Illustrated Career Journal

ILLUSTRATED CAREER JOURNAL

BY LAUREN BARNES

CONTENT CREATOR @ ASOS

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s I grew up, I was introduced into a smartphone around the age of 15. From then on, I downloaded the latest social media apps including Facebook, Instagram and Tumblr.

I was always intrigued at other people's profiles and the content they posted on their social media accounts. As for Tumblr, I would always browse at people’s profiles and follow different blogs, as the content was so interesting as I was fascinated at the aesthetic. I was a massive fan of LookBook which is a fashion, youth culture and community website which was inspired by street fashion websites and designed for users to post their own street-fashion photography featuring themselves and their outfits. From this, my strong interest in Fashion became an obsession and every day I was scouting for fashion inspiration as I had a collection of my favourite fashion bloggers which

I regularly checked their blogs to feed on their visual content.

The graphics and layouts of the different blogs always inspired me to build my own blog and to post content daily, delivering a fashion aesthetic and building followers.

I aspire to be a Content Creator as through growing up living off fashion blogs and studying creative fields, this has driven me to have a strong interest in Graphic Design and Social Media. Also, studying a Fashion Marketing and Communication degree has directed me into wanting to pursue this role within the fashion industry. I’ve always been intrigued how social media always makes brands successful, and the how through the power of technology successful visual content is delivered through different platforms, communicating brands values and identity.

A content creator is a vital job role within the fashion industry (or within any industry with online digital platforms). Content can be created by anyone, anywhere, from TikToks to Instagram posts. Content creation is the act of producing information for an audience to be viewed on a media platform with an end goal in mind. The information and goals of the content heavily depend on the producer (Haden, 2018). As the world revolves around technology nowadays, a lot of fashion brands (especially fast fashion) have turned to social media marketing. Social media is changing the fashion industries way of marketing as it’s one of the most influential platforms for fast fashion retailers (Prescott, 2020).

As fast fashion consumers target market are ages 16-24, this demographic is more likely to online shop and crave fashion/lifestyle digital content, therefore strong branded content is key to creating successful content.

As content creation is quite broad, I want to specialise in social media.

There are different strategies with brands marketing through social media, from influencer marketing to competitions. Different online retailers battle to create the best instant content, attracting trend-savvy, connected consumers. Social media marketing has evolved rapidly, in the need to fulfil consumers with visual social channels such as Instagram, on an entirely mobile

channel.

Content creators create on-target audience appeals, to engage the consumers to the social platforms. Strong inspirational imagery and graphics are key to a successfully captivating the audience, luring them into the social content. Fast Fashion brands communicate their brand messages through personalising their platforms, developing a distinct brand identity and creating relationships with the consumer.

Brands use a range of different promotional tactics to sustain and expand its position within the fast fashion market. Missguided recently added a feature onto their app, which was ‘swipe right strategy’ which is a tinder-style shopping experience, allowing users to ‘swipe to hype’ to match with products. This deeply engaging marketing strategy is perfect for the younger target market as it’s a fun, easy shopping experience.

Influencer marketing and celebrity endorsements are another successful way to create content.

Influencer marketing if a power-

ful marketing tool as influencers play a critical role when it comes to online shopping decisions as their platforms continue to grow.

Instagram allows influencers to sell things to users directly, as users can immediately shop the looks of their favourite influencers by simply tapping on the image, as it then will directly take them to the product on the website. Influencers hold “enormous sway” over what people wear by posting pictures of themselves in a variety of outfits on social media, and often not wearing the same thing twice. They also make it easy for consumers to make an instant purchase by using the swipe up or affiliate links, from which they often earn commission when someone makes a purchase ((Wightman-Stone, 2019)).

User-generated content is another strategic, promotional tactic.

When Coca Cola brought out their personalized coke bottles, the world went crazy for them.

Dubbed the “Share a Coke” campaign, it took off all over the world with bottles named after people in every different destination. To keep the momentum going, cus-

tomers were asked to share pictures of themselves enjoying a drink with their personalized coke bottle on social media. The result?

Coca Cola’s customers stepped into the role of advertiser. This wasn’t just a one-off campaign or a fancy fluke. Instead, it is one of thousands of User Generated Content (UGC) campaigns that brought the business it promoted millions of revenue and a whole new image (Gallegos, 2016). User-generated content involves a collaboration between the brand and the user, and are usually used on Instagram, Twitter and TikTok. Fast Fashion brands have also introduced socially-conscious marketing. Socially-conscious marketing is the idea of projecting body-positivity and sharing body-positive content helping generate traction from the consumers. Missguided released a campaign which was ‘#inyourownskin’ campaign, which featured women showing off their natural bodies, completely untouched. The campaign was covered by popular publications like Teen Vogue and Refinery29 and received thousands of engagements (Nicholson,

2018). This is a successful content marketing strategy as the target market are aged 16-24, they will want to feel comfortable in their bodies, therefore projecting content like this, allows them to feel more inclusive and confident.

