First Year Reflection

First year has been over for almost two months now - it's crazy how quick time goes when your busy, and so I thought it was about time I did another blog post, looking back on my first year as an FCP student and how I can learn from the experience. After the first module, I looked at what I needed to STOP. START. and CONTINUE. doing during this second module, and looking back at these has really showed me how I have developed as a person and student this year.

During the first module, I used to spend too much of my time look at other students work, looking at ways in which I could match theirs, rather than focusing on my own work. This tended to restrict my imaginative thinking and did not allow me to get really creative and try new and exciting ideas that others had not yet experimented with. However, during the second half of the year, I think I was much more self focused, trying to find my own personal writing and creative style, and have been particularly successful in this during the product design section of the fragrance brief, where after an unsuccessful collaboration with 2nd year graphic design students, I took it upon myself to create the packaging for our fragrance, which involved lots of experimentation and thinking outside the box. I also used to get really stressed about the briefs, not being completely sure about what they were asking me to do, but this is all in the past now! Making a group of friends on the course, I now have a bunch of people I can ask if I get stuck, and find that making lists and looking deeper into what the brief is asking to do, has really helped gain some clarity!

I also found that I needed to start making contacts in the industry, and although the work load has been really hard, this summer I have tried to do that more. Speaking to up and coming businesses has allowed me opportunities to hopefully get some work experience before I return after the summer, and fingers crossed this all goes to plan and I can add some exciting work opportunities to my portfolio. However, I have found it particularly difficult to visit new cities or exhibitions due to busy work and cheerleading schedules and lack of money. This something I am definitely re-adding to my list of thing to START doing, as this will really open up my eyes to new forms of art, working as inspiration for future projects.

During my first module I found that I was able to keep up with my blog quite well whilst still completing the work and being social, but after this second module I have realised although I am quite good at writing blogs regularly during term time, they are all quite bland, and therefore I would like to make them more interesting, this would be easier to do with visiting new cities and exhibitions as previously mentioned, and this is something that could really help me in the course as a whole, as enjoying what your writing about is much easier.

Addressing these issues should really help me reach my future goals and help me enjoy my work even more than I do already. I am still finding the creative visual aspects of the course quite difficult, and therefore I would love to use Pinterest more to my advantage, in order to gain this creative inspiration I need to make my work feel more representative of the brand or project I am working on at that time. I would also like to use my work book more as an inspiration tool to help this, not just using it as a final showcase book, but more on how I got to that stage. However, I am much more confident with Harvard referencing now (finally!), and this is such a relief, something which will make me feel much more comfortable as I enter second year.

The Vivus Incensum Promotional Plan

So that's it! All finished! The first year of university and FCP is complete, and so is the Vivus Incensum brand. Here is the final promotional plan (WARNING- it's very long), including promotional tools and techniques we plan to use over the 6 month inital launch.

Brand Visuals

The struggle is real! I'm in the middle of my promotional plan that will complete my first year as an FCP student, so thought I would take a break and do a bit of blogging. I've been creative sooooo many visuals over the past few days to go with the Vivus Incensum brand, and though for might want a sneak peak...

I can't give too much away as the promotional plan is still in progress, but the Vivus Incensum brand and promotional tools are well and truly coming to life!

Vivus Incensum Promotional Video

After deciding we wanted to focus on contrast as a main message throughout our creative concept, we also wanted to include this in the video promotional tool. When creating, we thought about Vivus Incensum's tag line - Life in Contrast, and what this might mean to our consumer. With an on-the-go businessman in mind, we thought that the contrast between their work and relaxing life is the biggest, whether this be night and day, work and play or the city and their home surrounding, this is the contrast they have to deal with everyday. Therefore, we decided that our video should include quick timelapses of contrasts, to upbeat music to reflect the constant rush and stress they are under. We also thought that this, having no link to fragrance, would add an exclusive factor to our brand name, making it seem of high status, therefore desirable, as it suggests the brand doesn't need to tell you what their benefits are, as the consumer's already know this brand and what they do well. 

With only a short 10 seconds in length, this video clip would be great for social media - on Instagram or even as a pre-video advert on Youtube channels.

Behind the Scenes Video

The Vivus Incensum brand is growing very quickly into something I had never imagined, and the photo shoot just added to this reality. I would never have thought that I would be able to take a sector of the fashion/cosmetics industry and create a complete brand from nothing, but I've really been enjoying it! With the contrast photo shoot complete, I thought I'd let the people who read my blog see a secret behind the scenes video, which will not be available on Vivus Incenusm websites. So here it is. The day of the shoot! Hope you enjoy.

Packaging Development

As previously mentioned, we were unhappy with the work the graphic designers who we collaborated with on our perfume bottle and packaging, therefore as the most confident with Photoshop in my group, we decided it would be best if I designed these. 

After creating logo ideas, I next moved onto the the packaging, which we wanted to be very unique and stand out from other perfume packaging. As our fragrance, Vivus Incensum, is aimed at the modern man, we have always wanted the packaging to reflect this, having a futuristic aspect and being clean cut, simplistic and metallic. Taking the business aspect into perspective along with this, we decided that a foil-like packaging would be a completely unique and effective packaging device, which our bottle would be sold inside; much like the packets you buy office printer cartridges inside. This completely opaque packing would also create a secretive and quite exclusive product, which would appeal to our design and quality focused consumer. 

Using Photoshop effects, I embossed the logo into an image of the packaging to make it look realistic. I am very pleased with the outcome, and as a first attempt at product/graphic design I am very proud. This is definitely something I would love to do again in the future!

WORLDS 2015

Hey guys. Really sorry I haven't been around the past couple of weeks. I've been super busy doing something you guys probably didn't even know I did. Whilst studying at NTU, I still travel home once a week (on a wednesday) to practice for four hours with my competitive cheerleading team, Coventry Dynamite. I love the sport as it's all about team work and communication, things I quite clearly love as you may have guessed from the course I do! We have been training extra hard this year as we qualified to compete at the Cheerleading World Championships 2015 in Florida - hence where I have been the past weeks. 

This was our third time that we qualified for the championships, and placing just outside the top ten last year (11th out of 70ish), we REALLY wanted to break top 10. Whilst there for 10 days, the competition is only 2 days long, however we trained atleast 4 hours each day to give ourselves the best chance possible. And it paid off! We ended up placing 10th place in the world, highest out of the other UK teams we were against and I'm so proud that we have finally accomplished it. As well as competing for Coventry, I also managed to make it onto the National team this year, and so competed at another section of the event as Team England. This was such an honour and something I will never forget, working with people from all across the country who I would normally be competing against. We managed to come 5th for England, a huge achievement for the country.

Some people may think that cheerleading is all about the pom poms, and although some aspects we do use them (Team England do, Coventry don't), they are only a small factor of it. The sport is quickly spreading across the UK, and is more advanced than ever, incorporating hard gymnastic skills and dance to create a packed 2 minute 30 routine. The uniforms have really began to reflect this, and although they are very glitzy, they are much more athletic now, with many using the same materials as gymnastic leotards. As this is a fashion blog, I thought I'd share the uniforms I wear for the sport, a little bit of extra insight into the cheerleading fashion world - enjoy!