As I have come to the close of this project, after doing all my research and producing my final outcomes. I am very proud with the content I have created although the journey to this final outcome was rocky and stagnant at times. I feel as though I have been able to produce not only a brand but a vision that translates the context of the module.

Through the process I have grown to understand the intricacies of my customer and accommodate for any of the issues that they may have faced. This allowed my brand to become more well rounded and flesh it out.

Although i enjoyed the many social media platform creations and websites I do feel as though i need more work in this element of the module as I believe it entails much more than just photo selection and  modelling production.

As a creative for this module I feel as though I have come to a point where I understand the functionality of a sustainable brand. if I were to go further with this brand I would have wanted to expand my brand campaign and create more interactive edits and production of the garments. I Would also like to make marketing art work / posters as well as execute physical event such as a pop up shop and I hope to do this in the future as I would like to continue producing work for it.

For my website design I tried to use Figma. However i found it to be quite awkward so instead i used Wix to create my website. I have never made a website before so i looked at some of the websites I shop from personally and took pointers on the tool bar and image layout. One of the main websites i took influence from was Bottega Venetta as i believe their website is fluid and well laid out. it is in a way quite simplistic but this strikes me as one of the best ways to lay out the website for a customer as it mitigates the tedious task of online shopping and endless scrolling. There for I constructed my website to only have 4 pages so that it is seamless and easy to use without too much confusion.

The four pages I wanted to incorporate into my website was the home page which would act as the main page that has links to the other three. this being the shop where I have showcased 4 different garments and gave them descriptions, there is then another page which acts as a photo gallery so that the brand as well as the customers can upload photos that fit into the visual direction of the brand. and then finally the services page where customers can see the services the brand provides which consists of repair work. I think this was a practical layout and one that will give the customer the most amount of ease when browsing and interacting with the website.

For this workshop we looked at a paper that touched on Instagram and the way it was studied in  2017. from this we highlighted and noted some of the key points from the paper, that related to our brands. it became apparent to me that in comparison to platforms such as twitter many apps that allow the visual aspect into their software gain more recognition and following. It is evident that Instagram has become a habitat for different cultures, aesthetics and editorial masterpieces all together. this reflects perfectly onto my brand as i believe that tik tok and Instagram would be the two most influential platforms to propel my brand into the eyes of the right audience. This will help me to build and create a space for a community which i hope to allow to drive the brand in the right direction. This being through them making suggestions and me basing the brand off what the customer wants and make a more immersive brand.

Following on from this the next task that we needed to complete was the production of a Tik Tok video for our brand. I focused on creating a video with numerous edits that showcased the style that my brand was going for. and the colours of clothing and aesthetic around the brand. I decided to go with a reserved stance on the video and filmed the video in a way that would make the customer feel like they were walking down the strip with us. I went with this approach as i believe it reflected the best portrayal of romanticising normal everyday activities. i decided to marry this video with slow jazz music to create a poetic feel to the video and go for more of a relaxed styled approach. I also added the text ‘Brand campaign’ to the beginning of the video and the brand name toward the end of the video.

for this lesson we were given the task of applying our persona aims and working out our target audience for our website. The main focus was working out and discussing what type of things they would be looking for and why exactly they needed/ wanted those items. I then went on to working out what may impede the customer from obtaining these items by themselves. I then went on to address why brands items would mitigate this situation. i came up with the analysis that the customer may not have been able to find the right stores or are located in an area where these particular stores are not regularly available to them. as well as this I identified that they may not have the time to go and hunt down unique and old pieces/items either due to work or other responsibilities. Another reason may be due to the fact that most of the items may not be up to the customers standards and due to the services that my brand will has to provide such as repair work it allows them to purchase pieces that they may have found to be broken on their own search. this allows me to target my website on those things making it easy and effortless for the customer.

in the class we then went on to focus directly on a  single user, and highlight what sort of things they may be interested in buying. I focused my attention on a old watch. this allowed me to focus on the repair and hunt parts of my website.

Within todays lesson we focused on our own individual brands, giving ourselves time to research and develop the direction and foundation in which to build on. As the day progressed we had a talk on how personas can have a impact on brand ideas. We were given the task of creating our own customer. focusing on their name, age and occupation as well as their hobbies. Through creating a audience page we were able to create a vision and image of the brand and the concept behind it and who maybe interested in it. i created the person of Ruben aged 21. I decided that he was an individual who had multiple styles but liked the urban, rustic but stylish look. He is also an artist who goes about sourcing sustainable materials and recyclable canvases. His main passions are music, ethical living and architecture. He has a particular interest in the mediocre.

