PPD4, almost done :)

Yesterday at college I finally got to designing my business cards to go with the rest of the promotional material I am working on, (I will be putting pictures of these on the new page on my blog, you see that up there, shiny new pages!!) I am really pleased with how they have turned out, and the design came about quite by accident. I was working on a polaroid theme, which is reoccurring throughout my promotional material, and I was trying to create an image of myself with a few of my own images of my interests around me. When importing an image of a rose, (which I took), into the business card, it appeared huge and as though I was stood in the flower. Instantly I liked it and thought it was quite surreal yet effective and eye catching. My original plan for my business cards was to create several different images with polaroid type sleeves / frames, which the card could be pulled out of to reveal my details, however, after some research I found this would be difficult and expensive. So instead I have incorporated the frame into the card itself and used 4 different images of flowers to create different business cards, but all on the same theme and layout. Please let me know what you think once they go on the new page.

On another note, the tutorial on essay writing we had yesterday was very useful and it has made me think more positively about writing my mini dissertation. And the tutorial on my WRL4 module never happened as my tutor didn't turn up, which is slightly frustrating.

Finally, as soon as I get the images for it, I will be blogging on the team window event we undertook a couple of weeks back, because I think it's definitely worth a mention, and my team of Avneet, Becky and I are very proud of what we achieved, so keep an eye out  for that :) right, best get those business cards uploaded, and then get ready for pilates!

That Monday Feeling

So today I am working on my sketchbook for fashion marketing theory trying to get to the end of the designer trends I am researching. This project requires me to undertake extensive research and so far I have researched designer trends for Spring / Summer 2011, as I feel that this will influence the designs of my handbag charms. From this I am going to focus on designer handbag trends and then turn my attention to high street fashion and handbag trends. Finally I will look at brands that already have handbag charms in their product line and see what trends are influencing these. 

From this I will be able to draw some inspiration for my own designs and then start to think about how I will package my product. One of the constraints of the project is that my product has to be able to hang, but I am also considering including another packaging option such as a small bag for if the product will be given as a gift.

As I previously mentioned I think I am going to focus on knitted handbag charms as I like to knit as a hobby. The theme for my charms will probably be florals, as this trend reoccurs every spring so the charms will be a long lasting accessory, the product line could just be updated every season depending on how the florals trend changes. I also considered focusing on under-the-sea themed charms but I feel this trend will die down quickly and it does not fit my interests in eco-fashion as well as florals do.

I am creating my sketchbook on InDesign, which I am still learning to use, but I am finding it a great programme. I think it is a cross between Photoshop, Illustrator and Publisher, and with a basic knowledge of these three programmes you can start using InDesign quickly and easily and get great results. So far I am very pleased with how my sketchbook is going. I will eventually put pictures of some of my favourite pages onto my Deviant Art account (Click here to see it =]), but I think I will have to wait until it is printed as all the editing boxes within InDesign make the pages look messy and you don't get the overall effect.

So there's an update on how this project is going. Tomorrow I will be working on PPD4 and attending a lecture on how to construct essays which will help me in starting my dissertation. I will also  having a tutorial about my WRL4 project so I will give you and update on how that is going tomorrow. Best go get on really =]

Japan

Also, just a very very short post to just express my thoughts to Japan and the other areas affected by the devastating earthquake and tsunami, such a devastating act by Mother Nature :( 


I am following the live updates on the BBC website, sounds like there has been several more powerful aftershocks, which is such a tragedy. 


I hope that the people of Japan get the help they need very soon <3

New Start...Prettier Blog

Oh My Gosh!

Yes I have been rubbish, but to be honest, I HATED the theme of this blog, it was awful. But, as I now have to do a blog for college, I got myself in gear and played around with editing it, and I am much much happier with it =]

So, it has been nearly a year since my last post, and I can't be bothered going through everything that happened, but here are the important points:

- I live in York now.

- I have taken up Photography as a hobby.

- I have a job, I work as a sales assistant for Bill Baber York, a family run knitwear company.

- I am still at Harrogate College but I am going to York College in September, to top-up to a Business Management Degree.

That's a brief update! I also now have a Deviant Art account so check out http://lucyslilworld.deviantart.com/ if you have some time. Most of my photo's and my college work will be going on there, but I will post the odd photo on here too.

So college now requires me to keep a blog, so hopefully that will get me into a good habit for the future, because I do actually like blogging, but I just seem to get lazy.

Well I should just give you a quick run through of the projects for this term, my final term, eep! The projects are quite exciting, but there is a LOT of work to be done:

Work Related Learning 4- This term I am required to come up with a business and cost it. I do already have an idea for this, but, as I may plan to do this in the future, I am kind of reluctant to post my full idea online, (not that many people read this, but you never know!), I am pretty excited about the idea, and if it seems like I could run with it in the future, I might just do so!

