Individual Progress Journal- BLUEPRINT Magazine

Individual Progress Journal

BLUEPRINT Magazine

Olivia Walker

MARBLE MAGAZINE

-£12

-Lifestyle and photography magazine

-Available in print and digital format

-200 pages of creative editorial

-Uninterrupted by advertising

-Independent

-Categorised into ‘girls’ ‘boys’ ‘art’ ‘pleasure’

-Covers art including music, fashion, jewellery

-Nostalgic

-Fun

-Emotive

-Target consumer: ‘adults who really don’t ever want to fully grow up’, ‘people who dream and never want to let their inner child die’ (directly taken from the publication- editor’s letter’, young, creative, protesting youth

Website: https://www.marblemag.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marble. magazine/

-Online representation more compact

-Online presence and print publication very similar, synergy between the two formats

-Show a lot of content, incl. photography and articles, led me to question whether the online presence could potentially cannibalise their printed publication

-Could potentially offer something different

PIBE MAGAZINE

-£10

-‘Play It By Ear’

-Fashion, beauty and art

-Biannual

- womenswear and menswear

- Print and digital

- Biannual so follows fashion seasonal format

e.g. (autumn/winter 2018/19 being most recent release)

- ‘just do it by feel and instinct’

- Editorial photography

- High fashion feel

-Polished

-Serious tone (in comparison to marble)

Target consumer: Older demographic of young adult (late 20s/early 30s), fashion concerned, appreciate fine art

Website: https://www.pibemagazine.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ pibemagazine/

They also make use of facebook and twitter.

-Website is a different experience, rich with articles and content

-Recognisable as ‘PIBE’

-Instagram feed photography based, aesthitically pleasing

BRITISH GIRLS MAGAZINE

-£12

-Showcase of British models

-Celebrating individualism, beauty, energy and attitude

-Softbound

-Features established models and rising faces

-Large fashion images documenting the models

-Collectable / coffee table style

- Collaborate with brands

- Produced by studio team

-Creative

-Styled

Website: https://www.britishgirlsmagazine.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/britishgirls_magazine/

-Website very limited, basic information and no content

-Minimalistic in style, classic and timeless.

-Instagram feed is richer, showcasing editorial photography

-Instagram high quality and professional

-This magazine aims for the ‘coffee table book’ style so are print focused first and foremost.

ROLLACOASTER MAGAZINE

-£9.95

-Emerging talent, fashion and music

-Published by same group as Wonderland and Man About Town

-Showcase celebrities on covers

-Such as Sigrid, Jenna Coleman

-A lot of interviews and stories

-Focused on celebrities that are emerging -Advertorials

-Collaboration with designer brands

-Fashion photography

-Target consumer: teen magazine, with interest in fashion and music this is why are they are categories focused on as well as emerging celebrities as celebrity culture may be of interest to this demographic

Website: https://rollacoaster.tv

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ rollacoaster/

-Website works as an advertisement to promote the magazine

-Showcase some collections of photography

-Instagram more representative of the identity of the magazine and offers something different in that there is behind the scenes footage

-Post teasers of which celebrities will be featured, a good way to entice the target consumer.

ZODIAC MAGAZINE

-£10.95

-Specialised in fashion editorials, art, high fashion styling photography, avant-garde

-Created by Dutch fashion art stylist Gia de Boer

- Multiple covers for same edition again adding to collectors value and showcases the artistic fashion photography

-High fashion

-Striking imagery

-International

-Target consumer: arty, fashionable young adults, interested in high end fashion, those in industry, photography interest

Website: http://www.zodiacthemagazine.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ zodiacthemagazine/

-Website doesn’t meet the professional high standard. It is resemblant of a portfolio.

-Instagram works better, however it does become repetitive.

-Not much effort in website looks unfinished

THE BARE MINIMUM

-£8

-Fashion and lifestyle

-Sustainability and minimalism

-Promotes ethical choices

-Supports small brands, designers, artists etc.

-Interesting how the focus is on sustainability but have managed to maintain the fashion element and keep it interesting and accessible

-Welcoming feel

-Educational purpose

-Target consumer: those interested in wanting to improve their lifestyle in terms of being more environmentally friendly, fashion enthusiasts, young, female

Website: https://www.thebareminimummag.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bareminimummag/

-Aesthetically, the website doesn’t exactly match with the aesthetic of the publication

-In terms of content it works well and has interesting articles related to the target consumer about sustainability

-Instagram gives away more about the style of the magazine and makes use of the highlights feature which helps to showcase things such as behind the scenes and launches.

