THE DIARY - CRITICAL JOURNAL

THE DIARY CRITICAL JOURNAL / FMP FASHION WRITING FASHION MARKETING

LEEDS BECKETT UNIVERSITY C3470723 HEIDI BEASLEY WORD COUNT: 2,577

diary /’dʌɪəri/

noun A book in which one keeps a daily record of events and experiences. synonyms: journal, memoir, chronicle, log, blog

The following is an extract from her diary.

THE

DIARY

Magazine Flatplan

Cover

Entry #1

Artwork

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Artwork ENTRY 01

Artwork DIARY DEFINITION

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Editors Letter

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AD VERGE GIRL

Contents

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Hope is Dope TITLE

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Fast Fashion Fast Fashion Overhaul Overhaul TITLE

Fast Fashion Overhaul

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AD GLOSSIER

Hope is Dope

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Time to Delete?

TITLE

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AD CHANEL NO.5 23

AD BOXED WATER

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Time to Delete

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The Travel Entries TITLE

Time to Delete

The Fashion Entries TITLE

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AD Catch Flights BRB TRAV- Not Feelings: EL City Hopping TITLE

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AD FLOWERBOMB

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Where is the Where is the Originality? Originality?

TITLE

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City Hopping City Hopping

City Hopping

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Where is the Originality?

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AD BRB TRAVEL

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Back Cover

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AD ASTRID & MIYU

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INITIAL IDEA My initial idea was to create a print magazine aimed at millennial travellers. I chose this idea after I did some travelling myself between December and January and thought that I could use this to my advantage for my FMP. However, when I began to plan the project more, I soon realised that I was lacking in enthusiasm for the travel theme and was finding that whilst I enjoyed reading travel entries in fashion magazines, I found entirely travel magazines quite boring. I continued to push through to reach my goal of creating a travel magazine, but was hindered more, struggling as to what articles to write and how to make my city break trips not seem too similar. I think the problem was that I didn’t travel quite enough to base an entire project on it, and more importantly, I didn’t have much interest in what I was writing.

final IDEA THE DIARY I went back to my spider diagrams and articles from previous assignment briefs and realised that I would much rather discuss different worldly topics and fashion. I decided to aim my print magazine at millennials with interests in fashion along with world issues such as sustainability and politics. Similarly, to my last fashion writing project, I wanted to write articles that can also educate readers, but not bore them.

Originally I thought to name my magazine Melrose, after the famous Melrose Avenue. However, I felt that it lacked personability which is something that I wanted readers to feel. This then led me onto my next title idea which was Journal, however when I researched, I found that it was already an established publication. I then came up with THE DIARY as I wanted the magazine to feel personal to the reader and what is more personal than a diary? All different kinds of issues go into your diary and that’s exactly how I wanted the magazine to feel. The language of the magazine uses colloquialisms to give a more personal vibe to the reader, as all the slang used is that used by millennials.

The physical copy would be printed onto uncoated, 130gsm paper that is perfectly binded. I wanted the magazine to visually inspire the reader, I think that a higher quality stands out to readers more and gives them more of a reason to archive rather than throw it in the recycling.

EDITORIAL PRINT I chose to produce The Diary as a print publication, this is down to personal preference when it comes to reading myself and my thoughts on the print industry. One of the main reasons that the publication is print is because it is inspired by women’s diaries, and I thought that a physical copy would replicate this theme the best. I also believe that physical magazines are an investment, giving the readers the chance to archive them or use them for decoration. I think that when a magazine or book has a certain aesthetic, they can add character to a place - whether that’s on a book shelf, coffee table or used as furniture themselves. I also think that spreading the word about a publication can be more successful when you have a physical copy, social media is powerful and one Instagram post capturing an interesting looking magazine could bring consumers in.

When I am reading articles online, it tends to be on my phone which then causes distraction and 90% of the time results in distraction that then disrupts my reading, whether that is the urge to check social media or notifications popping up. Print can be a reason to unplug from technology and inspire visually. Ben, the owner of Village, an independent book and magazine shop in Leeds, stated that “Print is an active participation process, holding, feeling and dedicating 100% of your attention to it.

Permeance that digital media doesn’t have.” (2018). Print

DISTRIBUTION

The magazine would originally be able to buy from independent magazine shops and distributed across specialist hair and beauty salons around the UK, replacing celebrity new magazines you generally find there. NAF nail salon would be an example, a salon that is more edgy and unique – using Instagram and colour palettes to create aesthetics and gain popularity, now having studios also in Topshop stores. This would be to aim to provide insightful reading for consumers and opening them up to independent magazines that provide different layouts and topics to magazine such as OK! And HELLO that are usually on the hairdresser’s coffee table.

