Evaluation

Here is my final piece on display at the college summer show exhibition.


I began by setting my self a challenge, at first it seemed a little daunting to produce a whole magazine in under 14 weeks as I had never used In Design before. My thoughts where because this was my last project of the first year and it was a big one, I may as well set myself a goal to do something that might scare me at first, but the final outcome would be great if I could achieve it.
This project had things that worked well, and things that didn't work so well.  I really enjoyed experimenting with photography, and landscape photography. I enjoyed exploring a new place independently, and writing recording my experience.

Through this project I was able to push myself out of my comfort zone, and do things that I normally wouldn't think of going out to do, such as interviewing people and businesses. This was one of the things in my project that I was most daunted by, but once I got going it became more enjoyable, it also helped to have such a friendly and welcoming community even though not all of the people where lived locally. I was very surprised at how open people where to sharing their thoughts and talking with me about their visit/business. It was also lovely to see how passionate people where about their community, being in a new community gave me a fresh look at what life by the sea is really about and the many things we may take for granted.
One of the struggles was narrowing the project down to a 20 page magazine, there was so much I wanted to include, but I thought if I make it any bigger I may sacrifice the quality of the project as it would be rushed.

What didn't work
Although I planned out all of my pages with visuals when it came to making the layout on the computer it didn't always look as good as expected, and certain things didn't work out as planned. This meant that I had to reorganize my files and write different articles as I got more ideas for articles and layouts as I went on. Because I changed a few of my original designs for the page content this sometimes created confusion when looking for my files if I had to re edit the original photos, which caused a few hickups before the printing process.
Next time
If I had more time I would carry on with the same magazine, and make more pages and maybe interview more businesses. I would correct the method of organising my files and make sure all of my experimentation was done before hand so I know what worked and what didn't. I found this hard though as there was no real way of seeing if a layout worked without trying it first. Although I left 11 days for the printing process and they came on time, if I had more time I would definitely leave at least two weeks for my prints to come, as I wouldn't be as panicked or pushed for time for them to arrive before the deadline.

Overall

This project has allowed me to do things out of my comfort zone, things that I had never done before, it has allowed me to explore a new field of work which I could potentially go into as a job, as I really enjoyed this project. It has given me experience in problem solving, as I had to work out why certain files didn't work and why some did. I had to use a new programme and this showed me how to make my work look professional and accurately measured. I really think this project was a great experience and it covered a variety of subjects and techniques, which allowed me to discover which field of work I enjoyed the most, and I loved the challenge.

Bibliography

Front Cover

It was hard to pick a front cover for my magazine, as it had to be the right one. The front cover would be the first impression of my magazine, and I wanted it to capture the essence of what the magazine is really about. This would hopefully make people want to pick it up and read the magazine.

I chose this photo at first, as I thought it captured the heart of the community. The photograph was good, but it was a bit too distracting from the title of the magazine itself. This was a real issue and I tried a variety of colours and techniques, it still wasn't working.
Here is the final front cover.

Developing written Pieces

One of the most important things for me was talking to the public, and getting to know new faces. This gave me inspiration for my written pieces as well as gain knowledge of the community as a whole. I found it really interesting finding out where people had traveled from to get to Looe and hearing all of their thoughts on their surroundings, also interviewing local businesses gave me an insight into the history of the town.
One of my favourite writers from the Suitcase magazine is Kate Hamilton, who is a freelance writer and journalist. I liked how real the style of writing was, it told the truth and what people really would want to know when visiting a new place, and this can sometimes be comical which adds personality to to the writing. The reader could really imagine themselves there when reading article as she creates imagery within her written pieces.
Some of her work gave me my inspiration for the opening article for my magazine.

Layout

This is a page of the suitcase magazine, as I was reading it I thought of an idea of a layout that I could use for my magazine. I started by gathering facts from my interviews and what I had learned whilst visiting Looe.

Here is my final layout for the page.

Making of the Magazine

I got my inspiration for the layout of the fish monger interview from the Suitcase magazine and the Modern Rustic magazine. I liked how it was collage like, and the white lines in between the photo's created a nice frame around them. This mad the overall image and layout look clean cut and sharp.

Here is my final layout, to achieve this I had to create lots of individual picture boxes to place the pictures in, and use the line tool to create the boarders for the photo's.

Inspiration for a photograph

This image was taken from Pinterest, I liked the rawness of the image and how the image was graded. The fish has an extremely fresh look, and this is how I wanted my image of the fish to be. This was very important to me as all of the fish in the fish mongers where caught locally and daily which meant they where getting fresh fish every time.

Here is my final edited image of the fish from Pengelly's fish mongers, with the article I wrote underneath.

In Design workshop pt 2

I took part in another In Design workshop, I learned how I can showcase my work using the social networking sit called Instagram. I learned how to create a promotional poster to put on Instagram and different ways you can promote you as a designer and how businesses use social media to reach out to more people.