Fashion Marketing Theory 2- For this project I am required to undertake extensive research into a specific line of accessories, and then design a product and it's packaging related to the research. I am looking at handbag charms and in particular, knitted ones, which combines one of my hobbies into the project. I am enjoying this project, at the moment I am on with a lot of research, and am creating a sketchbook on Adobe InDesign rather than a paper one, so it's a never ending learning curve at the moment, as I am still getting to grips with the software.

Personal and Professional Development 4- Probably my favourite project at the moment. I am required to design and create a set of promotional materials for myself, including a creative CV, business cards and a digital portfolio, (hence this and the Deviant Art account. Also in this project I have to undertake some careers research. I originally undertook some research into other creative promotional material to gain some inspiration and ideas, I am going to display these ideas in another sketchbook created on InDesign. At the moment I am working on the promotional material, and that is where the new theme for this blog came from. The materials have to represent me, and I think that the theme I have chosen is quite true to myself and my interests.

Visual Merchandising- This is the biggest project we have this term, and we are treating it like a final major project including a mini dissertation. So far we have worked in a group to create a window display made from plastic bags, and have also created presentations about visual merchandising and store image. The presentation will aid us in our dissertations. Also as part of this project we have to create a 3D model of our dream shop and a decoupage of our dream shop window, and support these ideas with A3 boards and sketchbooks, (I am also working on InDesign for this project). I have some initial ideas for my shop and window display, (linked to my WRL4 project), but at the moment I am working on some trend research, and some research into shop interiors and window displays.

I will be using this blog to document my progress in my projects and my thoughts and feelings towards it all. On top of this I may document other events, (such as the Harvey Nichols event that I am attending on 23rd March), and projects that I am undertaking in my spare time, for example my photography, (most of my images go on Deviant Art, but I might post about my outings to take some pretty pictures!)

Anyway, major long post! But hopefully now I am more up to date :) and I WILL keep on top of this, I promise.

Busy busy makes for poor blogging!

Ok, so once again I manage not to post for a long time! But in my defence I have been doing uber millions of work; so it's about time I explained the briefs for this term:

Work Related Learning- For this project I have to design a capsule collection of wedding dresses and accessories for the House of Wu group. If the designs are good my tutor, Andrew, owner of Eternity Bridal, may catwalk some of them. I also have to design all the promotional material for this collection. My collection is themed around the beach wedding, and so far I am pretty pleased with it. I know need to choose my favourite designs and develop them further, then I am going to consider tiara, bag and shoe designs. I am going to the Bridal Show in Harrogate on Monday, so I will try and post about that.

Style, Design and Fashion Production- For this project I have to design a hand bag, and also create a marketing plan, magazine feature and a window display. I am taking part in photography lessons, as I also have to do a photoshoot with my finished bag. I am going to knit an across the body messenger bag, and add details such as cross stitching and screen printing. I struggled with this project at the beginning but now I am really getting into it.

'Future Perfect'- This project requires me to design a trend book for AW'10 and SS'11, which will inspire the buying and production teams of a high street store. At the moment I am spending a lot of time gathering research from magazines and WGSN (fashion forecasting website). We also attended Premier Vision in Paris to aid us, (this trip has aided me in most projects for this term). I really enjoyed Premier Vision, sadly you are not permitted to take photos in there, so no pictures, but I got photos of shop front etc, but I am not sure I can post them without getting into trouble, (got a beautiful picture of a McQueen dress in one window =/ R.I.P). Was a great trip, but it was so cold!

Personal and Professional Development- I have to pick two skills which are relevant to my chosen career, in my case fashion buying, and develop them. I have to then show my development to the class by form of a presentation at the end of the term. I have decided to focus on trend prediction, which I will present as a series of mood boards, and buyer investigation, in which I will undertake research into what it takes to be a buyer. I will do this by interviewing my mum's cousin, as she has extensive buying experience, and by imagining I was the buyer for a high street store, and I will present what I would buy. All this will interlink, as I will summarise what I learn from the interview, then predict the trends, and apply this to the role of a buyer by showing what I would select for my chosen high street store. I am excited about this project as at present I am trying to get some work experience to help me, but my emails keep bouncing back, so I am unsure what to do =s!

Anyway, there is this terms work, yes I am already a few weeks in and should have done this sooner, but all I seem to do is work, cook, clean, food shop, sleep, travel to and from home, and more work. Thank goodness its the weekend... I am definitely chilling out. Got a hat to knit =] so more on that aswell. Also, I will put pictures up of the project I have made for mothers day, once my mum has it, (she reads this so I can't post it yet!)

So that's all for now, have a great weekend :)