Contextual Document
Chelsea Alley Matthews 1394237
Image of photograph taken for the “Street Style” section of the final publication.
How can graphic design be employed in relation to design enterprise worldwide, to attain knowledge of how to facilitate awareness of a brand in New Zealand?
My intention for this project is to research how graphic design can be employed in relation to design enterprise worldwide, to attain knowledge of how to facilitate awareness of a brand in New Zealand. This will be displayed in the form of a printed publication/magazine in order to highlight these entrepreneurs in the fashion industry and have a tangible object that can be taken anywhere. This is not Woman’s Day; I will not be looking at Supre or Glassons. I’m taking a design context to the world of fashion wmagazines, focussing on the people, the creative practitioners that shape the world of fashion we live in today. I’m making a point of difference to the “glossy” magazine and placing it apart from just clothes on skinny girls. Fashion has always been a big part of my creative thinking, in the past; I have done much of research about graphic design for fashion. After reading Blanchard, T. “F&G: Fashion and Graphics.” London, UK: Laurence King Publishing Ltd, 2004, I learned that the fashion industry is all about labels, branding and identity. A label is now a status which controls its worth, aspiration and sex appeal. The brand image defines a particular aim or philosophy that attracts the consumer to choose your product over a similar product with no label. As stated by T. Blanchard, “A brand’s graphic identity is how it expresses itself, shows what it wants to belong to and talks to its chosen visual language.” (Blanchard) In the past, the role of the graphic designer within the fashion industry was unheard of, but nowadays fashion industries, heavily rely on graphic designers who play a vital role in creating publications such as look books, swing tags, catalogues, mailers, magazines and advertisements.
My practice lies in the context of providing a publication within the realm of fashion. Does one see people on the street wearing the impractical absurd outfits exhibited by runway models? It’s more about the creative practitioners in the fashion industry. I’m taking a design context to the world of fashion magazines, focussing on the people who make and design the clothes, people who start up the shops, bloggers, illustrators and photographers. My key theoretical contexts are fashion, magazine design, entrepreneurship and branding. Successful people in the creative industry reoccur as a theoretical concept throughout my publication, as they inform the content of my work. The main concerns about my publication are; how am I going to make it stand out? How will I differentiate this publication, not only with the content, but also aesthetically from the myriad of publications on and about fashion? Another concern is the aesthetic decisions of the publication must not be driven purely by the content.
Images of Charlie Magazine cover, black gloss embossed.
When writing my brief I was unsure of my output, however through my main research method, interviewing, it became apparent that a magazine would display my research appropriately. The people whom I chose to interview were based on personal interest. They are all in the fashion industry and range from designers and brand owners to fashion bloggers. These selected people are all aged between 20 and mid 30s, they are young and are highly successful. The magazine will be highlighting how they got to where they are and what they love about their jobs. The target audience for my magazine is 18 to 30 year olds, people who are interested in the fashion industry and want to hear real stories about successful people in the creative world. The initial idea for this project was to brand a fashion student’s work. I changed this idea as it proved to be time consuming, involving a lot of travel and I would have to run all of my ideas past a client. I then decided to brand myself as a graphic designer; this left me with a lot of freedom to explore areas of interest. The project took an extreme turn in a new direction where I was no longer focussed on branding myself but more about the branding of the printed publication itself.
My primary turning point throughout this process has been to convert my research into content. The original idea was to brand myself by creating a publication with experiments of graphic design within. This would showcase my ability to graphically brand something through hypothetical projects. The aim was to explore my interests as a graphic designer, from typography and layout to fashion and stationery packs. Overall, I wanted the publication to create a conversation or be a workbook of graphic explorations to show to prospective employers. There were to be three projects that I would mastermind - designing a stationery pack, explore hand drawn typography and its application and a project within the realm of fashion such as creating swing tags or an invitation to a fashion show. My main research method throughout this project was interviewing. It wasn’t as challenging to find people as I had prior personal connections to successful entrepreneurs within the fashion industry. This was a suitable way for me to talk to them freely about themselves. The interview process with these selected entrepreneurs was interesting. I especially was interested in finding out about them from themselves. What they had to say influenced my decision to use a magazine to convey their inspirational information to other younger people wanting to make a name for themselves. Some of the people I knew, but others that I did not know, I found through the social media site Facebook, by looking at people and brands that were of interest to my close friends.
Images of Charlie Magazine, perfect binding.
