Change of Direction (Again!) + Final Proposal

Project context 

In a society where social media plays an integral role in our daily lives, it is no wonder the beauty industry has also become heavily reliant upon its relationship with various social media platforms as a method of connecting with its consumers. It has now become the norm for ‘Social Influencers’ such as YouTube personalities and bloggers to collaborate with cosmetic brands in hopes of both boosting following and increasing product exposure. Research has found that the millennial demographic has become increasingly reliant on the internet, particularly using the word of these social media personalities as a source of guidance regarding which beauty products to buy (Liddicote, 2016). Largely due to lower incomes than their parent generation, the millennial consumer is a savvy shopper with keen interest to ascertain a product’s credibility prior to purchasing. Because of this growing relationship between social media and the beauty industry, it can be hard to judge the authenticity of product recommendations made online due to a rise in product endorsements and commissioned collaborations.

Millennials, also known as Generation Z, are vastly more tech savvy then the generations before them. Generation Z’s reliance on social media as a way of life has opened them up to more independent and niche brands than before. As a result they are more willing to try products from these lesser-known brands as opposed to the more traditional big brand names belonging to the likes of Estee Lauder and L’oreal. Because of this, the beauty industry is becoming less dominated by long standing traditional brands and embracing new, innovative and niche cosmetic brands (WGSN, 2017).  

Project outcome & USP

‘UntoldBeauty’ is a blog that seeks to provide inspirational looks and product recommendations without agenda or bias towards only big-name brands. In keeping with the theme of discovery, the blog will champion looks of subtlety and simplicity, which are commonly overlooked and under-rated in the world of beauty.

Target Audience

‘UntoldBeauty’ caters to the millennial demographic of women aged 18-30 by offering interpretations of current trends that are fashion-forward yet still wearable. Alongside these featured looks will be genuine product recommendations based on personal experience rather than endorsement, this seeks to meet the target consumers need to find products that are credible and effective.

Outcome Aesthetic  

UntoldBeauty will be based on a traditional blog layout, with a feed of recent posts featuring the various looks created. However, I aim to incorporate more website based elements to differentiate UntoldBeauty from more traditional and common beauty blogs. 

Typical blog layout

Typical layout conventions of beauty blog can be seen in the diagram above. UntoldBeauty will differ from this layout and form more of a cross over between a gallery website and blog.   

Inspirational Blog Layout

Inspirational Blog Layout

Inspirational Blog Layout

(Something that did occur to me when finalising my redeveloped outcome concept, was whether I'd still be able to make use of the looks I have already shot. However, this will not be an issue because its not as if my target audience or intended outcome have drastically changed. My audience has remained very much the same and in fact become slightly broader. Also, as stated previously throughout the duration of the project Ive been keen to incorporate my love of subtle and minimal make up along side the incorporation of current trends)

♯Initiative & Independent Learning
♯Devise Innovative and Appropriate Solutions to a problem or brief
♯Understanding of trends & styling conventions
♯Good working practices

Midway Formative Feedback

This week I was required to present my progress so far in the project to two members of the creative faculty, Sebastien and Russell.
This is the presentation I presented them with.

The feedback I received was quite eye-opening. Although I was quite disheartened at first, I am thankful i received this feedback as I will be able to build on this and improve my final major project. There were a lot of things I hadn't considered which Russell and Sebastien brought to my attention.

Feedback:

- The purpose of my website is not clear enough. Its unclear who the website is for and what its intention is. Based on heir feedback, I can look at my progress so far and agree that the purpose is quite vague and not clear enough.

- Its possible there isn't much demand for the website at all. Would Make-up artists realistically see a need to visit it? When I think about this possibility it does make sense that make up artists wouldn't necessarily see the need for it. i need to think about how to adapt the website so that it meets more of a demand in the market. 

- The USP isn't clear enough. What makes my website different to any other beauty site? I can see what Sebastien and Russell mean by this, based on what I've shown them so far my website currently looks very stereotypical and not particularly inventive or innovative - nothing so far is setting me apart from any other beauty website. 

Overall the feedback I received highlighted the importance and urgency for me to redefine my USP and to find something that made me passionate about creating the outcome. Sebastien commented that he didn't feel I was very enthusiastic about the project and I would agree that I am am still having trouble with motivation and ambition. I got a bit emotional wheN i received this feedback. It has occurred to me that I have been burying my hand in the sand and ignoring my negative feelings towards my work and motivation.

Going forward...
- I urgently need to redefine my USP and project focus
- Make the intention/purpose of my website clearer to the audience


♯Initiative & Independent Learning
♯Devise Innovative and Appropriate Solutions to a problem or brief

Further Changes to planned outcome

Upon further reflection I have changed the name of my site. When I researched available domain names 'The Beauty Vault' wasn't available with any of the domain origins including .org , .co.uk or .com - I don't really want to resort to using an unusual or uncommon domain ending with the likes of .uk .net etc 

After brainstorming website names I came up with 'The Beauty Muse' - I like this idea because it suggests a source of inspiration regarding beauty which fits well with my website purpose. It will suggest to the target audience authenticity in my product reccomedations. 

