Fawn Magazine - Week 8

I had a busy week this week working on several different elements of my project. I put the final touches and images into my marketing plan which is now complete. Completing the marketing plan for Fawn has also been extremely helpful in giving me the relevant information I need for the Fawn Magazine media kit.

I started designing and inputting information into several of the media kit pages this week and plan to finish it over the coming week. I scheduled this deliverable to be completed earlier in the project timeline as I require this document to give to the relevant public relations companies that have agreed to help me with Fawn Magazine. Giving them a media kit allows them to gather a greater understanding of what it is Fawn is all about, as well as presenting a professional image for the magazine.

Fawn Media Kit

Fawn Media Kit

To add to this professional image I created a company email to which I can direct and send all Fawn related emails from. Through this I then emailed several more PR companies discussing Fawn and asking if they would be interested in helping out. I have had a great response so far from the companies I emailed, and now have 4 PR companies on board willing to help.

From last weeks content outline I was able to develop a more detailed content plan of all the people or features that will be going into each section of the magazine. I have largely gathered most of the important resources for these sections, with only one main part(Featured Studio)still unconfirmed. I am waiting to hear back from a woman that has a photographic studio that may be willing to do a feature with the magazine.

I began to create some design sketches for all the page layouts for the magazine, which I found quite helpful in developing my style guide. At the moment I have created a Style Guide, although I am unsure about the font that I have used for the headings in the magazine, so I will continue to search this week for a suitable font to use for this. 

Style Guide Mock Up

Working from the design sketches I created last week for the Fawn website, I was able to start creating creative mockups for the website. As of yet I have only created the mock up for the home page, as most of the other pages will be very similar to this page. 

From the home page mock up I have been following a tutorial on Lynda.com about creating custom themes in Wordpress. It takes you through the process of creating the HTML and CSS for your website and then shows you where to input this information in between the PHP coding on the Wordpress themes. I spent several hours making my website design using Dreamweaver, and am quite happy with my result so far. The basic structure and colouring is there, I just need to focus on refining the smaller details.

Fawn Website - Work In Progress

Fawn Website - Work In Progress

Fawn Website - Work In Progress

 

 

I also need to research how I can have my most recent posts thumbnails on the website home page. At the moment I haven't found a plug-in or tutorial that covers this design, but I plan on continuing to look and if that fails I will see a lecturer that is more experienced in coding or Wordpress so that they are able to guide me in how to create this look.

Finally I set up the Fawn Magazine Facebook and Twitter pages, so that I can start implementing my marketing plan. I plan on posting regular content next trimester to gain awareness of the brand and build anticipation for the magazines release in December.

That's all for this week.

JB

Fawn Magazine - Week 7

This week I spent a lot of time working on my marketing plan and style guides for Fawn Magazine. 

The majority of this time was spent developing the content for the marketing plan, as I had already researched possible techniques it was more a matter of further detailing the techniques I want to use.

A large amount of marketing Fawn will be digital/online based. I find this extremely relevant to the project due to the fact that Fawn is an online magazine. Promoting the magazine through these avenues, such as Facebook and Twitter, will encourage people to visit the website and view the magazine due to it's instant accessibility through the Internet.

Other avenues that are going to be used for promotion are a company website, EDM (Electronic Digital Mail), an industry appearance, and a media write up. The later two options have become possible since the initial conception of Fawn. The industry appearance involves judging a fashion show for styleXpose which I have mentioned in previous blog updates. The media write up will be conducted by Sydney Party People (a review website) that will be doing a write up on Fawn Magazine. Thanks to Fawn's contributing writer Gaia Gardiner for setting up this opportunity with her contacts at Sydney Party People. Both these elements will help develop Fawn's reputation as well as create great exposure.

Lastly I am still hoping to arrange a magazine launch party for Fawn to happen in early Decemeber when the magazine goes live. I have not included the planning and execution of a launch party in my scope, as I still don't know if it will be possible due to lack of funding and limited budget. However during the final trimester I will be looking into whether or not I can gain sponsorship to cover the party's expenses, as I think it will be an invaluable form of marketing for the magazine.

