FINAL PIECE

I have finally finished my final piece.

My intention from the beginning of the Final Specialist project was to demonstrate how serious I am about my work, to show the neatness and sophistication in everything I do – from the experimenting to the development. Through these two years I have discovered my weaknesses and strengths and it is only now that I have realized what I want to specialize in.  Looking through my sketchbooks from the start to the end, I have noticed that I take pride in the presentation and layout of my work; I focus on the theme and stick with it till the end.  But I seem to slip the visual side of my work when I am doing something that I am not familiar with or something that I am not enjoying as much - this is what I wanted to improve on my Final Project.

I am only satisfied with what I have created when I know it is almost ‘perfect’ or visually acceptable from my insight. Of course nothing is ever perfect and I know that this is what I wanted to achieve throughout my work but once finalizing my sketchbook and final piece I realized that there are imperfections but I know that I have worked the best I could in order to get to the highest level from my point of view. When I know that I am absolutely happy with what I have done, I know it is enough and this what I hopefully have done.

The Textiles, Graphics and Human Form Assignments were the only Projects I enjoyed every minute of, even parts that went wrong – they were all mistakes that I learnt from and will always remember. Each of these Assignments was designed in a way that would stand out and were thoroughly thought for each theme.

The Human Form assignment helped me discover my interest in body form and the appreciation of all kinds of human beauty. It was the first project I constantly stuck with a visual theme and I think this is what made the whole project satisfactory.

I have always loved fashion and I knew that Textiles would be the best Assignment. I knew that I needed this whole project to be modern because of the textures, colours and materials I used. I found my weaknesses, such as sewing and time planning when it came to making the piece. This textiles assignment helped me understand which part of the fashion industry I want to be in and it helped me know what I will enjoy to do in the future.

From the start of the Graphics Assignment I knew this was my opportunity to show my interest of modernism, simplicity and sophistication. This work was very defined throughout which helped me with the theme I chose. I learnt how to use computer software that will be very helpful in the future and it became another interest once I finished my Final piece. After analyzing my Graphics Final piece, I noticed how much I enjoyed editing the book and designing the layout - I knew it was something I needed to explore in my Final Specialist Project.

My hobby is to read Fashion/lifestyle magazines; they are inspiring, helpful and sometimes exhilarating. They make me feel good about things and realize the things that aren’t so good. Reading about people who work in the Fashion industry is what excites me and what makes me feel more engaged to the magazine. The questions that are given are diverse and very easy for one to answer. I like to read about their mistakes, their achievements and how they have become who they are. But these women/men have more experience than us, they have a different mind-set to my generation and I have never read a questionnaire about someone my age or is still in their youth.

I like to study the layout of the magazine, how they put different colours against each other and how they make fonts more attractive, I think this was of greater interest after the Graphics Assignment.

Because of this interest, I wanted to explore it more and express it in a modern and sophisticated way. Creating my own magazine about college students and using a layout that signifies my style would demonstrate what I would like to focus on in the future.

I chose very subtle colours because it was a trend appearing to be very popular when I started my Final Specialist Project and I knew it would create a contemporary outlook for the magazine. The font has a hint of youth and is very simple which compliments the soft and subtle colours as well as the photographs. I have only taken a few photographs that would subtly display messages for each subject in the magazine. I tried to get the exposure levels and lighting similar to one another and each of them have an artistic or abstract sight which I thought would make the whole magazine more engaging.

I struggled to ask my peers questions, however I asked a few that I knew would answer them appropriately and genuinely. There are only a few quotes for each subject in the magazine because I only wanted those few to be read by the readers.   My paragraphs are from my point of view and I think my peers would agree with them. They are from my own experiences- in a way this shows a personal side to the magazine.

Because my final piece is a magazine I knew I needed Art Director references and inspiration from them. I found many that would relate to my style and would help me develop the layout of my magazine but three from my Artist research stood out and clearly reflect in my magazine. Jenny Eneqvest – her style is simple, modern and beautiful, she uses one colour throughout the magazine, creating that contemporary feel. Graham Rounthwait- he is known to create the most interesting layouts for the famous magazine I-D, they are simple as well but have more colour and more composition going on, the text he uses is simple with a hint youth which communicates with the target audience (teens, young adults). Jeremy Leslie, his designs are more artistic and “home-made” they are very simple as well but he uses only two to three colours throughout the magazine but they are all suggested somewhere on the page e.g. photographs, background, text. These are the art directors that I hope are reflected in my work and my Final piece.

I wanted this Magazine to be finished at the highest level possible and to achieve this I printed each page at a Photoshop that would not have their logo on the back of each page. I made sure that the front cover was larger than the pages and that the texts were big enough. Because I am using photo paper I knew that I would have to score the end of the pages in order for the reader to turn pages easily.

Unfortunately, I scored the covers spine too much and there is a slight incision but it was thoroughly glued against the pages and it is not too visible.

To bring the magazine together I used double sided tape because I knew from past experiences that this would work well with the photo paper however I did not have enough double sided tape and had to move on to using UHU glue which is used for many purposes but I had slight difficulty getting it to stick the pages together. Although, it did come together in the end.

After taking photographs and videos of my magazine, I am really happy with what I have created. I think visually it is very effective and there is a very strong intention behind the magazine.

Designing this magazine has helped me realize what I want to study or explore further. Art Directing is something I would like to look into further; I found it fascinating after reading about what Art Directors do and how they are a part of a magazine. My goal is to be involved in a magazine that is about fashion, lifestyle and art.

The Art Exhibition will be an opportunity to showcase my sincerity and the passion I have. I want this Final Piece to be displayed in a very modern and elegant way. I will display the magazines that have driven and inspired me to create this magazine and I will have a video of the magazine to make it much easier for the viewers to see what the magazine is about. 

Designing and planning the exhibition has been a new challenge for me, I have learnt to communicate more and to understand what it is like to work as group. Being Chairman, I did not realize how much communication was needed; telling people to do things instead of me doing everything was also a challenge because I had to trust them. I did realize that I’d much prefer doing everything and knowing that it has been done but I know that this is something that I will keep with me when I will be working with a group of people.  I don’t think that I have managed this role as well as I should of but I intend to produce the highest-level exhibition with the group.

I envision this Art exhibition to be very modern and sophisticated, it will be white walled and white floored. It should be neat and well constructed to make it as engaging as possible.

This Art exhibition and displaying my work has been the best opportunity I have been given and I am looking forward for to what comes next.