For one of my modules in my second year at University, I predicted a trend for the year 2021, within the market sector of Fast Fashion.

The idea behind my trend was inclusivity, to project body-positivity, unretouched photographs, and for it to be gender-neutral.

The outcome of my trend was to use user-generated content, which was ‘#nofilter’. The idea of this was because Instagram has become huge, everyone is always hooked on using filters and effects on their photographs. When Instagram was first launched, the only way to edit your photos was through their app, using the selection of filters which they offered.

However, if you were to post a photograph on Instagram, and it didn’t have a filter on, you would hashtag ‘#nofilter’, as this photograph remained unedited and you wanted your followers to know. In my campaign, I wanted to bring

the ‘#nofilter’ back, and create a trend through the user-generated content. This trend was to motivate the audience of my trend to upload photographs on social media, to then use the hashtag, which then encourages the target market not to edit their photos, as they want to be in on the ‘#nofilter’ trend, therefore their photographs will remain untouched.

A DAY IN THE LIFE

OF titi finlay

q and a Q AND A Q: Who inspires you?

A: I’m inspired by a lot of people and things, arent we all! I would say IG is where I get a lot of ideas and my face accounts aree @jeffstaple, @tylerjoe, @lizbcroft, @evemeetswest, @emilyoberg, @complex (the list is too long haha).

Q: If you could change anything about getting to where you are now and career wise, what would you change and why?

A: The only thing I would change is to make myself realise sooner how much I was capable of and just go for it.

Q: What do you enjoy most about creating content?

A: I enjoy the fact I get to see my ideas realised so quickly, that I have budget from my job to make them actually happen.

I just love being creative and doing that as a job is awesome.

Q: How has coronavirus effected how you work?

A: I’m just grateful to still have my job and being able to work from home!

TITI FINLAY From tequila bars to sneakers Titi Finlay tells us how she made it to the fashion industry, landing her dream job at ASOS.

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fter graduating her Fine Art Degree, ASOS’ Content Creator Titi Finlay was struggling what to do with her life. 6 months after she graduated, she decided to “on a whim” to move to London. Titi had zero money to her name, and only had one month’s rent to start with.

Reality soon kicked in as Titi was living off peanut butter and celery and spent her next few months visiting the Job Centre. “I spent every day painting, starving and reminding myself that Patti Smith once survived on celery sticks alone so that she could afford to live as a poet in NYC, so I’d simply have to do the same if I wanted to live in London”.

Finally, Titi settled for a job at a

local tequila bar. At this point, she was becoming increasingly obsessed with the London fashion scene, which she was primarily digesting through Instagram. “I kept seeing all of these cool fashion journalists, who were doing the whole ‘free clothes/influencer’ thing (which I wasn’t so keen on at first), but they were also enchanting writers with credible journalistic experience behind them. I knew I wanted to do the same, but I didn’t knowhow.

“Scrap that, I didn’t think I was good enough” Titi spent the next 2 years of her life “moving up the hospitality ladder” into restaurant management. Titi had a blog on the side, which she didn’t have the money, time or confidence to work on making it good.

“My boyfriend sat me down eventually and told me that I was meant for greater things, that this needed to stop now, and that he would support me until I found a job that

would make me happy”. That day she quit her job, and made a list of long-term goals, her dream career, and the steps required to get to that stage.

Titi made her first move by emailing a fashion journalist called Katherine Ormerod, who also had faced career challenges before finding success. After sending multiple emails, Katherine finally responded and accepted. Realising that if she worked for free, she would learn a lot, and there was nothing to lose.

“By this point, I had become a real opportunist. Anything that might give me a little more experience across the creative industries, I’d jump on instantly. So, when Sarah Akwisombe mentioned on her Instagram story that she was looking for an assistant, I got in touch immediately”.

“By January 10th, I had been laid off by The Braid Bar (due to lack of budget) and all of the money-making opportunities I had planned for 2018 had fallen through due to budget cuts as well. I realised that I still didn’t have a job in fashion, I still had basically no money, and that it wasn’t going to be as simple as

just asking the universe for a sum of money. That became apparent when I found myself, once again, standing outside the jobcentre – except this time I didn’t go inside. I remembered that in order to GET what you want, you had to BE what you want, and I didn’t think this was the best way of attracting abundance.

So instead, I went to the coffee shop next door, scraped together some change for an Americano, and did three things: I made a new list of goals and deadlines, I channelled all of my energy and confidence, and I contacted Flossie Saunders at The Sunday Times Style, to see if she might take me on as an intern.

