Tuesday 1 October 2013
FEEDBACK EXCERCISE
For our presentation we had to present in groups of 8, for 5 minuets with, 1 minute to analyse and give/receive feedback. After receiving our feedback we then did and exercise in categorising what was beneficial to use in progressing with our designs.
Feedback that was positive.
Feedback that was positive.
- Loved how visual the presentation was
- Very focused on what you want to go into - specific + thorough
- Wide variety of designs researched
- Clear, concise and confident
- I like the link between your research and own work.
- Broad range of research that will benefit when looking at layout/ composition
- Through research on media and different style/ eras
- Good work for including action plan for this year.
Feedback that was specific
- Focus on photography
- Include designers more than different magazines
- Practice doing more digital editorials so you can become an expert
Feedback that could have been more critical
- Abundance on information
- Great example of personal experience
- Interest aided by placement in summer in chosen topic
- Clear interest in topic and points to improve on in future
- A lot of research well though out
- Large amount of research into a number of magazines
- Different magazine covers were interesting, e.g negative space idea
- Lots of visual research
- Could involve different aspects from each era of magazine design/ countries styles
We also then looked at how to give, informative and summative feedback and that in order to receive / give this we need to use a more specific and extensive use of vocabulary so that it is clear and concise. Even though we was given a small time frame it's important to execute this in a small amount of time.
Feedback objectives
From this we then had to select 3 objectives from the feedback we received to consider in improving our brief.
- Include designers names / studios more than the names of magazines
- Look more into digital design practices / layout and composition
- Look at specific mediums in deisgn, e.g photography & illustration.
Monday 30 September 2013
GRAPHIC DESIGN FOR FASHION EDITORIAL COVERS
Graphic Design for Fashion
Over the summer period I secured a placement at La Vida magazine which is a manchester based fashion, night and lifestyle magazine. I started my internship working for their first summer issue creating look books and mock up magazine covers for the photoshoot which I really enjoyed. This experience expanded my interest in creative direction and the design of magazine covers.
A magazine created purely for those who enjoy ‘the finer things in life’.
About La Vida
The magazine was established in 2012 and has 4 issues in total that come out seasonally. The first issue is called 'The Begging which was released September the 15th. The magazine is free and is distributed in nightclubs, radio stations and local shops.
The magazine also has various social networking sites that attract it's target audience. Including Twitter, Facebook and Instagram where they post regular updates of what the team has been up to and magazine features. The magazine can also be read online on Issu to reach a target market outside of Manchester.
They also have their own TV channel called La Vida TV that showcases interviews with celebrities that is published on Youtube and Vimeo. La Vida also has an official website that acts like a blog for the readers to find out more and for instant updates on fashion, lifestyle and nightlife.
History
La Vida magazine was created by Anthony Logan, who is the Creative Director. Other managing roles in the company include;
Abanoob Anton – Publisher.
Andreas Anastasiou – Marketing Director.
Athina Macpherson – Managing Editor.
Although the magazine is very new it has caught a lot of media attention from the celebrities they manage to interview and the trends the cover. Some of the celebrities include Ne-yo, Wretch 32, Oliver Proudlock and Misha B. Also as a new business they are expanding the company to Liverpool in the summer where there will be another launch of the magazine to build the franchise.
Target Audience
La vida magazines clientele is targeted at young business professionals with interests in fashion, entertainment music, nightlife and lifestyle aged between 20-30, but is also described as "an alternative fashion, lifestyle and nightlife publication for everyone and anyone to enjoy."
Why Do You Think It's Interesting?
Fashion is a prominent visual art industry that demands a persistent leading edge of creativity. Graphic designers have been involved with various aspects of the fashion industry since the early twentieth century. Graphic designers of fashion have represented the core values of their brand while pushing boundaries and expectations.
Having first hand experience of what it's like to work for a fashion magazine has expanded my knowledge of how to design for a particular target market and keeping up with specific trends and styles. I like how certain magazines aquire a specific font, style and layout depending on the topic. I found that a main interest of mine was working with type, colour and fashion photography to create a possible theme for a magazine cover.