The Fawn style guide is slowing coming together. As I mentioned in my last post, I was having trouble deciding on the theme I wanted to adopt for the magazine's design. After spending a few more hours on the style guide last weekend, I feel that the design is starting to come together and should be finished this week.

As well as working on this documentation, I also spent some time developing business card design concepts for Fawn. I wanted to keep it fairly simple, using a black and cream colour scheme, while including the Fawn logo and icon. Here are a few of the final versions of the business card. I will be developing the final design from these.

 

On top of this I spent time creating sketches for the EDM template, as well as the magazine layout sketches. Both are just rough layouts at the moment with multiple options. I am hoping to narrow the design down a bit after all the sketches are complete to develop the final designs.

Lastly I created a document with an outline of all the content that will be appearing in the magazine. This content outline defines what each item will be, and on what pages the item will occur. This gives me a good indication of how many pages the magazine is going to be all up. At the moment I am sitting on 66 pages, but I will possibly add more pages if I end up adding more sections to the magazine. There are about 3 or so possible content ideas that I need to further research before I plan to include them. 

That's all for this week.

JB

Fawn Magazine - Week 6

This week was largely dedicated to finishing off my project documentation. As usual bringing all the pieces together and laying it out in Indesign took longer than expected, but in the end I managed to hand in a project plan that I am really happy with. I had hoped to finish both my style guide and marketing plan by the end of week 6 as well, but was unable to spend the necessary time finishing them due to my project plan taking priority. I plan on finishing them off over the next week so that I can get client approval on them.

As well as working on documentation, I also began working on my website sketches. The most important thing I want from my website design is that it is easy to navigate. It is crucial that visitors of the site can easily access important information such as contact details, as well as being able to easily navigate to the actual magazine. I would also like the design to be fairly simple, as the main point of the website is to house the magazine. I don't want the design to compete with that of the magazine. 

At this present stage I have drawn up 6 page sketches, one for each page linking from and including the Home page. That includes the following pages Home, About Fawn, Gallery, Mag, Advertise, Contact Us. I am unsure of how the final design of the Gallery page will be as I don't know the full capabilities of Wordpress in regards to image galleries and video. I'll be researching that over the next week so that I am able to draw an accurate sketch of what the page will look like.

This week I also started working on developing the Fawn brand, by designing and developing an icon to use as a favicon on the website. This icon will also be used on any corporate identity such as business cards. One of the reasons I chose to name the magazine Fawn is because it is the name of a young deer. I thought that was a good representation of my magazine, fresh and young emerging into the world for the first time. This is also representative of the emerging designers and artists we are hoping to feature in every issue. I thought it would be great to tie the icon in with this definition by illustrating the silhouette of a fawn. I ended up researching images of fawns and eventually came up with the below design that I am extremely happy with. 

That's all for this week.

JB

My first DSLR

Well as some of you may already heard, I am now the proud owner of a Canon DSLR camera!

Yes that's right I took the plunge a couple of weeks ago (with the help of some generous relatives) and invested in a Canon 600D and 3 different lenses.

I chose the Canon 600D for a couple of reasons, it's 18mp, takes good HD video, and it fit comfortably in my hand compared to the 60D that felt a bit heavier. It also has a lot of the same functions as the 60D but for a cheaper price. 

As well as getting the 600D camera body, I also got 3 lenses (two came with the camera and one I bought myself). The camera twin lens kit came with 18-55mm lens and well as a 55-250mm lens. The 18-55mm lens is a good basic lens to start off with, as it give you a little bit of zoom when needed. The 55-250mm lens has a much larger zoom capacity, so is good for shooting objects that are further away or if you want to get quite close to your subject with out having to be standing on top of them.

As well as these lenses I opted to buy a 50mm lens as well, which is best for shooting portrait style photography. This is good when the ability to zoom isn't really necessary because you are in a controlled environment. You can just move yourself closer or further away depending on the desired shot. As there is no zoom on the 50mm lens this lens can take much sharper and brighter images then a zoom lens.

