Now that I have finished my final major project, I want to reflect on the journey from my statement of intent to my final piece. For my statement of intent, my original idea was to create an awareness campaign to launch pyjamas and loungewear range with the clothing brand M&S, where 25% of the profits would go towards creating care packages. The care packages were going to be tailored to the individual and would include specially selected products suitable for someone going through different types of treatments and cancers.
After handing in my statement of intent, I met with my tutor whom I spoke through my statement of intent with. I realized that my concept was good, but the campaign idea was very confusing as not only would I have to create a brand from scratch, but I would also have to launch the M&S collaboration and the care packages. With the help of my lecturers, I changed my idea of just creating my adaptable clothing brand who also creates care packages. I kept the same idea of being able to create clothing and care packages that were tailored to different cancers and treatments, but I decided to not use M&S as a partner company. I realized that even though M&S was a company that had done campaigns before to raise cancer awareness the most popular being Coppa Feel with collaboration with their lingerie, they didn’t fit in with my companies’ morals of being cruelty-free, vegan, sustainable and I wanted my clothing to be produced in the UK. Due to these points, I decided that the best option would be to collaborate with local businesses from Brighton that adhere to the same morals as me. Not only would that be good from a selling point of view, but I also want to support local businesses that were up and coming. I am really happy that I did this as I found the local businesses to be much more willing to speak with me and I even got to interview with one of the business owners Corinne Taylor. I really enjoyed working with real businesses and making relationships with them, I found it quite overwhelming at first to approach companies, but they were all really nice and had a real interest in my project and most of the companies sent me all their products for free, so I could use them. This project has definitely helped me develop my communication skills and given me confidence when talking to professionals in a business context.
From my last module, I wanted to work more on my photography and being more creative, as I was very research-based before. For my Final Major Project, I have created my own typography, illustrations in different mediums and experimented with photography in both film and digital cameras. I am happy with the experimentation that I did, and I really enjoyed learning new skills such as water painting which I have always admired but found difficult to work with. Photography is another technique that I have always found to be my weakest, but I am really happy with the photographs that I took. I found film the most difficult to shoot as I had to make sure the depth of field and aperture are consistent with the shots that I was taking in order to produce the best quality photographs. I also shot for the first time in a lightbox, it took a few attempts for me to get my head around how to get the best shots but I’m happy that the shots look good and also that I have improved my photography skills.
In my Statement of Intent, I wrote that my project aims for my final piece was to create, a brand booklet, Campaign imagery for the collaboration with M&S with a launch pack, a fully operational website with active social media and one fully produced care package. Looking back, I think my aims were too big for the time scale I had. I instead decided to only create some of the original aims but to make sure that I conducted them at the best level that I could. My final outcomes for my Final Major Project was one Brand Book, a fully operational website and active social media and one fully produced care package. By making my aims smaller I was able to invest in them all more and really create an in-depth Brand Book and website.
Overall, I am happy with what I created, I feel really proud of myself for speaking with real companies and having relationships with them, as well as creating the Brand Book and the Website. If I could go back, I would have wanted to do more and go into more depth in the business side of the company looking into finances, but unfortunately, I ran out of time. I am really pleased with the concept of the company and have really enjoyed watching it come to life and grow in front of my very eyes. I definitely think Just For You could be a successful company and I hope to be able to pursue it more in the future.