Ruben:

This allowed me to focus on the concept behind a potential brand idea. I also felt like it made the brand more approachable and human as it was now given a customer base and a idea in which other could grapple to. The activities also allowed me to think more creatively and in a lot  more depth, fleshing out the brand. And allowed me to pay more attention to my target audience. from this i am going to work more on my own brand aesthetic attempting to make numerous mood boards, brand boards and target audience persona’s  with the hope to create a fully connectable brand.

At the beginning of the final term we were introduced to our new topic. The brief outlined the key things that needed to be completed, we were given the task to do a few activities related to slow fashion and highlight what our personal opinions on it were in groups.

we began by creating a mind map, this outlined what we associated with the slow movement of fashion and work out ways in which this could be changed. There was also a focus on charity shops and vintage stores and how this has impacted the movement in both a positive and negative way.

we also touched on elements of fashion and sustainability such as kilo sales and how we could address the problem with heaps of fabric being thrown away when these could instead be used in many different ways.

I am looking forward to delve into this module as I have also ways wanted to try and create a second hand brand and create a space for a community that are like minded. I have already been trying to visualise the direction i want to go with my sustainable brand.  I have looked a lot into the use of canvas and scrap denim as one of my ideas to marry these to materials together to make a garment that is interactive and individually personalised. I also have an idea for the colours that I want to go with for the brand and this consists of oranges, lilacs and very neutral colours. this brand would focus on style and the mundane rather than  the flashy side of fashion.

WHAT IS HARAJUKU TO ME?

THROUGHOUT THIS MODULE I HAVE WIDENED MY KNOWLEDGE IN MANY WAYS. TO BEGIN WITH LEARNING ABOUT A SUBCUTURE SO UNKOWN AND FOREIGN TO ME HAS HAD A MASSIVE IMPACT ON MY STYLING AND ARTISITC SKILLS. THIS HAS BEEN DUE TO ME STUDYING A CULTURE INWHCIH I WOULDN’T HAVE NORMALLY CHOSEN. STUDYNG THE PLETHERA OF DIFFERENT SUB CULTURES WITHIN THIS SUBCULTURE, THE STYLES AND FASHION MOVEMENTS THAT HAVE ALL COME OUT OF THIS SMALL DISTRICT HAS COMPLETELY AWAKENED ME TO WHAT ELSE HAS HAPPENED AND IS HAPPENING AROUND THE WORLD. IT WAS INTERESTING TO FIND OUT THAT MUCH LIKE OTHER COUNTRIES ROUND AFTER THE SECOND WORLD WAR JAPAN AND HARAJUKU IN PARTICULAR AFTER A COMPLETE GENERATIONAL WIPE WAS ABLE TO REBIRTH A NEW CULTURE. REINFORCING THIS I WAS INLIGHTENED BY THE WAY IN WHCIH SELF EXPRESSION AND IDENTITY WAS THE DRIVING FORCE FOR THE YOUTH OF THIS SUB CULTURE AND RESPECT HOW THIS ENTIRE SUBCULTURE WAS CREATED DUE TO OPPRESSION OF SELF ARTISTIC VISION AND EXPRESSION. I HAVE COME  TO REALISE THAT THE MAJORITY OF SUB-CULTURES ARE CREATED DUE TO COMMON INTEREST OR USUALLY BECAUSE OF AN OPPRESSED PEOPLE AND I BELEIVE THE WAY INWHICH HARAJUKU HAS HARBOURED MANY OF THESE LOST AND UNVALIDATED SUBCULTURES JSUT PROVES HOW MONUMENTAL IT IS AS NOT ONLY A GEOGRAPHICAL PLACE BUT ALSO A ENTIRE SUB CULTURE. THROUGH MY STUDYING AND RESEARCHING OF THIS SUB CULTURE I HAVE BEEN ABLE TO CREATE SOME OF MY OWN BEST WORK, SHOWCASEING THREE PHOTO SHOOTS EXPLORING EXPRESSION, COLOUR, SEX, ACCESORIES AND THE METAVERSE.

