Independent Practice by Sharn Leachman
THE FRONT COVER
The possible front covers I have made are all focused on the theme of the brand. Looking at the surroundings where the target audience would be found when doing thier BMX sport which is where it originated from.
My main focus when putting these covers together was to keep a minimalist feel and to make sure the whole image was the main focus and covered the whole canvas. All the information on the front cover is the logo and website provided. I didn’t want to give too much away at first glance. Because this publication is about the brand, the lifestyle and photography I wanted to make the front cover a little mysterious to the viewer. The target audience comes as a wide variety for this package so applying an effective but relevant image was crucial whether it be a urban brick wall to a model wearing the product in a natural and comfortable environment.
Putting the spreads together was difficult as I needed to come up with a way of making them all fit together. After much research, thought and experimentation, I found that using the same method as the front covers, minimalist features worked best. When working with photography and text, it’s hard to let them overpower eachother so getting the perfect balance was a case of creating colour pallettes and grids to work with. By using the photogrpahs I had taken in photoshoots for LDN I was able to put together a number of spreads including the stock in imaginative ways which is a jump from the usual catalogue layout which I ideally wanted to stay away from. Using ‘Sathu’ typface I was able to create a simple but vivid composition with large captions and blocked it all together. It’s a really fun method to work with as I have created my own boundaries rather than the page creating them for me.
SPREAD THE WORD
LDN originated from a website created specially for news and updates in the BMX world and to let people know what the people in the area were up to. Finding snippets and news feeds from other sites and linking them through and sharing photographs/videos of what tricks they’ve learnt and new products that have been released for the BMX bike. This website being called Wearyourfrom.com it was all in the name that they were showing the fashionable side of the lifestyle of BMXing and everything it entailed. From the growing popularity of the site around the UK came the clothing brand LDN. Because the capital is the main area where the sport takes place and where the riders tend to go the most, LDN worked. So that is where the birth of LDNapparel began and the streetwear continues to become more popular the more it is advertised by others wearing the product. LDN is currently undertaking a revamp where the website will be completely redesigned and other approaches will be taken to help promote the company in different places such as the clubbing industry, other extreme sports such as snowboarding and motoGP. The target audience is males ranging from 14-29 roundabouts and those who are intrested in individuality, active and ambitious, sport and having a sociable lifestyle.
A vehicle because I
WWW.SPLPHOTOGRAPHY.WORDPRESS.COM
e in which I am able to share and and store my images that I take from day-to-day. I use my site as a portfolio opportunity for potential clients to view but I do try not to take it too seriously originally created it for my own purposes and purely for fun. I have stored many LDN photoshoots and other useful resources in order to use within this project.
AUTUMN/WINTER STOCK
A new batch of designs have been sent through and released onlne and in a BMX store in Surrey called ‘SibotBMX’. As soon as it came through, I took each design in monotone colours so it would go together in a photograph and tried my luck with the outdoors. The first photoshoot I did for LDN involved a studio and a boring white background so this time I had a chance to use my initiative and create something different. The brand concentrates on the outdoor happenings so it made sense to go outside and use the natural stucture of the trees to do the work for me. The outcome was better than anticipated and also featured on my site aswel as wearyourfrom.com
The experimental stage is always a favourite of mine because it’s a chance for me to express myself and find a route/direction in which I am to work. Cutting and pasting within existing magazines and getting a feel of how they are put together, concentrating on space, composition and type all put together onto one spread is something that is crucial when looking at publication design. By using mixed media and a scalpel I was able to redesign the designed and make it my own. From this I can see how I make something mine and what is my greatest trend. I found that I seem to focus mostly on space awareness.
When experimenting with the magazine I made a 3D model of the LDN logo with the scrap pieces of paper spontaneously and the light from my laamp really made it all the more interesting and I started playing around with photography and placement on a potential magazine spread. This was my first step into the design of the LDN publication. With this I thought that working with the importance of the logo on each page would have been interesting and would experiment further on materials I could use in the future.
THE EXISTING MAGAZINE
By looking at existing magazines I was able to see type and image worked together and how different magazines concentrated on different aspects. Design magazines liked to use the importance of type and layout as a crucual point but magazines such as ‘Aperture’ who produced images from various photographers obviously let the image overpower the text. It was interesting to see how each magazine approached the subject of composition and how they worked together in unison on the page. I studied Vice, CR, The Economist, Grafik and more... Infrmation and research images shown on www.missionimpossible.gdnm.org
EVALUATION
The work done so far I am very happy with but I feel that I am being held back by the client so I have taken it upon myself to do everything on my own accord in order to get some movement. Working with a client who has a body of work already done and a vision is a task to go by and it’s really interesting to find a way to please that person and add that little essence of mine which I feel is a great opportunity. As a designer I feel that working with this client is both easy and hard in a way to find something different and create something visual to a standard he hasn’t yet seen. I’ve worked alot with LDN and done alot of photography so it’s easy to communicate and address the situation with an open mind and experience. It’s a head start but working in more graphical terms, he underestimates the potential of what can be done. So to reassure and give him updates is something that I find I need to do throughout the project as he always wants to be involved. So far, I have shown the work I have put together and he feels I have worked beyond requirements and is really impressed which is really rewarding to say the least. Yet I have keep myself distant to a certain extent and provide a barrier to which he cannot see all of the process encase he changes views and ideas on the situation. To make a promotional magazine for such a small company I think is a great opportunity and the progress that I have made is satisfactory but I feel I need to push myself further in terms of using skills and methods that I haven’t necessarily used before. My plan is to make models, layouts and packages for LDN and create something completely fresh but sticking as closely as I can to the urban theme in which he has created but also move it further. As an outcome, we ideally want to create a publication that will attract a number of audiences which with will benefit both myself and the client. Using abstract photography and including a background image of the company to tell a story is something that I plan to achieve. So not pnly promoting the product but the story and placement of the brand, taking into account the positioning in which the company stands and plans to be in the future. Working with a friend can be so distracting in ways that when we meet up to discuss the project, we veer off onto other subjects and go completely off course. The covers I have put together I think are ideal for the effect I want to achieve and also the layouts do exactly what I want them to just by using space and colour. I’ve learnt so much during the first half of the project and will continue to do so for the rest. I’ve found myself working more digitally which is something I have always been afraid of. Illustration for example is a technique that I wanted to get back in touch with but with the current circumstances and style of magazine I am producing, it just doesn’t seem to fit. Trying something different is an aspect I want to continue with such as making a 3D model of the LDN logo to photography effectively. I have made many plans for the future of this magazone and I’m really excited to execute them.