UNIT 10 - Stanmore Creatives

Today, on the 12th of September we were introduced to the name 'Stanmore Creatives', in a class mixed with students that also study media. The other class that we have been mixed with are students that study Animation. We were informed about our role as a class about the Stanmore creatives and we were told that a few clients would come in, and advertise their products.

First, we were given the task of filling in a questionnaire, about our skill set; hard skills and soft skills. We were then put into groups with students that we haven't interacted with as much individually, to share our knowledge of each of our subjects and skills and to learn from students that don't do exactly the same thing as what we each do. Each group had to choose to design a logo or a profile of Stanmore Creatives in a leaflet. Our group chose to do a logo, as it enables us to portray our creativity. As a group, we decided to each come up with a design and then choose the best idea, or incorporate everyone's idea and make it into one logo. Of course, that would be too much of a hassle

On 19th September, we presented our brief logo designs as a group to the class. We were given feedback from our classmates and teachers. We then took in the feedback and 2 or 3 students in our group designed the logo with some help from the rest of the group.
The following week, we presented the finalised product of the logo to the class along with the other groups and we had to vote for the logo that we preferred. Most of the votes were given to another group.

On Tuesday 26th September, I got my brief after completing my profile on paper.
Below are the profile and brief. I've covered the personal details for privacy reasons. (Excuse the misspelling of 'Contact'.)

Artist Website brief

I came to the realisation that I would be working on this brief on my own, rather than with a group at that current time. On the day, I met up with the client, (she is an external client because the task is for her own project, however she is a member of staff at Stanmore college). I took down notes whilst she was telling me her requirements, and I suggested a few ideas to her. Some she liked, and others she didn't like as much. For example, she thought that the idea of making categories for her website is brilliant and that making a YouTube or Instagram account would be of good use as well. She already has an Instagram account, but I suggested that she post short videos explaining her art piece. She is inspired by the artist, Hamish Blakely, and she let me know that he has a video explaining the reasoning behind his stunning art pieces. Therefore, I thought that making a video of such, and posting it on her website, would be a good idea to engage the viewer on her website to her pieces. However, this was only a thought and we didn't verify the idea, because we agreed that it could be made after the main requirements were done. I made the notes on paper, and typed them up and emailed them to my teachers.

Below is what I emailed my teachers (the notes)

• Artweb is the website that she uses
• Wants other options on her site; easily accessible and less boring
• She's on premium and has been paying £10 every month I believe. She prefers to stay on this website, but if there's barely any options for the things she wants, then we can change to a different website.
• Use software like Photoshop to improve the quality of her pictures; better lighting; stands out like not faded etc.
• I suggested we create categories for her variety of at styles;

1. Achievement & Empowerment - Body image
2. Religious artwork
3. Comics etc..

• Doesn't like the font, wants it bigger
• Wants to change the typeface under the subheadings
• Wants a feed on her homepage of her most recent Twitter posts 
• Doesn't want her pieces to be blurry when the mouse is run over the image (rollover mouse) 
• Multiple angles of art pieces like on Saatchi (Go to saatchiart.com --> go to search engine to 'Artist' and search Lolita Parekh) 
• Ask Lolita for pictures if needed to get them on USB or email to edit them
• Wants it to be eye-catching
• Include how and when she got into doing her art to interact with the audience and show her personality 
• Loves Hamish Blakely's work and wants her background to blend well and compliment her artwork like his does on his website http://www.hamishblakely.com/ 

  Hamish Blakely - Contemporary Realist [Official Website] www.hamishblakely.com Powered by Cincopa Video Hosting for Business solution.hamishoriginaldate 1/1/0001 6:00:00 AMwidth 1024orientation 1height 627Semi Preciouscameramake Better ...

I have her log in details for her website. Her website is  https://lolitaparekh.artweb.com/

On the 10th October, I began the task by customising the background, and presentation of her website based on the research that I have conducted and on what I had discussed with my client. I also made my own account for Artweb so that when I make changes, they won't affect her website.  It's been a slow start, but I will get there in the end.

Update: I don't use my account anymore because I realised that I can make changes, like add pages, but they'll stay a draft if I don't upload them. However, making changes to the presentation of the website will directly affect it, and there won't be an option to keep it a draft.

I have changed the background colour and the size of the category thumbnails on the homepage. I also moved the text. I don't have the version of what the site first looked like, but it had a white background, and the text was below the categories. The text is very colourful.