This then prompted me to look into different era's of magazine cover design to see what skills and applications were used and how they have developed over time.
80S
In the 1980's there was an explosion of a postmodern style emerging. The covers were brighter and more experimental and there was a variation of fashion trends and groups from the new romantics to valley girls that influenced this. Also MTV was launched in the 80's which also had a massive effect on magazines as a surge of super models and entertainers graced the covers.
Why Do You Think It's Interesting?
Fashion is a prominent visual art industry that demands a persistent leading edge of creativity. Graphic designers have been involved with various aspects of the fashion industry since the early twentieth century. Graphic designers of fashion have represented the core values of their brand while pushing boundaries and expectations.
Having first hand experience of what it's like to work for a fashion magazine has expanded my knowledge of how to design for a particular target market and keeping up with specific trends and styles. I like how certain magazines aquire a specific font, style and layout depending on the topic. I found that a main interest of mine was working with type, colour and fashion photography to create a possible theme for a magazine cover.
This then prompted me to look into different era's of magazine cover design to see what skills and applications were used and how they have developed over time.
MAGAZINE COVERS OVER TIME.
30s
30s
Over the course of the 1930s, there was a general change in the style of women’s fashion from that of the previous decade and the re-introduction of the natural waist line and longer skirt lengths gave the female form a more elegant and slender look which is depicted in the issues below.
The cultural and political times of the 1930's have influenced the design magazine covers through the use of attitudes that supposedly grew more mature and elegant after the 20's. Also the time era had a strong sense of facisim that possibly suggests why the illustrations of the females were white.
The cover was directed by editor Allison Settle of the time and uses a colourful illustration to depict a 1930's woman. The cover uses bold block colours of white, green and red which connotes a sense of freshness and elegance. The typography is hand rendered and is in a script style which also contributes the elegant style. The composition of the cover also looks at the woman in a sophisticated location reading Vogue as a source of inspiration and entertainment. The stock of the cover is very grainy suggesting it was either designed on sketch paper to get this effect. The style is very simplistic with no use of tag lines or snippets of what the magazine entails suggesting that the image alone attracted a strong and knowing target market. The cover attracts a target market of middle class women as in that era there was in infamous wall street crash which effected the worlds economy and bringing it into a period of austerity.
The 1933 cover design was illustrated by Erté, his fashion drawings were colourful and his elaborate couture designs put the magazine at the forefront of creative innovation. Similarly like the image above the cover is all hand rendered and the texture of the cover is grainy, again suggesting it was either designed on sketch paper to get this effect. The cover uses bright and dark colours colours, and the silhouette of the woman in the forefront connotes a sense of mystery and sexuality. Like the Vogue cover there is a sense of elegance through the location of the drawing which looks like she's in a extravagant home with a open garden which depicts the culture of that time and the hope for prosperity. The typefaces used interchange between both script and san serif which shows the development of type a year later.
The covers of this time relied on innovative fashion illustrators to curate an image for women to aspire to be like. Using paint and pencils to bring the images to life.
Highlights
- Illustration
- Elegance
- No eye contact
- Personal / Aspirational
- Extravagant
45-50S
60S
The 1960s featured a number of diverse trends. It was a decade that broke many fashion traditions, mirroring social movements during the time. After designer Mary Quant introduced the mini-skirt in 1964, fashions of the 1960s were changed forever.
In the 1960's under the editorial direction of Helen Gurley Brown, Cosmopolitan pironeered its then radical message to women "Live big, go for it, be the best you can be in everyday life", Suggesting that women were more independant and had a new lease for life. The women on the covers became more sexy and confident from what has been shown in the previous covers above. The script fonts used in the 30's have been replaced by bold and block capitals to show off a sense of authority and more type is used on the covers to attract a target audience to show whats inside the issue.
The front cover of Bazaar uses a collaging technique over the left eye were Ruth Anderson cut out a section by layering one coloured image on top of a black and white one to get this effect. The magazine exudes a sense sophistication and the small collage effect on the eye makes it look edgy. The use of photography also shows how technology has come along and the development of the front cover magazine style.
