Tagged: design
interactive/satirical magazine features
I researched into lighthearted and satirical magazine features to follow the fun, approachable tone I want FILLER to have. My main inspiration came from Bay Garnett’s Cheap Date magazine, which focuses on going against mainstream, mass-produced fashion and has a DIY zine feel. More recently, Mushpit magazine features satirical adverts and interactive elements such as quizzes and diagrams that comment on our contemporary society.
This made me want to take a lighthearted approach to other elements of trends I have observed. For example there is a youth trend in astrology and spirituality, with more and more young adults taking notice of horoscopes – Instagram alone is filled with “memes” dissecting our signs and how that explains our behaviour and personality traits. A popular app called Co-Star gives users daily astrological updates, and also allows you to add your friends so that you can view their natal charts and read in-depth compatibility results. So I created a satirical horoscopes feature in the zine, which turned knowledge of each star sign into lighthearted guidance on lifestyle and food habits, for example suggesting that Scorpios should “stop comparing your foodie Instagram pics to everyone else’s”.
The rise in “mindfulness” colouring books for adults’ mental health inspired me to create a “self-care must haves” colouring page, which used my personal illustration style to depict typical self-care products and behaviours for readers to colour in.
experimenting with coding
This coding workshop introduced me to creating website content and layouts from scratch, using html and CSS coding to alter the appearance of online pages.
Although the content I created was experimental and basic, it taught me the key formulas to alter the appearance of text, links and graphics online, and how I could develop these skills further to personalise my website design in the future.
(CSS documents change the appearance of the content, including font family and colour as well as links, hover, boxes and page width.)
online portfolio/website process
I was originally part of Cargo Collective, using a simple portfolio design to showcase my work. However it didn’t allow enough creativity in the design of the pages, and I wanted a platform that could allow me to create more of a visual identity through my website. I designed this website using Wix, purchased my own domain and removed all other advertising. I wanted to keep the design simplistic, but show little elements of my recurring themes, colours and aesthetics.
www.hollyelizatemple.com
I used Times New Roman because although it is a basic, overused and not particularly creative typeface, I like the juxtaposition of it when placed with my contemporary work and colour schemes. The colours I used reflect colours that often appear in my work – the pale pink accents match the pastel colours that (sometimes without meaning to) I use in my still life photography, collage and illustration. The bright royal blue combined with Times New Roman reminds me of typical hyperlink text, which I thought created a nod towards the digital and contemporary elements of my work. I added some elements of animation to my website, for example showcasing .gifs I have made to flick through books/zines, or manipulate my own illustrations.
Because my work is quite diverse across different disciplines and media, I wanted to make it clear on my website that my specialisms or particular focuses are in trends, art direction and publishing. Although still quite diverse, these three areas tie all of my work together, from photography to illustration, writing and book-making.
I originally had a page showing a simplified CV on my website, but after some consideration have removed this, as my particular skills and experience are clear from the work and projects I am showcasing on my website. I also feel it is sensible to keep some details private until requested by a potential employer. I have also added a separate page for work related to FILLER zine, which will include a link to purchase the zine – as it is separate to my other projects but I want there to be a direct link to it on my portfolio, to show that I am the manager of my own creative project/brand.
https://www.hollyelizatemple.com/filler
F U T U R E R E S E A R C H
There are particular concepts, topics and artists I was not able to research in this module but that I definitely want to explore in my final major project:
Martha Harris’ presentation on typography in activism:
Martha Harris’ presentation on typography in political settings has inspired me to look at political/activist posters and the constructivist style of early revolution posters, continuing through to the punk era and how artists and musicians adopted these styles – limited colours (2-3), geometrics/Art Deco shapes. Also how designers such as Rodchenko and Lizzitsky had started to feature strong or working women in their imagery, which could translate well into my proposed project.
The punk era aimed to destroy bourgeois/middle class imagery and the groups such as the Sex Pistols in particular referenced Communist propaganda in their album artwork and posters.
I also intend to look at Linder Sterling and her work for Jon Savage’s Secret Public zine, which used collage, photography and type in a way that I am interested in recreating or experimenting with.
I also want to look into DIY activist merchandise e.g. handmade banners and placards as this relates to my research I’ve carried out into the issues of mass-produced merchandise, and how we could alternatively create our own, more personal and therefore powerful messages.
Barbara Kruger – Martha made an interesting point about how Kruger’s more current work is more commercial than her earlier pieces, perhaps more relevant to fashion communication – Does this blur the boundaries between political messages and capitalism? Is this intended?
Spare Rib zine 1972-1993 – After Martha mentioned this feminist zine I discovered that all issues are available to read online on the British Library – so I want to explore this further for ideas about content and self-designed/published books.
Further reading/booklist:
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Barnard, Malcolm. “Fashion as communication.” (London: Routledge, 2002). Print.
Duncombe, Stephen. “Notes from the underground: Zines and the politics of alternative culture.” (Bloomington, Ind.: Microcosm, 2008). Print.
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Fawcett-Tang, Roger. “Experimental formats 2: Books, brochures, catalogues.” (Mies; Hove: RotoVision, c2005). Print.
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Leslie, Jeremy. “Issues: New magazine culture.” (London: Laurence King, 2000). Print.
Leslie, Jeremy. “MagCulture: New magazine design.” (London: Laurence King, 2003). Print.
Piepmeier, Alison. “Girl zines: Making media, doing feminism.” (New York: New York University Press, 2009). Print.
Scott, Linda M. “Fresh lipstick: Redressing fashion and feminism.” (New York; Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006). Print.
finalising trend book concept/visuals
R E W O R K I N G M Y I L L U S T R A T I O N
After researching deeper into my subject matter and creatives that could inspire my imagery, I reworked my fashion illustrations to push myself more to use different processes and experiment with my drawing style. 
This was my favourite illustration; I combined and layered line drawing with marker pens, fineliners, my own photography and found images to create fashion illustrations focusing on colour, texture and contemporary design. I think this made them fit well with the clean, vibrant still life photography that I have decided to lay alongside them in my publication, to create a strong feature on plant-based dyes and textiles in fashion.
final product shots
printing and illustration methods
I used a variety of image-making methods to make sure there was diversity throughout the zine, very often using hand-drawn illustration and adding colour on Illustrator, as well as scanning in hand-drawn illustrations and typography to create a DIY or diary look. I also used lino-printing to add texture, but edited colours to create a stamp-like effect. Overall, by combining digital and analogue methods I managed to create interesting, diverse spreads which created a collaged, scrapbook look.
take care: visual identity development
I started off by looking at creating a clean, contemporary and fresh design for the zine, and designed a minimalist cover combining photography and type. I looked to Trekstock’s existing branding for guidance, especially on their Wellbeing page. However, after considering this piece of work and the aims and audience for the campaign, I wanted to create something younger and more exciting that would draw people in as an exciting publication. I realised I didn’t have to adhere to Trekstock’s exact branding (Yellow Bird Project as an example of one of their projects that has a different look and feel to Trekstock’s own identity) so could be a little freer in the design process. After experimenting a little with some initial page spreads too, I decided to make the zine entirely illustrative with no photography, which I think is more engaging and unique, and also will push me to try new things using ilustration, typography, Indesign and Illustrator.
mission statement