Typography The text lay out differentiated throughout the different articles. I preferred to have hyphenate tool off to keep everything symmetrical and linea I justified all lines where it was possible as I felt like this looked neater and matched the simple aesthetic that I was aiming for. For the body font I chose a Roman type with Bodoni Book in size 10, as I felt this was a readable font with proportionally spaced letters and serifs. Roman fonts are most typically used for body text as the decorative serifs help the eye track from letter to letter. (Ambrose, 2017 p. 44) My title fonts differed, I played around with size and typefaces until I was happy with the look of it. I also used over printing for my entries pages (IMAGES) to add a creative layer whilst keeping the text readable.

FRONT COVER My idea for the front cover was for it to look minimal, with little text but imagery that would entice the audience.

I knew I wanted the cover to be mainly millennial pink, as that is a popular colour with the audience I am aiming towards. Finding imagery that fit my expectations was difficult as I had to look on free image websites, but I found my chosen cover image on Unsplash. Originally, I coloured the border around the image as a similar pink colour too but, ran into difficulty as the image itself had a grainy filter over it which would be even more clear in print in contrast to the clear border. I then decided to keep the border white, which I feel adds to the minimalist vibe of the magazine.

LAYOUT Layout was one of the most important things for my magazine, I wanted my layout to be simple and easy for the reader to follow whilst still being able to make the pages look like art. “No matter how interesting the actual content, if a book is uncomfortable on the eye then the enjoyment of reading is spoiled” (Williams, 2012 p.67) The layout of The Diary differentiates throughout the articles, but I wanted the minimal theme to be clear throughout. Joshua Becker stated that “Millennials appear to be a generation hard-wired for minimalism” (2016) As a millennial myself, I find magazines with a clearer layout to be more enticing than those that have pages full of text. I decided to go with a less is more theme for layout, breaking up long-form pieces by using colour blocking, images and fonts to fill space.

On some of my first article layouts I struggled with meeting the minimal aim and my original outcome was pages full of text with little blank space. I found that if I was sat editing the layout for a long period of time that I would forget about the minimal theme, and it was only when I would look back at it afterwards that I would recognise how busy the pages were. The resolve this I researched some magazine design layout and discovered that I liked the aesthetic of basic title pages that played around with font, keeping that as the main attraction.

AFTER before

IMAGERY The imagery in The Diary was either taken from free image stock websites, predominantly unsplash, imagery taken by myself or illustrations created in Adobe photoshop and Illustrator. All of my travel imagery was taken myself, which was actually harder to edit and fit into the document as they were usually a lower quality to the images that I found on unsplash.

For my illustrations I started by finding images I liked online and used photoshop to draw them myself – changing the colour them to match the publication more. This image was taken from google, where I then used the paint brush tool to create the illustration. The original colouring didn’t fit in with my original theme, so I used the dropper tool to match the palette more. I then exported the illustrations as PNG documents to ensure that they had a transparent background and could be used behind or in front of text.

PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE My interview was with Instagram Influencer and YouTuber, Sophie Milner – aka Fashion Slave. I contacted Sophie on Instagram DM to ask if she would be able to help me with a university project and explained that it would be published work. She agreed and we exchanged emails where she then answered my questions. I provided her with a consent form after reading McNay’s essential law for journalists. You can find the consent form and transcript at the end of the critical journal. I initially wanted to do the interview via telephone, but Sophie was unavailable, in future I will ensure to get interviews either face to face or on the phone in order to dig deeper with the questions.

A MILLENNIAL MARKET Upon researching my millennial target market, I discovered there are many different behaviour habits. I used some of these behaviour traits when deciding what kinds of articles, I wanted to do.

Place value on experiences - Travel article, providing the best tips to give them the best experience, should they use them.

Seek relevancy – Using adverts that would appeal to them. Such as BRB travel, linking to the previous point too. A monthly subscription service that then books you a surprise mini break every 3 months.

Expect brands to give back to society, charitable generation. - Girl vs Cancer charity article, to open them up to new charities whilst educating them on issues that can affect them.

20/20 Goals - Clothing sustainability can be a goal that readers work to, have a sustainable wardrobe by 2020 Forbes, 2018

Top Millennial Media Companies: VICE BUZZFEED REFINERY 29 NEW YORKER ELITE DAILY VOX MEDIA After looking at these companies I discovered that they offer a mix of everything, from news topics, to personal stories, fashion news and comedy writing – already the kind of topics I was planning to write for The Diary.

Wibbitz, 2018

CONTENT In Julie Bradford’s Fashion Journalism, she discussed ways to develop writing skills such as diary entries, blog posts and letters to develop style and to get fluent. I found that I write much better when I write freehand with pen and paper. So, for this project, I wrote all my articles out beforehand into my notebook, along with my research and found that I was able to write more fluently. It also helped with sub-editing as I already noticed mistakes as I typed the articles up into word.

