Final Magazine Cover Image

This was my final magazine cover image. However after speaking to peers I came to the conclusion that physical vandalism. So then after I took the image to the printer I decided to physically remove the face from the model by tearing into the page.

This is what happened:

I am really happy with the result and feel like the physical vandalism adds something to the cover which you really wouldn't expect. I think it also gives a deeper meaning to the piece which really makes you stop and wonder why the models eyes have been torn out. 

Evaluation

After researching, brainstorming and experimenting I began to look into influences for trends, and after a while I found that I kept going back to looking at magazine covers. This soon became the direction in which my work was heading and a magazine cover became my outcome. My thoughts have definitely changed since writing my project proposal. At the very beginning I thought mainly of my outcome being purely photographic, whereas in reality it has become much more of a fashion promotion and styling project with the final outcome being photographic. 

At the very beginning of this project I wrote a very rough weekly plan for my Final Major Project and this helped me a lot to stay on track with my work load. However as the weeks progressed I found myself steering away from the initial plan, as at the beginning I wasn’t entirely sure where this project was going to take me. Therefore I began to make another weekly plan which scheduled all of my work and made me more confident that I would complete all my work. At the beginning of each day throughout the project I made a more detailed list of the tasks that I needed to complete in order to produce a well thought-out outcome. I am a person who likes organisation and so these methods that I took regarding planning throughout my final major project were vital and deffinitely made the development through the project a lot smoother. In my blog I have recorded all of my thoughts throughout the project and it has been a place in which I evaluate my work. It has really helped to physically write out my thoughts throughout the project and has lead to a lot more development within my work. Without the blog I don’t think I would have thought this far into my theme, and if I had I think I would be completely lost in my thoughts without being able explain what I am trying to present in my work. My sketchbook has been a very useful place that I can record all of my work in a more visual way. My sketchbook is an organised place in which I can put down all my researching and experimentations. I have made it visually stimulating so it can help me in my development in my project. If my sketchbook wasn’t organised I feel as though my thoughts wouldn’t be organised and therefore my project would have been incredibly difficult to complete. 

One of my targets that were to be met was to research in many different ways and to take different routes to ensure that I have come up with the most interesting idea that I could have, because if I'm not interested in it, how do I expect others to be. I wanted to make sure that I wasn’t just using websites for my research. Although I did use a lot of websites, I also used a lot of books, blogs and the general public. I used my Pinterest account a lot throughout the project and I would say that it was probably one of my most used form of research. I found it to be really quick to target the area in which I wished to research and it generated blogs, books and other websites to look at for research purposes. It was a big target of mine to complete a lot of experimentation throughout my final major project to ensure that the thought that have come about from development have been tested so I know what I like, what I don’t like and what actually worked.

Many things have happened that have influenced and caused development throughout the project. At the beginning of this project I began to become very unenthused with my project and the way in which it was heading. I knew that if I wasn’t enthusiastic about what I was doing then nobody else will be. I took myself away from my research and began being a bit more practical in the way that I was working. I started experimenting with carbon paper and a few random sketches. It wasn’t until I stamped my thumbprint on a page in my sketchbook that I started thinking about identity and what it means to have an identity, or in fact not to have one. This started to interest me, and I went down a phycology route within my research, this got me a lot more excited for my project, and I was finally starting to find a base for my project, and soon enough the ideas started rolling in. I found this a very clear point in my project that caused a lot of development, and because of it, my project went down an entirely different path to the way in which it was heading. I have always been interested in professional photoshoots and styling and I wanted to find a way to contribute this into my final outcome. When I started developments for the idea of fashion trends and fashion forecasting, I began to think about fashion magazines. After being told to ‘never judge a book by it’s cover’ as a child, and throughout my adolescence, I have found it very interesting, that no matter how many times we are told, it is incredibly hard to get out of the habit, and its for that reasoning that books and magazines try so hard to make sure that their covers are going to draw attention and get noticed. I wanted my own work to draw attention and get noticed, and it was because of this that I wanted to create a cover of sorts. 

Throughout the project I was involved in group reviews that were incredibly helpful within the development of my project. At each review, which happened at minimum of once a week, a tutor and a few other course members attended. It was really helpful to listen to and take on board advise from my peers and from a professional. I always made sure that I was open to criticism and if anything I craved for it more that I did praise, as it would make sure that I was doing all that I could to produce a successful project. It was in these group reviews that I was advised to be more practical when I was unenthusiastic about my project, this was very helpful to hear. I also asked for many one-to-one tutorials throughout the project as they were very informative and encouraging for me. At each tutorial advise was given and it was incredibly helpful to hear what it was that I could do to ensure my project was the best that I could produce.The fact that I had three tutors to have these tutorials with opposed to only having one was something that I was deffinitely grateful for as it meant that I was given advise from three different points of view, and it was very interesting to see what they liked compared to each other and what they each suggested I should do in order to take my project further. I was grateful that I could ask peers what they thought of my work. I made sure to hang up my work above my workstation for all to see as they would come over and give suggestions without me even asking, which I loved. 

I have taken a lot of things away from this project. One of these things is that I have liked making mistakes in this project. At first I started making mistakes and not really getting anywhere with my project, but it was from these mistakes that I was been able to create a base for my project and from that produced what I think are some really interesting ideas and outcomes. Some things that I would change about my approach to my project would be my time management, because although I have made schedules throughout the project, I would make sure they are realistic plans. I have developed key networking skills throughout this project and have become more confident to go out and speak to people throughout this project. After completing my week long work experience with French Connection I became a lot more confident and proactive in the way that I do things and I have even found some exciting summer internship work at a photography studio. Next year I will be completing my Foundation year at Ravensbourne in Fashion and Textiles which will lead to fashion promotion gateway. I am excited to be focusing on this specialism as I have always been heavily interested in this subject area and I used this past year to experience other specialisms and confirm my wanting to progress with fashion. 

