And finally . . .

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Evaluation . . .

The past three and a half months on this project have gone by so fast, I have learnt a lot during the time, building on my technical knowledge about publication layout as well as learning new skills on Illustrator, Indesign, Photoshop and iweb.

On starting this project the shoots were the aspects of the publication that I was looking forward to doing least, as I always seem to have trouble sourcing photographers and hair and make-up artists, however early planning paid off, and I managed to get the teams together that I needed for each of the shoots, as well as the locations, turning out to be one of the more enjoyable aspects of the process.

The shoots within the publication are therefore something I am incredibly proud of as it took a lot of planning and reorganising, and at times I didn't think they would ever get done, particularly when Ben (photographer) pulled out of the Land Girls shoot and the initial difficulty at finding a farm location.

My mentor Jess has provided me with some invaluable help and advice and our meeting really helped me with the overall layout of the publication, and looks all the better for the alterations that she suggested, such as adding more fonts to the publication, and using the dotted box more throughout to segregate different sections. The decision to change the cover, spurred on by feedback from Jess and potential readers, as well as tutor feedback, have drastically improved the overall image of the publication. The cover is now a much more fitting reflection of the publication content, and the fact that it's on tracing paper gives the reader an idea of the quality and make do and mend style of Dandy-Lion.

Collaboration was a major part of this project, and at times it was hard relying on others to get back to me with images and information of their work, but it was an enjoyable process none the less, with many of the contributors within Dandy-Lion coming from contacts made at the Boscombe Vintage Market, and collaborations in previous projects, such as those with Rachael Dinnage on the illustrations and interview and Sarah Hallsworth on the packaging design, both from the Illustration course. The collaboration with Vicky and Naomi on the styling of two of the shoots proved really successful, giving the shoots a unique and individual look, as they chose clothes that I would never of picked up and put together and their help and advice on the shoots was invaluable.


The Dandy-Lion website is another aspect of the project that I am proud of, given more time I would like to develop the site further, incorporating the stamped and stitched lettering making it truly reflective of the publication, but for the initial release of the publication it provides all the information the reader would ever need to know, and as the Dandy-Lino publication would hopefully continue to grow so in turn would the website, developing into more of a community site, where readers can interact with one another as well as staff members at Dandy-Lion.


The craft nature of the project had meant that I have been able to experiment further with the types of materials used to print the pages of the publication on, it was a shame that the printing onto fabric wasn't quite as successful as I was hoping, but is an area that could be investigated further if the publication were to actually go to print.


Producing the advertising campaign and my business cards on the laser cutter was another new skill that I learnt whilst on this project, and is completely different from other publications advertising campaign and a true reflection of the craft nature of the publication, giving a traditional craft such as hand paper cutting a modern twist, such as using the laser cutter. An element of the project I would love to have developed further with the made with love card range as well as the advertising. I would also have liked to experiment with using the laser cutting within the publication for the cover or one of the photo shoot title pages.

Similar to the SWOT analysis produced for the marketing plan I have gone over each individual area and identified the strengths, weakness, opportunities and threats within the project as well as the Dandy-Lion product -

Strengths - 

* Niche subject nature and the tactile nature of the publication make it unlike anything else that is currently available on the market, a unique and individual product.

* Links and promotion of British and local businesses, as well as up and coming talent within the make do and mend and craft field.

* Collaborative projects with professionals that wouldn't usually be put/work together such as the ' Fall in love with the Countryside' feature with Rachael (illustration) and Holly (photographer)


* Specialist subject knowledge -  for example within the baking section of the publication there is an article written by Lisa Tracey who owns and runs her own bakery company, and Frances Morel who produced the how to guide on cushions, all of the information within the publications was produced by people who have a passion for the subject matter and have a broad knowledge of that particular area.

Weaknesses - 

* The niche nature of the publication is not only a strength of Dandy-Lion but also a weakness. Along with the £25.00 intended retail price it limits the availability of the publication to potential readers. 


* Opportunity for advertising within the publication is limited to product placement and brand profiles, with the main advertising income coming from the packaging that can be tailored to the ethos and style of the particular brand, would need to look at featuring discrete advertising on the Dandy-Lion website, and other forms of revenue to fund the production of the publication.


* Packaging is quite fragile, I would of liked to experiment further with different materials for the packaging, however I was limited to the cards that were available to me as I wanted it to be recycled like the papers used within the publication.
 

Opportunities - 

* Brand Diversification with other products linked to the Dandy-Lion publication, such as the 'made with love' card and stationery range, and the potential lifestyle Lookbook Scarpbooks, and online/physical product pop up shop.

*Make do and mend and grow your own are growing in popularity as a result of the recession, and the fact that people are becoming increasingly aware and conscious of what they and their family eat, resulting in a potential growing readership for the publication. 

* The opportunity to expand the publication, to looking outside of the UK, to other destination within Europe looking at markets and places to explore all over the world, attracting more readers potentially.

Threats -

*Competition form new publications which are constantly coming onto the market, particularly within the fashion/lifestyle market.

