Factual project

Factual project

• 1.
  Fanzine Research Jessica Crosland
• 2.
  Mind Map
• 3.
  Chosen idea • Forthis project I have chosen to work in the fanzine area and this will be based on the fashion industry how women are objectified and how social media (especially Instagram) is effecting peoples lives and their mental health will also be linked into this. I chose to focus more into this area because I wanted to chose a category which I can link into my FMP which is the fashion industry and print hence why I want to produce a fanzine which I am able to design all my images and chose how I will produce the work with my layout plans which I will create a context page so I can split up the different categories making it easier foe my audience. I will be focusing my target audience specifically females with an age range of 16-25 because this is a age range which would typically use social media or even be in the fashion industry e.g. modelling. My fanzine will include 12 pages or onwards including my front cover etc and these will be facts and explain to my audience really what the industry involves. I will also being including an interview which I will look into more detail later on but I have a brief plan of either reaching out to an Instagram influencer or model using the social media platforms which they are on this could be by using email or direct message. Once I have created my fanzine an my audience read through it I want them to take away from this that social media is not real life and to understand that the fashion industry is a lot more than what it seems in many ways, importantly I want my audience to feel relieved mainly with the mental health side of the situation and not to feel stressed on looking a certain way or expect to have an expectation of how you look being yourself is the important part. And to my other audience which want to find more information behind the fashion industry they will have a much more better understanding and learn new facts from my fanzine.
• 4.
  Existing Product I thenmoved onto the second part to my research which was looking into existing products and I focused on fanzines using a site called ‘issuu’ I looked around fanzines based on fashion and found a couple of examples such as Money, Fashion and power this one caught my eye from the front cover because of the dark yellow background which stood out from the rest from the shadows of the receipt. This is based on how money and power come into play across the fashion supply chain and what happens to your money when you purchase clothing, who is getting a bad deal?. I think this is very relevant because it gives people an idea to stop them from purchasing fast fashion and for them to realise who actually makes their clothes and what their lifestyle is actually like and wages etc. The phrases and questions used to ask the audience are very effective and direct to make people think about their actions before buying certain types of clothing or what they can do to help garment workers have a better wage and environment to work in. I looked into a few more two page spreads included in the fanzine and found the colours schemes focuses more on blacks and yellows I like the idea of this consistency because a range of random colours can not look very appealing to a layout but with matching colours these can fit well and look more professional. Also the dark lighting and shadows could be trying to indicate the negativity towards the fashion industry and how they want the best deals which are usually the countries with the lowest wages. The bold fonts varier through the pages which I like because there is a Range and it isn’t just the same repetitive font which could be coming boring to its audience some of the fonts covered one whole page which really shows the importance of getting its point across to the audience(making a statement). It also includes a lot of different layout plans with larger and small images which is something I want to consider including In my fanzine as this is a great way to attract the audience. Included in the fanzine I came across a page which was titled ‘send a letter to a brand’ which I think is a great way of getting the audience involved and for them to actually act upon and to help take action with this issue in the fashion industry I also found games included as this is a 72 page fanzine with a lot of detailed points and creative ways for its audience to interact with.
• 5.
  Letter And Game
• 6.