Magazine Cover Initial Idea

I thought about how I wanted an unconventional looking magazine cover. That I wanted it similar in someways like its glamorous gloss image, yet completely different in other ways such as the model not even being aware of the fact that I am taking their picture.

Being a shy person I wasn't comfortable at first with taking strangers photos but as I began doing it it became a lot easier and the majority of the models were happy for me to take their picture. 

I went out to a Shopping centre and took lots of photographs of people shopping. I didn't focus on their genders, ages or race. In fact for most of the photographs I didn't actually want their face in the frame.

This was my first photoshoot for the project and it was to plan however I wasn't that happy with the images that came from it. I think that they were too unplanned. I wanted to replicate the glamor seen on famous fashion magazines such as Elle and Vogue, but show the less glamorous side of reality when it comes to shopping, and I wasn't sure that this was coming across. I was also aware of the fact that because my photographs were very spontaneous, I lost the quality in my images. 

The Degree Show Planning

I have thought about how It is that I would like to present my work for the degree show. My intention was to create something similar to a magazine cover that is likely to be framed and displayed at a fashion brand head quarters. I started thinking about this idea whilst I completed my work experience placement at French Connections HQ in Camden. I thought about the ways in which I can hang my cover for display and a few ideas came to mind. I could hang a large A1 printed version from the ceiling make making it eye level and quite striking to anyone that comes across it.  However after hearing that many other people on the course we're planning on displaying their work in a similar way, I started thinking about how mine wouldn't be as striking and draw as much attention, as there would be many other pieces of work doing the same task.

I then thought about displaying it in a simple Frame. It could be leaning against a plain wall or hung higher on the wall. What I think would be really effective about this idea is that surrounding the cover would be a lot of blank space which I think would really draw your eyes into my work and beg you to come closer to have a better look.

Work Experience Week Evaluation

Work Experience Day Five

Work Experience Day Four

Work Experience Day Three

Work Experience Day Two

Work Experience Day One

Photography Manipulation - Loss of Identity

I started thinking back to my original idea, as I wanted to take my photographs from my shoot further. This idea of fashion forecasting and people being obsessed by trends and being consumed by them came back into my head. I loved this idea and I deffinitely didn't want it to get lost in the midst of my work. I thought about how if people get too consumed by trends they almost loose their identity, and this as a topic in itself is one I am very interested in. I thought about how I can let this come across in my work. What if my model had missing features in the photograph. For example her eyes could be blacked out, either individually or by a black stripe. This could be done easily in Adobe Photoshop. But what about if i physically tore out the eyes, our if I spray painted a black line over the eyes. Or just drew one with a black marker pen. I think this would make it really interesting and I think I would deffinitely set it aside from other magazine covers.

You expect magazine covers to be glossy and clean so to find one that almost looks like it has been purposefully vandalised would certainly make it interesting. 

For this idea I found inspiration from the photographer Antoine Gregor. He takes photographs of people looking at their phones in various different settings, and later manipulates them to look as though the peoples faces are being sucked quite terrifyingly into their phones. The fact that this obviously isn't happening in the sense that the naked eye can see it means that people in the photo when it was originally shot are completely unaware and just see it as someone simply looking at their phones. I think this concept is really interesting and helped me to come up with my own way of manipulating my photography. 

Photoshoot Day

When it came to the photoshoot I was really happy with my model, the location, and what I had for styling. My model was Zanna Long, my location was at her home, against a very simple warm toned wall, and for styling I had my many, many receipts. 

I began with the shots that I had planned. With Zanna covered with the large piece of paper made by attaching many of the receipts together. I styled her just as I had practiced on the mannequin beforehand. Some other planned shots were of Zanna's head and eyes being covered in loose receipts. I think these shots came out really well and so I decided to then go with my instincts and shoot whatever ideas came into my head. There was some really good natural sunlight coming in from the bay window in the house and so I used this, and it meant that I didn't have to hire out any equipment that would make getting to the location for the shoot difficult. 

I took advantage of the natural light and placed Zanna in front of the window, seated on a stool, although I made sure it was covered in the receipts so it wasn't visible, and placed Zanna's back to some clear double doors which gave an unplanned yet interesting beachy vibe to the shot. In this shot I also attached the receipts in an unplanned way. I tucked them into the straps of the leotard in a rough way, and the photos that came from it were some of my favourite from the shoot. 

I was really happy with my shoot, but I could deffinitely take it further with more experimentation. 

Preparations For My Photoshoot

To begin preparing for my photoshoot I started thinking about a model. If I wanted to create a Magazine cover, picking a model was integral. I am running out of time in this project with only about 3 weeks left to finish. Luckily a friend of mine is very photogenic and with my planned hair and make up looks, will be the perfect person to be my glamorous model for my magazine cover. 

I created 4 mood boards to prepare for my photoshoot, casting, costume, hair and make up, and location. The casting was pretty simple as I had had my model in mind for a short while. Costume was quite simple as well as my receipts would cover the majority of the body. All I needed my model to wear was a simple black leotard, my model being a dancer had plenty of these of easy access to her. I thought about make up and hair for a while and came to the conclusion that it was best for her to stay somewhat natural with a small amount of foundation to ensure her skin was clear and a small amount of eyeliner and mascara. My model is 17 and therefore somewhat younger than the models you expect to see on globally known magazines like vogue for example. I wanted my audience to be adolescent as they are the most open to change, and therefore I wanted to reflect this age in my model. For location I also wanted it to be simple as the main focus is the receipts covering the model and therefore I don't want a background with a lot of things going on that may detract attention from the main message of the cover.

