As the art director I struggled to get through to the Visual Promoter to help with the 10 minutes of video content. So me and Freya ended up creating the video content together last minute as the Visual Promoter didn’t cooperate. Freya created a 5 minute video introducing our magazine and reading out our editorial writers note. I then helped by sending in footage that would be useful and coherent with the video. I also edited and merged a lot of the clips together as 5 minutes is long time to edit clips together. Me and Maddie then created another 5 minute video of behind the scenes content and also showcasing some audio clips of our interviews I did. Maddie sent in the 5 minutes of behind the scenes footage she had merged together and I edited the audio and visual to how with it. Me, Maddie and Freya stayed up until 2am before the deadline to ensure the video content was finished and edited before showcasing it to the class the next day.

It was shame as I think we could have done better to work together as a group to create a video that was a way more effective way of promoting our magazine over time. But I think we had all worked so hard on other aspects of the project, we had left the video till last minute. The videos in general represent our magazine well and what it’s about. But, we could have made it more professional and visually more interesting with higher quality content. Overall, I am happy with what we produced with such little time and help as we still worked hard on it.

Here is the link to the second 5 minute video- Freya will be uploading the other 5 minute video to her blog.

Looking back I am very proud of myself with how I have managed time, kept organisation and learnt throughout this project. Generally I struggle with keeping structure, routine and organisation with my ADHD. But I feel as if I did well with this project and really pushed myself to learn and engage. It has been difficult and there has been days where I have struggled to keep concentration and communicate with my group, but I really gave it my best with this project and I hope the results show that.

Being the Art Director has taught me that communication is key when working with a group and that sometimes when others don’t co-operate it’s okay to improvise and move forward. There has definitely been some blips in our group throughout when it comes to miscommunication and not showing up to sessions. But hopefully it shows who has really engaged when looking at the end results. I found myself not only doing my own roles but improvising and filling in for others throughout the project, specifically with styling and photography. I don’t mind as I enjoy these roles and they are things I’m happy to help with. But there is a difference between helping out and having to cover other peoples roles completely because they don’t show up. The most difficult thing for me was constantly encouraging our group, settling plans and then having to take up half the roles as people would cancel last minute. In the end as it was difficult for us to all be in the same place at once due to travel costs and distance, some of us would often spend a lot of time over FaceTime discussing the project.

The highlights of this project for me were being able to branch out my creativity and learn new skills. I got to use the proffesional photography studio for the first time after booking an induction which was very fun. I also learnt more when using InDesign and Lightroom, which are softwares I hadn’t used before. I also contributed a lot more when engaging in front of the class, which is something big for me as public speaking is not my strength as I tend to stutter and get anxious. I have also made a couple new friends as the class has definitely got to know each other better since starting the project.

I personally think throughout this project I could’ve improved on time management and focusing on smaller details to perfect the magazine further. But those traits also come down to my ADHD so I will keep them in mind when working on my next project. I have specifically  been trying to work on smaller details but there are still some things I could pick on that I could’ve focused on better. I think after looking at the printed final magazine there are some graphics and images I would’ve changed/ swapped around but when having a deadline I did feel the need to rush to print the final magazine in order to focus on other aspects of the project.

Overall I am happy we did this project and how our end results turned out, but am also glad it’s over as it has been stressful for everyone involved! 🙂

As we wanted to have a customisable page for our audience to experiment with their own thumb prints using the ink pads we will provide with the magazine, like our logo. I needed to test out different types of paper to see which would be best to use so that the ink can’t ruin the pages of the magazine. I found that silk was the best finish for our aesthetic and practicality.

I had asked a third year that I have kept in contact with after working together last year what she recommended, which was Mixam.com. She said that she and many other graduates had used it to print their final projects and it was great. So I will be trusting her word and use this website after ordering some free samples to test out the quality. I filled in an online form with all of the printing details for our magazine and got a quote for the pricing and an estimated delivery date.

When the prints of the magazine arrived I was very excited! The quality is something I’m very happy with. My only issue is that one page was repeated but it’s not something you can notice and isn’t our fault as it was a printing error. I also think we could’ve put higher quality cut outs for some collaging in there but it isn’t the end of the world.

Freya had set up a go fund me for our magazine, we this shared over social media, to friends and family. We managed to raise £400!! This is great and we will definitely be using this sensibly! This money will go towards covering the costs of buying & developing film, Ink pads that we intend to include with every issue of our magazine and to print our magazine. I have estimated and gotten a quote from a printing website and we will be needing at least £250-£300 to print 70 copies. So we definitely raised enough for us to work with!

I picked up this book today to post to Poppy for her research. It seems very interesting and I will definitely be borrowing it after her for my own research for our magazine. It’s intriguing to me as I’m interested in analysing different identities and how they correlate to different genders, locations, ethnicities and embodiment.