  Existing Product This exampleof a fanzine is based on the effects of social media and body image and is dedicated to educate and inspire young girls around the globe the purpose is for its audience to learn that the addiction to social media is increasing and has led to many wanting to achieve unrealistic body standards. This is very relevant because it includes mental health which I want to look more into on the social media side and most of the population use some type of social media every single day the front cover to the fanzine actually includes the different content which will be inside whereas others I have looked at have been a lot more plain this was one of the reasons as to why I chose this one as it stands out a lot to me. The cover also includes large images of the social media app icons for the audience to understand the purpose a lot more easier of the fanzine and when looking through the 14 pages I notice the colour schemes range from purple, pinks and blues they could have chose these colours firstly to appeal towards the audience of younger women and the saturated colours also give off a happy supportive tone as they want there audience to feel this and have a confident mindset. These colours could also symbolise the different social media apps for example blue is used for Facebook, twitter etc I looked into one of the double two page spreads within this I found that the global girls are trying to help their own audience over come certain thoughts or give out tips which will help to improve their mental and physical help one of these included a few questions for the audience to ask themselves which is a great strategy to really think about how social media takes over and is a standard and to get in touch for help. The text to picture ratio matches really well and there isn’t any random images they all have a meaning as to what the text is referring to which I like the idea because it is a lot more understanding and effective. The headlines all stand out when looking through each page and are mostly sans serif and serif fonts which are the common fonts used that grab the audiences attention as they are bold and larger fonts. I also really like these layouts because it looks a lot more appealing and creative with a mixture of styles and sticker images. This fanzine also included a two page spread with information purely on one person who is a director of leading learners and they had included a quote on which she had stated they did this because including other peoples opinions can help people who struggle with the effect which social media can have and are more likely to listen to the advice if it is someone well known or who inspires them. The mode of address earlier on in the fanzine are very direct to really question the audience by giving them questions to answer back on or give feedback and will make the audience feel like they are directly being spoken to and to carry on reading.
• 7.
  Two-page spreads
• 8.
  Existing Product I decideto lean back towards the fashion based fanzines and came across one which is an in-depth review based on Fashion Revolutions global impact, focus on activities and activations during Fashion Revolution week and the month of April in 2019.This fanzine is telling the audience about the different clothes they wear and how they want fashion to become a force for good and a cleaner and safer industry and also the problem, the vision and solution within the industry. This is very relevant and an interesting subject because it is trying to get its audience involved and understand the main problems occurring right now which people don’t know about as they only see the goods to the fashion industry but it also includes solutions or how the audience can act to make a change which I think is very important and a f=great subject to focus on for a fanzine. The cover of the fanzine is very basic and minimalistic but I like this idea because it gives a better effect and looks more professional and not too over crowded which personally makes me more intrigued to look Inside the colour schemes from the front cover are a mix which I also like and is a large font choice to grab in its audience. This fanzine includes 107 pages and the main headline fonts for each page a big bold fonts which look the same type of font and the colour schemes of the pages mix between pinks, blacks and whites but also a few pages have the same design as the colours included on the front cover which I like because this matches well together and gives of a positive tone and mood to its audience which they want for there audience to feel like they can become involved in this fashion World and help. As I believe this fanzine would appeal towards younger women by the different layouts and a lot of the images included are women or the colour schemes are mostly feminine colours. they have a lot of pages based on case study's which is great for giving out information and this fanzine itself provides a lot of information for its audience to understand and learn. I also like how the fanzine includes a variety of images as well as lots of texts which is a good ratio to keep its audience interested in. This fanzine also Includes a few social media pages which talks on how we raise awareness through Instagram using the hashtag imadeyourclothes I think this is another great Way to get the audience involved via social media and in my fanzine, I will focus on parts of social media so this was a great fanzine to look into and I can include ideas from this such as the Instagram hashtags into my final fanzine as a way of making awareness to mental health through social media.
• 10.
  Existing product Looking backon the issuu website I decided for my final existing product to look into a fanzine which isn’t related to fashion and I came across this fanzine of The All Saints singing group from the 1975 days and this fanzine gives part one of the story and is packed with rare and exclusive content collected from the 90s (based around the debut album era).which this magazine will appeal towards people who are fans of All Saints and interested to know about that era. The front cover of the fanzine really pulled me in to look inside this is because it looks Asif it is a magazine from the layout of the text around the main image and the masthead and it also includes what will be inside of this which I like because it lets the audience know before they read or buy this. The main reason as to why I chose to look into this was because of the layout ideas on every page inside (includes 100 pages) because they are creative and the edits of the pictures match well with the era of 1975 as some of the images look like polaroid edits which I think is a good way to link in with the 90s. The main colour schemes throughout the fanzine are blues, blacks ,reds , purples and pinks which could be a mix of the bands favourite colours or how they a represented through colour schemes as most colours are saturated and in most images they are all smiling and showing relaxed body language giving off a calm and happy vibe/mood. The fonts are also all different which I like because there is a range and no repletion of fonts these also look like they represent each song at the top of the pages. This fanzine also includes a few interviews as it provides this information on the front cover, which is another good thing to include because it lets it audience be able to know them on a more personal level and how their life was like and general facts this also has two games spot the difference and word search to interact with the audience and get them involved. This is something I want to include in my own fanzine by getting my audience to interact but also including my own interview for my audience to get a better idea of the fashion industry and social media. Overall, looking into all of these existing products has given me new ideas especially with layout ideas but also general things I can include to grab my audience in and I can now look into more detail with these and decided which ideas I will chose.
