Fairtrade Fashion label creation

My new project involves creating a new Fairtrade fashion label for a line of Fairtrade cotton shirts that are going to be on the catwalk at the next Fairtrade fashion show in Bristol next Feb.

The emphasis for the brand is that it is going to be placed with the ethical clothing ranges at Harvey Nichols - we want it to be exclusive and raise awareness of the issues surrounding Fairtrade.

Initial ideas for brand names were:

1. Utopia 51 - because Utopia would be a world where all trade is fair and poverty is eradicated, to be certified as Fairtrade the cotton must be at least 51% Fairtrade.

2. Cotton on - cotton on to the issue of Fairtrade - unfortunately this has already been used in Australia! : (

3. For cot ten - derived from forgotten cotton - trying to emphasis that we shouldn't forget the cotton farmers and be aware of Fairtrade.

website launched

it is still subject to change as my identity hasn't been finalised yet and not all of my work has been uploaded but it is important that i have an online presence to start approaching employers for work experience..

www.i-lona.co.uk

feedback very welcome...thank-you

Exit strategy

I have been researching in detail how i want to structure my exit strategy and career progression from this point. I want it to be focussed and detailed. I have made a hitlist of the employers that i would like to gain work experience with and potentially work with - i have limited this to agencies and studio's that focus on the type of graphic design work that i want to develop my skills in.

Also, i want to display my current list of contacts that could be used to gain work experience and employment opportunities.

This information is going to be displayed as an information graphic..in a linear format that represents a timeline divided into 3 sections: exit strategy to next 5 yrs, 5 - 10 years and 10 years plus..

some inspiring images i have seen are:

Editorial crit

today we had feedback on our editorial magazines - i got some good constructive feedback on my magazine layout and have some amendments to do to my design as well as doing the contents page. I want to get this done asap so i can move forward with the next project which i have started researching for the beginning of next week.

further thoughts of my final project was to design a clothing line in partnership with a charity such as T shirts and create my own label to support the charity. The latest Creative Arts review magazine that i bought was discussing how to launch your own label and this seems like a good way to communicate design and also ties in with what we have been learning about in creative cultures where design is re-produced and distributed via clothing and fashion among other things. This is a concept i would like to explore further - does the reproduction of design make it more or less valuable?

i need to put together a 60 second pitch for my final project and think that the re-branding idea is more feasible to be success in terms of producing a strong project..but the charity clothing line is something i want to include for my career plans..maybe 5 years down the line as i way of giving something back..

Color me in

today we had a lecture on colour and it was explained how process and spot colours are used in design. This is something i was keen to learn about as i haven't known how to use colour properly or control how colour appears when it is printed as it can appear very different on screen.

Initially, i found the concept hard to understand without knowing how the printing processes work and have now got a book that explains this is more detail. Also i am going to invest in a PAntone bridge colour chart so i have a better choice of color for my work.

Following this lecture i have decided to experiment with different colours for my personal identity and see what works best..

23rd November

Frustrating day...booked printing of the magazine in plenty of time but couldn't print as i didn't export the fonts i had used in my InDesign file properly so when i tried to print from the uni printer all my fonts were lost or replaced! argh... lesson learn't always keep a copy of fonts for printing!! I have now saved the font files to a separate folder to load to the uni computer..take 2 tommorow morning!

Also, got introduced to the last project of the term which involves doing a brand for a fairtrade fashion label..i was involved with the fashion show last year so will be good to have the opportunity to get more involved this year and possibly have my design used in the show and for the work to count towards my work.

Been thinking about what i want to do for my final project next term.. Initial ideas was to do a magazine but on second thoughts this may not give my prtfolio a strong variety of work so i have decided to research doing a branding project as this appears to be the bread and butter of a graphic designers work.. i have arranged a meeting with the owner of a Carribean restaurant in Bristol called Plantation to see if i can use this restaurant as a case study for re-branding,..this interests me because it has a strong culture and potential for a strong brand and this particular restaurant has been on TV etc..up and coming..there are lots of elements to the re-branding not just a logo..to be continued..

Solvo Magazine

..continuing to develop the Solvo design magazine..i have one more article to complete which is surplus to requirements for the assignment but i was really inspired by the work of Rankin and used a Rankin inspired image for my front cover and therefore would like to link the cover to an article showcasing some of his similar images..