I CAN SAY THAT THIS MODULE HAS NOT ONLY REFINED SOME OF MY SKILLS SUCH AS EDITING BUT ALSO PUSHED THEM TO THEIR LIMITS. ALLOWING ME TO CREATE WORK WITH A NEW TWIST THAT I REALLY ENJOYED CREATING. THE WORKSHOPS ON TYPOGRAPHY AND ILLUSTRATION ALSO SPARKED A OBSESSION AND INTEREST INTO THESE AREAS AND ALSO ELEVATED MY WORK WITH THE NUMEROUS HOURS TRYING OUT DIFFERENT FONTS AND FORMATS, AS WELL AS DRAWING STYLING IDEAS FOR MY SHOOTS.  THROUGHT OUT THIS PROJECT I HAVE BEEN ATTEMPTING TO LINK BOTH HARAJUKU AND THE META VERSE INTO ONE IMAGE A MERGED ANALYSIS. I BELEIVE THAT THROUGH MY EXPERIMENTATION AND ATTEMPT TO CREATE A DISTORTED/ FUTURISTIC ACIDIC GALLERY OF WORK I WAS ABLE TO CAPTURE A VISSION INTO WHAT THE MIXTURE WOULD LOOK LIKE. FOR MY FINAL ZINE I WANTD TO PRIMARILY FOCUS ON MY SHOOTS AND THE WAYS INWHICH I PUSHED MYSELF BOTH WITH THE PUBLIC STREET PHOTOGRAPHY AND ALSO WITH THE EDITORIAL IMAGERY AS I BELEIVE THIS WILL GIVE THE MOST RAW INTERPRETATION OF BOTH OF THE SUBCULTURES AND SHOWCASE THE CONNECTION BETWEEN THE TWO. EVIDENT THROUGH MY WORK I HAVE THOUGHRALLY ENJOYED THIS MODULE AND I BELEIEV MY OWN SELF EXPRESSION THROUGH MY WORK HAS CREATED AN INSIGHT INTO A CULTURE THAT MANY MAY OVERLOOK.  I LOOK FORWARD TO DEVELOPING MY SKILLS FURTHER AND POTENTIALLY VENTURE INTO FILM AS THIS WAS ON OF THE MEDIUMS I WANTED TO ATTEMPT BUT IW ILL HAVE TO LEARN MORE ON THAT FRONT.

PUBLIC STREET PHOTOGRAPHY

AFTER DOING THE FIRST SHOOT I DECIDED TO TRY AND EXPERIENCE AND RECREATE WHAT THE PROFESSIONAL PHOTOGRAPHERS CAPTURE IN THE STREETS OF HARAJUKU, BUT INSTEAD WITHIN BRIGHTON AS BRIGHTON TOO HAS A REPUTABLE NAME FOR FASHION STYLES. I HIRED OUT A CAMERA FROM UNI AND DECIDED TO HEAD INTO BRIGHTON ON A BUSY SATURDAY. I BRANG MY TWO PREVIOSU MODELS, WHOM I DRESSED IN COMPLETE CONTRAST TO THEIR PREVIOUS OUTFITS STRESSING A NEED FOR VIBRANT COLOURS. ONCE GETTING INTO THE CITY I DIRECTED THEM TO STAND IN THE MIDDLE OF BUSY LANES AND POSE AS THOUGH THEY WERE JUST ASKED BY A PHOTOGRAPHER ABOUT THEIR OUTFIT THIS WORKED VERY WELL DESPITE THE STARES. I THEN TOOK IT UPON MYSELF TO PUSH THE BOAT OUT FURTHER BY COMPLETELY IMERSING MYSELF INTO THE EXPERIENCE OF STREET PHOTOGRAPHER SCANNING THE LANES ANDSTREETS OF BTRIGHTON FOR PEOPLE I BELIEVE FITTED IN THE HARAJUKU STYLE OR HAD AN OOZING AURA OF SELF EXPRESSION. ONCE ID FIND THEM ID ASK THEM TO DO THE SAME AS THE OTHER MODELS AND POSE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE STREET THIS ALSO WORKED VERY WELL AND I WAS ABLE TO CAPTURE SOME BRILLIANT CHARACTERS. IT ALSO PUSHED ME TO ASK RANDOM PEOPLE AND PUSH PAST THE AWKWARDNESS OF STREET PHOTOGRAPHY.. HOWEVER, I DID WANT TO EDIT THEM LATER ON AS ALOTHOUGH I BELIEVE THEY ARE GOOD PHOTOS AND CAPTURE THE SELF EXPRESSION AND IDENTITY I WANTED TO CAPTURE I WANTED TO HIGHLIGHT THE NUMEROUS COLOURS AND THE BACKGROUNDS OF THE STREETS.