Wednesday, 13 April 2011
Monday, 11 April 2011
Packaging
My ideas for packaging are pretty vague at the moment. I'd rather keep it pretty simple, as over complicated packaging just detracts attention from the product and is just unnecessary. I like the idea of using recycled/recyclable products, perhaps in their raw state apart from the logo which could be embossed or printed on in pewter or black. I would combine box packaging with a paper or fabric bag to carry the box in, also with my logo on. The bag could be used again if in fabric, meaning whoever is using it will be promoting my brand. However, I don't want my brand to be splashed about everywhere as the exclusivity will be lost.
Websites
This is probably all very boring, but my brain seems to function only in blogging form right now so I must carry on!
I am pretty picky when it comes to websites. I'm not a huge fan of fancy schmancy ones that take ages to load and are a bugger to navigate. For some brands this works, I'm sure, but for Little Death - nuhuh. I want to keep it simple, but with something a little different to add some subtle interest to the viewer and keep it modern and fresh. I looked at my competitors websites to see what they are up to on the world wide web. Fleet Ilya had a lovely one. Very simple and easy on the eye. GMG's was very basic indeed, perhaps a little too bog standard. Good imagery, but the text is squished to one side and in a default font which maybe she has tried to pass off as anti-branding Martin Margiela style, but just comes off as lazy. Zana Bayne is all about her blog. Her website is pretty much average, but her blog is updated regularly, and is more personal, building a rapport with her customer. The other two have blogs as well, but they're more of an archive of press cuttings.
Going back to websites, I also had a look at Machine A's. It has music, which I find off putting on any website to be honest. The last thing you want is some minimal techno tune interrupting George Michael in the middle of 'Faith' on your laptop while you desperately search for the mute option. Just plain annoying.
Their online shop is where it gets interesting. You click on a picture and it comes to life, the (rather pixellated) model stands around looking a bit bored, shifting her weight while you decide if you want what she's wearing or not. Once you've decided you do, you click on a little 'i' and it gives you the option of viewing the item properly, and buying it. Takes a little while to get to grips with, but I appreciate the effort and its certainly innovative.
The moving image seems to be all the rage at the moment, with Vice doing an article very recently on their website about GIFs as an (almost) art form.
I had an idea for my website which would make it a little innovative and different, but perhaps be easier to use. The idea was taken from Fleet Ilya's website, as well as Agent Provocateurs. A series of 6 GIFs, one of each product, that you can click on to take you to a more detailed look at them. I don't want them all playing as soon as you go on the website as that would be too full on and give someone a fit, but, how AP has an option of viewing their little home movie style sexy videos, I could direct the customer to it, or perhaps make it so when you hover over it, it plays. (might be getting a little too high tech now!) If not all 6, at least 1 on the homepage, like Fleet Ilya had at one point, which links to something, as a nice little touch.
As for the layout, something easy to navigate, like a clear option menu down the side, or images, which when hovered over, reveal what they link to. I want to avoid too much Flash, as I hate having to wait around for some animation to do its thing before I can even go on the website.
Some hand written text for the menu for example, or another subtly quirky graphic design element, might be a nice touch and in keeping with the zine.
I think a blog would be a good idea to go alongside the website and keep the customers updated on the brand.
I am pretty picky when it comes to websites. I'm not a huge fan of fancy schmancy ones that take ages to load and are a bugger to navigate. For some brands this works, I'm sure, but for Little Death - nuhuh. I want to keep it simple, but with something a little different to add some subtle interest to the viewer and keep it modern and fresh. I looked at my competitors websites to see what they are up to on the world wide web. Fleet Ilya had a lovely one. Very simple and easy on the eye. GMG's was very basic indeed, perhaps a little too bog standard. Good imagery, but the text is squished to one side and in a default font which maybe she has tried to pass off as anti-branding Martin Margiela style, but just comes off as lazy. Zana Bayne is all about her blog. Her website is pretty much average, but her blog is updated regularly, and is more personal, building a rapport with her customer. The other two have blogs as well, but they're more of an archive of press cuttings.
