everything in layers, for instance first a shoebox, then the paper and then all the shoes. Especially these processes are very interesting to see, so I also know how the final product is made.

CASE 6

overview page for details B2B clients

model in shoebox

Figure 18: Sketches of ideas for the footwear brochure FW 2012/13

CASE 6 Figure 19: Moodboard with ideas for FW 12/13 Brochure

Figure 20: Impression of the final result for the footwear brochure FW 12/13

CASE 7 : DENIM ON AND OFF-LINE To highlight the MEXX denim collection, and show MEXX denim competence there is a holistic concept needed how to stage the MEXX denim collection for the e-shop, MEXX.com and Instore. The denim collection is growing and getting more important for product lines and sales. The denim is not present in a special way so far. MEXX denim needs an appealing concept and attraction in stores with budget restrictions, to reach B2B, wholesale and the MEXX costumer. For this briefing I started creating some first ideas and possibilities. I was asked to think about first ideas for this concept together with the other art directors. For this project Andi gave me some of his preliminary research from the internet from other denim brands, and asked me to immediately start training my photoshop skills and conceptual side by leaving further research. For me this was quit hard to do because I wanted to know what other brands where doing on the internet on web-shops. Furthermore the Denim concept needed a certain consistency through all channels, but at the same time it had to stand out in a different way than the main collection. Furthermore there was only a limited budget available. CASE 7

For this assignment I worked with some screenshots of the website and E-shop, and tried to create a first look for in store that would also fit to the already existing look of the store. I worked again with mind maps concentrating on the word denim and loft, and came up with several ideas. I found out I improved my visual communication already since the start of my internship, and how much better it visually works if you are precise as possible. Some of the ideas that I worked out where a washing-line with jeans that would refer to the loft and home feeling (see figure 22), another idea was to use people from the street as they are shot on blogs in line with the ME+XX campaign, people from the street + their MEXX jeans (see figure 21 ). Furthermore I also created a look for the store with vintage jeans frames on the wall to give an indication and which would fit the already existing store, and an idea for the E-shop that would connect to the idea for the store (see figure 23 and 24 ) I discussed the first result with Andi during my final review, and he gave me some good feedback on the first ideas, and would use them for the meeting later that day. Because of the ending of my internship I never heard the final concept for the denim as this was discussed in my last week.This has been a really good conceptual assignment at the end of this internship that also pushed me to work on my visual communication. In the beginning of my internship I often used only sketches or ideas from other brand in combination with other ideas to explain my ones . I noticed that is it much more clarifying if you try to work out your ideas as clear as possible to the final idea.

CASE 7

Figure 21: Denim website idea, a representation of a street blog Me+ my jeans

Figure 22: Denim collection on a washing line, which you can scroll through

CASE 7 Figure 23: Idea for the denim collection In store. A jeans carpet on the ground and frames with denim on the wall.

Figure 24: Use of frames for the E-shop with the name of the models of the jeans written underneath

REFLECTION During the past 5 months I found out that Internships are essential for students to develop themselves to the next level, in a company or agency you will see and learn a lot of things you will not learn in school, and you work on a different level and pace with professional clients on a daily base which constantly challenges you. In the previous chapter I had set some of the learning goals that I hoped to realize and develop during this work placement, in this reflection and in the following conclusion I will evaluate on the extend in which my learning goals were realized.

Orientation:

REFLECTION

One of the first things I found out during my internship is the difference in pace in a company in comparison to school. In a commercial fashion brand there is often no time to over think decisions. In the beginning this has been rather hard for me because I often tend to be stuck in research, over think, and want to back up every decision as learned at AMFI. This has often been a result of insecurity, which has become less during the years because of the knowledge I have build up. The department of MEXX is not working much from the strategic side of the market, which made it difficult for me to show completely what I was capable of in doing research, which is one of my stronger points, but the structure of the department allowed me to gain insight into every role on the marketing department. At MEXX people think often more from intuition, this is why I had to train myself to come up with faster research tools, become faster in making decisions and had to train and trust on my intuition and own decisions. I found out that I am better in my research than my insecurity would tell me and trusting my intuition developed rapidly by weekly working on new concepts. I still have problems sometimes with analyzing too much and I need to work on this in the future, but I think this also fades when you build up more experience.