  

Combining the Receipts into One Large Piece

After completing the styling workshop I came to the conclusion that my photoshoot would probably work a lot better if the receipts were joined together to form a large roughly 1 metre by 1 metre piece of material. I would then be able to drape it more easily over my model and/or pin it to fin the model it a more interesting way. I would experiment with this before hand on a mannequin. 

I thought about different ways that I could join up my receipts. I experimented with a few of these ideas to see what would work most effectively. First I tried a more fashion textiles approach by hand sewing the receipts together. For the experimentation I chose to do hand sewing as it more available to me at the time, but had this been the best option I probably would have used a sewing machine. I did however chose against this option as it took a lot of time, and had I of used a sewing machine I would have mostly found it quite fiddly trying to line up each individual receipt. For another experiment I tried simple glue stick. This was quite quick and actually worked surprisingly well. It dries quick and seeing as it was paper and not fabric it held well. I thought about using other glue types such as hot glue and PVA, however this would just cause unnecessary mess and wouldn't be as quick drying, especially the PVA glue.

It took me a couple of hours to attach as many receipts as it would to join the receipts to produce a larger piece of paper just over a metre squared in size. I thought this was an appropriate size as it would cover the majority of the body of my model. I made sure that I left a good amount of single receipts spare incase I did want to try a few shots using these in my shoot.

Making of Receipts

After writing out all of my ideas my thought process of what I want to represent in my work has become a lot clearer. I know that I would like to produce something that incorporates the photography and styling side of fashion promotion. I know that I want to represent people being obsesses with status and how much they have spent on something. I thought of a few ways that I could show this and two immediate ideas were the use of shopping bags and receipts. Two things that can quite easily be used in a photoshoot. 

I thought about receipts first as this might take a little longer to experiment with and my initial thought was that this would be more interesting out of the two. Being a 17 year old student, I don't have a lot of money to go out with and buy things that would help me to gain a large amount of receipts that would be enough to style someone in. I looked inside my purse and found 5 receipts, this deffinitely wasn't enough to style a whole body in, so I knew I would have to recreate these receipts to produce a lot more. I thought about tracing them and using different materials, but knowing that I didn't have a lot of time left on the project and I had only just started experimenting I thought that I would start with photocopying the receipts lots of times so that I would have plenty. To do this in the most effective way possible I stuck the 5 original receipts on an A4 page and photocopied that close to 40 times, meaning I had a total of about 200 receipts. I cut each one out and crumpled it to thin out the paper and produce the wrinkles that are commonly found on receipts after they are thrown into the bottom of your shopping bag. This worked really well and the receipts that had been printed out on standard paper, came out looking and feeling like the common receipt.

Stylist Workshop

During this project, an opportunity was brought about to attend a styling workshop, given by one of the tutors at Ravensbourne. Knowing that I was going to be preparing and completing my photoshoot very soon, I knew that this was an opportunity that I couldn't miss.  

I was asked to bring in any scrap fabric that I had, unfortunately I didn't have much in the way of interesting fabrics, however a friend that was also taking part in the workshop had a lot of different fabrics that represented cultures from all over the globe. Fortunately she was kind enough to share her amazing fabrics with me and we could work together to make some really interesting styles. I was actually very pleased that we worked together as it meant that I could see how someone else thought about things, and whether they could see things that I couldn't, or whether I could in fact see things that they couldn't. I had a total of 6 fabrics and I started with one fabric on a mannequin, pinning it to different areas and manipulating it to create different looks on the stand. After working with single fabrics for a while I began combining fabrics, starting with two and progressing to as many that I could pin without the pins working too hard to keep the the fabrics attached. I thought about twisting single pieces and then I thought about what would happen if I intertwined several pieces. After a while I even started cutting into the fabrics and seeing what  would happen then. 

I really enjoyed this workshop and it was very helpful as it helped me a lot to think about how I will style my receipts on my model when it comes to my photoshoot. I have previously thought about covering my model in single receipts however after working with 1mx1m pieces of fabric I have thought about the possibility of joining all my receipts together to create a large piece material that can either be draped or pinned to fit my model.

  

Sociology Research

I have been looking into the sociology factor of impulsive shopping. Ive been thinking about if your friends and the people you surrounded yourself with people that like to follow trends, you are more likely to be consumed into trends. I myself have been sucked into this. Seeing photos in magazines then later seeing your friends wearing the outfits, and eventually me wanting to buy and wear them. i have also thought about it not specifically being a piece of clothing but in fact a shop. There was a time when the shop Hollister was one of the most popular clothing stores and a lot of times there would be a large queue just to look around the store, where the majority of the time people would come out of the shop having bought a single body spray in the smallest size.

I think that peer pressure comes into this topic of trends quite a lot. If your friends and the people you surround yourself with are following the trends, you may feel like if you don't follow the trends that you will looked down upon and that you might feel like you don't properly fit in with that group.

Also if you socialise with your friends in your spare time and go shopping, you might feel bad and the 'odd' one if you don't buy something from the shop that everyone else is buying from. This would put you on the more external side of the locus of control spectrum as someone else is in control of your actions, whether you are realising it or not.

Thought Process Update

After researching I became quite unenthused when it came to thinking about my project, as I was very unsure of what I wanted to create. I knew that I wanted to keep it in the theme of the Locus of control and fashion forecasting in order for my project to easily, but interestingly, reflect the general Future Reset theme. After thinking about fashion forecasting and how people shop, I looked more into how people are obsessed with trends, whether they are aware of it or not. I linked this to The Locus of Control as people with an external locus would see it as people (fashion forecasters) deciding what we are wearing, and people with an internal locus would see it as its still them deciding what they are going to wear. Yet no matter what your locus, you can still follow trends and be consumed by them. 