Going back to websites, I also had a look at Machine A's. It has music, which I find off putting on any website to be honest. The last thing you want is some minimal techno tune interrupting George Michael in the middle of 'Faith' on your laptop while you desperately search for the mute option. Just plain annoying.
Their online shop is where it gets interesting. You click on a picture and it comes to life, the (rather pixellated) model stands around looking a bit bored, shifting her weight while you decide if you want what she's wearing or not. Once you've decided you do, you click on a little 'i' and it gives you the option of viewing the item properly, and buying it. Takes a little while to get to grips with, but I appreciate the effort and its certainly innovative.
The moving image seems to be all the rage at the moment, with Vice doing an article very recently on their website about GIFs as an (almost) art form.
I had an idea for my website which would make it a little innovative and different, but perhaps be easier to use. The idea was taken from Fleet Ilya's website, as well as Agent Provocateurs. A series of 6 GIFs, one of each product, that you can click on to take you to a more detailed look at them. I don't want them all playing as soon as you go on the website as that would be too full on and give someone a fit, but, how AP has an option of viewing their little home movie style sexy videos, I could direct the customer to it, or perhaps make it so when you hover over it, it plays. (might be getting a little too high tech now!) If not all 6, at least 1 on the homepage, like Fleet Ilya had at one point, which links to something, as a nice little touch.
As for the layout, something easy to navigate, like a clear option menu down the side, or images, which when hovered over, reveal what they link to. I want to avoid too much Flash, as I hate having to wait around for some animation to do its thing before I can even go on the website.
Some hand written text for the menu for example, or another subtly quirky graphic design element, might be a nice touch and in keeping with the zine.
I think a blog would be a good idea to go alongside the website and keep the customers updated on the brand.
zines
My friend Sarah and I went to Berlin not all that long ago, and whilst 'researching for college' around Mitte and Prenzlauer Berg, we came across a lot of zines. We found it quite funny at the time, just because it's a bit of an art faggy type thing to buy/make. But we still secretly admired.
For part of our FMP (final major project to all you non art students) we are required to make some kind of lookbook or 'brochure' as the tutors put it. So I thought, why not a zine? I like the handcrafted feel to them, like its something that some art kid lovingly slaved over on their bedroom floor with crappy resources and cost them the loose change they found between the sofa cushions the other day. Personal. And being more of a zine than just a lookbook, I can include different things all relating to my brand and the concept etc. Very self indulgent of me but then, when can you be self indulgent if not during your FMP, non?
I was researching them in the library today to get some ideas and came across a great book called Fanzines which had an archive of all things zine, as well as where they're headed today such as 'e-zines' and the movement towards more glossy, fashion zines. I'd like to keep an element of what zines are originally all about, but a bit more slick and professional.
They would work as a great promotional tool in the right context. My customer would definitely appreciate it, and it will go with my brands ethos. I feel like brands nowadays are expected to give so much more to the customer, probably because of stiff competition, but this is a nice way of doing it.
Some zine related images I found;
Things to include;
Photographs
Found images
Illustrations
Working drawings
Images taken from research pages
Written things, quotes relating to concept etc.
Something interactive with customer.
Now I need to get nifty with InDesign!
For part of our FMP (final major project to all you non art students) we are required to make some kind of lookbook or 'brochure' as the tutors put it. So I thought, why not a zine? I like the handcrafted feel to them, like its something that some art kid lovingly slaved over on their bedroom floor with crappy resources and cost them the loose change they found between the sofa cushions the other day. Personal. And being more of a zine than just a lookbook, I can include different things all relating to my brand and the concept etc. Very self indulgent of me but then, when can you be self indulgent if not during your FMP, non?
I was researching them in the library today to get some ideas and came across a great book called Fanzines which had an archive of all things zine, as well as where they're headed today such as 'e-zines' and the movement towards more glossy, fashion zines. I'd like to keep an element of what zines are originally all about, but a bit more slick and professional.
They would work as a great promotional tool in the right context. My customer would definitely appreciate it, and it will go with my brands ethos. I feel like brands nowadays are expected to give so much more to the customer, probably because of stiff competition, but this is a nice way of doing it.
