LEARNING AGREEMENT.

Synopsis of study

For my extended major project I have set my own brief and have decided to create a shopping guide, which will take the form as a small book. This book will be aimed at women aged between 20-28 years old who have a particular appetite for fashion. The guide will be showing various Quirky, Vintage and Utterly Fabulous stores I have found within the South of England through relevant research.

There is a recent rise in the return of ‘Pride in Britain’ and the ‘Made in Britain’ motto. We are now seeing a resurgence of traditional brands for instance Mulberry, and because of this I thought I would embrace the English heritage and be proud of what we have to offer. By choosing the South of England I have given myself a large area to explore, which will allow me to expand my knowledge of the area and will hopefully lead me to find some unique stores and boutiques which will be mainly fashion based. I have decided to choose this area for a shopping guide excluding London as many people would assume this is the place you have to be to get your most stylish fashion fix, but I want to show that there are some lovely gems to be found closer to home. I want to pass these findings onto others in this compact and fun booklet.

Through preliminary research, I have not found any other form of booklet that concentrates on quirky stores within the areas I am hoping to visit. Most shopping guides seem to be boring, dull and usually based on high-street stores. Guides I have found seem to be concentrating on large popular city shopping, Internet shopping, ethical shopping or shopping on a budget.  These guides do not seem to include the smaller independently run stores, so during my project I want to promote the local businesses away from the mass manufactured ones. This gives me a chance to help support some of our home bred shops that need it more than the bigger chains, and are often filled with more creative items that many people are looking for but cannot easily find!

The booklet will be as informative as possible guiding people on my recommended areas to visit, with specific stores mentioned for each region. I will state what the store is about, what they stock, what they do well and where to find it. I will also be adding in the surprise findings (if any) such as a cute café to stop off for tea and cake. To start there will be an introduction talking about vintage fashion and how it is on trend for the moment and is rising. I will also show illustrations of specific fashions for this Spring Summer 2011, that I will draw and edit on Adobe Illustrator. This will give viewers who maybe aren’t that creative or fashion conscience the opportunity to have a little guidance to what they can look out for to be on trend for that particular season.

All of the images within this booklet will be my own. Store images will be taken by myself and will be approved by the manager. Proof of this will be handed in for assessment in the form of a letter with the signature from each store owner as a form of research. Other images will have been scanned, made, drawn or taken by myself. This will eliminate the need for the Harvard style referencing and will allow me to be the sole creator of my booklet. Once the booklet is completed I will be printing the book on Blurb, which is an online company where you can get your book printed and allow others to purchase it too. You can create your file on Adobe Illustrator, export to a PDF file and then upload the file ready for printing on the website, and this is the method I will be using. The booklet will be a square sized 7inches by 7 inches. This is the smallest they do as a colour printed book, so it will be as compact as possible from this company.

Throughout this project I will be collecting information both in a sketchbook and on my blog http://jennifer-louise.blogspot.com, these both will aid my project, show my findings, collate images, inspirations and research to show all of my ideas, thoughts and processes along the way. The sketchbook will tell a story from beginning to end and will contain information on the areas I have visited and will also include the areas that may have not been featured within my booklet. This will show the extent of my research by showing the vast scope of destinations I have visited whether they be successful or not. My online blog will show some of my professional thinking, showing steps and development along the way. The blog will be concentrating on technical issues such as printing, and research. It will include any other information or research that may not be suitable for my sketchbook. Both of these sources will act as my Research and Development, which will be handed in at the deadline for assessment.

To keep organised I will concentrate on my time management by writing a critical path analysis of what needs to be done, date set, date of proposed completion, and the date achieved. This will help me to keep on top of deadlines that are approaching, by separating work into smaller sections to make it easier to manage.

I feel this project is related to my own specialist practice as the main areas I am interested in pursuing after my further education are; styling, fashion photography and magazine work; designing layouts, styling, photography.  By setting my own brief it enables me to explore, learn and gain new skills in areas that I have chosen, and that I am interested in. It allows me to put both new and old skills into play by trying to create my own shopping guide. This project will be fun and insightful, showing off my skills to the highest of my creative ability.