lucyadcreationlab

[lucyadcreationlab]

MOVING FORWARD

Throughout this project I have learnt many skills, the main one being how to design, write and create a magazine on a software that was completely new to me. Usually, these aspects to creating a magazine are carried out by a team of people from journalists, graphic designers to creative directors however I had to learn how to do all of these roles which was a challenge but paid off. I also had to learn how to make harsh decisions quickly but with care, from deciding between design ideas and materials for the magazine and the overall look of the magazine and installation. Reflecting on this project has made me understand my interest in pop culture and how a project can explore and educate people on things surrounding this. Although I found making the whole magazine challenging at some points, I also really enjoyed it at the same time especially the creative control and freedom, mixed with the theme of culture too. I really enjoyed the theme of the project and the physical aspects to the project.

How I situate myself professionally from this:

Upon reflecting on the project it’s clear to me that I really enjoy projects that especially focus on things surrounding pop culture and social themes, I like exploring a project and creating an outcome that can educate people on the things that I have also learned throughout the project. I also like creating something that has a positive impact and promotes positivity, the interactivity to this project also elevated the experience to a new level evoking emotions too.

I also can acknowledge that I can successfully create, manage and direct a project which I found challenging at times but overall paid off and taught me how I need to make quick and harsh decisions to get the outcome I want. I also had to make sure I was always thinking and considering sustainability, ethically and environmentally especially when the project involves a lot of materials as well as public engagement. Though I enjoyed working on my own I can also acknowledge the importance of collaboration and how doing a project like this again would probably be beneficial to have a team of people working on it at once.

Reflecting on the last few years I have learnt how to collaborate effectively, I have participated in a range of projects that have required me to use a variety of skills. Some including more collaborative skills and some being more independent skills like in this project. I have had to learn how to make quick and thoughtful decisions when directing a project, I’ve had to consider things such the environmental, sustainable and ethical impacts of my decisions and how to act accordingly to this, this has been especially prevalent in this project as I was not only working on my own but the project also had a heavy involvement and engagement with the public and meant I had to consider their wants and needs a significant amount.

[lucyadcreationlab]

FINAL REFLECTION

I feel as if the project has successfully explored the relationship between music and fashion. The magazine which features personal interviews, offers real stories and new perspectives, while the interactive clothing rack, displaying outfits inspired by different subcultures creates an immersive space. Collectively these elements encourage readers and viewers to reflect on how music and fashion intersect in complex ways. Hopefully also challenging stereotypes and inspires people to be more open-minded and have a more inclusive perspective on how people connect with music and fashion and identity.

Overall I’m happy with the installation print outs however I think if I was to continue this in the future I would experiment printing on different scales and on different materials. I’d also experiment with managing the curled nature of the paper by using weights or clamps.

[lucyadcreationlab]

EXPLORING DIGITAL SPACES

Another setting I’m also considering is a digital one, however this would mainly be for the magazine not the installation. Something I had learnt earlier on was that NME magazine became a website, something that a lot of magazines are doing. I think it would be interesting to make a digital version of the magazine, in a website layout, this would also make it accessible to a lot more people.

Another reason I’m also considering the magazine in digital form is because throughout the project the theme of social media and digital spaces has been reoccurring. This is because nowadays so many subcultures are shared and accessed through digital platforms like social media but also fits in with the post-subcultural theory that subcultures are constantly changing due to the digital world.

This would be in the form of some sort of website/webzine which includes the articles of the magazine of the month but in the format of a website, it would also include fashion adverts and a shop section where you can buy clothing and the magazine in a physical form.

[lucyadcreationlab]

INTERACTIVITY

The installations interactivity was how I had envisioned it. People were able to come up to the clothing rack and flick through all the different outfits, i think adding the mirror added a nice touch and made it more interactive as it meant people could get a feel for what they could look like if they belonged to a certain subculture.

Being able to look through the magazine added context and an extra element, it gave an insight into the outfits, the people they're based on and the reason behind the whole project.

I think one element I would've liked to explore would be music as it's such a huge part of the project and would've added a nice touch. I think if the installation was to be in a formal education setting like a museum or art gallery this is definitely something I would add.