After thinking about this concept I became a lot more enthusiastic when I thought about where I can go with this project. Could I produce a lookbook showing the contrast between people with external locus' and people with internal locus'? Could I produce just a series of images that are framed? 

I thought about how people spot trends and how people begin the wanting process of the desire to own the clothes. I thought about fashion magazines and how they target specific audiences and produce these glamorous, desirable yet mostly unachievable images of models wearing clothes that will be what we want to wear next season. I think that idea is really interesting. What if I cover a glamorous looking model in receipts. You would expect to find a glamorous made up model dressed in equally glamorous clothing, however what if the model was wearing really unglamorous clothing , i.e. covered in receipts. The idea would be that she/he is advertising the idea to spend money rather than showing readers the actual clothes. It would show how the actual pieces of clothing are lost in the process of buying them a lot of the time. Many people are more excited about the status of spending a certain amount of money, or what brand they have just bought from than the actual piece of clothing. Magazines such as Vogue and Elle use celebrities as well as models to promote style and their brand on their covers. These people are celebrities have a lot of money and so what they are promoting is an unachievable status, yet people are still going to attempt to achieve it, and think that they will by buying similar clothes. 

Psychology Research

Nature vs Nurture is something that I have linked to the psychology side behind my concept of the locus of control. Also the idea of the glass half full, or glass half empty.

If you are taught from a young age the importance of money you might think more about what you are spending your money one.

Linking to the locus of control. Being in control - if you are a true shopaholic do you feel in control. Are you actually in control. If your parents have an external locus you are more likely to have an external locus, and the same with an internal locus. If you have an external locus you may be more consumed by the trends and what is influencing you. If you have an internal locus then you may be more self aware on what you are influenced by and even if you follow the trends, you are fully aware of it.

I have thought about how I could show this in my project and I have thought about how I could produce a magazine cover. I could produce two magazine covers even - one focusing on an external locus and the other focusing on an internal locus. I have looked into Vogue magazine covers as inspiration for the style of possible magazine covers. I have then thought about linking it to my theme of future reset and thinking how I could have a futuristic magazine cover, or even a old fashioned magazine cover, or maybe combine them or have one of each.

Trends and Impulsive shopping

I have thought more about how this topic relates to my theme of the future reset. The idea of being consumed by trends and ultimately buying what you are told to buy from what is being advertised made me think a lot about whether it is the clothes we are buying or the brand. I visited a local popular shopping centre and observed peoples shopping habits. Popular shops such as Victoria Secret Pink brought in a lot of teenage girls and all they came in to buy was the smallest size of body sprays just for the bag. I am aware (from doing it myself) that those girls will most likely save the bag and use it for their PE kits come Monday morning. 

Shopping for the Status Not for the Goods

I have been thinking about trends throughout this project and how they change, and we change to suit the trends. I have been thinking about shopping for the brand rather than for the clothes or accessories.

Case Study research

I took it upon myself to research into different case studies that have already looked into people being obsessed with fashion trends and shopping for them. I looked at an article titled 'Confessions of Former Shopaholics' which I found HERE. Upon visiting the site I was surprised to find them advertising for various different clothing retailers on the top and sides of the article. I also found out whilst reading the article that 'Approximately 2 to 5 percent of Americans have a shopping addiction. For many, the consequences are devastating: more than 1 in 20 Americans have a shopping habit that jeopardises their relationships or careers, according to a study published in the American Journal of Psychiatry'.  

Reading that 2 to 5 percent of americans have a shopping addiction made me think that that isn't that many people, however after calculating it is still over 6 million which is a shocking number. The other statistic that I read would mean that over 64 million Americans have a shopping habit that jeopardises relationships or even careers. That number is truly shocking and made me think a lot about the circumstances of said habits. Are the shopaholics aware of the fact that they have a problem. It also made me think about whether simple lessons about money were taught when the shopaholics were younger. Or maybe the lessons were taught and due to the spending restrictions as children they feel the need to over spend as adults. 

Research for Final Major Project so far

So far on this project I have thought about many different ways that I can start to think about the way in which I want to take the theme of future reset that I am interested in. I am still intrigued in the idea of the locus of control, and how people think it is others that are the causes of their futures. I thought about how I can manipulate this idea to fit a specialism. I am interested in media and of fashion. I thought about how social media can push fashion trends and how even if you think you are in control, what you wear is most likely heavily influenced by something or someone else. In a similar way I thought about different religions and how depending on your faith, you may be restricted to wear a certain thing and act a certain way. These choices are on different places on the locus of control spectrum. For media influences it still comes down to your choice so it would be a more moderate external locus. However people of faith would be a stronger external locus. Some people may argue that it is still moderate and not strong because they still have a choice whether to have faith in a religion, but to some they believe that it is the only option. 

I have also thought about the specialism I would like to work in throughout this project and I thought about how I would like to work with photography as we only worked with that specialism for two weeks and I really enjoyed it and would like to have more experience with it.

RIBA Creation From Catastrophe

I have always been interested in architecture and especially when it comes to architectural history, I was therefore very excited to visit the Creation from Catastrophe exhibition at the Royal Institute of British Architecture. Before visiting I researched what the exhibition would display and I was excited to learn that it would show and teach me about how areas all over the world were rebuilt after such catastrophic events such as the Great Fire of London and Chicago. 

The exhibition itself was set out in a timeline like fashion which I was a fan of. I was interested to find out that after catastrophes such as the Great Fire of London many, many architects produced plans to rebuild the city which I had never really thought about before. Architects such as Valentine Knight. Sir Christopher Wren, Sir John Evelyn and Richard Newcourt are just a few that were showcased at the exhibition with their plans for London after the great blaze. I was particularly intrigued by how detailed a small scale plan can be. Most of the plans displayed were of A3 size, and captured therefore displayed the part of London that needed rebuilding on a significantly smaller size, yet still included key details, some that were too small to read unless you were up especially close. 