The invention of the automatic camera also changed the cover of the magazine world as photographs were being used instead of the illustrations that were the forefront in the 30s. By the 1960s, however, low-cost electronic components were commonplace and cameras equipped with light meters and automatic exposure systems became increasingly widespread.
Highlights
- Bold serif typefaces
- Automatic photography of fashion models
- Puffs and plugs of what the magazine entails
- Readable type alignment
- More bright colour introduced
- Grainy paper
80S
In the 1980's there was an explosion of a postmodern style emerging. The covers were brighter and more experimental and there was a variation of fashion trends and groups from the new romantics to valley girls that influenced this. Also MTV was launched in the 80's which also had a massive effect on magazines as a surge of super models and entertainers graced the covers.
This is a magazine cover by Tony Viramontez who had a lot of influence in the 1980's fashion and magazine scene. His illustrations over photography really defined a new postmodern style for that era. The images are bold, bright and edgy and the experimentation with type alignment broke the rules of what was used before.
I-D magazine in the 80's was at the forefront of experimenting with type and image and creating a more handmade/ postmodern looks. There are techniques of collaging used with bright bold colours to attract a more edgy and rebellious crowd. The use of different typefaces specifically digital that create a futuristic look and changing the face of the cover magazine world.
Highlights
- digital collage
- layering
- unorthodox typefaces and alignment
- bright and bold colours / patterns
- celebrities and supermodels to attract a audience
- price from
20S
The 2000's saw a rise in tehcnology with the development of the computer, internet and design software such as adobe and microsoft. This then effectively allowed designers to push the boundaries on what they could produce and present on the cover of a magazine.
The 2000's saw a rise in tehcnology with the development of the computer, internet and design software such as adobe and microsoft. This then effectively allowed designers to push the boundaries on what they could produce and present on the cover of a magazine.
This is a issue from the underground fashion magazine POP, the cover experimented with 3D and 2D type and it's aligment, shape and colour a sense futurism. Also the model is a main factor as she isn't someone who would be aspired to look at neccesarily but would shocked by, thus attracting an audience to see what the magazine is about.
Again with this magazine there is a big development in type use, magazines have progressed in experimenting with typography to create a attractive front cover by using the negative space in the image to create catchy tag lines. Also the development of camera high quality and stock choice had progressively changed making the overall aesthetic of the magazine more sleek, high end and desirable.
Highlights
- introduction of my typography forms
- sleeker photography and stock
- studio based photography
- more genres and styles e.g high end, avant garde, underground
- price from
* four small issues from each decade*
Looking through these four decades has significantly shown how magazine covers have developed overtime through social, political and technological issues. From the 30s were they relied on fashion illustrators to now were they rely on technology, and graphical skills is something I find really interesting.
THINGS I WANT TO DO FOR THE FORTH COMING YEAR
To start my list I looked again at what I put in my end of year presentation to see if they were still relevant and my comments from past briefs. I then though about the research I had collated which shaped what I wanted to achieve this.
- How to create professional and a more refined style of digital type.
- To grasp a better understanding of layout and composition and apply it to my work, specifically in editorials.
- To experiment with photography and type in my designs
- To analyse and research my briefs in a clear and systematic way
- To expand upon my development work, so that I can create more outcomes
- Develop my skills extensively on Adobe software and expand my technical skills so that my concepts look more professional.
- How to create professional and working websites on Dreamweaver
- To experiment and learn more about packaging, cutting and folding techniques.
- To experiment with more materials and techniques in my designs e.g foiling, lazer cut.
- To be more organised when it comes to an execution of a brief, so that I can create the out come I initially entailed.
- You should aim to explore a much broader range of research methods over the coming months in order to improve and further develop your understanding and awareness
- you could record your opinions more clearly and be more thorough in your level of self-reflection.
- You should aim to explore a significantly broader range of research methods over the coming months in order to considerably improve your understanding and awareness.
- You should aim to explore the your initial visual responses more thoroughly if you want your ideas to be more effective.