I’d always wanted to work there, as it’s my favourite magazine, and Katherine Ormerod had given me her contact details several months before. When I emailed previously, she didn’t reply, but I had to give it another shot. It felt like a sign from God when she replied moments later saying she’d be delighted to take me on – I guess the experience I had built over the prior months had put me in a stronger position than I was in before”.

After completing the internships, Titi was hoping that she’d gained enough experience to land herself her dream job in the fashion indus-

try. After been rejected by two jobs, she had one final job interview remaining, and she couldn’t take the rejection anymore. Titi had one job interview left which was at ASOS. After starting to lose her positivity, the night before her interview she reminded herself of the power of manifesting, and she read through the job description telling herself that she was more than capable of doing it”.

“If it wasn’t down to the universe, then it at least harnessed enough of my confidence to go in and totally smash the interview. It was the first time I had come away from an interview feeling fully confident that I was good enough for the role, and one week later they called and told me I got the job. Starting next week, I’m in charge of writing fashion content for their global Instagram channels, a job that encompasses all of the experience I’ve gained over the past year, a lot of which hap-

pened accidentally. I didn’t originally plan to go down the route of social media fashion writing, yet I had been open to the universe leading me on a path of exciting opportunities that eventually landed me here”.

Titi’s roles and responsibilitieswas to cover the sneakers and sportswear content for ASOS, which revolves around taking photos of sneakers and coming up with new ideas to promote them. Titi works with big brands like Nike and Adidas to consult what kind of content they should be creating for their channel, and running IGTV series such as ‘sneakers in 60’. Titi uses Hootsuite to sched-

“I THEN SAT AT MY D OUT LOUD, I WANT T WANT TO WORK FOR PERFECT FOR THIS R

DESK AND SAID THIS JOB. I R ASOS AND I AM ROLE”

ule content, and there’s a team around 5 of them who post all the content for the accounts. Titi says “it’s super varied, some days I’m being silly shooting photos and being creative and other days I’m up to my eyes in data and reporting stats!”.

work, Titi’s journey to securing a job was tough although paid off in the end. As one of the lists she wrote she promised herself her goal would be that she was to earn £27k within the upcoming year, and she acomplished the goal within four months of setting it.

Titi’s journey to land her dream job is very inspirational however, it’s the reality of pursuing a career within the fashion industry.

It takes a lot of time, patience and connections to land yourself different opportunities which connect you to the right people.

Titi moved to London as it’s the capital of the fashion industry.

Location can be a major obstacle as a lot of companies and brands will be based in a bigger city, therefore transport or moving to the location may be required, however, not all fashion companies will be in a major city.

Interviewing Titi has gave me an insight to what it takes to achieve your goal in the fashion industry. Understanding how much experience you have to have to secure a job, as Titi’s story is very inspiring and motivating, as she let rejection stop her from getting to where she wanted to be. Rejection is ‘part of the job’ in the fashion industry, as it’s competetive as you need to posses certain skills to be able to promote yourself to get started. Jumping from a degree straight into the fashion industry seems daunting however, with hard work and determination it’s possible.

With no experience in the fashion industry, Titi landed her dream job at ASOS through research, reaching out and building relationships, making lists, and believing in herself. Through multiple internships and unpaid

FUTURE CON

NSIDERATIONS

v i C cOo V T

mortar has morphed into a very serious problem, and it is set to hrough the outbreak of lose an eyewatering £650m of Covid-19, the world came to a net sales per month while stores standstill, including the fashare closed. “Primark’s lack of a ion industry. From 27th April, transactional website has placed Sports Direct has written to it under additional pressure in suppliers demanding a 20% the midst of the corodiscount on outnavirus pandemic,” standing invoic“ASOS is accelerating says Chloe Collins, es, whilst Adidas Group, on the its use of augmented senior retail analyst at GlobalData (Suth30th April, had- reality (AR) techerland, Whelan and warned that its nology to simulate Sutherland, 2020). second-quarter sales and profits real-life model pho- However, from May will be heavily tography to support 5th, ASOS is accelerating its use of impacted by the social distancing in augmented reality global coronavi(AR) technology to rus lockdowns. its studios, in resimulate real-life Different brands sponse to the Covmodel photography within the fashid-19 pandemic” to support social dision industry are tancing in its studios, reacting differin response to the ently, as brick-aCovid-19 pandemic (Sutherland, mortar stores such as Primark Whelan and Sutherland, 2020). are struggling, as the current Tim Carey, senior content mancrisis has turned off the lights ager at Asos Studios, said: “We’re at high street stores across the fortunate enough to have been UK and Europe. The retailexperimenting with Zeekit’s AR er’s reliance on bricks-and-

9 9 IdD- -1 1 technology for a while, which has meant that we could scale this tech up at short notice (Wightman-Stone, Fashion United, 2020) .

