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.