CV unit 9

 I am a student currently studying Graphic Design at Plymouth College of Art, I have a passion for creating and discovering new things. The main areas I specialize in are graphic design and illustration, I love designing and coming up with new ideas and hope to go into magazine design and branding.

Achievements

I’ve been involved with the college since I was 12 years of age, attending Saturday Arts Club for 4 years, throughout this I was able to go to achieve a Bronze Arts Award. This then lead me to do my further education at the college. In my first year of college I’ve been awarded first prize for best poster design for a company called Regen Southwest, to promote renewable energy.

Qualifications

English language B

English Literature B

Child development B

Maths C

Writing a CV

From creating a profile on Linked in and Behance I was able to use this as a foundation to start create a CV.

Before doing this I researched some examples of different ways people have discribed themselves and their achievements, this gave me an idea on how to write my introduction.

http://www.linkedinsights.com/3-stunningly-good-linkedin-profile-summaries/

Unit 9 Linked in Profile

This was the task we where given, to create a linked in profile and connect with people.

 I started by creating a profile on linked in, I used my current logo that I designed. I then filled out a series of questions which was almost like an online CV/Portfolio.

I have sent following requests to people and potential employers, this will allow me to connect with my peers at college and find potential work opportunities in the future, or part time as a student. It will also help me gain experience from professionals and potentially find work experience.

By creating a linked in account and profile, it has allowed me to connect with professionals on one of the largest professional social networking sites in the world. I can showcase my achievements/success and business on this site.

Unit 9 universities

As part of the unit 9 criteria we had to show how we have researched into further education or/and potential job vacancies we would like to have in the future. I have recently been looking at universities and the different courses on offer.

The first university that I researched was Plymouth university.

 https://www.plymouth.ac.uk/
 My first impressions of the course was quite positive, and seemed inviting. What I have learned from researching going to uni, is the prices! It is so expensive to go on a course at uni, and if you are thinking of studying away you have to think about student flats available which is even more money.
I have also learned that the courses can be lengthly which means another three to four years in education. Although Plymouth university does offer part time courses which gives you the option to work in your free time. which made me consider whether I wanted to go on to do an apprenticeship.

http://courses.uwe.ac.uk/W211/ LINK to Bristol university

London University of Arts
http://www.arts.ac.uk/lcc/courses/undergraduate/ba-hons-graphic-and-media-design/#

Birmingham school of visual communication
http://www.bcu.ac.uk/visual-communication/courses/vis-com-illustration-ba-hons

Layout for advertising

The process
So I had lots of ideas for the magazine layout of the bags and purses, I was really keen on one particular one. I was researching materials and colours to do with the sea and came across this image. I thought why not use the layering technique to create a picture from the different materials used to make the bags. I planned to the write about the bags on the other page, as I thought the image would be strong on its own. Image taken from http://www.edelkoort.com/trend_publication/

I cut out the material in a wave shape to make the sea, and used different shades of blue for depth. I crumpled up some white paper to make it look more like clouds, and added some seagulls also made from material.

I then started to work on the layout on in design, this is what I initially came up with.

My initial thoughts where the picture that I had created was too distracting, and you couldn't see the link between the two. Also the image had to be cropped to fit which made it even more in your face.

 I didn't like the font Gotham which was used at the top left hand corner of the page, I felt that it didn't fit with the layout and style so I changed the font to minion pro. This also made me reconsider the layout as a whole, so I did some more research and created a new layout to really focus on advertising the bags.

 Here is a screenshot of the final display of the bags in the magazine, below that is my inspiration which was taken from the modern rustic country living magazine issue 4.

Here is my inspiration

In Design workshop follow up

Following the in design workshop I took into consideration everything I learned, using the new skills that I had. To create a magazine layout I would needed to use all of these rules shown above, such as a margin and bleed to make sure that my text and photographs didn't get lost in between the crease of the page or when the magazine was cut to fit. I also needed to create a picture box to place my photographs and text in. when I had more than one box I also needed to make sure that they where evenly spaced, with the same measurements in between each gap, this is called the gutter.

Photographing the bags

I decided to stay with the same theme and setting when it came to photographing the bags, originally I planned to photograph them all on the beach with someone sitting reading a book to set the scene.

I tried this out but wasn't able to get the best quality photo's at the time, as it was sunset and it was low light which made the bag hard to see. If I had more time to photograph the bags, I would definitely go back to the beach to photograph them again.

Making Bags and Purses

After doing my research on making bags and purses, I designed the shape and style I wanted them to be. I measured out the lengths and cut them to fit, then sewed them with the sewing machine inside out so the stitching would show on the inside. After I had done this I turned the bag out the right way and sewed the handles onto the bag.
The process was longer than expected, as I lined all of the bags with material to make them more substantial. This meant more measuring and more cutting out, also making sure the stitches where neat and straight required a lot of practice.