Blog Post 3 – Project outcomes and personal reflection
Now that the Better Lives unit has ended, I can now reflect on the progress I have had throughout the project and the overall outcome and my personal growth in general. For this unit I was part of the fashion activism group, where we went through the different processes connected through creative direction to create an outcome of a promotional video or social media content. I found this really interesting learning about the promotional side of fashion and how its highly important to talk about sustainability and other aspects, especially in times like this. In one of the lectures we were shown the importance of the use of typography, sound design, and other design techniques which were important when starting this project.
In my small group, we were assigned the brand Lazy Oaf, their collaboration campaign, Lazy Oaf X Time to Change. I was happy to be given this brand as its personally one which I love, I love their aesthetic and morals as a brand. This collaboration focused on the mental health awareness week, with the slogan ‘it’s okay to not be okay’, which I connected with on a personal level. This has had strong connections to the Better Lives themes, in particular the social responsibility theme.
Before researching further into the brand and starting our project we had to understand the idea of a brand as a whole: where do they place themselves on the market, what is the motivation of the brand, and also what are their visual aspects. Having this simple understanding of a brand allowed us to have a deeper understanding which then we could take further to create visual ideas that we wanted to include in our work.
Keeping in mind the three Better Lives themes of diversity, sustainability, and social responsibility. We moved on to gather the information on how Lazy Oaf as a brand fits into these categories. As a brand they are very diverse, having diversity as a brand is very important to show that everyone is included.
For our moving image, as a group we thought it would be a good idea to create an IGTV that promoted the brands’ collaboration. We thought this would be a perfect idea to create as it would be a modern way of promotional videos. Instagram is a great platform to showcase brands on as it’s a fast-paced platform which can reach a large audience, this is helpful as it would be a way of reaching a larger point of sale which would make more people aware of the brands’ slogan.
In reflection, I think that this whole prosses was refreshing to be a part of, also was a great way to meet new people in the process. I feel as though I have definitely progressed as a person and has made me think more positively as a whole about different issues that we face in the fashion industry. Better Lives has helped me see a totally different side to activism and realise how important it is to be socially aware as a brand. This experience has encouraged me to work in a different way to impact my future choices positively.