Decision making: During the past few years I have grown in taking decisions based on my own vision. I still had difficulties sometimes, also out of insecurity to make mistakes. I have had moments where it would have been easy to immediately have a brainstorm or a moment of feedback as in the weekly workshops at the AMFI. By not always having the ability to immediately ask for feedback I developed my decision making progress. I had only one chance to show several proposals, what pushed me to come up with a lot of different ideas and I have learned to trust more on intuition than to constantly ask for approval or to back everything up with ongoing research. I have learned to make fast decisions because

of the pace in the company and certain projects that were running at the same time. During my time at MEXX I have learned a lot about working in a big corporate company, one of the most important things is that you learn to let go of your own style and adjust to that of a company. In a small agency there is probably more freedom to push your own style forward, but most important here is that you learn to work under the vision of MEXX to communicate the brand consistently throughout all channels with every decision you make. During the years I have build up a distinctive own style, but at MEXX I have seen I can also let go and dive into the identity of a brand that is completely different than my comfort zone, which was also one of the main challenges and decisions to choose this brand for my work placement.

Actualization:

REFLECTION

During the past 3 years I have worked with many different computer programs namely Indesign, Photoshop and Illustrator and I have learned a lot, but I soon found out the level of design at the creative department is very high and I was not on the same professional level as the rest of this department. By working on a lot of design-based projects on a daily base as show cards, concepts for brochures and window design, and by several photoshop and indesign classes from Andi and Eva I was constantly challenged to develop myself to a higher stage. Also working with professional internal and external people from the industry has challenged me to improve myself in my communication in different ways. I have learned more than I did in the past 3 years, and this will help me to communicate my ideas in a better way to the outside world. I have improved on several levels of design and have also learned a lot of new things for instance creation of prepress files. I think the level of communication has never been a really big problem during my internship, but in the future, and if I want to work on the same level as the other on the department, I will be more convincing when I am able to show more professional worked out ideas, and especially when you work with externals who will take over part of your work it is very important to communicate as clear as possible your vision and thoughts behind a concept.

Presentation: During this internship I found out that I can express myself much better verbally than visually because of the gap between conceptualizing and design. I am much stronger on the conceptual side and find this also

more interesting, but it is important for the future to focus on design as well to visually communicate concepts in the best way possible. This is also a matter of doing things repetitively to practice. In the beginning of the internship I was using loose ideas and connected them verbally together, but with the improvement of my actualization I am now also higher in level and can come over more convingly in my visual communication.

One of the most important factors for my development has been the reason I have had many different persons around me who all had different backgrounds for instance saskia who works on packaging design, Dianne who works more from a technical perspective and eva and andi who work from a creative perspective, they all visualize things in a different way. By constantly being surrounded by people who I could look up to gave me the possibility to develop myself to higher next level. Also from the feedback moment I really learned how to improve. REFLECTION

I have stumbled over some difficult issues within the company from day one, for instance the fact I never really understood their taste group. MEXX targets a broad and commercial market which made it hard to pin down who they really where. I noticed this also gave me some difficulties with creating several concepts. It was hard to think completely out of the box, smaller brands often focus on a niche market what makes it easier to create a distinctive concept. At AMFI I have learned to focus a lot on the taste group with creation of concepts, I missed this sometimes at MEXX. Self- Evaluation: During this internship I have been challenged in many ways on a daily base, and my strengths and weaknesses that should improve for my future career became visible by daily facing them and being confronted. I have made a big development from the time at school until now in just 5 months.

I found out I should work on the visual execution of my concepts, which is a must when you work as Art director. At the moment I can verbally still communicate ideas much better than visually although I developed a lot.In the beginning of the AMFI I was often too critical towards myself, was never satisfied and was trying to reach perfection for every assignment, At this moment I am still seeing where my work needs improvement, but I also learned to sometimes let go of my perfectionism and try to work out and make all decisions in and between the office hours. I also found out I belong at the conceptual side, only to reach the position I am seeking I should use the coming years to improve my visual communication.