In a polite manner, I suggested that we change the typeface and colours of the text on the homepage as it looks unprofessional in my opinion, but she let me know that she wants to keep it, as it portrays her unique style and personality. I agree I think she should showcase her style, however, I do think that the typeface would attract kids rather than adults.

Lolita and I have been in constant contact via email, and we've been emailing each other back and forth around 10 times, and we have spoken for only a couple of minutes in real life. I have received her feedback for some of the paintings that I've edited via email.

These are the categories for the website: 

-Marvel/DC World: Avengers, Sketches, Superman (sold), Sentinel (sold). 

-Abstract: Earth, Peter Pan (sold), and I have to add two pics call Boy and Girl that will show as sold as well. 

- Expressionism: Four season (sold), Time, Fireman saving Life, Life (sold), Pink Perfume bottle set, Night wolf, Le Baiser (sold). 

- Self-Love: You got curves, Keep dancing, Not what it seems, Tempted (sold), Violinist. 

-Religious: Saints (sketch), Hindu, The Priest and The Sinner. 

-Book/Fantasy Art: Warrior Child (sketch), Valkyrie (Gallery), Woman with wolf (sketch), Fairy thinking (sketch), Otherworld Angel (sketch). 

-Other/ Untitled: family sketches and others that don't fit in these categories.


Below are two example of the before and after of a painting that I edited in Photoshop. This project has helped me become better at using Photoshop.



Then I tried to enhance the colours and make it bolder to stand out, so I made a second version posted below.

On 15/12/17 we had a meeting, and I showed her what I had done. I also asked her to verify the deadline and she told me that she wants it before Christmas.  

Artist Website Evaluation 

The image above is an example of some of our email interactions. In this specific email, it shows some feedback that she gave me on some of the work that I did. I will post the actual Client feedback below.

Please click this link to view the feedback

My client, Lolita uses ArtWeb to display her paintings. She needed help from me to redesign the presentation of her website and to edit her paintings to make them stand out more and have better quality.  The reason for this is so that her website and paintings can appeal to her target audience. To find her target audience, I have analysed her website and her paintings and I have done some research online. I know that the target audience is people that paint and are interested in buying her art pieces. Lolita and I had two meetings throughout and on the first meeting, we decided to contact each other via email. She then shared with me the paintings that she wanted me to improve on Google Drive.

Lolita paints in many Art styles, but not in every single style of art, meaning I can understand what demographic we are targeting, but it is a wider range of ages and ethnicities because some of her paintings portray native imagery and some portray European versions such as Paris etc. Due to the fact that she has many styles, I suggested that I create different categories for all of her paintings to direct her viewers and possible future buyers. It is evident in her paintings that she targets both males and females. For instance, she has a category titled 'Self-Love' and the paintings are about disregarding society's means of humiliation and judgement against some women for the actions that they take which are viewed down upon in certain societies. In addition, they're about fighting body image issues and loving your body. For example, she has a painting called 'You've got Curves'. Typically in society, women are known to face body image issues mainly due to the expectations of women's bodies in the media. More specifically, in print media, such as magazines and posters on billboards in public transport. On them, female models are portrayed as perfect. Men face body image issues too, but it is not discussed as often in the media, such as on TV shows and online articles. Her art pieces show the body of a female, which further signifies that the category targets females because the gender in a product usually represents who the target audience is. This category helps the female viewers that can relate and makes them feel like their concerns with their body is celebrated in the form of Lolita's art. She has another category titled 'Marvel/DC World'. Typically, males like comics and Superheros more than females. It's stereotypical, but it is still a relevant factor when determining her target audience. The paintings also vary in terms of what age range she is targeting. Typically, males from the ages of 6 to 35 like DC comics and Marvels. [1] Additionally, girls in their teenage years start to face body image issues, such as concerns with their weight and level of attractiveness. These feelings usually range between the ages of 13 to 45. I know this because I have read articles, and throughout the years of using social media, I have noticed that many girls post on social media sites like Instagram and Tumblr, expressing their concerns with their body image and I have also read stories of people knowing someone with these issues. The articles and social media has shown me that girls usually start feeling body image issues at their early teens. However, I have found that the age range actually starts as young as the age of 6. Some children have shown concerns about their weight and have even tried dieting. I read this on an article that has statistics and also has a section for young girls to post their experiences.

[2] The two examples of her art ('Marvel/DC' and 'Self-Love') that I have mentioned are for a niche audience. However, Lolita also produces pieces that target a larger audience because the styles are more popular. She has posted these styles on her website. These styles include Abstract art, Impressionism and Fantasy. I know that these art styles, among others, are popular because I asked my friend that has graduated with an Art & Design degree in University. In addition, I did some research through articles online for the paintings styles that are the most popular. I have found that the three that I mentioned were on the list and on her website.