[lucyadcreationlab]

BRINGING IT ALTOGETHER

EXPERIMENTING WITH DIFFERENT LAYOUTS AND COMBINATIONS

I brought the full setup together in the black box and explored different ways of displaying the outcome and different combinations. This got me thinking about how I can display it for the degree show and how different combinations highlight different aspects of the projects like just displaying the magazines or just displaying the outfit cutouts.

[lucyadcreationlab]

THINKING ABOUT THE FUTURE OF THE PROJECT SPECULATIVELY

While it's important to think about the future of the project in a sustainable context, it's also important to think about the future of the project in a speculative context. Such as how the project could continue, where it could exist, who could be involved etc.

EXPLORING MORE SUBCULTURES

I would like for the project to continue, either by adding to it such as interviewing new people, including a new range of genres and subcultures would add more perspective to the project and I think would make the project feel a lot stronger and valid.

There is no definitive number of how many genres and subcultures there are, due to there being overlaps in some genres and nowadays subcultures even have there own subcultures within them. However, it's estimated that there are hundreds or even thousands of genres today. Whereas my project has only covered 4 of these genres and cultures, exploring more genres would only further strengthen my project and allow for a more inclusive and informative environment when looking at music-based subcultures. Although it would be nice to explore more subcultures in this project, because there is a vast amount of subcultures I have yet to explore this allows for my project to continue in the future. The world of music-based subcultures and genres is ever changing and I explored this in the magazine when Gemi noted that their music taste has "changed over time", along with how social media has allowed for the exposure of more subcultures and genres. Naturally these subcultures blend, overlap and even produce their own subcultures within them, it's clear there there are many more subcultures and genres to be created and discovered so I have no doubts about running out of subcultures to explore through the project.

DIGITAL SPACE

When conducting my research surrounding the NME magazine I discovered that the magazine had moved to a digital magazine/website in 2018 and recently started doing bi-monthly physical issues. However because so much of the research was looking at the ADM archives which were physical, it made sense to explore the idea of the magazine in physical form, however exploring the magazine in a digital context was still something I wanted to explore during or after the project depending on timing.

FORMAL SPACE

Because both the magazine and the clothing rack aspects of the project are interactive I wanted to consider how the public could interact with the project in the future, while maintaining the same target demographic which was people interested in music, mainly young adults. I wanted to explore how this could translate to a more formal/educational space as well as in a more relaxed/informal space.

When thinking about exhibitions that are educational I immediately thought of a museum/art gallery space, specifically the V&A in London. The museum covers a range of things from art, design and culture and have a permanent fashion collection which is one of the largest in the world. The collection also includes outfits or pieces of clothing donated and worn by many famous musicians and artists. They have also done music related events such as the Taylor Swift music trail which I visited in august 2024.

The collection included a range of outfits worn by the singer, featured in music videos, events, concerts and even the instruments she's used.

HOW MY PROJECT COULD FIT INTO THIS ENVIRONMENT (EDUCATIONAL, INFORMATIVE AND INTERACTIVE)

RELAXED/ENTERTAINMENT SPACE

MUSIC FESTIVAL

SHOP SPACE

INTERACTIVE

HOW MY PROJECT COULD FIT INTO THIS ENVIRONMENT (INFORMATIVE, INTERACTIVE AND INSTAGRAMABLE)

[lucyadcreationlab]

PRINTING THE MAGAZINE (EXPERIMENTATION AND THE FINAL THING)

When it came to printing the magazine and the large scale cut outs, I made sure to also only print as many as I needed to reduce the amount of wastepaper as well as when experimenting with ways of printing and different papers, I was cautious with the amount of paper I was using and whether it was recyclable.

Printing presets and printing on paper

Experimenting with materials (newspaper, acetate, and card)

THE FINAL THING AND BINDING

I didn't manage to explore many binding options when it came to the final magazine. I ended up printing on both card and paper binding with staplers. This was just due to the lack of time and space I had to experiment with. However this is something I will probably explore in the future or for the degree show.

I did look into getting it professionally printed and binded but this would’ve been quite expensive and wasn’t something I was prepared to do. It was also going to take a long time and with the bank holiday it would have arrived delayed so I just stuck to printing it normally.

