Magazine Inspirations

I have decided the layout for my portfolio will definitely be in the style of a magazine as I feel it reflects where I would like to be in the future as well as a real interest of mine. 

I have therefore been gathering all of my old and new mags to try and get as much research for layout and design as possible!

Here I have scanned a few of my favourite layout themes:

I have mostly been looking at weekly magazines, as although I love high end fashion mag's such as Vogue, Harpers Bazaar, ID and Dazed, I feel like my style and personality is not suited to that kind of magazine. I am pretty much a typical high-street loving girl and this is exactly what magazines such as Look and More aim towards. I therefore feel that my layout should be based around their kind of style more.  They use bold bright colours and fonts and have lots of graphic effects to make pages look interesting and creative. This is all something I will have to incorporate into my layout, as well as achieving the right tone of voice for the layout style.

Final Project Chosen

I have finally decided what my final project will be in my portfolio. I have decided to go with the Debenhams Photography Project. This will show diversity in my portfolio as I will have a PR project in the form of the Topshop Campaign, a design project in the form of the T-shir project and a styling project with Debenhams.

Despite the fact I only got a 2.2 in this project, I feel that the negative feedback I got was more related to the research and planning process of the shoot, rather than the final images. The negatives on the images where that the shots were sometimes more like beauty shots rather than about the clothes. This did not work for Debenhams but I can make this work to my advantage in my magazine inspired portfolio.

I plan to make the Debenhams project the 'centre spread' in my magazine.

Projects: Choosing My Work

Definite Choices:

1) Topshop Vibe Project- PR

When we got the brief there was one project that I knew immediately I wanted to include in the portfolio, and this was my product development project we did last semester. This project involved us coming up with a concept for a new product or service with an existing brand and creating a promotional camaign around it. My idea was Topshop Vibe- Topshop's own in-store Cafe.

To promote it I created a teaser webpage and a 2D window display. I also created a press pack a goody bag and an example blog post on the brands blog page. Here is my work:

Press Pack

Goody Bag

Blog Page

Webpages

Window Display

I really enjoyed this project and felt that I threw myself into it because of it. I was really pleased with all of my promotional materials and will therefore be including them in my digital portfolio. I also feel that this project reflects the area of expertise I want to enter when I graduate- PR and promotion. However, I do have to make adjustments from the feedback that I obtained:

The feedback states that my promo materials are good but that the weakest out of them all is my webpage. I felt this at the time of hand in when I looked at all of my work as a whole and felt that the webpage was my least favourite. Louise says the design is too kitsch for Topshop and I can definitely see what she means. Therefore, I plan to redesign the webpage to be me more suited to the brand.

2) T-Shirt Project

For this we had to design T-shirts for a childrens-wear range Respect. We also had to create trend boards to show the inspiration for our designs:

Feedback:

My feedback was again on research and progression, however, it also comments on how my trends do not match my designs. I therefore plan to rework my trend boards to show where my inspiration came from more clearly.

Projects to Consider:

3) Maybelline Project:

This project involved creating a press pack and a website to promote an existing product for a brand- which we (group project) used Maybelline for.

Press Pack:

Website:

Feedback:

I really like my press pack design and it is in the field that inerests me most- PR.However, the problem I have using this project is that none of the imagery used is my own as it is an existing product that we used.

4) Debenhams Photography Project:

This was another group project to style images for a Debenhmas range- we had Matthew Williamson.

We did not get the best marks for this as our feedback showed our target market was a little off and also, the images did not work for Debenhams as a brand. However, this could be the perfect chance for me to rework and use them in a style that suits them more!

Backstage Video:

5) Heineken App Project

This project involved creating an app for a chosen brand, I chose to do one on Heineken as I visited their Brewery in February and had lots of inspiring ideas. My app was a game centred around the olympic games this summer:

If I was to rework this project I would definitely update my downloads page as the images are stretched. However, I am unsure on what else I could do with this project and as of yet have not received my mark or feedback and therefore, I will probably discount this project.