As well as getting the extra lens I also bought myself a 16GB SanDisk memory card, so that I can take lots of photos. My lecturer Leonard suggested that I should get a couple of smaller memory cards so that I can alternate between all of them when shooting in case one of them becomes corrupt. It sounds like a smart idea so I might go out and buy a couple of 4GB ones.

I would still really like to get a proper flash for my camera as well as a tripod and some reflectors so that I can be fully prepared when I shoot. However that might have to wait a couple of weeks until I have a little bit more money to burn!

JB

Fawn Magazine - Week 5

I spent the majority of week 5 doing the bulk of my project documentation and compiling my research from Survey Monkey.

All of the Fawn project documentation is due at the end of next week (week 6), this includes a project plan outlining scope as well as all the technical aspects of the project such as risks management, quality assurance and communication strategies. I spent a lot of week 5 paying close attention to my project documentation in the hope that I wouldn't have as much to work on in the last week. I managed to get a lot done, but still have about a third to go, so will finish that in week 6. The project plan needs to include a project budget which I have found quite hard to predict. As I have never produced a project like this before a lot of it is guessing how much time I think I will need for a certain task.

I compiled the research from my two surveys that were on Survey Monkey. I found the research really helpful, as it allowed me to develop a greater understanding of who my target market are and what they want from an online magazine. The majority of the survey responses indicated that my readers are low income earners, which means I should put a focus on affordable design within Fawn. A few other important points I have drawn from my research are that my readers prefer tidy layouts with a large amount of images focusing on experimental photography, and most importantly they want to be inspired by a magazines content. I think all the responses I gathered will help me create a unique magazine that is suitable and appealing for my target audience.

This week I was able to confirm a hair stylist for my shoots, so with her on board I now have all the necessary resources for these shoots. Although I have found enough resources for the initial shoots, I will still be on the look out for anyone else who is suitable as I will always need people to help out on future issues of Fawn.

I began researching possible shoot ideas for the magazine. As the issue will be releasing in December I am focusing on summer style shoots. My first idea was to have a desert style photo shoot, which seemed like an impossible idea as there are no deserts anywhere near Sydney. However after talking my friend Candice Basa I have been informed that the sand dunes in Cronulla would be prefect for a desert themed shoot. I want the outfits to be a bit tribal, focusing on earthy tones such as beige, rust and khaki. Think bronzed skin, chunky wooden jewellery, beading and thinly woven fabrics. I think it would be perfect for a summer issue. Below are a few inspiration images I found.

As well as a desert themed shoot I also wanted to do a graffiti art shoot, shooting models against graffiti art walls. As I plan on doing an article on graffiti art, I thought it might be a good shoot to tie in with the article. All white outfits were dominant at SS 11/12 Fashion Week, so I thought it would look great to shoot all white outfits against the graffiti art. Here are some research images below that have inspired my idea.

 

As well as researching content for the magazine, I also started drawing up my website wire-frame, in preparation for design sketches and page mock ups. I am aiming to have the website done by the end of this trimester so that I can start to properly promote Fawn Magazine.

JB

Fawn Magazine - Week 4

This week I focused mainly on sourcing resources for my shoots that will happen later in the year. I had this scheduled at a later time in my project gannt chart, but think that is an extremely important factor in the success of Fawn Magazine, and would like to secure resources as soon as possible to avoid last minute panic.

I contacted a few of the Public Relations companies I was in contact with when I was working at Who Magazine. I outlined the magazine and that I would like to borrow product from them if possible. So far I have only heard back from one company who has agreed to lend me product. This company stocks several great local brands, so would be perfect to use in my shoots.

I also contacted several people in regards to helping produce the shoots with me. Through contacting friends that work within the fashion industry I have been able to confirm two models, one to appear in each shoot. I have also secured photographic and styling assistants that will assist me on the shoots, as well as a make up artist friend of mine that has agreed to help. At the moment the only resource I am missing is a hair stylist, so I am currently in the process of contacting a few more people in regards to that. Although I have secured all these resources I will continue to search for more people that would be willing to contribute, in case for any reason some one decides to pull out.