I had heard about the Chicago Fire of 1870 but know of hardly any details regarding the event. For example I learnt at the exhibition that the fire 'paved the way for a huge city expansion leading ultimately to the first skyscrapers'. I thought that this was very interesting and wondered what the area affected by the fire would be like now if there wasn't a fire to begin with. Would it have remained largely the same? Would there have been a city expansion? Would it have been to the scale that the expansion was? And would there be as many skyscrapers and how much later would they have started to be built? 

Another interesting part of the exhibition was finding out, in more depth, about catastrophes that have occurred in my life time that I shockingly knew little about. Some of these catastrophes include the Napal earthquake that occurred barely a year ago, the Hiroshima earthquake in 2001 and Pakistan which has been victim to multiple earthquakes over the years. 2005, 2013 and 2015 to name a few. From a simple google search I have learnt that there was in fact an 4.8 magnitude earthquake in the early hours of this morning (20/04/16) in Afghanistan.

Locus Of Control

Upon researching for my final major project which has now began I found out about a concept entitled 'Locus of Control'. I was very interested in the idea and it has become the most significant piece of research that has inspired the concept of my project. 

The Locus of Control is essentially a questionnaire which puts you on a scale of whether you have a more internal locus or external locus. If you think that what happens to you is based upon your own actions then you have a more internal locus and if you think that what happens is out of your control then your locus is more external. I found this incredibly interesting, especially how you can be any where on a scale. Once you take the questionnaire, which can be found HERE, you are placed on the scale. Depending how high or low your score is determines how strong your external or internal locus is. 

I linked this idea to my project concept as I was interested about how people think about their actions now and what they did in the past and how they sculpt their future. If their future isn't going how they would like then they may blame the actions they carried out in the past. I thought about how it may not even be their own actions that have sculpted their present or will help to sculpt their futures. This is how I found out about the Locus of Control. 

Height x Width x Depth - 3DD Project Evaluation

I was told in the brief that throughout this project I was going to be visualising three dimensional forms in both object and spacial. I was excited to look at each of these in smaller, separate but linked projects. I was most looking forward to the spacial segment of the project as I have worked with three dimensional objects in the fashion project already, however I had not yet worked in a spacial, architectural/interior design way. I have always been interested in making spaces and decorating and filling them in my own preferred way. I begin the object part of this project by choosing practical and impractical objects. I found this a restriction as although the brief for choosing these objects was quite open, I am not an incredibly sentimental person and therefore I found it quite difficult to choose my objects. I was therefore not very enthused about using my objects in the project, and this may be a reason as to why I wasn't incredibly excited throughout this part of the project.

I looked heavily into the designer Zaha Hadid. Although I am not a huge fan of her work as I find it very repetitive and predictable, I am a fan of the curves and overall style of her buildings in particular, opposed to her other products such as her sofa and shoes design. I think that this was very interesting as I found that her work was more influential for me during the object part of the project rather than the spacial part. I was heavily inspired by her sofa design when creating my own sofa from my pen knife, despite not actually liking her design. I new that spacial and architectural design incorporated a lot of calculating, however I didn't quite predict how much it would entail. Although this wasn't too complicated, it was frustrating when I didn't work out the scale of things correctly first time. This was to be expected as I am an amateur in this discipline, nevertheless it was still frustrating and not very enjoyable.   

For both projects I began by researching several designers that work in the appropriate fields. I always find researching designers very interesting as it is always intriguing to see how designers work and how they each come up with different and unique creations. I think that a significant step in my work was the sketching of buildings and objects. Up until this point I wasn't very inspired and therefore this was the first time in the project where I really started thinking about what object I wanted to create as well as the latter problem of how I wanted to go about changing my house. I found timings to be the area in which I struggled the most. I had two weeks for each of the smaller projects, with the first week of each being dedicated to more research based tasks. After completing the research I only had one week to produce and present my new object and space. I felt that in the end I was very rushed in completing my work and that therefore it is not up to the standard that I would have liked it to be. However the fact that I am an amateur in these fields I am proud of the work that I have produced. Feedback throughout the project taught me that I need to focus more on thinking outside of my comfort zone, although there is no real excuse for this, I think that the reasoning behind this is that I spend too long researching and therefore rush myself when creating my ideas and producing them into a final outcome. 

I used several architectural books when creating the floor plans for the spacial part of this project. I found this really helpful as it was good to see how other designers go about creating their designs. The books I used were; 'Drawing into Architecture' by Papadakis and 'Drawings of Architectural Interiors' by John Pile. The main technique that I learnt and used in this project was creating presentation sheets in InDesign. I hadn't worked on InDesign that much up until this project so it was good that due to this project my skills had been improved. Other than that a lot of the other techniques used where transferred from other projects, technical drawing being an example of this. I am thankful that many of the techniques that I have used throughout the projects have been transferable however it would have been nice to experience new techniques and skills.

I think I am a very organised person in the way I work, however I think that sometimes this leads into being a perfectionist, although this isn't necessarily a really bad things, it often leads me into running out of time and therefore I often rush to finish. I would like to change this habit in the future. I do think that I have improved on this throughout projects but there is definitely more room for improvement in this area

Drawing Floor Plans and Making My Beach Villa

I am fond of floor plan drawing apps and have been using them for a while now, so I was very excited to begin drawing one for this project. Although I have created many of my own floor plans in the past, I have never been taught how to produce one in the correct way. This being my first time I thought I did a good job. I chose to use a 1:20 scale to keep my floor plan quite big. I chose to do this as it would be clearer on the page and I think it made it easier for me considering this was my first time. 