ROLLS/ CONTRIBUTIONS IN TEAM

MEDIA PACK:

We had initially drafted the mission statement as a group. After talking with Elizabeth (guest lecturer) the final copy was developed / refined by Fazela and I. My main responsibility was to develop the magazine content / flat plan whereby I created the flat plan, designating amounts of pages for each part of the brief, ensured anything that required additional pages was accounted for and decided on an order for pages that was logical and flowed. At this point I also began to make note of potential ideas for concepts for each part of the brief to discuss with members of my team. Taking into account the mutual

agreement on the style of imagery we were aiming for with our magazine and the research Fazela had made on visual identity, I also designed mock ups to include as part of the media pack as this would be a good indicator to an audience of what the direction of our final magazine is.

MAGAZINE:

Concepts-

I decided on the concept for the beauty editorial. As part of our magazine, we wanted to appeal a male and female demographic and I immediately noticed that men’s skincare was a topic that had been neglected. This initial idea was further supported by research found in self-directed study through LSN regarding a lack of representation in the male beauty sector, confirming this would be a strong angle for an article for this part of the brief.

I also put forward Depop being our chosen brand for the advertorial, as with our magazine being focused on high street/affordable fashion, we could focus this advertorial on ‘a new way to shop afford-ably’ touching on vintage and re-owned, also offering a solution to the question of sustainability / fast fashion that could be presented to us with the affordable fashion stance that our magazine is revolved around. It also meant that styling, another key aspect of Blueprint could be discussed in this advertorial also.

I also decided on the idea of the commissioned piece being based on ‘market culture’ as this would be based on shopping but from a different angle, giving a break from the solely fashion orientated content that dominates the rest of the magazine, and wrote a short brief for this to later give to the commissioned writer.

Copy-

My role was copy writer on the following pieces- A New Way To Shop (depop advertorial), Bum Bag, Fashion Without Gender and Editor’s Letter.

Commissioning/Casting/ Assisting-

There were some behind the scenes or more general management duties that between us we all took on at different times. As part of this, I commissioned the writer for the market culture piece and maintained communication with them, the same going for an illustrator that was commissioned. I cast two models for the nude shoot that fit the criteria Patricia had set as director of that shoot. I assisted on the unisex shoot, modesty shoot, still life and nude shoot, helping with getting clothes to shoot, communicating with models etc.

Styling-

I styled the unisex shoot, creating looks and buying the clothing, whilst ensuring these looks were as imagined on the day of shooting, making adjustments if need be.

Co-editing-

Phoebe was the main editor of Blueprint, putting the layout together however I took part as co-editor and spent a lot of time with her making decisions about the layout, experimenting it with myself.

Roles/Contributions of team

Fazela:

- Visual identity section of Media Pack

- Photography + editing

- Assisting shoots

- Other admin / management

Kate:

- Funding section of Media Pack

- Styling for depop shoot

Rahul:

- Specialist information section of Media

Pack

- Photography + editing

- Casting

- Other admin / management

Phoebe:

- Readership section of Media Pack

- Layout for media pack

-Copy Writing- beauty editorial, denim jacket article, modesty article, editor’s letter

- Styling for modesty shoot

- Magazine layout

- Assisting shoots

- Other admin / management

Patricia:

- Directing/ styling Nude shoot

- Assisting styling for modesty shoot

- Competitors section of Media Pack

- Assisting shoots

WORKING NOTES EXAMPLES

TESTING/ PREPARATORY WORK

Articles used to inspire article content:

RESEARCH CONDUCTED FOR ROLE

-https://www.lsnglobal.com/ news/article/23974/the-marketmodest-wear-market-2019

-https://www.lsnglobal.com/ news/article/23949/thought-starter-why-male-beauty-has-a-representation-problem

-https://www.lsnglobal.com/ news/article/23915/h-m-createsa-peer-platform-for-fashion-advice

https://www.lsnglobal.com/opinion/article/23225/can-fashionbrands-destigmatise-the-sad-boy

-https://www.retaildive.com/news/ hm-is-ready-for-gen-z/552826/

Further research was needed throughout the creation of the magazine which included a questionnaire to find out more information about our target audience, interviews for content for articles (as seen in the modesty article) and further research that was secondary when writing other articles, for example I had to do some background research when writing the unisex article, particularly about the history of this topic. (e.g.

https://www.wellandgood.com/ good-looks/gender-neutral-fashion/)

SWOT ANALYSIS OF INDIVIDUAL PERFORMANCE

STRENGTHS-

Throughout the project I was organised, making sure I knew what I had to, keeping on top of things and ensuring I was moving at a pace to keep to deadline. I knew that I was a reliable member of the team that would attend and complete the work that was expected of me, and an honest communicator if I did encounter any issues. I ensured to be a member of the team who supported others, making sure they were happy with their progress for their individual contributions and this is why I was keen to assist on shoots where I could, even though I didn’t photograph myself. Copy writing was my main responsibility within the team and I was happy with the standard of work created.

