Dear Diary

Today was our last class of the IISF course and I’m so sad! We spent the session organising our work and making sure we had the majority of our work done and that our myblogs were up to date. I showed Suzanne some of my work and she gave me some pointers such as creating a mood board for my PR event and altering the layout of my blog page. I then spent the rest of the session working on some zine page layouts and beginning my evaluation by starting to answer some of the questions. 

I cannot believe this course is already over. Doing this course is one of the best things I could’ve done for my career because in September I began the course thinking I was going to be doing Buying and Merchandising, and I am so happy I realized that I am most definitely not a business student! I’ve learned so many amazing skills such as essay writing, video editing and graphic design which has always been a huge goal of mine and I am now leaving this course very confident in my editing skills. This course has also led me to pick the degree that I will enjoy the most and the one I will succeed in. As much as I’m saddened this course has come to an end, I look forward to beginning my degree in September and seeing what my future holds! 

The starting point of my zine began in the Easter holidays when I began planning and thinking about the word “self” and what it means to me. During the holidays I was also watching a lot of coming-of-age movies such as Clueless, Ladybird and 10 Things I Hate About You and was really inspired. Last term my magazine briefly touched on the coming-of-age genre but this term I wanted to focus on it and the whole self-discovery theme. This led me to create my Clueless shoot where I try out different aesthetics, my existential crisis shoots to encapsulate the feeling of being lost and the final shoot which focuses on the freedom you’re given as a young adult and having fun! I’m proud of how my images came out as my photography skills have really evolved from term 1! During the beginning stages of the term, I was struggling a bit with my zine, I had a concept and the content but I was struggling creatively to put it together but one of my talks with Carlyn pushed me in the right direction! She encouraged me to push the whole diary aesthetic and go a bit crazy and I did just that. I used a multitude of mediums such as lipstick, stickers, gems, cut-outs and polaroids on almost every page and I couldn’t be happier with the outcome, this aesthetic not only reflects me but the innocence of a teenager’s diary. The majority of the collages are handmade and were quite time-consuming, so having to time manage was quite hard towards the end of the term as I work weekends so I had a few late nights but the final results made it worth it! I’ve learnt so much about myself during the creative process of this zine, I’ve figured out my strengths like content creation and video editing, my weaknesses such as writing and my future pathway. At the start of this term, I was convinced I was doing PR, but I’m so grateful Carlyn questioned me on this before I start my BA because reflecting on the work, we’ve done this term the PR portion was my least favourite part. I’ve come to the realisation and decision that Creative Direction is a much better fit for me. Looking back on the course as a whole I truly cannot believe how far I’ve come. Last September I was so insecure in my skills and my work reflected that but now I’ve learnt so many skills that I will never forget and I am truly grateful. I do wish we were given more time on this project as I had so many other editorials I wanted to shoot but I am so proud of how my zine turned out, it is exactly how I envisioned, maybe even better. 

My Zine will be focusing on the theme of a coming-of-age teen. It links to the theme of “self” as the whole focus is on self-discovery and trying to find out who you really are. This issue will take you on a fashion journey of a girl trying to find her own unique style, interests, loves and identity in London and will be titled “Dear Diary” as it is a personal piece of work reflecting her true emotions. I want this zine to be relatable amongst most teens and show them that everyone our age feels a bit lost and defeated and that we don’t need to feel pressured by society’s standards. I also want this Zine to be a fun medium for teens to get fashion inspiration from, read about trends, sustainability and helpful tips like ‘how to dress on a budget in London’. I really liked how I incorporated music into my last project and want to carry that through to this project so that my zine will focus on fashion and music as these two things play a big role in not only mine but most of my generation’s lives. In order to successfully create the outcome, I have in mind I want to ask around and interview friends and peers and how they feel in this period of their life to capture shared and relatable experiences. I also want to create as much content as possible such as using photography and collaging to reflect the emotions of this period but also capture what it’s like living, working and studying in London. Time management wise, I see we only have 2-3 classes a week so I really want to use the days we are given off the best I can by editing, writing and creating content rather than leaving it all to the last minute. My BA first choice is PR & Communication so I definitely want to bring a PR element into my zine by either collaborating with a brand that connects with the coming-of-age theme, a celebrity/ influencer or further developing my Spotify collaboration from the last term. From last term’s feedback, I think I need to create and think of more creative PR strategies in order to help with my BA, think outside the box and sharpen my skills.

Unfortunately, I missed this session but I spent the day doing some work on my zine and finishing my short film. I am super proud of how my short film turned out! It encapsulates the whole vibe and aesthetic of my zine and fits the coming-of-age theme. Then I wanted to include an interview in my zine so I decide to interview one of my friends from work who also goes to LCF. The reason I wanted to interview her is because she is so passionate about sustainable fashion and I love her clothes so much so I wanted to ask her about her tips and tricks for thrifting. That then lead to a discussion of Depop and I decided to write an article on how to dress sustainably and on a student budget in London. I loved writing the article, if I had more time, I would’ve loved to do a shoot at charity stores! I then spent the rest of the day finalising and editing my taste of freedom editorial and I am so happy with the results! It is definitely my favourite shoot in my zine. I’m sad that I missed our last adobe session because I have honestly learnt so much from Sing. At the beginning of the course I was still using PowerPoint and thought I would never be able to use Adobe and now look at me! I cannot believe how far I’ve come.  

During this session, we had a look at one another’s blog pages and gave each other some feedback on how to improve their blogs and tell them what looks good and what they’re missing. I had a look at Hannah, Aris and Tiffany’s blogs and it’s really interesting to see how different everyone’s creative aesthetic is. The feedback they gave me about my blog was encouraging and helpful. After seeing everyone’s blogs I need to upload some more of my development work such as my experimentations and test shots as I don’t have that much on my page. Getting peer feedback was very useful as this whole project has been very independent, which I like but getting an outsider’s perspective and feedback is important. 

For the second half of the session, I was very grateful that Fiona allowed me to speak to the Journalism course leader because I have been so indecisive about my BA choice. The talk I had with Jo was very useful as she explained exactly what the course will entail and everything, we would be studying throughout the three years and as much as a journalism course interests me, I don’t think I would enjoy writing and research for three years straight. I didn’t get to speak to the PR course leader but I had a chat with Carlyn and Suzanne and now I think creative direction is the correct pathway for me. It allows me to be creative, create content, work with people and learn management. My goal for my career is to work for a fashion magazine and I feel like a degree like this gives me the perfect opportunity to do that. 

Today’s Session with Fiona was focused on making sure we were up to date with all our blogs and that our MyBlogs page was organised and personalised to our zine. I spent the session catching up on some of my blogs and customising my page to match the aesthetic of my zine. It was really helpful and beneficial given the time to work on our blogs as it meant I had more time to focus on my other work for the rest of the week and not have to worry about my blogs. I also spoke to Fiona about the dilemma I’m having with my BA choice and she gave me some helpful advice to look at previous students work and what the courses focus on to help me make a decision. She also said she would try get me to have a one-on-one chat with the course leaders so that they can explain what exactly their courses cover and the type of work I could potentially do. Overall, today was a very productive and useful session!