It is important to note that on Lolita's website, she has documented that she has classes for children as young as the age of 4. This means that parents and guardians of children are also part of her target audience. However, I believe that the paintings are not aimed at children from the ages of 3-5. This is because some of her paintings are not child-friendly and although many of her paintings are colourful, children at this young age don't typically take interest in other peoples' art. I mean they don't to galleries or visit websites like ArtWeb. This factor has helped me narrow down the age range a bit, meaning that her target audience starts at the age of 6. Before doing any online research, I believed that the age range for her target audience is 4-50, but after conducting research online, I've come to the conclusion that her pieces target people from 6 to 95. I am aware of the fact that this a huge age demographic, but it is for good reason.
[3] & [4]
At first, I thought that the 1925-30's were all about the neoclassical paintings, but after doing some research through articles online, I found that during the 1930's abstract and futuristic art were introduced. This means that her target audience can reach as far to the ages of 80-95. Personally, I think that art is for every age range so her pieces could reach people up to their 90's. Due to the fact that her beautiful and unique paintings come in many styles, Lolita has a large target audience. However, I am only talking about her paintings and not about her website. Typically, people in their 80's to their 90's don't use technological devices such as a computer as often as people under 75. Usually, children start using technological devices like mobile phones, tablets and computers at the age of 8. This means that ArtWeb might not be quite as accessible to older people. This is a stereotype that I included and I'm aware that not every person in their 80's to 90's aren't capable of using technology, but I am talking about this in terms of what is generally known.

During my research to find my target audience, I have not conducted enough primary research such as questionnaires/surveys and focus groups. The only small bit of primary research that I did is when I asked my friend about which art styles are most popular. This is a huge fault of mine. I will not make this mistake again, especially since I know that Primary research is important and that it isn't difficult to gain data and answers through primary research. A focus group would have been a good post production research. For example, I could have the final products to my target audience and asked them if it appeals to them. To be honest, it never crossed my mind to conduct primary research. To make sure this never happens ever again, I need to plan better by writing the processes of research, pre-production and production etc.

I believe that my work has reached my client's target audience because I have modified the paintings to make them stand out more. Additionally, I have tried to incorporate elements of her inspiration. Hamish Blakely is an artist that also has a website and she let me know in one of our meetings that she likes his website design layout. Instead of making the background a dark colour like Blakely's, I added a beige colour. In our second meeting, I let Lolita know by discussing the colour choice and she told me that she likes the colour choice. I feel like the website would look better with a dark coloured background rather than a light colour because I think it would give the website more depth and it would make the website look unusual, which in turn, makes it look creative and artistic. However, a dark colour like black or dark grey would create a barrier between my client and her target audience and make it look not quite professional because of the age range demographic. For this reason, I chose to stick with the beige colour. I mentioned to Lolita that would have made it white, but the thumbnail formats for the paintings on ArtWeb were limited and weren't very big. There were different templates but with barely any big thumbnails options for the categories for the paintings. White would look too plain with small/medium sized thumbnails. This has allowed me to work better with constraints. At the beginning of the school year (September 2017), I was adequate at working with constraints, but after the limitation of the website, I feel that I have improved and have become good at it.

A choice that Lolita made for the website and had decided to keep, was making the colours of her text on the home page in many different colours. I didn't like this choice because it reaches some of her target audience like boys and girls ages 6-13, but it doesn't aim at all the ages of her age demographic. The reason that I kept the colours on the font is that she told me that she wants to express her own style on her website and of course I respect that. At the end of the day, she is my client and I need to be doing the things that best suit my client's preferences.

This unit has taught me a lot of new things because it was the first time that I had worked for a client. One of the things that I have learnt to work harder on, is my planning. For this project I made 'To-Do Lists' on paper for the tasks that I had to complete, but I didn't create a time schedule. I feel that creating a timetable would have allowed me to meet the deadline because I would know which tasks to meet for each week/day.  Instead, creating the To-Do lists and not a timetable with it only allowed me to know exactly what to do on the day. Nonetheless, my planning skills have improved since the beginning of the year.

I have realised that the difference between school work and working for a client is that for college work, I am producing work that will affect me and my future. Whereas working for a client means that I am helping them with the goals that they have which will benefit them financially or benefit the community. This is a big responsibility because the client is depending on me to help them improve their work. For my client, my work would help her express her passion for painting and get financial gain based on how many people buy the paintings. For instance, my client wanted me to improve her website and paintings so that her target audience would find the paintings appealing. Therefore, she would get more people interested to buy her pieces, which would help her financially.

