UNIT X | PUBLISHINGDumbar | Topman | Retention

DumbarThe Studio Dumbar

workshop was a really nice way to start the Unit off. It was an enjoyable workshop that saw the year group display words and messages in an appropriate manor of

their choice. Our message was anti-drug related, so we designed labels for water bottles that would be distrobuted at night-clubs and events where drug problems are present.

Topman - Development & TrailingThe Topman brief has

seen me trail numerous different ideas in an attempt to create some form of visual identity for the new concept store, the first

concept I came up with is the logo design that uses recognisable coat hanger imagery. I felt as though this wasn’t an effective design so it didn’t make the final cut.

TOPMAN BERLI N

TOPMAN BERLIN

TOPMAN BERLI N

Topman - Final ArticlesInspired by the strong

and elongated structure of the buildings in Berlin, I produced the final opening poster on the right. The concept is lead purley

by the lines that form a recodnisable platform for cross associasion between the logo itslef and the other POS items such as clothing tags, bags and more.

On the 24th of may Topman will be opening the doors to a brand new concept store set in the Mitte shopping district

of Berlin. It will feature articles from Topmans high end fashion range shown at the London Collections 2016.

24.05.16

Rochstrabe 8 Mitte Berlin.

Publishing - Drafting/DevelopmentThroughout the project

out group has seen a lot of development of the concepts because for a while we were unsure on our visual identity.

Here can be seen the numerous different attempts at a front cover, as well as other potential logo designs and layouts produced by us.

Photo-shootsContent sourcing was

one of the largest tasks we had to complete in order to produce the magazine, and to do so we went out and

interviewed people, as well as investigating local shops in order to source interesting content for our magazine.

Publishing - FinalsIssuu Link - https://issuu.com/robsidlow/docs/tsundoku_mag_issuu/3?e=0

The link above is for a digital preview of our magazine This is the optimised way of viewing the publication,

the portfolio depicts the launch poster and a few examples of double page spreads from the issue.

(n.) the act of buying books with no intention of reading them. Letting them pile up on shelves, coffee

tables and the floor.

Photodocumentation,a working progress.

Reflective Questions

1. Research, What are the key influences you have identified out of your research? And why?

When researching for the magazine project one of the recurring things that came up was how essential appropriate audience engagement is. A brand new magazine won’t have a base that it can fall back on if it’s first issue doesn’t sell, so being something that an audience can appreciate is key, this was also one of the most difficult challenges for our project. We identified that our initial subject area is something that doesn’t interest most people, so after much discussion and trailing we changed the focus of the magazine to one that publicises interesting stories that are fun and unique. This is the main way in which we feel as though we could engage with our target audience more appropriately. The theme for our magazine was decided when we found the name, we spent a while trying to adapt the magazine so that it would have more of a Japanese influence, except we realised fairly early on that this wasn’t necessary for our target market, so from that aspect of our research we simply took the name and moved on. Visually we wanted the magazine to be interesting, but it needed to be something that was engaging for the target audience. We felt as though the condom illustration was appropriate for the cover because it would help bring attention back to the content of the magazine rather than the cover; if someone were to sight the magazine on a shelf they would be captivated by their curiosity, ‘why is there a used condom on the front of this?’. Researching for the Topman brief was great because its an aspect of the creative industry that I have never looked into before, through exploring the subject area I found that something unique and individualistic was going to be the most appropriate to fit the brief effectively, although this wasn’t the only thing. The city of Berlin in itself is wonderful and the town is iconic, it’s the first time I’ve taken inspiration from architecture when designing something. Although this aspect of my work isn’t immediately obvious it is still an underlying theme that has been taken from the location of the shop, making it more associated with to the people of the city. Taking influence from the right places is essential to an effective piece of design, I look forwards to taking this new knowledge with me into future briefs and projects. In regards to the Studio Dumbar workshop I feel like the research is what led us to our final idea of displaying the work on a water bottle, which in my opinion is a brilliant way of getting our anti-drug message across.