1. HOPE IS DOPE I was inspired to do this article after several bloggers I follow posted about the new charity t shirts which then led me to the Girls vs Cancer Instagram page. I found the story of Lauren Mahon was amazing and the fact that she wanted to alert younger women to their chances of getting cancer unexpectedly by sharing her lows was brave. I think having articles of importance is a key factor for The Diary, many young women are unaware to the fact that cancer doesn’t just attack older women and thought that using a platform to bring attention to Girl vs Cancer was a good idea. Especially after seeing the charitable trait in millennials. I did try to get into contact with Lauren and other women who featured on Girl vs Cancer, however, was unable to get through. As it is a sensitive subject, I wasn’t sure if I should message other women affected by cancer or if it could be insensitive. If I had more time on the project, I would look further into this.

2. TIME TO DELETE? Time to Delete was written after I felt like I was constantly on my phone, after a screen time average of 6 hours one week I decided to take a break and found it harder than I imagined which led me to research it. My initial article idea was ‘An Interview with an Influencer’ - featuring Sophie Milner. However, after digging deeper into the impact social media has on our mental health, I decided to change my article and bring more awareness to this and also get the insight from someone who works on Instagram and who is one of the girls that many will look at and wish they looked like. Sophie had previously mentioned her mental health struggles and taking breaks from social media so she really was the perfect person to interview, providing points to both sides of the argument of should we delete our social media.

3. WHERE IS THE ORIGINALITY? I decided to do this article after noticing that many fashion houses were using the same style of font in their new logos, especially now that logo clothing is a trend, it was hard to differentiate between a Gucci t shirt and a Saint Laurent one. I researched this further and found that there was a good reason for this, and that for a fashion house to keep a more intricate logo they would be missing a big trick. It relates to the typography theories that consumers are not as drawn in by something that isn’t so easy to look at. I thought that it was an interesting development in the fashion industry and that many readers with interests in the industry would be able to engage in it.

4. FAST FASHION OVERHAUL Inspired by my dissertation on fast fashion, there were many aspects that I wanted to discuss such as the huge number of garments appearing on some fast fashion brands website each week and educate them on the impact that throwing away garments has on our environment - introducing them to the idea of a sustainable wardrobe. Last semester I wrote a more informative article about Stacey Dooley’s documentary on the subject, so wanted to avoid having the same tone. Ideally, I would mix both articles and just have one long form piece on the subject.

5. CATCH FLIGHTS NOT FEELINGS Inspired by my dissertation on fast fashion, there were many aspects that I wanted to discuss such as the huge number of garments appearing on some fast fashion brands website each week and educate them on the impact that throwing away garments has on our environment - introducing them to the idea of a sustainable wardrobe. Last semester I wrote a more informative article about Stacey Dooley’s documentary on the subject, so wanted to avoid having the same tone. Ideally, I would mix both articles and just have one long form piece on the subject.

BIBLIOGRAPHY Ambrose, G. and Harris, P. (2005). Layout. London: BLOOMSBURY. AMBROSE, G. (2017). FUNDAMENTALS OF TYPOGRAPHY. LONDON: BLOOMSBURY VISUAL ARTS, p.44.

Bartlett, D., Cole, S. and Rocamora, A. (2016). FASHION MEDIA Past and Present. London: BLOOMSBURY VISUAL ARTS. Becker, J. (2016). Why Millennials are Trending Toward Minimalism. [online] Becoming Minimalist. Available at: https://www.becomingminimalist.com/millennials/ [Accessed 10 Apr. 2019].

BRADFORD, J. (2015). FASHION JOURNALISM. OXFORD: ROUTLEDGE, p.125.

Independent Magazine. (n.d.). Editorial Guidelines & Style Sheet - Independent Magazine. [online] Available at: http://independent-magazine.org/about/ed-guidelines/ [Accessed 10 Apr. 2019].

Hermes, J. (2010). Reading women’s magazines. Cambridge: Polity Press.

Jury, D. (2006). What is typography?. Hove: Rotovision SA. Lee-Potter, E. (2016). Interviewing for journalists. London.

McLean, R. (1999). The Thames and Hudson manual of typography. London: Thames and Hudson.

McNae, L., Dodd, M. and Hanna, M. (2014). McNae’s essential law for journalists. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Wibbitz. (2018). Top 10 millennial media companies… for now. [online] Available at: https://www.wibbitz.com/blog/top-10-millennial-media-companies-for-now/ [Accessed 10 Apr. 2019].

Williams, J. (2012). Type matters!. London: Merrell, p.67.

Woo, A. (2018). Understanding the research on millennial shopping behaviours. [online] Forbes. Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/ forbesagencycouncil/2018/06/04/understanding-the-research-on-millennial-shopping-behaviors/#45162e215f7a [Accessed 10 Apr. 2019].