[lucyadcreationlab]

FINAL MAGAZINE

I mostly looked to NME and Melody Maker for inspiration as well as other popular music, fashion and culture magazines like Rolling Stone and Vogue. I wanted to capture the vintage feel and aspects of NME and Meldoy Maker, so I used NME as inspiration in the music side of the magazine whereas Melody Maker had more of an influence in the fashion aspects of the magazine. I wanted to mix aspects of old and new magazines, and I used more modern looking affects and fonts in the magazine.

[lucyadcreationlab]

FINAL CUTOUTS

When it came to making the large-scale cutouts, I took inspiration from the melody maker fashion adverts. I had already included these drawings in the magazine which I drew in procreate. I wanted to keep that sketch style look but colourised them for the large-scale print to look like a fan had maybe cutout these illustrations from the magazine.

This part of the project was fairly straightforward as I had used Procreate before and scaling them up to size was all done for me, the actual printing process wasn’t that complicated either and for something that size only took around 10-15 minutes.

Overall I am happy with how the cutouts turned out. I feel like they are a nice touch to the magazine and installation and add that interactive and tactile experience I was aiming for. The style is also nice and you can tell that Melody Maker was an influence in both the prints and the magazine page. Although I didn’t explore that many different paper options and the sizing could’ve been a bit larger as there is a bit more space before you reach the bottom bar of the clothing rack. I think for either the degree show or just in the future I’d like to explore printing on different papers or even print in black and white as I think that would make things look more cohesive. I also think printing on newspaper would look cool however it would be too thin to print on.

[lucyadcreationlab]

SOURCING MATERIALS AND THINKING SUSTAINABLY.

Thinking sustainably throughout this project is very important, and sourcing materials sustainably is also very important to BCU. Although I wasn't directly purchasing materials through the university, I was still using materials and would be creating waste. The university has a lot of information about what to do with unwanted and unused materials which I took time to read.

So far, the only materials being used have been paper which is recyclable so therefore I have no concerns about this. With scrap paper that I have produced from cutting down the large print experiments, I have made sure to put the paper in the waste paper recycling to ensure that it gets repurposed or recycled into new paper.

I am unsure about the purpose of the large-scale prints after the project/degree show and although I am considering using a glossy paper for the final prints, some glossy papers aren't recyclable, therefore it would be safer and more environmentally sustainable to opt for a paper that is recyclable like the matte paper I have experimented with.

OTHER MATERIALS

The other materials I needed for my project include the hangers, clothing rack, and possibly a mirror and chair. In order to keep things as sustainable as possible I tried to avoid creating excess waste and tried to either get things second hand or borrow items. For the clothing rack since there is one in the studio space it made sense to just borrow that and same with the chairs in the studio.

As for the hangers I was unable to find any second hand ones and I didn't want to buy a pack of 10 as I knew I would only be making 4 prints and possibly hanging a magazine or two so I didn't make sense to buy more than I actually needed. However, I was able to find individual hangers at IKEA which meant I was able to control the amount of hangers I wanted to purchase.

After the degree show I will either keep them for myself as they would be of use to me, or i'll give them to someone else or a charity.

For the mirror I have decided to borrow one for the time being for the same reasons as not wanting to buy one and creating more waste. However, for the degree show I don't think I'll be able to borrow the mirror so I'll be looking for a second hand one instead which shouldn't cost too much. After the degree show I'll either give it to someone else, re-sell it or donate it to charity, as it'll be no use to me and I'd rather give it to someone that would want it before considering disposing it.

For the chair I could either borrow one from the studio, the university or if I need to I could always buy one second hand. However, I'll probably just use one from the studio space so I won't need to worry about reselling or repurposing it.

[lucyadcreationlab]

Large scale prints (experimentation)

Once I had began with the sketches I wanted to explore printing them large scale, sizing and paper etc. It was important I started experimenting with printing as early as possible. I them scaled up printing them around 110 cm high. To reduce waste, I printed the drawings two by two so there was no paper left over.

Another thing I needed to consider when printing was leaving space for cutting the paper in half so I could cut each drawing, so it was on it’s own sheet of paper.