2. Investigations, Creative responses. Identify aspects of the project that you have developed further in line with your own creative practice

The publication brief has definitely been a slow one, as a project it has been an tricky one a times but I think the perseverance came with of the nature of the publication. I enjoy creating editorial design and it is defiantly one of the fields of Graphic design that I want to get into professionally. When referring back to my own creative practice I have put a lot of time into the photographic side of the publication because that is what I want to do. When the brief was set I was contented because I want to get into this line of work, photojournalism is something I’m interested in so when provided with the opportunity to go out and do just that, I made an effort to effectively source our content in a way that was appropriate and mindful of the eventual goal. Although the project hasn’t been one where I could control every aspect of the outcome it has still been something worthwhile. One other thing that I feel like I have developed further is my ability to work with other people, be it clients or a team. Communication between group members is something that’s integral to the success of a team, through things like Slack, Whatsapp, Imessage and numerous other digital tools we were all able to reach each other at any given time. One of the most interesting aspects about working on this project has actually been choosing the content that was to go into the magazine. It was a fun process whereby we took a step back and looked at the different articles and things that we had readily available to use in the magazine, before picking individual stories out that we felt were more suitable for going into our publication. The other aspect of the publishing brief that I’ve enjoyed most has actually being editing the images, it’s the first time I’ve had to run through and bulk edit a lot of images from a shoot in order to have them ready for a publication. I discovered numerous different things on Photoshop’s Camera Raw editing suite that enabled me to do this more efficiently and more effectively. I now only ever shoot in CR, why? Because the new tools I’ve come across when editing these pictures are allowing to alter them in bulk, meaning I can change the white balance and exposure of the individual images so that they are all unified in a way that is difficult to achieve using other methods. The other brand new thing I’ve come across is a photographic technique called the Brenizer effect. This is a method of stitching photos together much like your average panorama, accept it allows for vertical stitching as well as the standard horizontal stitches, this method aloud me to create a couple of attractive, large scale images of Manchester that we were able to use for the magazine on double page spreads.

3. Reflection, Reflect upon your engagement with each aspect of the unit.

When referring to my engagment with the project I would reflect and say that I’ve had ups and downs. The workshops that kicked off project were fun and enjoyable, with the Studio Dumbar workshop being a favourite. I enjoyed this project because together, Me and Jack correctly identified an issue that we could work around, allowing us to move forward and effectively display our ‘message’ in a manor that was appropriate for the people being targeted by our message. The strongest aspect about my engagment with this unit has been the research and documentation of work both in and out of the publishing brief. This is something that I evidently enjoy doing, but it is also one of the most important aspects to a project because research provided a platform for any project to grow on. On the other hand I feel as though my engagment with the Topman brief is my downfall. I got into a lot of bother with my work as I felt like it wasn’t worthy nor strong enough to be submitted, I revised the designs that I had produced in order to come up with something presentable but I feel like I could have done so much more. Within this unit I decided to do a digital blog for my research because I feel like this is more appropriate. Here I have been able to arrange displays of work I have been looking at that are more appropriate for this type of project, as well as being able to go back and edit anything I need to. Using a blog has also been useful because I have been able to refer back to it quickly and effectively, as well as having the opportunity to provide other people such as group members with a link so they can use it for their own reference. In my opinion the blog is effective, as well as being visually interesting and something that isn’t a chore to look through, it’s insightful and is filled with writing that should give a good idea of how we’ve been getting along as the project has unfolded. When talking about group work I would say I have had an essential role in keeping the project moving, as well as influencing group communication. It’s been an enjoyable experience, and as we’ve been getting closer and closer to third year it becomes apparent that the projects are going to be getting more and more like real world situations, which is something I’m looking forwards too. Similarly to the previous project visual communication 2, I would say that in reflection on my literal engagment with the course I’ve done well, I’ve been attentive and was present for the majority of the guest lectures, as well as being in both on timetabled and non timetable days to meet up for group work. Another similarity between the previous project and Unit X is that there has been a distinct rise in the amount of presentations we’ve had to do, which is a productive and enabling thing to do. I say enabling because through time and effort, presentations go down as great real world experience, regardless of whether they were part of a curricula or not. I now feel as though through executing numerous different presentations in the months leading up to summer, i’m more of an accomplished and confident speaker. I’ve been told that I am articulate and have a ‘good head’ about me, these comments are all fuel to the confidence needed to present professionally in the Creative industry.