Final Show: Social Media Strategy

I am writing social media strategies for my show. At the early beginning, I wanted to use blogger to promote information; As I recorded my initial ideas, working processes, sketches, and research using blogger. Audiences can see as many as possible on here. However, I found it is not the most efficient way to promote products and my brand. Blogger is a nice platform that I can write formally and add unlimited images. It is easy to navigate, especially for people who are not familiar with using online systems. I also like its format. Blogger shows the title of the post, date, the author clearly, which protects the copyright; It provides who produced this work. It is good for a Business purpose.

However, something is not allowed, but Instagram can. For example, my favourite function, 'Story'. It is a similar concept to 'Snapchat'. I can upload images, videos, or audios to their 'story' to share what just happened at that moment. For example, I can open a live video, people who followed me can see what I am doing and I can interact with them. It provides a platform for me to interact with my audiences and it is a more interesting way than posting blogs. In the live video, audiences can type and send emojis. I can show my products there and ask for their opinions. And I could receive feedback in just one second. It is an efficient way to collect data; To know what do they like and to improve my designs or styles. What different form Snapchat is it keeps forever. Snapchat refreshes record daily, but in Instagram, I can find my story back and add to my personal page. That means the audiences can still see on my account after that day.

This is my public account, where I always share drawings or design ideas. In my profile, I added a link to my website. Under this link, it is a story highlight. It shows impressive stories I have shared before.

The image below shows a story I posted yesterday, an internet version. The mobile version is similar to the internet.  Each story plays around 6-7 seconds, it depends. If it is a video share, it would have a longer time. The second picture is a mobile version, it is full-screened. In the 'Story', I can check who had visited this story and I also can share it on Facebook or share it as a link to someone specifically to other social media, such as Whatsapp.

For the normal posts, it would be something to look like this. Image is on the left and text will show on right. Different from Blogger, I can add '#' to tag a title or a topic. If someone is interested in that topic then when he/she search for it, my post will show up. Also, I can tag someone or a company, a brand to see my post. Everything is fast and easy. 

I would like to use those two social platforms because they have different strengths. As my target market is young adults, they are more likely to use Instagram; So, it is easier and effective to promote my brand. The information spread quicker on Instagram. Another hand, if I want to cooperate with some brand or company, I need to provide information more professional. Then I need to use Blogger to make a project more completed.

To ensure the target audiences will access these social platforms, I researched 'Social Media Platforms and Demographics'. 'Owned by Facebook, Instagram has 600 million monthly active users with 150 million people using Instagram Stories every day. Although Facebook recently updated their user statistics, they didn’t update country-specific data so the last confirmed UK statistic stands at 14 million monthly active users, although this is likely to have increased. In terms of gender demographics, 68% of Instagrammers are female. Overall, 38% of female internet users are on Instagram compared with 26% of male internet users. 59% of internet users between the ages of 18 and 29 use Instagram and 33% of internet users between the ages of 30 and 49 use Instagram. According to one study, 17% of teenagers say that Instagram is the most important social media platform to them and 90% of users are under 35 years old.' It shows both Facebook and Instagram have a large number of users every day.

Reference:

LSE (2017) Social Media Platforms and Demographics. [Online] Available from: Social Media. [Accessed by 18/05/20]

Art Portfolio: Development

I think this design is not impressive. Then, I created more sketches of the design of the bra-top craze. I think the 6th idea is the best; It is cute and suitable for generation Y women. I changed to the new design.

 I will combine four looks in one page and see whether they are consistent. 

Art Portfolio: Coloured Intended outcome

This blog shows the concept of my intended outcome. I added colours roughly on the initial sketches. These images show exactly my thought, which I have posted on the last blog. The first two looks are focusing on sharp colours; I would like to give a joyful feeling. I used the watercolour brush on 'Sketchbook' on iPad Pro and changed the layers to a lower opacity. That's why the colours look thin. It will give more volume on the final version.

As I planned, I decided to draw more details for look 3 and look 4. I think those two drawings work quite well. In the final pieces, I will draw carefully and use colours to show textures more accurately.

Art Portfolio: Artist in Focus Research Pro Forma

I would like to analyse Susie McMurray's work particularly and I have created a Pro Forma. Here is the link: Pro Forma. 

Besides, I would like to show the initial sketches for my collection.

I finished colouring the first logo and it is on my last blog. I am going to draw the second one and test whether the colours work together. 

I quite like look 3 and look 4. However, they are much more complicated. Then, I will not consider to make it into 3D. They are more about textures. I will spend more time on the drawing details to show the textures instead out make a real version for those two designs. 

