For this project on self-promotion, the aim is to produce a poster that focuses on yourself as a brand. By making this poster and the blog produced alongside it will help to give me a better understanding of my beliefs, achievement and aims over the next few years. It will also help me to develop my digital and graphic design skills. My first plan is to create a mind map focusing on myself as a person which should then help me develop my core values and lead onto the next phase.
My core values
Independence
Tolerance
Responsibility
Honesty
Originality
Knowledge
Vision
Trust
Collaboration
Working alone
Self-respect
Herbert Bayer
Herbert Bayer was an Austrian American graphic designer, painter, photographer, sculptor, art director, environmental and interior designer and architect. Bayer began his studies as an architect in 1919 in Darmstadt, he returned to the Bauhaus from 1925 to 1928 working as a teacher of advertising, design and typography integrating photography into a graphic composition. I came across Bayers work when visiting Berlin a few years ago, Some of the posters he had created inspired me and I decided to revisit them for this project.
Harpers Bazaar
American monthly women’s fashion magazine first published on November 2nd 1867 as a weekly magazine. Harpers Bazaar was Americas first fashion magazine, the current Editor In Chief of the US edition is Samira Nasr. Harpers Bazaar is a legendary magazine with the likes of Richard Avedon who was a very loyal contributor, he began creating fashion portfolios for Harpers Bazaar in 1945 at 22 and continued until 1965. I have always loved looking at old magazine covers especially the Harpers Bazaar ones which you could always rely on them to have incredibly glamorous ladies adorned with beautiful clothing.
Barbara Kruger
Barbara Kruger is an American conceptual artist and collagist associated with The Pictures Generation. she is most known for her collage style that consists of black and white photographs, overlaid with declarative captions, stated in white-on-red Futura bold oblique or Helvetica ultra condensed text. Her designs are powerful, balanced and have clarity to them. When researching Barbara, it then lead me to find out about Supreme…
Supreme
When thinking of the most iconic logo branding, Supreme for me encompasses that. What I didn’t know was how Supreme blatantly copied Barbara Kruger to create their box logo. Copying is a form of flattery even if it can be infuriating… what Barbara did next created a ‘drop’ to imitate Supreme. By staging a fake drop collection Barbara was able to get revenge against the major streetwear brand. Supremes’ logo is great as like Barbaras’ art it stands out, the font is easy to read and instantly recognisable which is what they want to achieve at the end of the day.
Rick Owens
Rick Owens’s Fall 2021 Ready-To-Wear show was held at his Venice Lido, again without an audeience. Rick has adapted well to the pandemic, his shows with only his team present are intimate but no less powerful than before. The models each wearing masks, if not to remind you we are still in a pandemic! For me the show felt dark, mysterious, otherworldly and showcased Rick at his best. The sea splashing violently against the rocks, the bleak overcast day all added to the atmospehere and mood of the show. Time after time the models strutted fiercely down the runway showcasing their futuristic looks which each encapsulated the brand to the fullest. This show has to be one of my favourite of his, unfortunately, I don’t have my own lido to recreate the fabulous location… but there are aspects I will pull to inspire my piece at the end.
Typography
For the typography part of this project, I have accumulated multiple books from the library on typography and I am going to draw some photos from them for inspiration. I want to create a font that encapsulates Sophia like a person and a brand, and for this to be easily communicated. I want to include just my name on the poster, for the text to be bold, dramatic and to stand out.
These were some of my favourite fonts from the books. I felt they captured best how I would want to emulate myself in a font. Bold, Powerful but Fun.
Typography development
Here I was having a go on my iPad using Illustrator to see what fonts I could come up with. I tried using different pens to switch it up… My favourite is the bottom left. I feel it is quite funky and I like the boldness of it, also it is still eligible!
My chosen font
This turned out to be my favourite font… I like how it’s quite messy, bold but still eligible. I think it would look great blown up on my final poster… Maybe even in red or a different colour?
My Logo
With owning my shop I have already created my logo that best represents the clothing I sell and the aesthetic surrounding it. When I created my logo I drew inspiration from gothic literature, reading a lot of Dracula and other historic novels. The clothing I sell is very eclectic vintage designer pieces, but there were a predominant amount of corsets and more ‘gothic’ pieces hence where I drew my inspiration from. After practising out lots of different fonts, I decided on this one which is now featured as my logo but also on stickers, business cards and tote bags.
What represents me
What influences me?
Designers
Rick Owens
Ann Demeulemeester
Martin Margiela
Alexander McQueen
Shaun Leane
Sacai
Dilara Findikoglu
Ding Yun Zhang
Frederic Molenac
Harris Reed
Fecal Matter
Paula Mihovilovic Einfalt
Helmut Lang
A.F. Vandervorst
Comme Des Garçons
Junya Watanabe
Yohji Yamamoto
Gosha Rubchinckiy
Maison Mihara Yasuhiro
Hiroko Koshino
Stylists
Isabella Blow
Katy England
Jess Grimshaw
Betsy Johnson
Lucinda Chambers
Robbie Spencer
Millie Foster Price
Kate Young
Lotta Volkova
Mimi Del Rey
Photographers
Nick Knight
Helmut Newton
Mario Testino
Richard Avedon
Peter Lindbergh
Steven Meisel
Bruce Weber
Tim Walker
Patrik Demarchelier
I find inspiration in several areas within the fashion industry. Inspiration can come out of nowhere, I feel it very important to feed my brain with ideas that can contribute towards my vision. Inspiration should never be a challenge. If for some reason I feel lost or out of ideas; Searching through Instagram, reading a book, watching a film or scrolling through Pinterest are the best ways to immerse myself in creativity however relevant it may be in the end. For my poster I want it to be based around my love for styling… to have a single model wearing one of my favourite outfits I have collected. This will help portray ‘Sophia Lund’ in the strongest, most genuine way.
