It is the third year at Solent and my FMP has crept upon me quite quickly! For this idea i wanted to create my own mini Zine in the shape of a styling guide.
The idea is to create a zine that will reach graduated and post graduates and give them a platform to showcase their work.
If the publication were to be put into circulation, it would be places in such as supermarkets, stations, tube stations and in high street outlets, I found that these were the most common areas for students, postgraduates or people who are new into industry would commonly visit, and therefore a free Zine offering this kind of content would mostly likely be something they would pick up. Most free publications that are similar, are associated directly with a particular brand or store, for instance Urban Outfitters, Asos and River Island, are only available from that outlet. However the difference with San is that as it features more than one brand, it can be displayed and offered in multiple outlets.
Past few weeks
So over the first 3 weeks of the project, i had handed in my project proposal which give an outline of what my magazine intends to portray, what content will be featured and what possible collaborations i will have! On top of this we have our own portfolios to construct, so hopefully week by week i will be completing shoots that coincide with my portfolio and my FMP just to allow me to keep up to date with all my shoots. Once i have created all the shoots for my FMP i can then add more diverse and creative shoots for my portfolio.
Collaborations
As the zine is based on the number 3 ('San' in Japanese, which is the name if the zine), the zine is built up of there sections including up and coming talent, beauty and fashion. The talent section is a the part where new talent will be able to show off their work, with an interview and mini shoot.
My first collaboration is with a Graphic Communications Designer who goes to University of Creative Arts in Farnham- Laura Barwell. As she is a close friend of mine, I wish to showcase her work, awards, talent and find out what makes her work so prominent. She will also help me with the layout/grid of my zine and that will be part of her work in which she showcases in the zine itself.
Laura Barwell's Work
My next collaboration will be to interview and shoot Daniel Evans a photographer. His work has been shown in many magazines and exhibitions and he has just graduated from UCA Farnham also. Himself and Brendan Baker recently won the Peaches and Cream special graduates competition and their careers are flourishing. I will interview Danny and showcase some of his work and also collaborate in some photo shoots for the rest of the Zine.
Daniel Evan's Work
My third collaboration will be with a Fashion design student specialising in knitwear, Francesca Hughes. She studies at Winchester University and I will be interviewing her and doing a photo shoot on her recent collection. However I will be styling the pieces and creating the concept so I maintain creative control.
Francesca Hughes's Work
Market Research
In order to gain some in depth knowledge about what types of features my target audience would like to see in a new magazine, I conducted a small survey. I decided I wanted to find out which spring summer trends my audience found difficult to style and which they wanted advice on.
The first two questions were based upon finding out what things an audience between 20-26 would like to see in a new magazine. Every new magazine must harbour a unique selling point in order to gain notoriety and establish itself in quite a tough market. Especially as the type of magazine I am going for is meant for a certain age bracket of 18 - 28 year olds who are already have an interest in fashion, but maybe would like some insider knowledge, hints and tips with what is on trend, how to style it and some foreseeable trends.
I posted the link to this survey on the social networking site my blog and Facebook, as my status and on to a few groups that are mainly focused on the fashion network within Southampton Solent University. I guess this can be quite biased as although the target audience is meant for this particular age bracket, it was mainly answered by fashion students. However there were a few responses made from my status which gave a bit of variety. The second most popular feature was up and coming talent. This was a good sign as I knew that this was going to be one of my main chapters within my magazine. I want to promote student, post graduate and graduates and create a certain area for creative people to show their work and offer a little insight into their work.
When selecting a magazine, whether it is free or not, the first thing that runs through anyone's mind is the image on the front. If an image is aesthetically pleasing, with vivid colours your eye is instantly attracted to it. Therefore the image on the front of my magazine needs to be bold and eye catching in order to hook my audience in. Sometimes with free flyers or magazines, your eye makes a judgement within the first three seconds, and this is why I need to create a cover that not only relates to the Spring Summer issue but also a style that will make my target audience notice. The style needs to be fresh, young, hip and on trend with a street style sense.
The other main focus of my magazine is to create styling guides and tutorials, so I asked if this was something that would appeal to a reader and a large majority wanted to be advised.
I have only found a few people to interview so far, and based on the findings of my survey, it seems that musicians are a very popular choice. However, I must be careful to keep the flow of my magazine structured; I am trying not to over fill one section more than the other. As I intend on creating chapters, the interviews and fashion editorials will be separate from one another, creating blocks of the same information. I hope that this will not bore the reader.
This proved to be the most useful of questions. I had planned on using mostly trends that were in season for Spring Summer 2012, but also mix in street styles and trends. The most difficult trends that are on the catwalk at the moment are yellow and prints, which seemed the most daunting to my audience.
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