Final Show: Poster Concept Reflection

This blog will show my consideration of the typography of my poster. I will analyse how my poster changed and why I chose the typography.

This is the first version of my poster. It is not really commentary and it confuses audiences that they might not know what exactly this show is; about lights or fashion, due to there are no elements about fashion and textiles. Also, my logo seems to be not matched for this poster design. To keep my poster clear and consistent, I have created another poster also changed the typography. In the previous one, I used San Serifs for body copy, which is a clean, modern typeface gives clarity. I wanted to make content easy to read and contemporary. Besides, the heading was 'Zapfino', which is Scripted. It has an intricate style. I would like to give a feeling of creativity. However, these two types of font were not fitted together. I have considered again. Then, I decided to use only one font on the poster. This font is also Scripted, however, it is more squared. Considering the target audiences are in generation Y, I aimed to make the typography less mature than the first design. Also, I created a new background. I used pictures of clothing of my collection; The poster looks more connected to my subject area. Besides, I used the original colour palette from clothes to design a logo. It matches the poster, but I was not satisfied with it which looks like an official logo. It is too boring and the typography looks not professional enough.

Therefore, I changed to Serif; It is a traditional and authoritative typeface, subtly speaks quality and it is understated. This font gives a feeling between the previous two designs; is my intended outcome. It looks more elegant; is suitable for womenswear. A new background design illustrated fabrics, knits and some small LED lights; As they are small that I can show my inspirations, but not catching audiences' attention to it. I still can tell the theme of this show is about textiles. The huge improvement of this poster is the logo. I created a scripted version mixed with serifs. It looks more like a logo for a fashion brand; the colour also matches with the poster this time.

That's all my reflection for the creation of the poster for the final show. I will post my artist statement and introduction for my show on the next blog.

Art Portfolio: Look 1

I have researched 2020 fashion trends on the website of BAZAAR. The disco comes back on the 2020 runways. Designs stand out with contrast colours and the contemporary button-downs designs. Here is an example of the disco collar. "The look is most impactful in jacket form—bonus points if it has a contrasting collar as seen on the Paco Rabanne runway." (Pieri, 2020)

PETER WHITEGETTY IMAGES

 My theme is substantial art that these are recycled gloves, such as kitchen gloves. My design shows a disco collar with two pairs of yellow plastic gloves. Appliqué used for cuffs and a pocket with reverse appliqué. To leave enough space for the pocket and avoid it looks crowed, I decided to make a smaller collar. A jumpsuit inside; where I would like to keep the whole design as a piece. A jumpsuit connects top and bottom- the ankle-length trousers made from plastic bags. I tend to use black leather high heels with thin lines that it can show as many as possible of the yellow plastic socks. Different from my initial sketches, I changed white gloves to yellow, which highlighter reel is one of the 2020 fashion trends. I think yellow is a sharper colour and more eye-catching.

ESTROPGETTY IMAGES

I experiment with an orange background, considering layouts for the final portfolio. I will continue to work on other design and post on blogger. I think this design is more original than the initial version; quite pleased with the outcome. I might need to change the presentation, make it more clear to read and reorganise the text.

I think this orange is too sharp; to make a better presentation, I toned down a bit.

Reference:

PIERI, K. (2020) 12 Standout Trends That Ruled the Spring 2020 Runways. [Online] Available from: 2020 fashion trends. [Accessed by 05/05/20]

Final Show: Logo Creation 2 & Reflection

This is the second post about my logo creation. Since the first try was not successful, I reflect my work and created some new ideas. This blog shows my new designs of logo and analysis my consideration.

I reflected the reasons why my previous logos did not work, there are two main points. Firstly, I have not thought about the target audiences. There is a relationship between target viewers and logo design. The first logo was funnier for the younger group of people. However, my target market is Generation Y women, so the logo needs to be more mature. Secondly, I demonstrated how the logo's idea came, why I used Japanese characters and where the inspirations come from. Thus, it made confusion. My market was international, so I think the name of the brand at least has English so that the audience can understand. Also, I considered the promotion of the company. The brand name needs to be clear and easy to remember. Then, I changed the Japanese to English letters. Using the pronunciation- KUHAKU.

Here are some examples of the new design. Thinking the logo needs to match the poster, I made samples with different colours.

I tried to find the colour palette of my last collection. The first front seems more suitable for young adults. Consider my the age group of my target audiences, people aged 25-33years old might be mature. So I think the second logo works better as it gives a feeling of elegant and more professional as a fashion brand logo.

I also experimented more background colours and symbols designs. I used a symbol to represent the letter 'A'. Besides, I added a logo related to textiles, such as thread. I quite like the front of the last logo, it is simple and fashionable.