Although it was easier to make the floor plan big, when it came to making my cardboard house I think that it would have been easier if I were to make it on a smaller scale. It may have been more complicated but I wouldn't of had to use as much cardboard, and it certainly would have been easier to store. 

I chose different techniques throughout the making of my 'beach villa' such as sticking down the walls with tape and hot glue. I found that the hot glue was a lot neater for my house, however I was constantly changing the walls, so the tape became my preferred adhesive. I chose to change my house into being a beach villa rather than just a house in the same location that I am living currently. I have always be keen to travel and have always wished that my family owned a holiday home in another country. I chose Spain, specifically the island of Mallorca to be the location of my beach villa as it was where I used to go on holiday as a child and therefore has sentimental meaning to me. 

Sketching My House

I started this project by taking photos of my house so that I could sketch it in different ways. These sketches included shutting my eyes which I found particularly interesting, this being because it made me aware of the parts of my house that I remembered and therefore were most important to me, even if I didn't realise it myself. 

I also looked at the good and bad points of my house, taking into to consideration the location of my house as well. I had always thought about what I would want in and around my dream house but I had never actually sat down and written a list of these points. I actually found it quite difficult after putting down the points that I have always thought about changing for my house. I think that because I had never thought very extravagantly about how I would change my house I found it difficult to come up with unique architectural developments for my house.

  

3dd Changing the Use of my Object

I decided to take my practical object further for this project and change its use of being a pocket knife, nail file and pair of scissors and alter it. I chose this object over the fork as the uses that the object already had were more interesting in my opinion, and I was therefore more intrigued to start manipulating the object so it would be suitable for a different use.  

After some rough designing I found that the scissor part of the pen knife was a better shape to manipulate into another use. I came up with a few different ideas, but soon found turning the scissors into a sofa was more interesting. I really liked the fact that if you sat on the sofa you wouldn't know that the sofa was in fact in the shape of a pair of scissors unless you saw it from above. 

3DD Orthographic Drawings

I had heard of Orthographic drawings before but I wasn't entirely sure how exactly to go about producing one subject of my impractical and practical objects. I decided that to practice the technique I would create an orthographic drawing of a product that one of the designers that I looked at, Karim Rashid, created. I took a simple product, a chair, to practice with and after this I managed to grasp the technique. 

I didn't quite get the hang of the technique straight away and therefore my first try is not one hundred percent correct. However I chose to include this in my work as it shows a learning process. 

3DD Practical and Impractical Objects

To begin the three dimensional design project, I choose an object that had a good use, that I enjoyed using and was practical. I then chose an object that I didn't use very much, didn't like using and was impractical to me. For the practical object I chose my swiss army knife and for the impractical one I choose a fork that lets water in and therefore is not enjoyable to use. I took these objects and drew them in different ways and with different media. I also drew them with my eyes closed. I thought that this was a really difficult as it really made me think about the objects' shapes in detail, something that you wouldn't really think about when using them in every day life. I used biro pens as well as pencils in graphite and various other colours. I think this was a good decision as the colours gave the sketches a more realistic feel, even if they were drawn with my eyes closed.

Fashion Accessory Evaluation

At first I thought that this project was going to be really difficult seeing as though we were gonna be using everyday objects as our materials to make our fashion accessory. We were told that this project will introduce us to 3D problem solving and I was keen to get started and see what I would have to adapt to for the duration of the four week project. This was the aspect of the brief I was most looking forward to. I did think that using only everyday objects would be a big restriction for me for this project and that this would be the aspect of the project that I would struggle with. 

I looked at Iris Van Herpen during the fashion project and I really enjoyed looking at her work for inspiration when it came to creating my fashion accessory. She has created a lot of chest, neck and general upper body pieces in her career and although they are all different, they are all easily identifiable as being her work and I like this about her work. A lot of the times when artists have clear continuity throughout their work after some time they can become quite repetitive and you can almost guess what they are going to bring out next. I learnt that sometimes the best designs can be those that have come from experimentations or were even experiments themselves to begin with. Therefore when it came to designing my accessory I chose to try to be experimental in the way that I worked. I think this worked well for me as I didn't think much about what I was doing during the design process and I just went with the way the paper folded or the way the pin attached to the mannequin/page. The experimental element of this project also reflects the trends at the moment I think. I also have seen that the a lot of the trends at the moment tend to be minimal and monochrome, both things that I feel come through in my accessory.

I began this project by finding inspiration. I did this by looking at other designers such as Eric Halley and Anne Valerie Hash. I focused on the accessories that these designers had created rather than garments as the brief told me that I myself would create a fashion accessory. After looking at some designers I went on to make a mood board. I focused on the colour pallet that I wished to use which was a monochrome pallet with some blues. I chose this as it mirrored the monochrome fashion trends that are popular today. I chose to look at architecture for my mood board as it is something that I am interested in and I wanted the structural side of it to come through in my accessory when it came to making and designing it. I started the designing process by creating several samples out of house hold items including string, bottle lids and pen lids. After putting together the samples I photocopied them lots of times to represent how the sample could be repeated to create an accessory. I took the photocopies, cut them out and manipulated them before pinning them to a mannequin in different ways. This was very much an experimental task and I used the time to think and try out different areas of the body to figure out where it was that I wanted my accessory to go. This was a significant step in the project as it was here that I started to think that I wanted my accessory to be a chest or shoulder piece. Throughout the project I also picked up valuable skills such as how to use a heat press machine, and also reminded myself on how to use a sewing machine, something that I was already comfortable in using. I then decided to make five more mood boards, one for casting, another one for hair and makeup, one for styling, one for location and one for lighting/mood. I found making these extremely helpful as it was a simple visual way to plan out the photoshoot of my accessory. I originally wanted a female model but due to timings I could only find a male one, however now looking at the photos I think that it is actually better when a man is photoed in the accessory and the image is far more powerful. Another problem I encountered while working on this project was the fact that I wanted my accessory to be strong, heavily structured but simple. At first I was unsure about how I was going to be able to do this considering I needed to have a fastening in order to keep it on the body while being worn. Eventually I came up with using an old pair of jeans as the base and using the button and zipper fastening that was already a part of the initial garment as the fastening for my accessory. This problem solving also worked as a positive for my accessory as I was reusing a piece or clothing rather than going out and buying new fabric. I was told throughout the project to experiment with other areas rather than the chest, neck and shoulders, and I did make sure I amended this and went back into my designs to experiment more with other parts of the body. I found that I was still keen to work in the area I had previously chosen but I was glad that I went back and made sure that I had made the right decision.