In order for the magazine to have an ongoing general aesthetic and theme, I have been communicating with Poppy (our editorial writer) and Maddie (our graphic designer). Me and Poppy have been keeping in touch and discussing how the photoshoots will speak for the articles. For example, Poppy is going to discuss the unique experience of connection between the twins we shot with researching into twin telepathy and how twins communicate in a unique way in day to day life. I recently interviewed the twins asking them what human connection means to them and how they feel connected to one another. I recorded our interview and sent it over to Poppy for her article. I will also be interviewing Mia asking about her story on how she rekindled her relationship with her cousin who has lived in Australia since she was born. These articles really interest me and it’s also super fun to get to know unique stories from friends.

Me and Maddie have been working together in order to make sure our graphics and images correlate well. We’ve been messaging on Instagram sending each other inspiration for the magazine layout, promotional posters and stickers. Maddie has created some amazing posters that we have stuck around university, they include QR codes people can scan from their phones that take you to our Instagram account. We have also curated stickers that we have put around brighton that have the same QR code. I think this is a super fun way to promote our magazine in order to create an audience.

The past couple of weeks I have been very busy, we have finalised 3 main shoots so far and I am very happy with them. Although I feel as if I have been doing most of the work for the photoshoots such as the digital and film photography, styling, directing and planning so far, I don’t really mind as I enjoy doing it, as long as I get credit for it. We plan our shoots in our instagram group chat in order to see everyone’s availability and their ideas for the coming shoot, but I have found that half of the time my group doesn’t turn up. And the other half of the time I end up doing the styling and most of the photography. I have communicated to the photographer and stylist that it’s important for us all to engage and help out and I think they will be engaging more from now on. Freya our photographer has been more interactive in order to plan shoots and has made a go fund me to raise money for printing the magazine. Rachel our stylist has also helped with visualising the styling by providing mood boards.

I have created a custom filter that I have been adjusting to all our shoots so that our images fit the same aesthetic and theme. I have also been taking photos with b&w & colour film photography. I have just got the b&w film developed and I’m very happy with them! Some images capture shadows of people in their natural form on the beach! It’s very wholesome and really captures the raw honest reflections of human connections.

Yesterday I attended an induction for the professional photography studios on the third floor of grand parade. It was very exciting to learn how to use the newer more professional equipment. I learnt how to create a sort of ‘old movie star’ lighting using fill lighting, honey comb covers and snoots. It was really interesting to see the different types of lighting you can create in just one studio. I also learnt how aperture and shutter speed are important when creating different lighting, in order to adjust the camera to the levels of flash and angles. I also learnt that reflectors are an important aspect of lighting and can be used outside the studio when using natural lighting. Here are some images of the lighting I created and some important facts to know for next time I book the studio.

The concept of our first shoot is illustrating human connection through frienship. We decided to do the shoot at home in my bedroom and outside my house to convey the comfort of being in your own home, where most human connections are accumulated. I made my room look as cozy and homely as possible with trinkets, books and clocks so that theres a feeling of familirity. I edited the images so they look like they’ve been taken on a film camera to capture that similar vibe.

I was the photographer, stylist and director for this shoot and maddie was in control of the lighting. Whilst styling the models I thought about including corduroy and thick jacket materials like faux fur, sherpa lining and suede. I kept a brown/beige colour palette with a pop of khaki green and emerald green shades. I enjoyed doing this shoot and am happy with how it turned out. Although I didn’t get much help with this shoot, my room is quite small so there wasn’t much room for our whole group to help out. Whilst me and Maddy did this shoot, the rest of the group headed out to film/capture some social media content on the streets of Hanover. They created some Reels for our Instagram, Maddie and Lily edited the video clips they had taken into 1 minute videos for previews and content of what to expect for our magazine.

This week we developed and presented our media pack. I was extremely nervous to present as I don’t do well with public speaking, but I think as a group we all did a good job. We were told that our aesthetic and magazine theme is consistent and we all clearly communicated what our magazine was about. For me personally I think I could have presented better if I had memorised what I needed to speak about and not just read from my notes. I definitely could have done that but I think my nerves got the best of me. I am also neurodivergent so I do struggle with making eye contact anyway. I think presenting the media pack when it’s unmarked is good for us to all become more comfortable with public speaking so we aren’t all as nervous when it comes to the real thing. Overall we did well and I enjoyed watching other group presentations to get an insight on what they’ve been doing.

The process of creating the media pack was stressful at first but after I assigned everyone specific aspects to speak about, it felt a lot easier as it was spread out fairly to each person. I was in charge of speaking about the overall Visual Identity. I found this was most suitable for me as Art Director. I spoke about how the colour palette contrasted well with the mood we aim to create in our images and overall magazine. I also spoke about how we are going to keep a consistent theme throughout by ensuring we maintain a comfort and ……………………..

Here is the presentation for our (unmarked) media pack. I created a shared powerpoint so that everyone could add their notes, images and titles we wanted to include. Maddie our graphic designer then created a newer organised slide show on indesign so that everything we wanted to include had an ongoing theme and wasn’t messy. We went through it together and decided what should go where and organised it so that it was numbered in the order of who was going to speak about what. If you click the link on the wording down below it should take you to our media pack.

ZEAL Media Pack