* Rising cost in paper may result in the publication becoming too expensive to print in the future, and therefore result in it becoming a digital publication, however, this would make it available to a match larger, making it available globally opposed to just within the UK.

* Time taken to stitch and stamp the titles and page numbers -  this is a time consuming process, however I did get quicker at it the more titles I stitched and the page numbers took considerably less time than I initially planned for. This factor could again push up the end price of the publication to the reader as I would need to employ someone to help me stitch into all the publications if Dandy-Lion where to ever be produced in bulk.

Portfolio . . .

I got the last page on my portfolio printed today, and scanned them all in so that I can send my portfolio along with my CV when applying for jobs, I've included the digital version below -

The scans haven't come out that well, and some of the text is hard to read so I've also included another version substituting the stitched titles for an actual font, I would just need to scan in the tactile bits and pieces, but I'll do this at a later date.



I'm really pleased with the final outcome, the stitched titles work really well, and although I've included work from other projects it all looks part of the same thing opposed to different project arranged together. The dandelion end stop that I have used throughout the publication works well placed on pages throughout the portfolio.

Website problems . . .

I tried my website out on my boyfriends PC to check that all the links were still working, only to discover that the Champagne Limousines text that I had used for the majority of the text and some of the titles had reverted to another font entirely. 

So I've been busy trying to rectify the problem, choosing a font that was already available on my computer, opposed to one that was downloaded of Eagle Fonts of dafont.com, which seems to have done the trick after checking the website again, fingers crossed it will stay fixed.

Website launched

With the help of Jamie I managed to get my website up and running and it is now 'live' on the internet, the original domain name I had in mind for the site was unfortunately taken so had to choose something else, so decided to incorporate the made with love strapline. Below is a link to the site -

www.dandylion-madewithlove.co.uk

I'm really pleased with the final site and the chosen simplistic an clean layout style of the site. The future of the site would ultimately depend on the success of the publication, so as the publication grew in size so in turn with the website, becoming more of a community site where readers can comment on blog posts and add their own comments and personal finds.

Mock Interview feedback . . .

I was really pleased with the comments I received from the feedback form, it's boosted my confidence as I have been browsing online for potential jobs and have so far come up blank.

From the feedback I got during the interview I have included more of my written work within my portfolio and adjusted the costings page accordingly.

I'm hoping to carry out a few mini projects over the two weeks before GFW and squeezed in between work placement at Country Living, to incorporate more diversity within my portfolio which was mentioned on the feedback form, I am also hoping to put some of the articles that I wrote whilst at Velvet magazine within my portfolio, as they are in a completely different writing style.

Bournemouth . . . no show

Today was the day of the Bournemouth show, held at the Dance Pavilion in Bournemouth town centre, I arrived super early (8:20am!!!) to help the girls set up the foyer space for the communications students work and to display everyone's portfolios. The first issue of Dandy-Lion was on display for everyone to look at, as well as my portfolio and business cards, below are some images of my work on display at the show -


 

Website

Over the past week I have been busy putting the Dandy-Lion publication together on iweb, I've kept the site very clean and simple inspired by The Gentlewomen site (http://www.thegentlewoman.com/), it includes a main page, About Dandy-Lion, Latest Issue, Media Pack, Where we Live and a Blog page so that the readers/followers can track the progress of the publication.

I'm really pleased with the final layout of the website considering that I've taught myself how to use the iweb software, as the Dandy-Lion brand grows I would continue to build on and develop the site, making it more of a community site were readers can post things going on in their local area and informing other like minded individuals.

The edited advertising campaign . . .

I've scanned in the final four advertising posters and edited them all on Photoshop, the washing line sample is still my favourite.

Project Developments . . .

After a quick tutorial with Tiffany we have decided to scrap the current cover and instead just use the welcome page as the cover as it is a lot stronger and more representative of the Dandy-Lion Brand.

We also spoke about the Land Girls pages not being quite legible as you can see from the scans below, I had a similar problem with the contents pages which I had to get reprinted as well. I'm going to go to the printers on Friday and get these reprinted onto the white inscription paper as well as the one of the Dandy-Lion recommends pages, just in time for hand in on Tuesday.

Advertising campaign . . .

I've attached the papercuts I done a few weeks ago whilst I had the big laser cutter booked to the coloured backing card, I'm really pleased with them, I'm going to take them into uni and scan them in using the A3 scanner and enhance them further on photoshop, so that they look more professional, below are some images of the papercuts in their original state, the backing papers were a bit curly so I've put some heavy books on top of the papercuts to help flatten them before I scan them in -

Project progress update . . .

I have completed the second copy of the publication and am well on my way with the third. I'm finding it a lot easier after having a break from my sewing machine over the weekend, and I'm starting to enjoy it again, where it was becoming a chore.

Mock interview . . .

I got some really good feedback on both the Dandy-Lion publications as a product and my portfolio today in the interview, both interviewees really liked the concept of the publication, although suggested that if it were to actually go into production to think about looking outside of the UK for features and content, they also suggested I revise my costings, something that I'm going to reassess tomorrow.