- Your design solutions are, at times, underpinned by some relevant contextual and theoretical awareness but you will need to further explore these relationships at Level 05
- Concentrate on ‘synthesis’ more at level 5.
- You should look to further develop your awareness of your own areas of interest through further research, analysis and documentation ahead of Level 5 study.
SUMMER BRIEF: WHAT INTERESTS ME?
To start the summer brief I initially brainstormed a few of my interests by looking at the 3 subject points. I also revisited my PPP blog to see what had gained my interests throughout the year and if they were still relevant. I also adapted the experiences I had over summer which shaped my new interests and listed them below.
A hobby/interest?
Magazine cover design: I have always had an avid interest in fashion editorial design and my placement at La Vida magazine over the summer has enhanced this with attending to a behind the scenes photo shoot and given projects and briefs that challenged my interest in type and image.
Music events design: Attending music festivals over the summer gained my interest in wanting to design for one, including flyers, posters, lanyards, wristbands and other merchandise.
A invention/discovery?
Viral and Social media: How online media such as twitter, facebook, instagram,tumblr have shaped modern design and expanded branding techniques.
Web Design: I have always had an inate interest in web design from a very young age, when I use to design my own and friends piczo and tumblr pages. I would like to look further into how to create my own websites and how certain styles and sites fit a certain brand or target market.
A person/place?
Josip Kelava: Summer jobs that allowed me to see both side of marketing and branding industry and the difference between independent and commercial companies.
Terry Jones: I have always had an interest in art direction as a possible career in the future and Terry Jones has been a influence to me. I would like to find out the history and the roles in entails.
Project Plan:
I plan to do further research into three subjects from my list as these subjects are what I want to know more about and am extremely interested in.
- Fashion magazine cover design
- Music festivals and events design
- Josip Kelava
From this I will then develop a presentation on a chosen topic and focus point, with all the relevant information.
GRAPHIC DESIGN FOR FASHION EDITORIAL COVERS - CONTINUED
From researching all three subject choices I decided to choose Graphic Design for Fashion magazine covers, specifically in the 2000's as I feel the progression of magazine design was more strong in reagrds to experimenting with type, image, style and composition. Another factor to this is because it is interesting to me personally and I wanted to find out more.
I decided to research into fashion magazine's that I wasn't used to reading and looking at to get a bigger scope. how they designed their front covers and who the directors were to broaden my knowledge and interest's.
- Pop: a British fashion magazine co-founded in 2000 by Ashley Heath and editor Katie Grand. Pop is published bi-annually.
The initial creative directors for the magazine were Lee Swillingham and Stuart Spalding and these are some of the covers they collaborated on for Pop.
They then went on to design for a rival magazine called Love which Katie Grand launched.
V: is an American fashion magazine published since 1999. The magazine is printed seasonally and highlights trends in fashion, film, music and art. V is edited by Stephen Gan and as been noted for its inventive and progressive styling. it's iconic logo graces the cover of every magazine and is a main focus point amidst the model.
Derzeit: is a young and interdisciplinary Berlin magazine that looks at the cultural field stylishly, critically and with a certain euphoria.
BON: is a fashion magazine were each issue focuses on the relationship between fashion, art and technology. In BON Magazine the avant-garde future of fashion and culture is revealed. BON is produced by Editor-In-Chief Madelaine Levy and a selection of the world’s best writers, editors and photographers. Based in Stockholm and London, BON Magazine comes in two editions: BON and BON International, distributed in 28 countries around the globe. Main markets are the world’s fashion and arts capitals: New York, Milan, Paris, London and Berlin. - BI
Blend\: is the leading lifestyle magazine for people with more taste than time. Music, fashion, art, film, street – BLEND\ signalizes, opinionates and inspires. BLEND\ reveals interesting underground subjects and presents them upperground. Started in 2004, BLEND\ quickly established itself as the market leader in the Dutch alternative lifestyle media. The magazine’s points of reference are fashion, music, art, culture, media and people. Offering creative talent a platform, while inspiring young professionals who work in the creative industry is one of our goals. BLEND\ publishes BLEND\ Magazine 4x per year, distributed worldwide with a circulation of 50.000 copies.
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