Boohoo’s CEO John Lyttle said: “While recent events have understandably overshadowed what has been a great year for Boohoo, they have also highlighted its key strengths. Our business is founded on our ability to be agile and flexible and it is at times like this when these abilities are tested, and I am proud of how our colleagues and business partners from around the world have responded to the challenges posed by this pandemic. Although there is near-term uncertainty in the markets that we operate in, the group is underpinned by its incredibly strong balance sheet and is well-placed to leverage its scalable multi-brand platform and to continue to disrupt fashion markets around the world” (Houghton, 2020).

With non-essential stores closed and distribution limited across the world, fashion brands are reassessing their digital marketing strategies and are communicating it with their consumers in new ways that keep them busy during forced isolation at home.

Social media platforms, once cluttered with advertisement for products, are now giving way to online conversations, styling games, drawing, challenges, cooking tutorials and fitness classes, they’re doing anything to make followers feel like they’re a part of a community (Chitrakorn, 2020).

In an online article on their website, Drapers announce “We have hugely shifted our focus to Instagram and putting content out there that highlights what defines the brand, while also being sensitive what is going on around us.

We are experiencing significantly higher engagement levels than usual and lots of our followers are sending positive direct mes-

sages. I’m being quite expressive on Instagram stories, showing my daily outfits, favourite foods, podcasts, accounts and even behind-thescenes footage of my packing orders and running the business” (Brown, Dirvanauskas, Dirvanauskas, Sutherland & Geoghegan, 2020).

Brands now have turned to their digital platforms as it’s one of the only ways they can continue to publicise and communicate with their audience, as turning to the Internet as nearly half of internet users (47%) report spending more time on social networks in recent weeks. All social platforms are seeing an increase in their number of active users ("More People Are Turning to Social Media, Music and E-Sports During Covid-19 Lockdown", 2020).

This means that online fashion brands have to create, upload and provide content for the online social platforms to attract new consumers,

whilst interesting current ones.

Content creation is a job role which, in circumstances can be done from working at home.

Due to COVID-19, the majority of the population were told to work from home, with my interview with Titi, as she explained: “I’m just grateful I can work from home!(Finlay, 2020).” Covid-19 will now change the future, as social distancing measures will be taking place for a very long time, therefore employers now will be working out how they set out for the future.

C R E A T I V E

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s a content creator, there will be some future considerations I would have to look out for within my job role. As my main role is revolved around social media, ensuring the social platforms remain ethical would be my main focus as especially within the fast fashion market. As inclusivity and diversity has been voiced more and has progressed within the past few years. Maintaining an ethical platform attracts more audience, elevating diverse voices and role models and leading positive social change through respectful content, creating a sense of community. An example of this is ASOS Collusion, which was launched on October 1st, 2018. ASOS launched this collection ‘for the coming of age’, as ASOS has worked with six creatives – stylists, activists, image-makers, students and authors – who have helped shape the first chapter of the brand. The class of 2018 – Rene Matić, Spencer Elmer, Clarissa Henry, Chidera Eggerue, Jebi Ndimuntoh Labembika

and Grace Mandeville – have used their unique creativity to produce a ground-breaking collection of clothing that ‘celebrates the people who wear it.’ Collusion is an animal-free venture and the majority of the cotton used to produce the clothing is sustainably sourced.

With representation essential to the brand’s ethos, you’ll also find inclusive sizing across the range. From unisex striped tees to form-fitting trews, there’s something for everyone. Collusion is constantly evolving, so, each year, we’re aiming to bring in more creative talent to work with (Gladman, 2018).

As more and more fashion brands tap into inclusivity and diversity, this will be displayed within the content which is created for the brands. In The Style is a fast-fashion clothing brand which has recently launched a collaboration with Instagram influencer Chessie King. This range projected a body positive and self-loving messages throughout the collection as it was to “break up the perfect Instagram feed”. The unretouched

campaign features body-positive influencers and has been designed with every woman in mind, offering size ranges from 6 to 24 featuring positive slogan messaging, tie-dye and denim.

As more fashion brands include inclusivity and ethical production, this will gradually change the way we work for the future because when we look back 10 years ago, brands never would have thought twice about including gender-neutral, inclusivity, diversity and sustainability within their brand values.

Through effective messaging and communication, brands can increase their role in consumers’ lives and maintain a positive relationship beyond the short-term (Chitrakorn, 2020). This job role can be done from home as much as it can be done from an office, therefore content creators soon may possible be working from home altogether. As COVID-19 increased the number of people working from home, this will

possibly be carried on into the future, therefore some technical problems may arise. On 3rd May 2019, during the lockdown of the COVID-19, Virgin Media internet went down and was down for several days. Virgin Media users reported issues of the provider for days, as this problem affected locations all over the UK, leaving Virgin Media users upset and demanding refunds. The increase of people working from home puts a strain on internet providers, as the internet is saturated with people wanting to work digitally as this could be a possible consideration for working from home in the future.

