FMP RESEARCH: WEEK 3

This week I began experimenting with initial image-making fed by my research into feminist matters in fashion and fashion publications. Using images and text from vintage publications as well as contemporary magazines I created simple collages that provoked thought around debates of sex, gender and equality. This sparked ideas around the concept of creating fake advertisements in my proposed magazine, as a playful but thoughtful way of interrogating issues in the fashion media industry.
This made me start thinking about the identity of my publication. I started thinking about ‘trigger words’ that appear in advertisements or women’s/fashion magazine that could have connotations that fit with a feminist theme. Taking inspiration from Riot Grrrl zines and the way they reclaim aggressive or misogynistic words in their publications, I wanted to put a contemporary twist on this. I brainstormed words that popped up in adverts or articles that suggested concerns around women’s bodies, beauty or sexuality, as well as researching into other offensive terms for women to find a catchy, meaningful title.

BROAD – old-fashioned, offensive term for a woman. also think about stature or build. sounds aggressive and stern (could also mean something to do with print? ‘broadsheet’)

SILICONE – cosmetic surgery, implants, artificiality but also smoothness and perfection

FILLER – surgery and beauty standards, but also could sound sexual? also a term for a sound or word to fill a pause. (type meanings – filler text.) could also have food connotations?

After this experimentation I was motivated to look further into contemporary design of small-press or artistic publications, to get ideas for visual identity and alternative printing methods – to take a contemporary approach to the older, photocopied zine. I looked briefly into Bay Garnett’s Cheap Date magazine (which I want to look into further during my FMP – content ideas, design and written tone) which was mainly black and white but with creative, childlike graphic design. This made me start looking at graphic designers that create work that isn’t traditionally clean or professional, such as Lennarts and de Bruijn, whose work features bright colours, wild combinations of typography and shapes. I also looked at People of Print’s poster zines, which look risograph or screen printed, a method I am very interested in exploring further as I have used risograph printing in my personal work and love the vibrant colours and overlapping of layers. The fold-out design of these zines also helped me start thinking about the formatting of my publication, as I want to explore more creative ways of working with ‘the book’ as an art piece, rather than creating a conventional magazine.