Organization: My organization has improved rapidly during my time at MEXX. From self-knowledge I have never been a structured person, I usually worked overnight and have always stretched things out till the last moment. During my internship I have acquired ways to organize and finish things before deadlines. I will definitely benefit from this in the future and also during my graduation when I have to plan my own schedule. My concentration span went up and I have learned to finish projects during a certain time instead of working over night. In a company you also feel more pressure to finish projects on time, because you are part of a company that works with real clients. I expected a stricter role by my supervisor and sometimes missed the role of someone who was constantly coaching me, on the other hand it has been a good learning experience to work on own initiative and to not constantly approach people for feedback, this has also taught me to take own decisions.

REFLECTION

At the end of this 20 weeks I can definitely say I have shown a lot of initiative to do things on my own by not only working for my supervisor, but also others in this company and by only jumping in at the deep end to ask for advice and feedback. This has also helped me to broaden my perspective within the company and gave me more things to do.

CONCLUSION During my internship at MEXX B.V I was able to use a lot of my creativity, and I have been challenged in many ways. On the other hand I also had the feeling I was not always capable of showing all my strengths because this company contains only one part of the market. Branding is very broad and here in the company I have only seen a small part of it. One of my strengths lays in conceptualizing, and at MEXX I have got the chance to work on many concepts which was exactly what I hoped to do. Furthermore I have gained a lot of insight into the daily tasks of an art director by assisting and working on several projects, this clarified for me art-direction is the right direction I am pursuing.

CONCLUSION

During my internship I also found out that I probably want to work for a brand with a more distinctive taste group and identity, which makes it easier to create concepts that are focussed on the taste group. Although I have seen a lot of consistency in the brand by the use of logos, labels and a consistent visual communication, I had some difficulties with understanding the taste group sometimes, also the story and values behind the brand where sometimes a little unclear to me, especially when I worked on a concept for improvement of the website and there was asked to think of the website as a personality, the fact this wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t there yet showed me the identity still had some weaknesses, but this is probably also very difficult if you have to focus on a very big market, but the convincing story was missing for me. I prefer learning by doing and that is exactly what I have been doing during the past 5 months. I have done a lot of work on a very independent level, though I sometimes missed the feeling of someone who was continuously responsible for my learning process, this is also how I found my weaknesses on which I should work in the future, but which I also developed rapidly during these 5 months as for instance my visual communication. The projects I have worked on where very versatile so I didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t got bored easily. Not all projects challenged me on the same level as for instance collecting images, on the other hand they also belong to the job. During this internship I have build a great collection of works for my portfolio and also gained a lot of knowledge into the structure of the marketing department. I have learned about different functions as licensees, project managers, PR and strategic marketing, the way to interact with clients, details of production and different ways of keeping consistency and structure in a company. It has been an interesting time and opportunity to work with a brand as MEXX. They are very commercial, produce 12 collections a year as well as different shop windows every month. The company is in a constant rush, and there is no time to analyze everything. This is also why there is a gap between the designers and the marketing department. This has

been a completely different experience than at the AMFI where everything is much more linked to collections. At the beginning I was not so certain about my abilities. A school program and the experiences that you build up during this time are different than functioning in a real company. This has been my fear before starting my internship, but I adjusted quit fast to the team at MEXX, and I was doing well using the knowledge that I gained in previous years at the AMFI. The internship really met my expectations on different levels, though I sometimes missed more specific feedback, and the opportunity to be more involved in every project, especially meetings because they gave me a lot of insight. I also missed the strategic and analytical side of fashion sometimes.