Calvin Klein has announced that they’re no longer advertising in print, and starting from February 2019, they will only be focusing more on digital media. “Further, we will focus on driving a digital-first approach to the brand. Importantly, marketing is one of the faster levers that we can address. For holi-

day 2018, we are shifting more of our media spend from halo marketing to more commercial, digital and social media advertising,” Chirico said. Besides, the company plans to update the frequency of its Calvin Klein posts on social platforms like Instagram, and they will be increasingly using micro-influencers and hosting local activation to drive engagement, particularly with Millennials and Gen Z (Lockwood, 2018).

Brands are already changing the way they create and market content, as other fashion brands will be following due to the rise of digital media. Social media sites are introducing more shopping features, such as Instagram's shoppable tags in stories and posts, encourages more fashion brands to move digital. In light of the shift in consumer content consumption, many magazines are swiftly taking on digital strategies, as Glamour magazine will be no longer selling print, as they’re

leaving the publication to exist solely online. The audience for Glamour magazine is now online, therefore that’s where the growth is. “Our storytelling at Glamour will be digital, social and video-led with special print moments to mark big issues and events,” Editor-in-Chief Samantha Barry wrote.

Other brands have explored opportunities with at-home branded video content. Mandy Ansari, a content creator, says that she has recently accepted a sponsorship with a beverage company that requires her to post an Instagram story of her making a cocktail with the provided alcohol. Retailers like Sephora and West Elm have created Zoom backgrounds for users to download. “Our homes are our new world in the near future. Today, our private spaces have become much more exposed and almost public, as they are now our places of work, classrooms, Zoom socialising spaces and virtual night-

clubs,” says Alasdair Lennox, executive creative director of Fitch, a global retail and brand consultancy. “With this new public exposure, they have become a competitive landscape and creative playground for brands” (Chitrakon, 2020).

There are a handful of economic factors which could affect content creation job roles in the future. Companies can hire more people as they can work from home rather than having to pay for larger buildings to hold their staff, as lockdown has made larger companies revalue their staff. As the job can be done from working at home, money can be saved as transport, food and other spends will be saved.

On the other hand, content is created all over the world. Fast fashion brands travel to different locations to produce the best possible content for their audience. The majority of all fashion brands will travel to

different countries to create content for their brands, as they will travel for photo shoots, to create campaigns and for many other reasons. After the looming departure of Brexit, this will massively impact the fashion industry. From brands having manufactures overseas to models travelling in and out of the country for fashion week, this will affect fashion brands in and out of the UK.

TRANSFERABLE SKILLS

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ransferable skills are a core set of abilities and skills, which can be used in different ways in the workplace. Transferable skills are those that you develop as you progress through education, employment and training.

Basic transferable skills such as communication, teamwork and problem solving are all examples of transferable skills that can be applied to a wide range of different jobs and industries.

These skills are usually gained over time and can be picked from up hobbies, work or even just from home. The basic skills which I have gained from education, work and hobbies are; employability, leadership and team management, teamwork ability, written and verbal communication, research and planning, strong work ethic, and people skills. Having jobs in different environments as I grew up allowed me to pick different skills along the way. From volunteering in the Butterwick Hospice to becoming a Bar Supervisor, I've built basic skills to

management skills which have built on my CV over the past years. These skills are definitely transferable skills which would benefit me in the future as I am able to market myself to prospective employers.

Using Photoshop, InDesign and Illustrator are some of the transferrable skills I have gained whilst being at University. Using these software's on Adobe Creative Cloud over the past few years have allowed me to sharpen my skills and improve my productivity. Moving into a career these are some skills which are transferrable, which are incredibly valuable to employers.

As I grew up and discovered the Internet at a young age, being able to use and understand technology easy is a skill I have gained throughout the years.

As for social media, growing up as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram were launched, this made me immediately turn to see what they had to offer, as

smartphones and apps were slowly making an appearance.

With one of my previous job roles, as a Bar Supervisor, I was also creating the content for social media too. I was making drinks, photographing them, editing them and publishing onto their Instagram page. I branded the Instagram page to create a professional platform which suited the business, taking location, lighting, design, décor and products into consideration when creating content.

By doing this in my previous job, it has allowed me to gain an insight into creating content and social media marketing, developing my skills in writing, editing, presentation and communication.

A DAY IN THE LIFE OF ashton taylor A freelance Graphic Designer from Arizona, USA

q AND and aA Q Q: What was your creative process?

A: For me, the creative process is taking inspiration from various sources, not just Pinterest or Instagram and design in general, but also from nature and music, moods, ect. As a creative, it can be very easy to get caught up with what everyone else is doing or accidentally copying so I think it’s important to find creativity within order to keep content original. Obviously not all jobs allow a lor of creative freedom, but it’s good to always give input on how you think you can improve an idea in order for it to look more elevated.

Q: How did you get to where you are now?

A: Practise and consistent learning! I learned design basics from my parents who are both graphic designers as well as some things in school and internships, however, I learned the most by practice and finding styles and techniques that I liked and looking up how to do them! I believe that the learning process is never over and I am still constantly looking up tutorials or videos on how to do something and then trying to add my own twist to it. When I started out, I reached out to a lot of small brands in the fashion industry (as that was/is my dream industry) and offered design services as well as had internships/jobs in a few creative agencies. Now that I am freelance full time working with a few main fashion brands on retainer as well as taking on side projects.

and Aa Qq AND Q: What makes successful content?

A: Beyond creative a visually pleasing and balanced design, you are creating a feeling or vibe that should not just fit with the brand or idea that you are creaitng, but also elevate it.

When a design evokes emotion or response and people want to share, I find that to be the most successful.

Q: What do you do when you hit a creative block? How do you overcome it?

A: It can be really easy to get stuck in your head or get a creative block so i try to make sure that i am never burning myself.

Taking breaks to go on a walk, exercise watch learning tutorials, etc. is how i prevent getting stuck. Obviously some days you feel less creative than others so on those days I try to carve out time before I begin my day to read design books, look at magazines, Pinterest, ect.

Q: What do you do to stay up to date on the latest software, trends, ect?

A: I like to subscribe to some different newsletters like PRINT mag, Creative bloq, Desktop mag, Adobe, ect. as well as keep up with designers and brands that i like to seee what they are doing. I’m always looking up new tutorials on motion graphics or typography to make sure i am never getting too comfortable.

A day in the life: “Because I am a full-time freelancer, I have a little more freedom with how I block out my day, but that also means I have a hard time stopping! I wake up at 6 and get myself ready for the day. I can’t be my best self if I don’t have a coffee, a freshly made bed and my skincare routine completed! One of my main clients is in a different time zone as me so they are usually emailing/messaging me right at 6-6.30. If I am working on that client that day then I respond, check emails and get right to work. I like to take a walk either before I get started or after I finish a few tasks to clear my head.

I keep myself organised with a programme called Trello so I know what needs to be done, what I am working on and what I got finished for the day. Some days I have more tasks than others and some tasks might be able to be completed in a day or it could be a bigger project that

I allocate a certain amount of time or a certain part to complete for the day. I like to take breaks between tasks to exercise, learn a new skill, or even update my portfolio. I always feel like there could be more work to do, but I try end my day around 5. I have found it hard to balance work and personal life and believe that it is REALLY important to give myself boundaries and if a client emails me or texts me outside of their business hours then I will tell them I will complete the task or update the next day”.

Ashtons role as a Graphic Designer is very aspiring to me, as I’m narrowing down my career path to Graphic Design and content creation through my career journey. Having an insight into Ashton’s roles and responsibilities as a Graphic Designer gives me an understanding of the key points of the role. It was interesting to speak to her and under-

stand her career path as she lives in another country, as Ashton lives in Arizona, USA. Also, it’s intriguing to find out what software Ashton uses, and what she does to keep up on the latest trends, as she is from America. It’s always helpful to find out fresh sources of inspiration and software people use from across the globe, as some of it will be completely different to what we use.

Ashton has worked for one of my favourite social media platforms, the Mayfair Group on Instagram. The Mayfair Group specialise in PR, social, sales, graphic design, branding, events and merchandise. The Mayfair Group is where I get some of my inspiration from, therefore it was interesting to interview her and ask questions related to her creative process.

Finding out where she got her inspiration from was helpful as I can take the information on board and discover new sources. I found it very fascinating

that Ashton took her inspiration from nature, music and moods as well as Instagram and Pinterest, as finding raw original sources of inspiration allows you to deliver your own concepts to your work, with genuine ideas to give you a creative boost.

As Ashton is a freelance designer, it gave me an insight into her job, as it is all based on working at home. Therefore, if any circumstances happened in the future which required you to work from home, then this wouldn’t be a problem, for example, COVID-19, as this has impacted the fashion industry globally.

A DAY IN THE LIFE OF olivia grady Content Creator Execeutive @ Missguided

and aA Qq AND Q: What inspires you in your career?

A: The team around me at Missguided inspire me. Many of our senior managers started as an executive (my role now) and within four or five years they have worked their way up to creating global campaigns on behalf of a huge fashion brand. Everyone is full of creative and innovative ideas, working together to grow the company and develop the brand even further.

Q: Why did you choose to work at missguided?

A: I have always wanted to work in fashion. I studied Journalism at university, hoping one day to work for a fashion publication, but ended up taking a marketing and copywrit-

ing route. I had applied for writing roles at various fast fashion brands over the span of around 3-4 years before landing my dream role at Missguided. It’s an amazing company to work for, full of driven creative people that really care about their career and their jobs. I have been a frequent customer at Missguided from being a teenager, so the opportunity to actually work for a clothing company I loved seemed too good to be true.

Q: What’s your favourite part about the job?

A: My favourite part of the job is writing about something I am interested in every single day and publishing it on behalf of a global fashion brand. I still find it crazy that I get the opportunity to do it. Working in fashion is fast paced, long hours and stress-

ful, but I absolutely love my job!

Q: How has covid-19 effected the way you work?

A: Covid-19 has completely transformed my day-to-day role.

I have gone from being in an office surrounded by hundreds of people, to sitting in my spare bedroom alone. As a team we depend on each other for big brainstorms and ideas sessions, but this is so much more difficult over video call. It has made us all more independent workers.

Covid-19 has also hugely increased the workload for the Creative and Social teams. Times are so uncertain right now, that it means are working on a week by week basis instead of planning months ahead like we would usually do. Whilst people are trapped inside, they are way more likely to spend time on their phones, so as a brand we have to ensure that we are really standing out on their social media feeds, instead of getting left behind. We can no longer have

people in the studio for shoots and interviews, instead we have to brief them on how to create their content at home. We have also changed the type of content we are putting out there. We have had to change our whole Summer content plan because festivals aren’t taking place and nobody is going on holiday.

Whilst people are bored in the house they want something to really engage them, so with that in mind we have been publishing more interviews, tutorials and live music sessions.

Q: Will if effect how you work in the future?

A: To some extent I think it will change the office culture. I think team meetings will be reduced, because we have had the opportunity to work out when we actually NEED a meeting. I think we will probably work to shorter timescales too. Instead of planning too far in advance, I think Covid-19 will always be a reminder that we have to be able to adapt to whatever obstacles come our way.

A day in the life: I was very pleased with being able to interview Olivia, as she writes for the Missguided BabeZine. In my first year of university in one of my modules, we had to choose a job role which we would like to do in the future, and I chose to work for Missguided to write their BabeZine. Interviewing Olivia was very interesting because I got to find out the roles and responsibilities of her working day, and how she got to where she was now. Understanding specifically what Olivia does throughout her day was fascinating as she explained what different software she uses and what she uses it for.

“I look after the Missguided blog The BabeZine. At the start of every month I brainstorm ideas for the blog. These will be based on any upcoming product releases we have, weekly features such as Music Q+As, influencer round-ups and cul-

tural topics (such as the Oscars, fashion week or national events such as Mental Health Awareness Week etc). I pitch these ideas to the head of the brand for sign off. She will come back with any changes and then I can plan my month’s work. Each day I typically write two blog posts, outreach to people for interviews and write copy for the Missguided homepage (we use WordPress for the blog software). I also support the social team in organising the bigger-scale stuff such as takeovers and Instagram Lives. I manage the Missguided Pinterest account and support the SEO and email team with any writing they need (I use Pinterest’s inbuilt scheduler)”.

A DAY IN THE LIFE OF frankie gascoine Beauty Buyer @ ASOS

q AND and aA Q Q: Has COVID-19 affected the way you work?

A: Yes definitely, we are a very collaborative company and working from home has meant that every area in the business has had to adapt. All teams are working from home where they can and are adapting to do so, we have meetings via teams and the office is open for depts that cannot work from home for example teams that need to fit clothes on models or see samples that have been sent into the warehouse.

The biggest impact I would say has been on our studio team, we would usually shoot all styles for the website in house we now utilise model at home imagry and flat lays instead of shooting clothes on a model in the studios.

Q:Do you think it will effect the way you work in the future?

A: We now know that as a company we are very agile, we are able to work from home and work remotely so this may be utilised in the future but it is hard to say.

Q: What made you choose to work for ASOS? A: I went to Nottingham trent uni and studied Fashion management with the ideal goal to work in fashion buying. My course was a sandwich course so we did one year out in industry, previous to this though I had done varies work experiences and mini internships in other retail places to bulk out my CV. For my sandwich year I was lucky to land a place at ASOS after a very difficult interview process and application task. Unfortunately however I didn’t actually like my year out in industry at ASOS, I was placed onto the own brand team on dresses and I didn’t feel like it was right for me,

qQ and AND aA however I did stick at it for the year and then went back to uni to finish my degree.

Coming out of uni I was actually in the same place as you are, I was applying for lots of things but nothing was coming up. I actually got a call from ASOS and they offered me a job back on the branded side which I took and now absolutely love! Ive been on various teams in the company, started on highstreet like newlook ect. and then jewellery and watches, moved to homewear and gifting a year later and now I’m on beauty after requesting to move onto that dept as im obsessed with Beauty and skincare! Been at ASOS for 4 and half years now! I would say you have to be very versatile to work in retail for a big fashion house like asos, they move you a lot and you have to be able to adapt.