In addition, I have improved my graphic design skills. This is something that I was keen to work on in September 2017. I've gained skills at editing photographs in Photoshop. I know how to make a photograph have better quality and look more appealing. For example, I enhanced the colours using the 'Adjustments' option to make them pop out more by creating a higher contrast and using other settings to improve the paintings. This is especially effective for the Marvel/DC paintings because bright primary colours that the Marvel and DC characters typically wear for their costumes display a lot of primary colours like red and yellow. 

Not to be boastful, but I actually think that I did a decent job of editing the paintings. The areas that I lacked in were time management, planning and meeting the deadline. I had to produce more primary research, create a timetable because that would mean that my planning would have been efficient and meeting the deadline. Furthermore, the communication with my client could have been better. I believe that I had good communication with my client throughout the beginning of the project by continuously updating her on the changes that I was making and asking her opinions on them via email messages. Additionally, the two meetings were very informative and helped us discuss and agree on certain things. However, I started to lack in this area towards the last month of the project, nearing the deadline. I also made slow progress since I don't have the best version/quality of Photoshop at home.

I only edited the paintings at college in my spare time. To change the outcome, I should have got the newest version of Photoshop at home and worked more often on Unit 10 rather than spending roughly only half an hour every week on the project. 

The struggles that I faced were how limited ArtWeb is. I tried to work with what I had, but this factor meant that I paid more time on improving the paintings rather than spending equal time improving the website design as well as the paintings.

To edit the photographs, I watched a YouTube video tutorial. I also received help from my classmate for the first edit.

Overall, this project has taught me to be more responsible, manage my time wisely and to plan more efficiently. In order for me to have met the deadline, I should have created a timetable or any other form of time scheduling. This would ensure that my production runs through smoothly as it would be more organised and stress free. Additionally, I need to not lose motivation when something fails and to not give up and keep trying. I feel that I should have been honest when I faced difficulties on the website that she gave me to improve. Leaving her out of the loop towards the end by not contacting her as often as I used to, made Lolita think that I gave up. However, I think that the most successful part of this project was my technical skills. The paintings are not perfect, but they are good and I enjoyed editing them.

Harvard Referencing

[1]
(2015-2018). At what age does media begin affecting my child's body image? Article, [online]. Available at: https://www.commonsensemedia.org/media-and-body-image/at-what-age-does-media-begin-affecting-my-childs-body-image [Accessed 9 October 2017] 

[2]

Cameron, P. (2015). 9 Styles Of Art That Will Always Be Popular. Article, [online]. Available from: http://www.wallartprints.com.au/blog/9-popular-styles-of-art/ [Accessed 10 October 2017]
[3]

Wikipedia, (2014-2018). Art Periods. Article [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_periods [Accessed 17 October 2017]
[4]

Nash, T. (2008-2018). The Beginning of Modern Art Can be Tracked Back to the 1930s Art Deco. Article, [online] Available from:  http://www.thefinertimes.com/The-1930s/the-beginning-of-modern-art-can-be-tracked-back-to-1930s-art-deco.html [Accessed 17 October 2017] 

Headline Barbers Evaluation 

We were presented with a new brief for a Barbershop called Headline Barbers. The client came in and talked to us about what he wants for his shop and we took notes. A group of students volunteered to work on this brief and I was one of them. I was assigned the job to take photographs of the shop. The tasks were split into a few groups and me, Maria, Leutrim and Cameron went to the Barbershop on the 20th October and my mates filmed shots and I took photographs. The other group were working on making a website for the shop so they asked told me what they wanted me to take pictures of so that they could use them on their website and possibly Instagram page.
Below are some of the pictures that I took. This task has made me enjoy working in a team. I like the fact that we all have ideas and try to discuss it and agree on one thing. Another thing I like about it, is that it is enjoyable to work with others especially when we all put in effort. Something that I would like to have gained from this project is to have better leadership skills. I did take leadership for my task, which was to take the photographs, but I would have liked to be the leader for the whole project to explore my skills in this area.

Feedback from the client 

When we started Unit 10 in September 2017, I preferred to work, explain my ideas and have discussions in smaller groups but after having discussions in the class when multiple clients came in, I found myself being more confident each time to talk to the whole class and the client(s). Being apart of class discussions and working for Headline Barbers has made me feel more confident working in a team environment. I'm very pleased with this personal development that I have made because it will benefit me greatly in the future and in college for future projects.