WEAKNESSES-

I am not at all confident with photography. We were fortunate to have two people in my team with these skills however I’d still class it as a weakness as if there was a situation whereby I’d have to take over, I might not have been reliable to produce a high standard of work for Blueprint.

THREATS-

A potential threat may have been that I had a lot of strong ideas / concepts for Blueprint but may have struggled with the skill sets and creative confidence to execute them exactly how I visualised them, however, this is where the support and contributions of my team overcame this.

OPPORTUNITIES-

I am a confident writer and enjoy it which was a good opportunity for the team as the majority of my team were very reluctant/ not confident in this field which meant that I could be highly beneficial as a contributor. I am always open to offering ideas that are strong and would work which was a good opportunity when deciding on stories and articles. Generally, I work well as team and knew that I could communicate efficiently and listen to others, even act as a mediator if need be.

ANALYSIS OF EDITORIAL TEAM PERFORMANCE

Phoebe:

Phoebe was an asset to the team who made the most contributions and was always organised, motivated an enthusiastic. She took on a leadership role and I felt like throughout we communicated really well with each other and were on the same wavelength and both wanted Blueprint to meet it’s full potential. We worked together frequently as our roles were mostly based around copy writing and layout. Together I feel like we did carry the team as we were the most reliable when it came to attendance and effort.

Rahul:

Rahul is professionally skilled at photography and it was great having him as part of the team. He was a creative asset and it was useful for me to see him work, I learned a lot from him and he was supportive of me in the shoots whereby I assisted him. His images turned out beautifully and he always captured things in the way we wanted, the final magazine looked to the standard it did because of him and his fantastic images. He was always positive and able to share opinions in a constructive way and offered solutions which made him a good communicator in the team. He was very supportive and encouraging to other members of the team.

Fazela:

Fazela was an enthusiastic, involved team member. Her photography/editing skills were useful in helping us produce the final project. There were some issues with teamwork; sometimes her opinions were negative during group discussions. We were open to people sharing opinions however when she would disagree it would’ve been more constructive if she offered alternative ideas over disregarding opinions of other members of the team. There were also some issues with listening meaning sometimes information had to be repeated multiple times which can become time consuming when working to a deadline. Putting this aside, she was a present member of the team that did help us to achieve the final product.

Patricia:

Patricia started the project slightly unmotivated and her enthusiasm improved during the second half of this project. The refusal to speak during the presentation of the media pack was disappointing however moving past this she became more involved and took on more responsibilities, doing well in her styling roles across shoots and the directing of the nude shoot. She communicated efficiently throughout so that we were updated with her progress and there was positive communication between us during the nude shoot that we worked on together.

Kate:

Unfortunately Kate’s presence wasn’t felt in the team and we may as well have been a team of 5. Her only contribution was the styling for the depop shoot, which was really high standard, which is a shame as she may have been able to use her skills throughout other aspects of the project. There was a big issue with a lack of communication whereby she would arrange to meet us at shoots then not attend without contacting us at all prior to the day or on the day also.

Conclusion of finished magazine

I was extremely happy and proud of the final product and seeing the team’s efforts combined into a final product. The front cover image is strong and enticing, working well as an introduction into Blueprint. I was really happy with our choice to commission an illustrator as when looking at the magazine as whole I feel they really help tie the whole thing together. The fact we kept the layout of the contents that was mocked up at the start of the whole project was promising as we kept to the identity that we crafted and had a clear brand aesthetically.

A key factor that we prioritised in our editorial policy was that we wanted to showcase high street/affordable clothing in an editorial way and I would

say that our photography is really strong and does keep to this, my personal favourite being the images from the Depop shoot. The layout is clean and consistent. We made use of touches that really helped to develop the identity of Blueprint and make it recognisable such as the capitalised fonts, use of muted colours, the plain ‘Blueprint’ pages for breaks from busier pages. This was important and this was something of concern to me after the media pack presentations, as some of the competitors had more niche magazines that had a very clear strong identity such as the sex focused magazine and the publication that was in two halves. I knew our aim was to appeal to a wider more general audience so it was important to develop

an identity so that we would survive in a struggling industry of fashion magazines, and not get lost.

The copy writing was of high standard and we wanted to ensure that why we wanted a focus on imagery and layout, that we didn’t neglect this aspect as we wanted people to actually enjoy reading the publication. The research put in before creating the publication was so important as it helped us develop concepts that worked well and were relevant to our target audience such as the male skincare article and modesty main feature. Overall, Blueprint looks professional and polished and I feel it does have a place in the market of fashion magazines.