I love my job now and I think I will stay at ASOS and work my way up.

Q: What did you do to get to where you are now, and would you change anything if you could?

A: I’ve basically just worked my way up in the company – I started from the lowest paid job as an entry Buyers assistant and now I’m an assistant buyer, like I said above I moved from various different teams within the company which has helped me grow and develop new skills for each dept I have been on.

Q: Who inspires you?

A: Never like this question if im honest haha – if we are talking about work I say generally Instagram and pinterest inspire me!

They inspire me at work but in life Id like to say my sister inspires me as she is very driven and passionate about what she does.

A day in the life: -Review the sales from the day before in the morning – make any actions needed, do we need a repeat order on any best sellers for example.

-Brand meeting over teams in the morning – brand will show me the next range of products they have to offer and we will talk about launching, pricing, marketing and social.

-Check In with my assistant to see what she is working on for the day and see what her priorities are.

-Work on the buy and forecast the opening order with my merchandiser who looks after more of the money side of the order.

-Call with social to discuss our next month priorities – what are they going to feature on Instagram for example.

-Follow up with emails from brands and internal deadlines -Have my lunch at my desk while I work!

-Reach out to new brands who look exciting and perfect for asos – have further discussions and may send over our set up documents if we have agreed to launch!

-Have a call with logistics on a brand order that is due in to check is it all running on time and we can launch when it was planned.

-Work on sales information for brand meetings/calls later in the week so I can present sales data and plans for the next 6 months with them.

-Work on other buys for brands we currently stock, looking at the sales data from what is performing well.

MY CAREER PLAN GRADUATE

> STUDY MASTERS DEGREE IN GRAPHIC DESIGN

> INTERNSHIP IN FASHION (CONTENT CREATION)

> ACHIEVE DESIRED JOB

CONTACTS

Contacts I have made throughout creating my Illustrated Career Journal: - Titi Finlay, Content Creator for ASOS -Frankie Gascoine, Beauty Buyer for ASOS -Olivia Grady, Content Creator Executive for Missguided -Ashton Taylor, Graphic Designer for Mayfair Group and Freelance -Nicola Brown, Head of Womenswear for Barbour

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Wightman-Stone, D. (2019, October 22). Retrieved from Fashion United : https://fashionunited.uk/news/fashion/uk-shoppers-believe-influencers-are-behind-rise-in-fastfashion/2019102245858 Wightman-Stone, D. (2020, May 5). Retrieved from Fashion United: https://fashionunited.uk/news/fashion/asos-scales-up-augmented-reality-to-support-social-distancing/2020050548773

IMAGE REFERENCES PAGE 1 https://www.instagram.com/asos/?hl=en PAGE 3 https://www.instagram.com/asos/?hl=en PAGE 7 https://www.instagram.com/asos/?hl=en PAGE 10 https://www.instagram.com/ttfinlay/?hl=en PAGE 11 https://www.instagram.com/ttfinlay/?hl=en PAGE 12/13 https://www.instagram.com/ttfinlay/?hl=en PAGE 15 https://www.instagram.com/ttfinlay/?hl=en PAGE 16/17 https://www.instagram.com/ttfinlay/?hl=en PAGE 18/19 https://www.instagram.com/ttfinlay/?hl=en PAGE 21 https://www.instagram.com/ttfinlay/?hl=en PAGE 22/23 https://www.ikeahackers.net/2017/05/no-stoppingblue-bag.html PAGE 27 https://www.instagram.com/frankiegascoine/?hl=en PAGE 29- My own image PAGE 30/31 https://www.asos.com/women/a-to-z-of-brands/collusion/cat/?cid=28477 PAGE 32/33 https://www.asos.com/women/a-to-z-of-brands/collusion/cat/?cid=28477 PAGE 35 https://www.instagram.com/ttfinlay/?hl=en PAGE 37 My own image PAGE 38/39/40 My own image PAGE 41 https://www.instagram.com/ashtontaaylor/?hl=en PAGE 42 https://www.instagram.com/ashtontaaylor/?hl=en PAGE 43 https://www.instagram.com/ashtontaaylor/?hl=en PAGE 44 https://www.instagram.com/ashtontaaylor/?hl=en PAGE 47 https://www.instagram.com/livgrady_/?hl=en PAGE 48 https://www.instagram.com/livgrady_/?hl=en PAGE 49 https://www.instagram.com/livgrady_/?hl=en PAGE 51 https://www.instagram.com/livgrady_/?hl=en PAGE 52 https://www.instagram.com/frankiegascoine/?hl=en PAGE 53 https://www.instagram.com/frankiegascoine/?hl=en PAGE 54 https://www.instagram.com/frankiegascoine/?hl=en PAGE 55 https://www.instagram.com/frankiegascoine/?hl=en PAGE 56 https://www.instagram.com/frankiegascoine/?hl=en