COLLAB PLATFORM: INTRODUCTORY POSTS

To encourage and stimulate engagement with our FMBe Creative collaborative platform, it is key that we create content that reflects our friendliness and transparency.

Since posting our first introductory post of our FMBe Creative logo on our Instagram page, each team member has since posted a personal introductory post about them as a person. This is so that our followers truly know the people behind this platform and get to know us on a personal level. We successfully and proactively discussed on our Teams meeting how we would like to do this in terms of visuals and logistics. We all wanted to ensure that our introductory posts were visually engaging whilst being informative at the same time. We brainstormed a few ideas including using emojis that best describe us as individuals, creating mood boards of images that reflect us as individuals and so on. After some discussions, we eventually came up with an idea that allowed us to incorporate our own images and emojis that reflect us in a visual, aesthetically pleasing way. Nataria experimented with an app called ‘Unfold’ that creates polaroid/collage effects that can be used with any images. Cohesiveness with our Instagram feed is something we all wanted to keep in mind. That is why we used the same Polaroid effect and the same caption structure for everyone’s posts. Each post was as the following:

• A selection of images to represent the individual through selfies and hobbies (Polaroid affect using the ‘Unfold app’).

• An introductory paragraph introducing the individual with things such as name, age, hobbies. COVID impacts etc.

• A second paragraph outlining the individual’s allocated designer’s concepts and how these will be taken forward to create a brand.

• All captions were accompanied with emojis to reflect the individual whilst making the content friendly and informal.

Each team member’s introductory posts were uploaded on Tuesday. I think the FMBe Creative team have started this project off on a great foot. We have all been super proactive; notably being one of the first teams to get the platform up and running with a name and a logo, and start posting with relevant and engaging content. On Friday, Nataria informed us about her meeting the she had with the lecturers and other team leader’s, stating that going forward it would be a good idea to really plan our feed out to show progress and continue to make engaging, exciting content. As much as I am happy with how this collaborative project has gone so far, it is important that we take on what Nataria as our team leader has said, and start to plan and be more efficient with our platform to ensure it’s as good as it can be.

INNOVATION PROJECT OR HOLISTIC VIEW?

When being told we could either focus solely on the designer’s ideas specific to their Innovation module, or take a holistic view of the designer’s combined style, I immediately thought the best approach to create a strong brand would be the latter. But is this the right approach for this project?

I believe communication is key when working collaboratively, and my ongoing goal for this project is to maintain communication with my designer so we are both always kept in the loop. This afternoon, I touched base with my designer (Evie); one week since our last/initial meeting. It was approximately 15 minutes long and really informative. Although at this stage neither of us have anything to show, I needed to get something straight, which I needed my designer’s input on…

As aforementioned, I personally think a good fashion brand takes into account everything that the designer does, and the branding reflects the designer holistically as a person and their overall style. I envisioned my brand creation would be like this. However, my designer admitted that her innovative ‘Plastic Ocean’ collection is very much different to her work prior to this, and what she will go on to design in the future. This threw me off slightly. I found myself now worrying that I won’t be creating a strong brand that accurately represents my designer. I voiced these concerns to Evie and was worried that I wouldn’t be able to create a brand that she would be happy with, but fortunately we came up with a solution.

As much as I would like to create a brand that truly reflects Evie more wholly, it is important that I at least focus on her specific innovation project. I need to understand that this approach is not wrong, as it stated in the brief that this is okay! I just think that sometimes I give myself too high standards and put pressure on myself to do/be what I think is best. When after all, this approach is perfectly fine! Now I have clarity on the direction I am going in for brand strategy, I am excited to deeply explore ocean visuals and this topic as whole, not worrying about any of Evie’s other collections or getting the brief wrong.

GUEST LECTURERS AND COLLABORATIVE PROJECT

I love it when the university bring in guest lecturers, as they always provide valuable insight on real-life experiences and industry knowledge.

Today marked the second week of the Brand Development and Promotion module. The first week involved getting to grips with the brief and assignment, so I was excited for this week where I would delve deeper into the project and learn from my tutors and guest lecturers. On Monday (yesterday), Teresa Greenlees provided us students with an engaging, informative lecture/session all about brand strategy and how to effectively position a brand. I thought her session was highly valuable. I enjoyed learning about typical archetypes that brands often position themselves to portray personalities, as well as discussing particular examples to contextualise my learning and understanding. Els Dragt provided us with a session today, which was equally as useful. She discussed all things trends and trend researching, and I am looking forward to taking what I’ve learned today forward when I come to conduct my own trend research and analysis.

This week also commenced the Collaborative Project. We were briefed on this last week, and at first I was a little comprehensive. As an individual, I often prefer working on my own. I would describe myself as a perfectionist (and I think many people close to me would agree!). I enjoy the socialising and networking part of team work, but sometimes meeting deadlines and maintaining communication can be a little frustrating for me. But that is something I need to work on, which is why I am looking forward to this element of the module and improving my team work and collaboration skills.

Yesterday we had our first official collaborative team meeting where we discussed initial ideas and allocated our team leader; Nataria. I was debating whether to put myself forward for the team leader role, but I am confident Nataria will do an amazing job and I am looking forward to working closely with her and the rest of the team. In our meeting, we confirmed our name; FMBe Creative (which was my idea, may I add!), set up an Instagram account of which will be our collaborative platform, and decided on what our first introductory posts will be. I am excited to work collaboratively and document all of our brand strategy ideas and concepts through a visually engaging Instagram page.

Here is the caption from our first Instagram post, which sums up perfectly the purpose of our FMBe Creative collaborative platform: