Portfolio

The last part of my final campaign is creating my portfolio and tying together all my work. This is to be presented in a creative manner and contain all the main parts of the campaign. Within my portfolio I am going to have

• Introduction (from the dissertation)
• 2X Research boards (these will include where the idea came from, facts from my research, why the app is relevant and needed, and information about the app, Company magazine and the customer.)
• 2X Development boards (these will include my original app and logo designs, the development of features and where the designs/layouts/assets came from)
• Assets page
• The app 
• All forms of promotion, even those on my final board and stand

I've considered laying out the portfolio in a similar fashion to the Company High Street Edit magazine, but I've decided against that as I want to maintain continuity within all my work so I am going to present it in the same style as my dissertation, i.e. like the image below with the relevant fonts and the borders. 

New Flyer

I've redesigned my original flyers as I wasn't best pleased with them. I've designed these based on a Company advert in one of their magazines. I really like how my adshel and magazine advert looks but I don't want everything to look the same so I've tried to make things look a bit different. These flyers are designed with Company in mind rather than how the app is designed to appeal to Company consumers. These will be handed out at events, given in goody bags and given in with Missguided orders.

One Item- Four Ways

Originally, this part of the magazine was going to be a photoshoot, the same style as the images I took for the app. However, I realised for the magazine it wouldn't look as good or professional if the images of the clothes were taken in this style. Therefore, instead I saved the images from the website. This way looks a lot better than if the clothing had been photographed myself. It worked for the app, as that gave a more realistic view of how it worked.

Company High Street Edit

 

For my promotional magazine, I will be laying it out in the same style as Company's HIgh Street Edit to maintain continuity with their brand extensions as well as the design of the app. All the pages will be white and plain, however, they will be filled with images making them seem a lot more colourful. In addition, only a few pages will have a lot of text on them, the rest will be more visually stimulating!

Board Arrangement

After showing Paz my initial board design (see above), he highlighted that A2 is a really large size and probably too big for my board. He made the point also that having all my app screens on the board may look overcrowded, plus if they were all in iPad frames it would look over saturated with hardware opposed to my software. He made the suggestion that instead I just have the main screens on the board with the middle screen in an iPad to highlight the app. I have taken this suggestion on board. In addition, he also pointed out that A2 would be too big for social media and it may look odd all crowded in one corner, here he said it would look neater and easier to read if everything was in lines, therefore I have changed my layout slightly. All my promotion now sits in lines and I have got rid of my adhsel as there wasn't enough room. I wasn't too keen on my adshel being on the board anyway.  I am pleased with the layout of my new board, I just need to go through and add titles and rasterize everything.

Customer Profile Boards

These are my final customer profile boards that link up with the layout of my dissertation. They visually represent each customer, plus I have tried to colour code them to keep in with the design inspiration. I have included all the main information I used in the planning of my customer profiles here within the picture versions.

Magazine Adverts/Content

Magazine content is a big form of promotion regarding the advertising of the app. Here I have created the editor's letter page which currently has adverts on it promoting their Weekly Edit app, also within the editor's letter I have talked about the app. This page will go in the January issue of Company magazine so readers are aware of the app when they first start reading the magazine. I have also created an advert for the magazine based around their current Weekly Edit app advert that briefly explains the apps features. Moreover, an article page has been created that explains to readers the ins and outs of the app written in a Company style as well as persuading the consumers to go and download the app. All content has been drawn out.

Customer Profile Board Inspiration

(All Images from Pinterest)

The following images are of customer profile board ideas. I wanted to keep the customer profile board in keeping with the rest of my dissertation layout to maintain continuity so some of the more busier and collage like designs are not as applicable to the sleeker dissertation layout I have gone for, however I do still really like the designs of them. I love the more linear moodboards and use of squares and rectangles over-lapping. What makes the majority of these moodboards striking is the colour palette used within them, as all the pictures derive from a certain colour. Finding relevant customer profile images that are all within one colour scheme may be difficult, however this is what makes the boards look really good. I really like the idea of taking a picture of a picture, e.g. taking pictures of all the customer profile information and then taking a picture of that all together like the 7th image above. However, I don't know if I will have the time to produce that now. I think the style I like most is the 10th image whereby there are coloured lines to break things up; this could work well in terms of keeping a colour scheme, plus I like how the images are laid out randomly not made into a box shape.

Campaign & Media Plan

The Campaign & Media plan can be found above. The first two images are the Campaign plan listing everything that will be done in order to produce not only the app but also the entire promotional campaign behind it.

The Media plan outlines the cost for my promotion. Most of the promotional techniques are free of charge. This is because the app costs so much to make that it leaves little expenditure left for a large media promotion campaign. Luckily, most of the promotion required is free anyway. However, once the app makes a profit, Company can look into more expensive promotional methods however this isn't really what the company does already, so may not even be something done by the brand. The media costs were found on the following websites

• Emails- http://mailchimp.com/
• Flyers- http://www.vistaprint.co.uk/flyers

Photoshoot Change of Direction

The following images are from the Stylebook website and the new direction I am taking my photo-shoot in. I had my reservations about the previous idea, as I didn't think it would work as well as possible. After my interim crit, I was recommended doing a shoot more like this to visually show the consumer how the app will work. These images can also be used within promotion as well as on the microsite website I am now creating. They will be slightly more informal than the images above and obviously have a more Company based feel. However, still life images like this are the new direction of my photoshoot. 

Changes To The Logo

ORIGINAL DESIGN

FINAL DESIGN

All in all the logo design has barely changed. I purchased the correct font that Company use called Graphique AR and simply created the text in the appropriate typeface. The ombre background remained the same. The original logo design was never going to remain the same simply due to the fact the font wasn't correct. The logo was made temporarily until the font was found and bought.

Final App Visuals

The images above are the finals of my app design and drawing. Overall it took me two days to complete it and I'm really pleased with the results. Although, to me they don't look realistic but I think that's because I've seen them so much and obviously I know I've drawn them out.

I decided to keep the menu bar at the bottom rather than at the side because I felt this would make navigation easier given that Instagram is so popular primarily due to its easy layout. The options along the bottom are as follows; Home, Wardrobe, Outfits, Outfit Suggestions, Calendar and Wishlist.  I have drawn out every version of the page for the iPad version and the main pages for the iPhone version. All elements have been drawn out.

I've decided to add a sign up feature so each user has a profile. This will gain them access to vouchers and exclusive features on the website. In addition, having a profile will also mean Company can gather data. Having a profile also means that users can access their wardrobe and outfits from any device or on the website.

On the wardrobe page the boxes will be different sizes depending on the amount of clothing the users uploads. For example, if the consumer has more tops than dresses then the top box will be bigger. This provides the consumer with a visual representation of the amount of clothing in their wardrobe.

I think the app is very self explanatory from the visuals above, however upon opening the app the consumer will be greeted with help tips explaining what all the features do to help users navigate the app on their first use.

Final App Icon Designs

I had a lot of experimentation with the colour as there are quite a few in my palette. I can't decide which colour works best as a simple background; the blue and lilac stand out as their very appealing colours plus known to be pleasing to the senses according to colour psychology. I am also really drawn to the pink and blue dip-dye background as it's something a little bit more interesting than simply a plain block colour. Of course, not every consumer is into 'ombre' however, so a block colour may be better. 

At first I didn't know if I would like the design with all the clothing in but I think it makes the app seem more fun and friendly, but it's growing on me as it's something a bit different. It retains the font that Company use to consumers know it's part of the brand but then the illustrations differentiate the app from the magazine side. In addition, Company often use illustrations within the magazine, however they are more 'sketchy' rather cartoon like, however I'm not good at sketchy drawings. I'm going to get more feedback on my icon as I won't be able to make the decision by myself.

Creating The App Icon

In terms of my app icon, it's very simple. I didn't want it to be too busy as it's only going to be seen fairly small, and if it looked too full it may put consumers off. Instead I looked at Company's old Weekly Edit App logo (before they merged the app with the magazine download), which was simple a background colour and the words 'Company Weekly Edit' on.