Some zine related images I found;
Things to include;
Photographs
Found images
Illustrations
Working drawings
Images taken from research pages
Written things, quotes relating to concept etc.
Something interactive with customer.
Now I need to get nifty with InDesign!
self
Still going on about Lina Scheynius...I was perusing her website and one section is called Calendar.
She writes;
'these are the rules: "take one picture of yourself every single day for one year. use whatever you might find in the place you happen to be - just make sure that you are always in the frame somewhere, somehow. there will be tons of days when you will not want to take a picture of yourself - do it anyway! take the first one in july 2009 and the last one in june 2010 - and then develop all the rolls all at once. voila!"'
I really like this idea. To be honest, pretty much everyday is a day when I don't want a camera anywhere near me...so I would find this quite hard. But I really like the concept anyway, and she has some beautiful results - probably helped by the fact that she is beautiful herself, would be much harder for me!
Might try this out. Can't hurt at least, and I might surprise myself.
She writes;
'these are the rules: "take one picture of yourself every single day for one year. use whatever you might find in the place you happen to be - just make sure that you are always in the frame somewhere, somehow. there will be tons of days when you will not want to take a picture of yourself - do it anyway! take the first one in july 2009 and the last one in june 2010 - and then develop all the rolls all at once. voila!"'
I really like this idea. To be honest, pretty much everyday is a day when I don't want a camera anywhere near me...so I would find this quite hard. But I really like the concept anyway, and she has some beautiful results - probably helped by the fact that she is beautiful herself, would be much harder for me!
Might try this out. Can't hurt at least, and I might surprise myself.
Ramblings
I was reading an interview the other day with photographer Harley Weir (apologies I can't remember the source), and she mentioned something about the lack of eroticism in photographs of men, and how she thought it was an interesting avenue to go down. I am starting to agree with her. I have never particularly been interested in mens fashion, but I am beginning to see the scope within working with men that I hadn't seen before. It seems as though theres more to be done, where as I find womenswear to be quite stale at times. For the past three years I've taken photographs of my former boyfriend (partly as he was the only willing model) in this way, whether consciously or not. There isn't much in the way of fashion going on in the images I suppose - not a fan of overtly 'fashionable' men - I'm more interested in what they wear day to day in the comfort of their own home or familiar company.
I am interested in this concept across both genders. I usually gain more pleasure from looking at the photographs of Moni Haworth following the dwellers of East london squats than Steven Klein shooting Naomi Campbell in a couture dress, say. And I'd much rather see hotty Lara Stone in a plain white vest and some cut off Levi's than a Louis Vuitton number. Not anti-fashion per-say, as I feel like this is a contradiction in itself. Just more real, and more light hearted.
During my final major project I've had a battle with myself about what I want to achieve from it and how I want my brand to be perceived. Its been slightly schizophrenic. But thinking about this has made me realise what I want from it. I think the best work always comes from within. If I think about what I really like, it isn't fashion so much as images. I love looking at images, creating them, whatever. Whether something has a french seam, or is 'cut on the bias', I couldn't give a crap.
In my images for Little Death, I want to take a leaf out of Moni's book and say fuck all this, just have fun with it. When speaking to my model about the shoot, I linked her to Moni's website (www.johnnysbird.com) and she replied 'ahh amazing, its like fancy dress! I have loads of stuff we could use!' which is exactly the kind of reaction fashion should bring out in someone. Whether something has a darker meaning underneath it all, in the end, doesn't matter.
I have also been perving on the work of Lina Scheynius, (bordering on obsession with her photographs) which are so delicate and raw, often eroticised. I'd also love to channel her work within mine, bringing some sophistication to the mix but without making it look forced.
This is ultimately where my passion lies (took a while to find it). Creating images. The product designing and making has been a struggle for me, as I just want to get down to communicating it to the world. Obviously in the real world, being given a product that suits my taste to communicate is wishful thinking, so this is something I need to work on - adaptability.