In terms of my portfolio they seemed really pleased with it, saying that it was beautifully presented and that I should think about incorporating some of my written work if journalism is an area in which I am interested. As well as developing the Paper Eaters page, maybe having one or two more as at the moment the project sticks out like a sore thumb and doesn't really go with anything else in my portfolio. 

Below are some images of some of the pages in my portfolio -

Web-site developments . . .

This week I've started putting together the website for the Dandy-Lion publication, taking inspiration from some of the sites that I have looked at in my research sketch book. After speaking to Jess (mentor) and Jamie I have opted for iweb to make my website. I struggled at first to get to grips with the programme, however the more I've used it the better I've become and have now got the basic shell of the site done, it just needs a little padding out in places and some layout tweaking. I'm hoping to spend the majority of the weekend getting it done, leaving me next week to continue stitching into the remaining two publications and sketchbook work.

The very first Dandy-Lion issue . . .

I finished putting together the first of three copies if the Dandy-Lion publication today, the titles took me slightly longer than anticipated to stitch on as I had to cut a lot of them down in size as I had cut the initial squares of fabric slightly too big. The page numbers on the other hand took me no time at all to stitch in place.

At the moment I have left the publication under some heavy books as the paper is still slightly curled from where it has gone through the printer. However I tested the publication with the packaging to check that it all fitted in fine with the fabric wrapped around the outside.

I was initially going to have the fabric wrapped around all sides of the publication, but it looked really messy in the box, so decided to have it the same height as the publication, but twice the width, long enough to fold over and cover the front of the publication, it also allows the reader to easily take the publication out of the box.

The finished Dandy-Lion marketing plan . . .

I've finished the marketing plan for the Per Acquum award, a little later than scheduled due to stitching on the publication and handing my portfolio in earlier than expected for the British fashion council portfolio day. I have also made some packaging hold the plan, as one of the requirements was that it be bound, and I wanted the plan to be representational of the Dandy-Lion publication, so have kept it in the same format. Below is the final pdf version of the plan . . .

And some images of the plan as well . . .

Putting the publication together . . .

I've been busy all day stitching on the titles for the first copy of the publication, so far so good, it's taking a little longer than expected, but I'm pleased with the results. 

My aim is to get an issue completed every two days in time for the Bournemouth show.

CV . . .

For the British Fashion Council portfolio day I've been putting together my cv in the style of the Dandy-Lion publication using the end stop from the articles and the stamped lettering from the titles, I have also used the white inscription paper used within the publication.

Printing of the publication!!!

I took the finished-ish publication to CopyPlus today in the EP, everything went really well, I just need to get the contents pages reprinted as you can't read the writing, I've changed the font type on the document as the original font is not available in bold, so have switched the fonts around, and used the Honey Script font used in all of the sub titles in the rest of the publication.

I've still got the land girls shoot and the cover to get printed so will wait and take these all along together, so fingers crossed all of the pages will be printed by the end of the week. In the mean time I have got all the titles stamped so will be stitching these onto the pages as well as the page numbers.

Marketing Plan . . .

I've been putting together the marketing plan for the Dandy-Lion publication, it requires a lot more content that I originally thought, and is now a 13 page document. Hopefully I'll put the finishing touches to the document tomorrow ready to be handed in for consideration for the Per Acqum marketing award. I've included a pdf version of the plan so far, I've compiled the plan in the style of the Dandy-Lion publication, using the same font types and dotted boxes around some of the text.



When I actually print the final copy of the publication it will be on the white inscription paper, the same as the Dandy-Lion publication uses, the marketing plan title will also be hand stamped and stitched on the front cover, the second page with the Dandy-Lion logo will be printed in to tracing paper.

Land Girls imagery . . .

Below are some of the edited images that Louise (photographer) has sent me from the Land Girls shoot. I'm really pleased with the outcome, I love the aged effect that the images have, representative of the 1940s era. The close ups of the hair and some of the outfits have worked particularly well, my favourite image from the shoot, is the one below taken when we were waiting for the cows to come across the field so that we could walk them back up to the farm, it reminds me of a shot from the Land Girls film with Rachel Weisz and Anna Friel.

Boscombe Tea Party . . .

As part of the ongoing regeneration project in Boscombe there were numerous events held in the area today, including the monthly vintage market, I wanted to get some fabric off of Jilly P's stall to package my publication in, I bought this beautiful lady bird print fabric, that goes perfectly with my colour scheme.

All three shoots done!

The Land Girls shoot yesterday went really well, the weather forecast turned out to be wrong so there was glorious sunshine all day, which meant the models were a little warm in the knitwear. The shoot lasted longer than my previous shoots, as we were there the majority of the afternoon.

I had not had the chance to meet Louise before yesterday, but she arrived earlier than expected which allowed me to show her my inspirational imagery and the rest of the publication, to give her an idea of how I wanted the final images to look. She's really busy with her own uni work at the moment but is going to try and have the chosen images edited for me by the end of next week, so that I can get the pages printed ready for hand in.

Below are some of the back stage photo's that I took on my own camera -