19th November

Personal tutorial today with Nick - it was good to talk to him about what my personal plans are. I am 99% sure that i will be going straight into industry at the emd of this academic year as i can't financially afford to stay another year. I feel ready to go into industry and excited..also i think i will learn more this way - although the learning will be different.

For our CP2 work we have to write a personal dev plan for our careers and next steps..for this i have decided to create a large A2 size information graphics to display this information..for the following reasons - it is more fun than writing a word document!..also more interesting for the reader!? Info graphics is a large part of graphic design and i haven't yet had the chance to explore this type of design so this will be my chance. This will be another piece of work for my portfolio and a great talking point for interviews..

Therefore, i have started to research info graphics that i like and inspire me.. and started to construct a HITLIST of companies in the Bristol area that i can approach for work...

18th November

I have developing my identity further. Ive decided that using my hand painted tea typography isn't strong enough so i have opted to just use the tea ring stain for the effect. Ive been experimenting with different colours as a palette of only tea 'browns' seems too bland.

I have been putting together the structure of my website to get my portfolio online so i can start approaching companies for work experience. I was inspired by this website: http://werkstette.dk/ because i like the good use of space to that you have maximum space to show off your work and it is very simple but dynamic.

However............i find it very frustrating not being able to develop what i want to do..i have just completed an extra-curricular Flash course so i can build my portfolio in Flash as i believe this looks better - but my skills aren't what i want them to be!! argh... but im getting there..

11th November

I have been developing my personal identity today. I have decided to focus on the concept of tea with the slogan "Refreshing Design". I created a logo which i painted and edited in Illustrator however, on reflection it didn't compliment the tea concept and was too distracting trying to incorporate the arabic typography theme. Therefore, i am now using "Refreshing Design" as the logo - my business card will be a coaster that can actually be used by clients. It won;t be designed to fit into a card holder as i want it to be on display.

The concept of refreshing design can be extended further to cover lemonade and beer etc for different marketing pieces. I will still operate under i-lona.co.uk

I was trying to create the tea affect in photoshop but have opted for painting with tea for a more natural effect which can be sharpened in photoshop.

Also, i have started constructing my online portfolio following the same branding idea..to be continued..

6th November

Marie Hendrickx

Sonya Suhariyan

I have been developing the masthead for my magazine today. I have reached a final choice. I have decided on a contemporary design which includes an icon which can be used on its own to identify the magazine amongst all others..the masthead reflects the slogan for the magazine..creativity for the fertile mind!

I need to go to the bookshop tommorow to look at yet more magazines...

I want to do more than one double page spread and have been thinking about what other topics to cover - ideas include:

- illustration - pomme chan is an amazing illustrator and would perhaps like to feature her work. I have found an interview with her online so i can do an interview as opposed to another article?

Also, ive noticed that lots of designers do interesting compositions with the prism shape - i want to research what this stands for and maybe feature it..

At least one of the articles will be more than a standard double page spread and possible fold out, origami prehaps..fold into a prism?

Pomme Chan

5th November - Photoshoot

Today i did a photoshoot to get some shots to use for the editorial project. I wanted to use my own photography so that i have more control over the composition and the subject of the images. It was quite challenging to get the shots that i wanted for the magazine. Here are sample of images i am developing for the magazine.

2nd November

I have been looking at different graphic designers to see how editorial design has developed. David Carson. This is my first point for starting my research. I have seen some of his work in the past, especially his Beach Culture magazine that he designed. I didn't like it. The layout and lack of a grid made me feel uncomfortable and didn’t see any aesthetic in the design. However, i really like the concept of what he was aiming to achieve. To produce an unconventional magazine. Especially in the design world, more emphasis is placed on the images, typography and layout than the content of the words. Personally when i read a design magazine i rarely read the words from front to back - i look at the images to be inspired.

I want Solvo, which means ‘Free’ in Latin to stand for ‘Creative Freedom’ / ‘Free your creative mind’. A magazine that breaks the rules of editorial design but inspires the reader to push the boundaries. A magazine that shouldn’t be read from front to back but opened at any page.

Taking this approach to the brief will push me to think more creatively and take advantage of creating something that i would be too constricted in the ‘real world’ to create.