• 12.
  Subject Research • Iwanted to look into more research into a fanzine itself and the terms used as to what a fanzine is so therefore, I know what I am creating. I found that the term ‘Fanzine’ is comes from the combination comes from the word's ‘fan’ and ‘magazine’ it is a publication created by enthusiasts of particular forms of art and culture, such as music or cinema. Many fanzines used to be printed with very cheap and rudimentary methods, with production costs taken on by editors themselves linking to my production I am going to be producing my fanzine online and won't be needing to print any pages of, now I have this information on a fanzine I will know what expect when creating the fanzine and I wont lean to making more of a magazine as I know how I need to have the layouts. • I also then decided to look into the different context of my chosen subject which was social media and fashion industry I research into social media linking in with mental health and found that spending too much time engaging with social media can make you feel more lonely and isolated- and exacerbate mental health problems such as anxiety. I looked for a list of positive and negatives to social media therefore I can look back on these for my article and to have a better understanding. Positive: • Stay up to date with family and friends around the world • Find an outlet for your creativity and self-expression • Join or promote worthwhile causes and raise awareness Negative: • Isolation • Fear of missing out • cyberbullying • Inadequacy about your life or appearance • Self-absorption Signs social media is impacting your mental health: • Comparing yourself with others on social media(very common) • Spending a lot of time on social media rather than with real world friends • Engaging in activities in order to gain likes • Suffering from sleep problems
• 13.
  Subject Research • Toadd on from my subject research I now wanted to look into the fashion industry side with effecting mental health and models etc, also runways. Whilst I was researching I found an article called ‘Honouring & remembering the late Kate Valentine Spade’ so I decided to look more into this a found that Kate Valentine, also known as Kate Spade was a fashion entrepreneur living in New York city in an apartment she had committed suicide at the age of 55. After working as a fashion editor at Mademoiselle she left her role to found her first range of handbags and soon became very popular with her success. Her namesake brand changed the cover of its website and Instagram issuing the following statement: “Kate Spade, the visionary found of our brand, has passed. Our thoughts are with her family at this incredibly hear breaking time”. • From this I can understand that through social media you can see someone living the ‘best life’ but can be struggling behind images as you don’t know what someone is going through, it also shows how she had her dream job, dream family and wealth as most people think that is happiness but it isn’t. • And for those outside of the industry may be hard to believe that this often romanticized occupation can take a toll on its players mental health. Models, designers, and various professionals are often subject to long hours and high-stress in a demanding and deadline driven work setting. The highly competitive and critical nature of the industry exemplified by pressure for certain appearances for models and heavy criticism for a designers work.
• 14.
  Target Audience • Formy target audience I have chosen 16-25 females this is because this sort of age range would more likely be into social media and know a lot more about it and experience these similar situations and also I chose the female audience because I will mainly be including female models and illustrations as to why I have also picked colour schemes of purples and pinks to go on my fanzine. I also will be talking about influencers and models within the industry and women who do model therefore some of my audience type may look up to these people and within my interview the interviewee will be a women as I want to stick to my target audience throughout the whole of my fanzine and to make sure every page appeals to my audience. I will also be targeting my audience at women who have an interest in modelling, fashion and social media life so this can appeal to an open range of people which I think is a better idea because I will be attracting more than one audience. For my fanzine I am also looking to create a page with a hashtag relating to Instagram which I think is a good idea because most women around this age post on Instagram and therefore can get involved with the issues that need resolving.