Month: March 2022

Adobe sessions are very important in terms of developing technical skills in media software such as InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop etc. These lessons helped me identify my strengths and weaknesses, as well as my potential and skills. I can definitely see my improvements and my growing confidence in using this software as each week’s lesson helped me practice a lot of things that involved creating media content.

In these sessions, we experimented with fonts, layout, formatting, editing pictures etc. Useful skills were taught and I could imagine incorporating these in my future projects as there are very adaptable. I especially enjoyed the session that involved playing with different fonts where we created a series of different covers that could potentially be magazine front covers. I considered the fonts, size and colours to ensure coherency. It was also important that the design was eye-catching and visually attractive.

Overall, I think the adobe sessions were really important and useful in terms of developing relevant techniques and skills in media. They are useful and definitely applicable when it comes to creating content in the future.

In this session, we conducted peer review and looked at our previous work to analyse the strengths and weaknesses.

We had to print off all our previous work and loosely organise them based on magazine content. It was interesting to see all our work coming together and organising them in order also helps us identify the missing parts and work that we need to go back and work on. Using post-it notes, we evaluated each other’s work by highlighting our favourite parts, this would allow me to see which work I produce receives the best comments and perhaps that could help me develop a personal aesthetic and editing style. Through this activity, I was also able to identify my strengths and weaknesses, I think the area that I’m strong at is definitely creating content, like taking interesting pictures as I am interested in experimenting with different angles etc. However, I believe I should be more confident in my editing and perhaps try new styles as I see myself going for the same software, the same filter and effects etc.

One major thing is that I was lacking development work, which was important as it showcases my progress in achieving the final outcome. Therefore, I made sure before submission I would organise some content that will demonstrate how I produced the pictures and how I developed my design style. Additionally, I found myself debating between my BA choices of Creative Direction and Styling & Production. I really enjoy producing content that is related to fashion, especially clothing and a full entire shoot that involves makeup, setting etc. However, I also see the potential of creative direction and its importance in the media industry. However, one is more practical and one is more about developing ideas etc. I think I need more consideration before finalising which one I want to pursue, at the moment I’m leaning more towards creative direction.

In this session, we focused on the front covers of a magazine and aimed to create our own designs.

In the fashion industry, magazine covers are extremely important as they are what is immediately presented to the audience. The front cover is meant to express a certain message and it holds powerful communication between the editors and the consumers. Brands tend to experiment with different subjects that are put onto the front cover, for example, an important matter, distinctive concepts etc. Therefore, to be able to communicate visually, the designs are meant to be strong. Typography, photographs, text, layout are all key features when it comes to designing a front cover as they can create different atmospheres and meanings. Some successful magazine covers tend to provoke a certain narrative and push the reader to consider different things.

Based on our research and analysis of the two magazines, we aim to create 3 different covers that would be relevant to the specific brand. After understanding the concept behind i-D magazine, I created three covers that follow the same theme with one eye closed. I had a lot of fun experimenting and creating them as I really enjoy playing with the typography and layout, as well as designing the magazine-related content.

Unfortunately, due to disruptions from the weather, we were unable to visit the London Fashion Week as planned for this session. However, we took this task online and explored the shows and designs involved.

Using the digital access to the London Fashion Week runway collections, I reviewed the shows and selected one I was most interested in to produce an article that will form into a fashion story. Looking at the different brands, I selected one that was the most interesting and unfamiliar to me to see what I can discover through research. I looked at a brand called Seokwoon Yoon and the designer is based in Korea. What caught my eye was the unique layers and construction of the collection, there were really interesting concept ideas and he definitely has a personal style when it comes to designing. I decided to adopt the role as a journalist and created an article that comments on the highlights of this brand and their work. I think the key strength I demonstrated during this activity is my research skills and selecting the relevant information that would be necessary for a fashion story. I was also able to identify which parts are more informative and which are more of a highlight that I can incorporate my own opinions into.

Additionally, I experimented with different layouts for the fashion article by playing with the composition of images and text. I also considered the coherency of the fonts and size etc. to ensure my layout overall looked artistic but professional at the same time. It was also important that the information was easy to read for the audience as it is still an informative piece of work.