I am using the same font found on the Weekly Edit app and their High Street Edit magazine so all the brand extensions link together nicely. As of yet, I can't find the exact font used, so in the mean time I've been told to make it myself. I've done this by using the font Helvetica Neue (the closet me and Paz could find to the real text) and extruded it (as seen in the first image). I also tried manually creating a drop shadow by copying the text and placing it behind, but this meant the shadow didn't join up with the text, so the extruded version looks much better and a lot more like the original font. From here I experimented with different colours from the palette I had selected and tried out dip-dyes, which can be seen in the next post. 

I also decided to experiment with some other elements of the icon design. I thought it might look good to have some clothes on the icon similar to the Stylebook icon. I simply drew out clothing shapes and coloured them with shades from the palette so everything is kept ordered then arranged them onto the background. These can be viewed on the next post also. 

Colour Palette

The following colours are those I have taken from both Company magazine and their High Street Edit magazine. The High Street Edit tends to have a fairly monochrome palette with the odd hints of some pinks, blues and purples, mainly however, they tend to fill the pages with clothing and images that it detracts the attention from a plain white page. 

The magazine uses lots of pastel colours within the pages and on the front cover. I think this helps them stand apart from other publications as most others use bright colours to stand out on the newstand. For Company's target demographic, the pastels work really well. They also use a lot of dip-dye and ombres within their colour scheme and backgrounds. They always give the impression of spring/summer and are used more withi the magazine at this time.

The colours I have thus selected for my app are above. These colours will be seen on different pages on the apps, little features and doodles, as well as within the promotion. I've kept the majority of colours from the magazine to retain continuity and also because they're not too bright and garish for consumers to deal with. I think the main colour in the app will probably white as it's easier for the clothing to sit on, however, the main page and other features can experiment with the colour scheme.

Fonts

The following fonts are ones taken from the magazine. I wanted to keep all fonts the same as the ones used by the brand to maintain continuity, plus it's a key part of the assets that the consumers recognise. The most obvious of the Company fonts is Brainflower and Levi Brush as these are used for their headings. The fonts like Courier New and Avenir Light are used for texts within the magazine. Although Brainflower was the obvious font to use within the app, I want to use the fonts more associated with their Weekly Edit app and their High Street Edit magazine. 

Therefore, these are the fonts that will be used within the app. The title font is yet to be found (in the meantime I will be making it via extruding the fonts).  I will be using this text for the headings and home page. The other main text will be the 'KG The Fighter', again until I find the exact font used, I will be using this one as it's the closet match. This will be used for subheadings and within doodle features. For the main font and general text it will be these Sans Serif easy to read typefaces that aren't distracting. These are also found within the Weekly Edit App and High Street Edit magazine.

Dissertation Layout- Final Decision

After speaking with Paz today I've made my final decision on the layout of my dissertation. Admittedly, it shouldn't of taken me as long as it has to decide upon this as ultimately there are more important things to be getting on with. Paz agreed that I should take on elements of Company magazine to show I have an understanding of my brand, however he doesn't feel it's good for me to totally copy it as I've done this before and should try something different. 

Therefore, I've decided I'm going to integrate the H&M magazine layout with elements of Company's artwork that have become synonymous with the brand e.g. the fonts, use of brush strokes, colours. I'm going to create an assets page of Company's branding for the purpose of my promotion so I have a reference of their style, which will also be a good guideline when I begin producing the creative format for my dissertation.

Dissertation Layout Ideas #4

The images above are all from H&M's free magazine. Out of all the magazine layouts I've looked at this one is definitely my favourite. The white space is perfect and makes everything look crisp and sophisticated. Everything is so simple and laid out really well. Again, everything is very linear and grid like, but I think combined with the fonts it works well and gives a really professional vibe. The text over images looks aesthetically pleasing also, however I don't know if I would be able to do this over my own images as it could distract from the promotional picture. I also like how the text boxes and images overlap each other to give that relaxed edge in such a formal structure. This is definitely a layout I am considering using, although I am worried it may clash with the general ethos of my app which is fun and friendly, whereas this looks more serious and formal.