Here are some images that 'inspire' (don't like that word) me...
Yeah, yeah, most of them are draped over some sort of furniture. But this is what I like - something real and raw but also beautiful and dare I say it, erotic. Something a little off centre, ethereal in the real. (Coming out with some right garbage now I know, but Its making sense in my head)
My plan so far for the photoshoot is this:
Raw, Delicate, Real, Natural, Beautiful, Erotic, Ethereal in the real, Day in the life of, Humour.
I am interested in this concept across both genders. I usually gain more pleasure from looking at the photographs of Moni Haworth following the dwellers of East london squats than Steven Klein shooting Naomi Campbell in a couture dress, say. And I'd much rather see hotty Lara Stone in a plain white vest and some cut off Levi's than a Louis Vuitton number. Not anti-fashion per-say, as I feel like this is a contradiction in itself. Just more real, and more light hearted.
During my final major project I've had a battle with myself about what I want to achieve from it and how I want my brand to be perceived. Its been slightly schizophrenic. But thinking about this has made me realise what I want from it. I think the best work always comes from within. If I think about what I really like, it isn't fashion so much as images. I love looking at images, creating them, whatever. Whether something has a french seam, or is 'cut on the bias', I couldn't give a crap.
In my images for Little Death, I want to take a leaf out of Moni's book and say fuck all this, just have fun with it. When speaking to my model about the shoot, I linked her to Moni's website (www.johnnysbird.com) and she replied 'ahh amazing, its like fancy dress! I have loads of stuff we could use!' which is exactly the kind of reaction fashion should bring out in someone. Whether something has a darker meaning underneath it all, in the end, doesn't matter.
I have also been perving on the work of Lina Scheynius, (bordering on obsession with her photographs) which are so delicate and raw, often eroticised. I'd also love to channel her work within mine, bringing some sophistication to the mix but without making it look forced.
This is ultimately where my passion lies (took a while to find it). Creating images. The product designing and making has been a struggle for me, as I just want to get down to communicating it to the world. Obviously in the real world, being given a product that suits my taste to communicate is wishful thinking, so this is something I need to work on - adaptability.
Here are some images that 'inspire' (don't like that word) me...
Yeah, yeah, most of them are draped over some sort of furniture. But this is what I like - something real and raw but also beautiful and dare I say it, erotic. Something a little off centre, ethereal in the real. (Coming out with some right garbage now I know, but Its making sense in my head)
My plan so far for the photoshoot is this:
Raw, Delicate, Real, Natural, Beautiful, Erotic, Ethereal in the real, Day in the life of, Humour.
The model:
Emily. Found her partly on Facebook, although I'd seen her around a few times before (Leeds is a small world). She is perfect for what I'm after really. She now has dip-dyed hair which I really like, and a nose piercing. And she doesn't look like a 'high fashion' model or anything, just your average (albeit very pretty) girl, who likes dressing up! perfect!
I think this will appeal to my target market pretty well, too. A lot of my competitors, although they do it well, are a little more heavy going and serious. Fleet Ilya is pretty slick, more adult. Gabriella Marina Gonzalez has gone down the more conceptual route. My customer will have a lot in common with my model. My plan is to photograph her in her surroundings, in her room (or maybe a staged version of). Her messing around with different outfits, in a fairly natural manner, but also looking beautiful in them (in order to sell these blasted things!). This will communicate to the customer that these pieces can be integrated into your everyday life. I think my customer, being creative and individual, will appreciate and understand this. I like to think they already have a collection of unique and interesting pieces that they picked up in thrift stores and from new young designers, of which they will add to with mine.
I realise I could be taking too much away from the products themselves here (getting carried away as usual) but by stripping it down a little in that lovely Lina Scheynius way, I'm hoping they will shine. I'm also planning to do a more straight forward studio type shoot which will show the products more clearly, particularly for the website.
There are talks of a possible 'video lookbook', too. I had in mind a series of GIFs (short clips of a video) for the website, but maybe a short video would work.
My ideas certainly aren't new or ground breaking, however within the context I think it will work.
Monday, 7 February 2011
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