Inspiration from film
My favourite film of all time is the McQueen film, released on the 22nd April 2018. McQueen is a biographical documentary film centred around the life and career of Alexander McQueen. Directed by Ian Bonhôte and co-directed and written by Peter Ettedgui. Alexander McQueen was the first designer I discovered years ago and what got me into fashion. This documentary I find so inspiring I end up watching it most weeks as I feel I learn more and more every time I watch it. He was a genius so ahead of his time, so inspirational to me and many others. The film was produced so well and it tells such a beautiful story.
Exhibition inspiration
Sir John Soane’s Museum. I visited Sir John Soane’s to grasp some primary research into someones personal collection of objects that inevitably defined him. It was incredible, I had never seen so many unique figures, sculptures etc.
Idea 1 – To create a collage with all of the objects from my mind map that represents me. This way it will keep my poster very personal and relevant to the theme of myself and my core values. I could then add in the text on top of the image my core values? Or I could even just write “ Objects that represent me” on top of the images.
Idea 2 – For my second idea, I came across some photographs by an artist named Sophie Calle. “The Sleepers” 1979 are a series of 9 images of her friends and strangers sleeping in her bed. Accompanied by text describing each “sleeping session.” I could do a collage of 9 of my favourite things that best represent me as a person, then arrange the photos in a similar way as a block of 9. I love the vintage feel to the images and feel I could create something similar.
The Sleepers 1979
Idea 3 – To create a world from my styling photos. My love for fashion began with styling, so I feel it is vital that this is reflected in my work. I could create a collage of some of my favourite looks I have created for photoshoots and collage them together to create a world. Then using my typography text I could add in text of my core values perhaps what I feel represents me as a person best to also help explain the reasoning behind my poster.
Some of the images i could include from my previous projects.
Idea 4 – To hire out the photography studio and shoot a single model. I thought of hiding her face or putting something over her face so it is left unseen and I could create a feeling of mystery… who is Sophia Lund? I like this idea the best as I am incorporating styling and I have complete creative control over a single person. I feel the image could turn out to be quite striking and then I can edit and play around with my poster ideas.
Photoshoot Moodboard
For my poster, I want to keep it simple yet striking. To keep the focus on the model who will be in the centre, I will then have my new logo in a corner blown up. I want the styling and image I have created to represent myself, my style and my aesthetic… Hopefully, I can encapsulate that to the best ability in my photoshoot.
I had planned to shoot 3 looks and choose my favourite one for the poster, but, with the first look I tried out, I felt it was the strongest and I wouldn’t need to try the others. I felt this look strike a balance between delicate and powerful. The look was based on a gorgeous nude set I sourced from Depop, paired with layered pearl necklaces and a rosary, white tights, cream Tabi’s and black vinyl gloves. The look without the gloves felt very ethereal, I loved it but, in my past shoots, I have liked to incorporate dramatic elements to project a look and make it stand out. Feeling that it was missing something, I added the gloves and then it all came together nicely.
My favourite images
For my next steps, I will need to choose the favourite look that I feel will best capture ‘Sophia Lund.’ Making sure it showcases my styling to the best abilities and would go with myself as a brand. I feel as though the ones where Martha is facing forwards are slightly stronger as there is more of a shape to them. The hand placement as well as important as they need to look purposefully placed. My favourites out of the 5 are probably 2 or 4.
The final image
I chose this image as I felt it encapsulated the diaphanous look in the best way. The pose feels purposeful, yet it has a perception of fragility to it. Her introspective glance has a delicate perception, which contrasts against the acridity of the vinyl gloves.
Potential poster 1
My first idea was to include the writing at the top… I feel it will look better along the left side as there is more space.
Final Poster
With the writing along the left side, I felt it worked better as there is more space for the logo. I am really happy with how it turned out in the end… it feels like everything I had visualised has come to life!
In conclusion, I have thoroughly enjoyed this project. I feel I have been given total creative freedom to experiment, come up with ideas and execute them in the best way. Exploring my personal beliefs at the beginning was vital in helping me discover what I stand for and how I want both myself and my work to be perceived. This then lead me onto finding different artists and designers that I felt inspired me, looking at a wide range helped me narrow my vision and develop ideas early on. Typography I found to be fascinating, something I had never looked at properly before, some of the artists I found in various books had taken the wackiest of references and turned that into unique fonts. Looking into brand DNA you could see how each magazine, house and brand had taken different fonts and made them iconic. From all my initial research I then started to develop different ideas, coming up with 4 and selecting my strongest one. Styling has been a passion of mine for so long now I knew it had to be at the core of my brand, that is inevitably why I chose to study Fashion Communication. it seemed only right. Booking out the studio after creating my mood board, Martha made the perfect model, the first look I felt was instantly captivating and would stand out alone on my poster. therefore I did not feel the need to shoot another look, but to go with my gut and choose the first one. The final stages it was about making sure the image was in a high enough resolution, checking where the new logo should go and making sure the poster looked powerful ready to submit. This project has benefitted me immensely, it has helped me above all develop the graphic design skills that I did not have before, enabling me to push myself out of my comfort zone and have fun!
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