I used many designers' websites to reference and search for inspiration for my work. I also looked at fashion magazines as research for the photography portion of the project in particular. I have remained organised throughout this project which I think has become very important. I was very tight for time during the four week period and despite falling ill for one of the weeks, I still managed to keep track on all of my work and managed to produce an accessory that I am proud of. In this project I have learnt how to use a heat press machine, something that is a good skill to have for a designer. I really enjoyed learning to use the heat press and I found it really interesting to see what i could create with it. I particularly enjoyed creating different shapes by melting part of empty water bottle.

I think that time management was the main area that needed improvement in this project as I had to move on from research and begin designing quite quickly and therefore my research and influences are lacking. I would like to go back and make the links from my research and my final outcome clearer to ensure that it is clear how my research came into my final accessory.
 

Fashion: Photographing my model

When it came to choosing my model I went through a process and created five different mood boards to ensure that my photographs would be well thought out. The five mood board topics were as follows; casting, location, lighting, makeup/hair and styling. I thought thoroughly about my model, and decided that since my accessory was unisex, and the majority of other people had chosen to use a female model, I would use a male model. I think this gave a stronger effect on the accessory. Had I chosen a female model I don't think it would had the same effect because the facial features wouldn't have been as strong as that of a man. 

I decided to have my model standing against a simple background to make sure the focus was on my accessory and to also give focus on each individual coil. I chose a simple cream wall in my house for this and opened a door at the right angle, which gave a good amount of light but which also gave strong shadows to the face. 

From all the photographs I took, I created contact sheets so I could easily see all the photographs at the same time and quickly select a handful of them that I liked. I then played around with different layouts and decided wether or not I wanted to create a series of photographs or just to have one strong image.

Fashion: Making my accessory

To begin making my accessory I had to make all of my string coils. I started to do this by taking a length of string, dipping it in watery glue and and wrapping it to create a spiral effect. This took a long time and was very messy. Knowing that I would need to make a lot of these coils I decided it was a good idea to try to come up with another way of making them. I decided to put lots of circles, with gaps in between, of glue and then put the string on the paper. Once dry the I could cut out the coils with the paper underneath, which would keep them strong and together. This idea worked a lot better and I am somewhat happy with the fact that the other first way didn't work so well. 

After all the coils were made it was time to make the base that would go around the neck and on the chest of my model. Recycling and Reusing is very important to me so to do this I took an old pair of old jeans and cut them into what looked like very a very short pair of shorts. I then cut along the waist band for about 3 inches each side of the fastening. I needed to ensure that this was gonna be enough but not too much to fit around my models neck. My idea was that the cuts would separate that part of the waist band and so I could put it around the neck still keeping the main body of the jeans at the front of the body. The button fastening would then fasten at the back of the neck which would keep the accessory on the body but make it easy to remove also.

I then, with a glue gun, attached all the coils onto the now shorts. I attached them in a structured formation rather than in a random one as I thought that this would ensure that no gaps would be left. I think that this worked really well and gave a more powerful look to the accessory.

*photos of making*

Fashion: Heat Press Workshop

I had never worked with a heat press machine before so I was intrigued to see how it worked and what I could do with it. As preparation for the workshop I brought in a few plastic object, knowing that the time I have with the heat press is limited I decided to not go overboard with the objects I brought in. I brought an empty water bottle, some plastic bottle lids, and a plastic carrier bag. I was also more interested about using dyes and fabric with the heat press, so I experimented more with this functionality.

First of all I worked with creating a design with different coloured dyes on different fabrics. The fabrics I used were a canvas material and a more slippery satin type fabric. I painted the dyes on in a coil, spiral type pattern to resemble the coil sample that I have made and like. I learnt that the heat press needs to be 190 degrees and depending on what material you are working with the time in which you keep it under the heat press can differ. For example when I put the piece of paper that I have painted on over the piece of fabric. It needed 30 seconds under the heat press for the colour to transfer. I noticed that when the colour transfers it comes out a lot brighter that how the dye looks on paper. The red came out a lot more orange which was interesting. I preferred using the satin type material as the colour transferred a lot smoother.

I then chose to transfer foil to fabric. What I had to do was transfer a special kind of glue and put it on the fabric in the places that I want the foil to transfer, then put it under the heat press for about 15 seconds. After this time you peel back the foil and where ever you put the glue the foil will stay.  I thought that this gave a really good effect and I really enjoyed the process and how it all worked.

Finally I had time to use the heat press for some of the plastics that I brought in. I decided to go for the water bottle as I thought it was the most interesting. With a pair of scissors I cut the bottle so that only about an inch of the bottom was left. With my hands I started to fold the sides into the middle so it was prepared for the heat press. I finally put it under the heat press for a short space of time. I think it came out really well and I was happy with the result.