I used this method to obtain knowledge of how these creative practitioners have branded themselves and ultimately to establish my own brand. It became a turning point after the realisation of the amount of information I gained from these interviews. It led me to my decision to turn this method of research into content in the form of a printed publication or magazine. This is a way for me to work with my strengths and comfortable areas of design, namely layout and typography. The focus of my research changed from branding myself through hypothetical projects to looking at magazine design. I am looking at the magazines themselves, not their content, as I had established my chosen content through the interviews. I am looking at how to display the information through layout designs, use of typography and the text and image relationship. I am making a point of difference, with similarities to the content of “Print” magazine and Andy Warhol’s “Interview” magazine.
Images of Charlie Magazine contents page.
The idea of having a publication as my final project has always been consistent therefore research always surrounded publication design. The process involves analysing magazines; the layout conversations, the decisions that have been made and the way things are photographed. I am researching magazines that interest me, including, IdN, Eye, Pilot, Threaded and Print. Some of these magazines have led to abductive reasoning to determine what aesthetics are visually appealing. It is ongoing research to be scanning the layouts, and then drawing the flat plans. I am also looking at the haptic communication of the magazine, how it feels to hold, turn pages and how it opens and closes. This research informs critical design decisions such as the quality of paper, which layouts work best and text/ image relationship. This research will inform design decisions about how I will graphically communicate and how I would like to overall portray my publication. I used abductive reasoning whilst looking at “Woman’s Day” and New Idea” to determine the decision that I will not be using a gloss paper stock in my publication. The paper itself is going to talk about the different qualities in my work, simplicity and clean design; I do not want the publication to yell at the reader.
More additions I have made in the construction of the magazine have been photographing people on the streets of Auckland. Having a “street style” section showing what people are wearing on our streets showcases unique fashion senses, individual styles and trends. Another section that I have added is “One to watch”. This highlights a creative high school student, for my first issue I will be looking at a Tauranga design student who has recently won national awards.
Images of photographs take for the “Street Style” section of the final publication.
Much like a magazine, “A brand’s graphic identity is how it expresses itself, shows what it wants to belong to and talks to its chosen visual language.” (Blanchard) When working on the publications layout it became clear that I needed an identifiable indexing system and a clear rhythm of aesthetics to the overall publication. I decided the rhythm of the publication would be made by using black and white with aspects of colour to highlight significant people within. This will enable me to put emphasis on the creative practitioners that need to stand out. Whilst I was out taking photographs of the street style in Auckland, I took long shots of the people to capture the whole of their body. All images are framed the same and are at eye level to highlight their individual style in the outfits they are wearing. With the final images, I have blurred out the background slightly to emphasise the figure in the foreground. I targeted young females between the ages of 18 and 30, as this is my target audience. It is interesting to see what everyday people are wearing out on the streets, which styles and trends have been adopted, and seeing wearable everyday garments.
When choosing the types of stores and brands I targeted, it was quite simple. I again followed my own personal interests and what was aesthetically appealing to me. ‘Today’s fashion brands rely greatly on their brand identity. The presentation of the product itself and the quality of it no longer matters, as without the brand name or label on it, it is worthless.’ (Blanchard) This statement is entirely true, however the presentation of store design is still very important and differentiates boutiques from chain stores. Boutiques are tastefully furnished with ornaments and dull colours and only have limited stock on the floor, whereas chain stores such as Supre and Glassons are overflowing with messy shelves, gaudy colours and there is no attention put on the actual design of the space itself.
Image of double page spread in Charlie Magazine.
My intention for this project was to research how graphic design can be employed in relation to design enterprise worldwide, to attain knowledge of how to facilitate awareness of a brand in New Zealand. I chose to display this in the form of a printed publication in magazine format. I have been experimenting with the formal elements of layout design whilst focussing not on the content itself but how the content is unified by the layout design. I chose to make a publication in the format of a magazine as the platform for my work is that people can experience the tactile nature of its production. It is the most appropriate way to display my content, as it will graphically facilitate awareness within New Zealand of these selected entrepreneurs. I’m taking a design context to the world of fashion magazines, focussing on the people, the creative practitioners that shape the world of fashion we live in today. I’m making a point of difference to the “glossy” magazine and placing it apart from just clothes on skinny girls.
Charlie Magaine in context.
I strongly believe the words of Alyssa Amelia when she states, “Be original, be yourself and persevere with making your dreams a reality”… “I believe fashion is a form of art and self expression so dare to be different.” (Alyssa Amelia) I have also been inspired by Pony Hunter who advises, “Don’t take yourself too seriously. Do it because it’s something you would enjoy, not because you think people will have any interest in what you have to say. It sounds cynical, but I just believe that there are so many ways to get noticed in this world, bloggers will always have a certain stigma associated with them, and it’s not usually the most flattering. So get out there, have fun with it, but continue pursuing your passion outside the blogosphere.” (Pony Hunter) I have enjoyed pursuing my passion.
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