Over the weekend I also met with my friend Candice Basa who is Fine Arts graduate. Candice has agreed to contribute to the magazine as a guest Illustrator that we will feature in our Art section. Candice and I discussed her art style, as well as possible ideas for the illustrations within the magazine. I also mentioned to her the possibility of a launch party for Fawn at the end of the year. She mentioned that one of her friends had just opened an Art Gallery on Oxford St that could be a suitable venue for the launch. I had never seriously considered having a launch party as it would exceed my available budget. I am still looking into this as it would be ideal to have a launch party, and if I am able to find someone that is willing to offer me their venue as well as gain alcoholic sponsorship, it would cut costs dramatically.

As well as coordinating content, I also worked on my project documentation that is due at the end of next week. I started developing a budget, that will reflect how many hours each task within the project will take, and how much that would be charged at.I found this difficult as it is hard to accurately predict how many hours you will need for each specific task.

I also started working on my Style Guide, by doing some preliminary sketches and layouts with the Kuler colour schemes I found last week. I'm finding deciding on a particular style extremely difficult as I want my design to appeal to a large audience, and feel that certain designs might turn readers off the magazine. I need to develop a layout that is not only interesting but also visually appealing to a large audience.

Once I have gathered all of my market research from Survey Monkey I will be able to more accurately predict what my readers expect in a layout which will help me decide on the design style.

That's all for this week.

JB

Fawn Magazine - Week 3

This week I spent a lot of time researching content ideas as well as the Wordpress platform which I will be using to produce a blog style website.

I spent approximately 5 hours following Wordpress tutorials from Lynda.com. Originally I was following tutorials for an older version of Wordpress. I found these helpful with helping me learn about the interface, but they were very basic and I didn't think they would help me very much with changing the design and css of my website.

I decided to sign up to Lydna.com at home, so that I am able to use the newer version of the tutorials for this. I'm planning on following the tutorials using the exercise files, so that I can accurately learn how to change the design. Once I have done this, I will then do changes to my own website.

I am planning on producing my website this trimester, so that I am able to build interest and market the magazine. Once the website is finished I will be able to direct people to it, as well as update regular content posts to give readers a taste of what to expect from the magazine.

Over the weekend I spent some time researching emerging designers that I could possibly feature in the magazine. From my initial search I found two particularly good websites that housed databases of young Australian designers. Both Young Republic and The Hanging Space have extensive lists of fashion designers, of which I have selected several that I will contact in regards to content for the magazine. 

Through this search I also found several great fashion and design blogs that provided me with content ideas, as well as several more designers that I could possibly contact for product and interviews. The best thing about the blogs I found is that they weren't solely focused on fashion, many of them showcased creative media of other forms, such as art, illustration, design and photography. I found it very helpful as this is the type of content I want to showcase in my magazine.

To ensure that my magazine is appropriate for my target market, I will be conducting some market research in the form of an online survey. I already conducted a preliminary survey a few months ago to establish what magazine consumers liked, as well as what they thought was missing on the current market. Over the past week I researched different survey questions and developed two new surveys to give me a greater understanding of my target demographic. It will help me to clearly define my target market as well as establish what style of design and content they would like within a magazine.

Below are two screen-shots from my first survey which helped give me a good indication of the main topics I should include in Fawn Magazine. An over-whelming response of surveyed readers said their ideal magazine would include several fashion related sections as well as lots of photography. Using this research I developed a rough topic outline focusing the magazine on visual creative media. I thought it would be good to focus on a particular area rather than add in all the elements that readers said they wanted. This allows the magazine to have a stronger brand vision, and gives the content a more unified feel.

As well as continuing to work on my project documentation to hand in in Week 6, I also visited Adobe's Kuler site to help me develop a colour scheme for my magazine. I have selected several possible colour schemes to work with, and will narrow it down once I have received more information from my surveys.

That's about it for my Week 3 wrap up.

JB