I was very excited about this workshop and was really happy that we got to do it. unfortunately I don't really see how it will fit in with my project for fashion, but I hope I get the opportunity to use it in the future. 

Fashion: Designing on Mannequins

After I finished making my samples I photocopied them which would give the effect of having the sample repeated lots of times. I think the plastic string coil sample created the most interesting photocopy, also it was the most two dimensional out of all my samples which meant that it didn't move in the photocopier.  

After this was carried out it was time to create different ideas and designs on a mannequin. I found this quite therapeutic as there was not really a right or wrong way to go about it, it was all experimentation. We worked on the mannequins for quite some time to allow ourselves to work with different samples and try as many different things as we could. As I thought the plastic string coil was my favourite out of all my samples so I worked with this one most while working on the mannequins. I created lots of different ideas on the mannequin, looking at different parts of the body but mainly focusing on the upper body in places such as the chest, neck and shoulders. I found this to be the most interesting place to work on as it has lots of different curves, and an accessory for the chest or shoulders is not the most conventional, which I liked. 

Next was the task of producing croquis so we could design our ideas a little bit better and have more than just a sketch and photograph like what we did with the mannequins. First I created my croquis template so I could photocopy it so that it was easy to produce loads of designs.

Here are some of the things I came up with:

Fashion: Sample Making

This week I have been experimenting in making samples as a way of experimenting for what I am going to eventually make for this fashion project. At this point I don't have much of an idea for what I want to do for my final outcome other than I don't want it to be a conventional accessory such as a necklace or a bracelet etc. The brief explains to me that in this project we will be focusing on accessories rather than fashion garments. I am excited about this as in the past I have studied textiles and come out of the projects with garments, so I am excited to see what I come out with from this  After experimenting with shapes and different household objects I found the most interesting to be the plastic string. I took three pieces and plaited them together and then made a coil out of them. Each piece was of a different colour and I thought this gave a really interesting effect and it is definitely something I would like to carry through for this project. Some other house hold objects that I experimented were real size and miniature wooden clothes pegs, cotton buds, pen lids and string.

I found that the wooden clothes pegs were good to interlock and attach them all together, however apart from this I could not come up with any other inventive ways of putting them together. For the cotton buds i attached them all with thread at the bottom and splayed them out at the other end, this didn't turn out particularly interesting but I thought it may be so if I photocopied it. For the pen lids I assembled them in a triangle shape design and held them together with thread. I found this object the most difficult to turn into a sample. The plastic used in the lid is so hard that it was pretty much impossible to manipulate so layering was the only thing I found I could do with this object. 

I was happy with all my samples that I made and was excited to see how they would turn out once photocopied.

Television and Broadcasting Evaluation

The list of roles that we had to include in our team were:
3 Camera Operators
A Vision Mixer
A Directer
An Autocue Operator
A VT Operator
An Audio Mixer
A Floor Manager
2 On-screen Presenters

There are a few more roles such as a Lighting Operator and Personal Assistant (P.A), who keeps track of all the timings, however due to the shortage of people in our team we had to have some experienced degree students cover these roles. My role was a camera operator. I really enjoyed the job as although I didn't have to give any orders to anyone, I had to follow orders that I was given quickly and efficiently. I think as a person I work best under pressure so this job was perfect for me. As a camera operator I had to listen carefully through a headset to what the director was telling me from the gallery. I had to listen out for key words such as zoom, pan and track. Although I don't think that it was the most stressful job, I do think that at the end of it all, if I didn't follow orders correctly or if my camera wasn't even focused then the filming of the show would be ruined.  

I didn't have a lot of expectations for this project as I never thought of a job in TV Production to be in my future. However as the project came close I did find my self getting excited to see what really goes in to live television. I thought it would be stressful, especially up in the gallery, and that ultimately when it came down to recording it is the director who has the highest authority.

I was most looking forward to seeing what it is exactly that goes into making a live TV programme. I was very excited to know what was included within each role, as although I had a good idea I didn't exactly know what all the roles actually were.
There wasn't anything that stuck out to me that I was least looking forward to. If I had to choose something though I would have to say being put under a lot of pressure, and I quickly learned on this project that every single role had a lot of pressure to preform well. If any member in the team failed at their job it would mess up the entire show. I normally work best under a little bit of pressure, but only when the work is for me, not when the work I produce is for 10+ other people.
I learnt a lot about live television while doing this project. One thing that shocked me was how difficult it is being a presenter. I obviously knew that it is nerve-racking for presenters to do their job in front of thousands, potentially millions, of people. However I didn't know that a lot of stress went with the job too. Not only do they have to read off of a moving autocue, something that I personally would not be very keen to do seeing as I am not a very confident reader. But they also have an earpiece with a directer, and often a P.A, talking at them to sit a certain way or to finish up a segment. I now have a lot more respect for presenters. I also now realise how difficult it is to come up with good interesting content that will keep the target audience engaged throughout. We found this particularly difficult, and after cutting out a lot of boring talking, we only managed to produce an 11 minuet show opposed to a 15 minuet one that was advised in our brief.
I think that our most successful aspect of the project was sticking to the brief. We produced a television show that was engaging and well thought out for teenagers (our target audience). However as discussed we only managed to produce 11 minuets of content opposed to the 15 minuets that we were instructed and I feel that this is were we let ourselves down. Another successful aspect in my opinion of the project was that as a team we all worked together really well and I think this made a big difference as we all listened to each others opinions and suggestions, and took onboard anything that anyone put forward.
I learnt that I enjoy being behind the camera. I found it really interesting and I thought that enthusiasm can carry you through the most stressful of situations, such as making live television.