CONCLUSION

It has been really good for me to do an internship under supervision of Andi Hinsenkamp to train my visual communication, because I know this was weaker than my strategic and conceptual side. I have improved on many levels which is important for the future because I need to be strong in every competence. I am convinced I want to go further in art direction but I would still like to try something more analytical. I have never really got the chance to show a lot of psychological and analytical research, which I know I am good at as well. I have been thinking to maybe also approach a trend-watching agency in the near future for a short internship to see the other side of marketing. I think it will also help me as Art-Director to train my intuition by gaining more knowledge on human insight and to understand where everything comes from. In this company I have seen how important it is to communicate on a professional level, and this is what I still miss sometimes. I am able to communicate my ideas but need to develop them in the coming years. There were things as for instance technical design which where completely new to me, but I learn fast so with the right people surrounding me and enough challenges I will develop myself the next years to the level where I want to be. One of things I have learned during my internship is that you will improve and develop by just repetitively doing things. At the end of these 5 months I can say I have been happy to be part of a creative team that is working on the visual identity of a global brand. I have learned a lot from all the creativeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s at the department, who have always been open for help and questions and have made it possible to have a nice atmosphere at the department during my internship. I am proud I can put MEXX on my resume.

RECOMMENDATIONS A work placement at MEXX is beneficial for every student at AMFI, depending on the department where you work. For branding students the marketing department will give you a high variety of tasks, techniques and insight on different roles for a profitable internship that is at the same level as the study at the Amsterdam Fashion Institute. MEXX B.V is an international company where English is most of the time the spokes language, so Dutch and international students have the ability to do their work placement in this company.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Furthermore you will gain broad insight knowledge about the structure and functions of the department due to the open and social atmosphere and the weekly marketing meeting, where all current and ongoing projects are discussed. MEXX offers a good insight into a corporate company and commercial environment. The brand has a huge distribution and you will gain insight on how to keep consistency in communication by the use of manuals, guidelines and a creative director who supervises the whole department. You learn to work creative under certain restrictions. There is always a lot of doubt when thinking of working in a huge company. It is never sure if you get enough work and receive responsibility, MEXX is a good example of a company that proofs the opposite. The company has around 300 workers but you still get own projects and a chance to see, do and learn a lot. In opposition to a branding agency you work with the same brand continuously and you gain more knowledge and insight of the brand day by day. This could be taken in as monotonous, but at MEXX there is enough versatility in projects to not get bored. Furthermore you learn to bring consistency in a brand. MEXX also works with external agencies and the outcomes donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t always have the same consistency as on the marketing department. The thing that is missing in an internship at MEXX is strategy and analysis. The function is merely creative and communication based and strategy is nearly done at this department. For students who are considering an internship as Art-director on this department, it is very important you can communicate your ideas visually in a clarifying way. You should also have a good base in programmes as Photoshop and Indesign. You are constantly working on new concepts, and it is important to quickly work them out to communicate your ideas to others. Furthermore your drivers should be on the graphic design side of the creative industry and actualization. Strategy, research and psychological insight are barely known on this department, and under supervision of an art director conceptualizing and designing is most important. Fashion should be one of your drivers as well, because you are working for a fashion brand.

One of the most important things if you are considering a work placement at a company as MEXX, is that you are able to adjust your style, and can make yourself subordinate to that of the company you are working at. You should not have the urge to push your own style forward in everything you do, this is also why it is important you choose a company that fits to your style of working. In a small agency or brand you probably have more chance to push your own style forward, but at MEXX you work with so many people and the brand should stay consistent, this is why it is a good company to learn about branding and consistency.

RECOMMENDATIONS

AMFI should maybe consider focusing more on classes in Photoshop and Indesign in an earlier stadium, because in every company it will probably become more and more important in the future to function well in these programs. What is missing a bit in comparison to AMFI is having many moments of brainstorm with a group. It is maybe a recommendation to MEXX to consider working more in groups and have moments of brainstorming.

MEXX campaign Summer/Spring 2012

BIBLIOGRAPHY Books and presentations -

Chadha, Natascha (2006). It Started with a Kiss: 20 Years of MEXX Amsterdam: BIS Publishers

Burgdorf, Knut (January 2011) MEXX marketing presentation Powerpoint, Hello MEXX

Burgdorf, Knut (July 2011) MEXX marketing management presentation Powerpoint

Internet http://mexx.com/ BIBLIOGRAPHY

- http://mexx.nl/

Visuals -

Chadha, Natascha (2006). It Started with a Kiss: 20 Years of MEXX Amsterdam: BIS Publishers

MEXX campaign S/S 2012

MEXX Footwear Brochure F/W 2012/13

MEXX Living Bed & Bath brochure S/S 12

mexx.com