I started off by printing on thin matte paper as it was the cheapest paper and it was just an experiment to gauge an idea. The paper comes in a role and has a width of around 120cm and can go as long/high as you like.

To reduce waste paper I decided to print the prints 2 at a time so I wouldn't be wasting half of the sheet as it would be going to use.

Things I did have to consider was the size of the paper as I wanted it to be close to life size but it also had a height limit of (x cm) in order to fit within the size of the clothing rack.

As you can see in the image the paper does naturally curl a bit due to being in a role so trying to limit this as much as possible is something I'll need to explore.

Another thing I needed to consider when printing was leaving space for cutting the paper in half so I could cut each drawing, so it was on it’s own sheet of paper.

Overall I'm happy with the trial prints and the choice of paper is thick enough to last a while I think but isn't too expensive at the same time.

[lucyadcreationlab]

Large cutouts

With the large prints I wanted them to reflect the idea of aspects of fandom culture like collecting magazines and posters of artists and cutting out magazine articles and pictures etc.

However I also wanted them to relate to the fashion adverts within the magazine. I took inspiration from the fashion adverts within the Melody Maker collection I looked at, especially the vintage sketch aesthetic of the adverts which I really liked.

These prints were going to be based off/inspired by the people featured in the magazine so it was really important that I got to understand their personal fashion styles, any artist/genre influences as well. Talking to them and also knowing some of the people prior to the magazine also helped me gauge an idea of how they dress and why they make the choices they do.

Mood Boards:

Making the mood boards also helped me visualise how the drawings might look and if there are some specific artists/musicians that have influenced the peoples styles.

[lucyadcreationlab]

InDesign Process

InDesign is one of the most common software’s for making a magazine, and if I was going to make a magazine I wanted to it as proper and professional as I could. I had no prior experience to using InDesign, so it took a bit of getting used to with help from technicians and tutorials specific to magazine making. I found that the average magazine size is 21 cm x 30 cm so created my document to this size. I did have experience using other software’s such as photoshop and illustrator, so the concept of layers wasn’t new to me.

I also created something called a parent page which is essentially the original page with aspects that are implemented throughout all the pages. With this I could put in page numbers which automatically numbered my pages for me. I also created base design on this page which could then be implemented onto every page I created. I went for a contrasting colour scheme of black, white and grey with a bit of dark purple to make sure the text and font was readable for people. Another thing I had to learn to put in was guides for margins, columns and bleeds. Bleeds indicate where the printing goes beyond the page, so you know where to stop including content, so it won’t get cut off later. General margins showed me where the writing would stop so it would still be readable when the pages were folded and bonded together. I implemented 3 columns which automatically spaced out my writing, so it was all the same for continuity purposes. I chose 3 columns per page because when looking at magazines for inspiration I found that most magazines has between 3 and 5 columns.

I could also colour code these guides as when you have the guides showing on the document it can get quite confusing with all the lines, so this helped distinguish them, and overall made the process so much easier.

WRITING PROCESS

When it came to actually writing the magazine, I had basically no experience in writing journals and article style pieces, I mainly looked at other magazines for inspiration and structure, and did a range of styles including more interview style pieces, ones that are more story telling basically reiterating what the people said in the interviews as well as applying what they said to larger stories, concepts and context to create my own articles based off of real themes with research but backed up and supported by quotes from the interviews.

[lucyadcreationlab]

Laying out the magazine and familiarising myself with Adobe InDesign

I chose to use InDesign as the software to make my magazine on as it was free to me and is a popular magazine making software for many huge magazines.

I had never used InDesign before so I took a couple of tutorials before getting started. I also watched tutorials on YouTube specifically for making a magazine on InDesign as you can use it for many different formats but I wanted mine to follow the standard format as close as possible.

I wanted to get the layout mapped out before I started putting anything in the magazine as it would make the process a lot easier. From research I found out that most magazines are around W 21 cm x H 30 cm in size and also include columns, gutters, margins and bleeds. This is all put in place so when you print your magazine there is a clear margin and no text is cut off or unreadable as it considers space for binding too.

Before I put any text in I also needed to consider things like colour scheme, font and text size. I needed to consider this for many reasons, one being the brand and aesthetic of my magazine and another being that the magazine needs to be accessible and readable for people.