I have also begun designing my website on Adobe Muse. 

I am finding Adobe Muse quite hard to get to grips with, its fairly time consuming as well because I am not hugely familiar with using it. I may look in to other methods of creating my website such as Wix and decide on whether to keep using Muse or change approach. 

Moving forward...
- Look in to other methods of creating a professional website
- Prepare presentation for formative Feedback

♯Initiative & Independent Learning
♯Devise Innovative and Appropriate Solutions to a problem or brief
♯Good working practices

Shooting Look 2

With this shoot I encountered a few issues that were out of my control - But I think I was able to handle them successfully. When I booked this shoot, I had arranged my original photographer and a different student to complete the hairstyling. Unfortunately, my hair stylist dropped out on me at the last minute and I was unable to replace her at short notice. I decided to style the hair myself instead of cancelling the shoot completely. I made this decision based on the time constraints I was facing, I thought for the benefit of my project it would be better to achieve a finished look than to not shoot anything at all.

Below is the final edited image from this shoot.

I did struggle with the hair styling, as the model had quite prominent ears and I found it hard to find a simple hair style that I could achieve that would flatter this feature. However, I think I made a good judgement by covering the ears with bangs of hair and cropping the image in post production. I really like the finished image, I think the skin looks beautiful and the application of lip colour is accurate and striking enough without being over the top - which fits the purpose and USP of my website. Another aspect Im pleased with is the continuity of the style of photography between my shoots - the lighting set up has remained the same and the overall finished outcomes look consistent with each other. 

In hindsight, with the time I had I could have realistically shot another look. I let the earlier issues effect my motivation and distract me from my ultimate goal which was to shoot two looks with my model during the time I had with her. 

Moving forward...

- I think I need to be more ambitious with shooting, use models for 2/3 looks at a time
- Shoot more looks, I need to pick up the pace a little as I'm already falling behind on my schedule 

♯Initiative & Independent Learning
♯Devise Innovative and Appropriate Solutions to a problem or brief
♯Understanding of trends & styling conventions

Shooting Look 1

This week I completed the first shoot for one of the looks to be featured on my site. I was able to arrange the help of a photographer and hair stylist. I thought this would relieve some of the stress of having the responsibility of having three roles MUA, photographer and Hair Stylist. I found having a photographer to be really useful as I didn't have the added responsibility of setting up lights and adjusting settings. Overall Im really pleased with the quality of the images taken and thankful I had the help of my photographer. In future I will aim to have this assistance in my upcoming shoots. 

This is final image from my initial shoot, which I have edited today. Overall, I think the quality of the image is good. However, I do think the hair styling could have been a little more refined in hindsight. I will keep this in mind for future shoots and try to make sure that the hair styling is up to par.

In this photoshoot, I also shot another look. However I feel that the outcome of this was not as suitable for my website. Comparing the above image to the one below, you can see that the overall effect is completely different. In the top image the model looks polished, refined and radiant. In the image below and others from the shoot, the model looks a little bit miserable. Also the overall mood and aesthetic is more disheveled and messy. I have made the decision not to go forward and edit this image or to even feature this look on the site as I feel the quality is not high enough and the overall mood of the image is too angsty and fierce.

Going Forward...

- Continue designing and shooting looks 

- Start designing site layout & logo 

♯Initiative & Independent Learning
♯Understanding of trends & styling conventions

Facing Issues with Confidence/Motivation

Reflecting on my progress over the last few weeks, Im currently not particularly happy with the progress Ive made. In all honesty, Ive found myself lacking severely in motivation and much ambition to do any work towards my final major project. I seem to be in a bit of a creative rut at the moment and I'm struggling to find any ambition or enthusiasm towards my work. 

Im thinking that maybe finding someone to talk to about this or share my issues with could be of benefit to me. Im already falling behind on my production schedule and if i don't sort myself out its only going too get worse. 

Current Mood

♯Devise Innovative and Appropriate Solutions to a problem or brief

Revised Proposal & Mentor Feedback

This week I have focused on re-developing my FMP proposal. I have decided to create an inspirational website that provides inspirational images that celebrate my love of subtle make-up artistry. Here is the revised proposal presentation I created to show my mentor. 

When I presented my new proposal to Sharon she stressed the need for me to think more like a professional and less like a student. I understood that what she meant by this was to stop trying to meet a brief and to focus on creating something that was professional and had real life grounding and application. For example, it isn't entirely necessary for me to cater my website to make up students  - realistically this would make up a very small percentage of my audience.

Moving forwards from this week its important for me to get the ball rolling with starting to shoot my looks - as I have planned to shoot a total of 30 looks and feature a total of 25 on my website. 

♯Initiative & Independent Learning
♯Devise Innovative and Appropriate Solutions to a problem or brief
♯Understanding of trends & styling conventions