FMP WEEK 13 (WC: 22/02/2021)

As I start to create the visual content for my magazine, I can see my approach to work is beginning to develop further which has been leading to a refinement in the type of art I am presenting for Sentient Magazine. The work I have been producing previously had been all very busy and chaotic, however I wanted the Instagram content to be slightly different. First of all, I aimed to differentiate the content between the social media content and the actual contents of the magazine, this is due to the fact that I did not want to repeat the content too much, have too much of the same being repeated or to spoil too much of the magazine before it gets released to the public as they would have seen most of it on Instagram anyway. Therefore, this has led me to create smaller square dimensional graphics which fit as Instagram posts nicely and complement the content in the magazine, as opposed to screenshotting pages and uploading. I have made sure to keep a colour palette which is consistent throughout the Instagram pages so all the content flows well together in the feed, as this is essential to building a brand. I have utilised the classes we have had in fashion communication previously on creating a strong brand identity for ourselves but translating it into the magazine’s string brand identity, which is really helping me. I have been scheduling content on apps such as Later, Hootsuite, which is good for Pinterest and ContentCal which is good to use on the desktop or laptop, as some are only for iOS or Andriod as opposed to a website page. This has led me to become more effective at planning my time, as creating a post for Instagram for the same time everyday which includes everything essential such as hashtags, a long and exciting caption, geotagging locations as well as interacting with other content creators to gain exposure, will be incredibly time consuming and tedious. I learned these techniques in a LinkedIn Learning video about building a new brand, and this has proven to be successful as I have gained some interaction and followers from these techniques; all transferable skills useful for any job within the creative sector.

I have been using Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator as well as tutorials on TikTok, YouTube and LinkedIn Learning to enhance my technical abilities. An example of this is the graphic I made titled “You Are in Charge of Your Own Body” which was inspired by a liquefy tutorial I had seen on TikTok. I found that this tool on Photoshop was very useful in making content that suited the style of my work as it was very abstract and when blurred became quite intriguing to look at. Being able to utilise social media to my own advantage for creative purposes is one of the most useful things I have done for this project. As social media is used by the majority of people, it is a catalyst for reaching a larger audience, putting yourself or your content out there for the world to see as well as an opportunity to grow the people that you interact with on a daily basis. This is why the content on the Sentient Instagram page is very reflective and philosophical, in order to let me audience really reflect on their lives and to think deeper as this is the main point of me creating the magazine in the first place.