[lucyadcreationlab]

Mapping out the magazine + further magazine research

I did some rough diagrams of the layout of the overall magazine, breaking down how each 2 page spread would look like and how I wanted to organise each interview and article.

This meant when it came to making the magazine I could refer back to this and made it easier to picture the end result before it was finished.

I wanted to buy the NME magazine to refer to when it came to each page however the magazine sells out quickly, I had vogue and rolling stone magazines laying around and used these almost as a guide for each page. They tended to have either 3 or 5 columns on each page so this was something I brought into my magazine.

[lucyadcreationlab]

Magazine aesthetic

Main inspirations are the NME and Melody Maker magazines. Other inspirations include music, culture and fashion magazines like Rolling Stone, Billboard, Clash and Vogue.

Standard size is 21 x 30 cm

Contents page

Intro 2 page spread – introducing the project

2 page spread for each interview =

Fashion ads like NME/melody maker

Music suggestions from people in magazine

Conclusion

+ front and back cover

Between 14-16 pages

[lucyadcreationlab]

Finding people for the magazine

Through the questionnaire I also asked people to register their interest in being further involved in the project (for the magazine). From this I got roughly 12 responses and I contacted them all and started having conversations with them and further enlightening them on the project and how they could be involved. Naturally the numbers narrowed down to 4 people which was fine as I wasn't looking for more than 5 or so people any way.

Although I wanted to have a range of subcultures represented in the magazine, I didn't actively force this to happen however the people who ended up being in the magazine tended to have varying music tastes with some overlapping, which I can see is natural especially with social media blending so many communities together.

Once I had found the people to be featured in the magazine I started to think about what sort of questions I wanted to ask. The majority of the questions were just follow up questions from the first questionnaire or along the same theme. I wanted to keep the questions quite open and informal as I wanted the people to feel comfortable and to just be able to talk freely about how music and fashion are involved in their life and the experiences they have had.

POTENTIAL QUESTIONS TO ASK:

Music and Personal Identity:

1.First of all how would you describe your music taste? Are there any specific genres you love and favourite bands/artists?

2.How do you think the music you listen to reflects or shapes your personality?

3.Can you share an experience where a particular song or music genre significantly influenced your sense of identity or how you saw yourself?

4.Do you believe that the music you connect with can affect how others perceive you? Why or why not?

5.How has your taste in music evolved over the years, and has your fashion style changed alongside it?

Music's Impact on Fashion:

1.In your opinion, how has music influenced fashion trends over the years? Can you think of a particular artist or genre that led a fashion movement?

2.Have you ever been inspired by an artist’s style or the way their music made you want to dress a certain way?

Stereotypes and Subcultures:

1.Do you feel these stereotypes are often harmful, or do they serve to connect people who share similar tastes?

2.How do you feel about the idea that certain music genres or subcultures are sometimes seen as "exclusive" or "closed off" to people who don't fit the traditional mould?

Personal Reflection:

1.How do you feel when people make assumptions about you based on the music you listen to or the way you dress? Does it affect you?

2.Do you think the rise of social media has intensified or helped break down the stereotypes associated with music-based subcultures?

3.What role does music play in how you express your own identity through fashion, and how do you see this evolving in the future?

4.What bands/artists or songs would you suggest to someone who doesn’t know much about said genre/subculture.

5.Any further thoughts/opinions

CONSIDERING THE ARTICLES I WANT TO INCLUDE

I broke down the questions into different categories as I thought the articles I write could be along the same lines as these topics and the answers I receive could help me in doing this.

REFLECTION

I think that the way I went about finding people for the magazine was appropriate, as I knew I wanted to include people of a similar age to me as well as with an interest in music. However I knew I didn't want to target people and single people out based on the way they look as that would contradict my whole project. By posting the callout on social media as well as getting my peers to share it this helped me gain interest from people that were a similar age to me while still maintaining an interest from people from a wide range of subcultures and genres. This way I could then approach people who had already expressed their interest in the magazine and I had no way of choosing what subcultures and genres would be seen in the magazine through the people featured. However I wanted it to be like that as I didn't want to influence the content or outcome of the magazine.