Final Evaluation of Zine Project Tina Adur

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Final Evaluation of Zine Project

The original design brief for this project was set by The Institute of

Contemporary Art who wanted to commission a fanzine investigating ‘The DM’. (Dr.

Marten Boots) and wanted the fanzine to look at the positive and negative images of

the boot.

Therefore I completed relevant research into the Dr Marten Boots. From this I

found out what makes it distinctive from other boots and the changing fashions

associated with the boots. The research into DM was useful as I did not have

enough previous knowledge.

Originally made as comfortable boots for the army, DM's grew to be fashion

icons in the late 20th century with punks; the grunge scene and also skin head

groups. Recently the boots have come back and influences today fashion, as labels

have been seeking more retro styles.

I enjoyed designing the Zine and I am pleased with my final outcome. The

design satisfactorily reflects the theme of British Punk Culture which has been

brought back today influencing retro styles. I used colour schemes that go well

nicely with this theme such as bold bright colours, union jack colours, and dark

monochrome colours.

My final Zine ticks all the boxes of the specifications I had set such as;

aesthetics, purpose and target market. I believe it fits the design brief as it is a

fanzine which investigates the positive and negative outlook of 'The DM'

From the 4 outcomes I created my preferred final designs were Outcomes 2 and

3. I initially set out to create two final outcomes as this is common in Zines, having

very similar themes but two different publications of the same topic.

It was hard to decide from the variety as they were all very similar and I liked

the final 3 of them. The First initial Zine outcome however was not very good.

One aspect of the Zine which I believe was very effective in creating a emphasis

on the DM and its characteristics was the front and back cover designs. I felt they

were good because the image portrayed attitude from the model and the

background. Furthermore the typography on the front and back cover was also very

eye catching and suited the theme.

Another good feature is the yellow dotted lines that flow through some of the

pages, which represent the distinctive yellow stitching on DM Products. I felt this

was successful as it brings all the pages together and creates a flow in the overall

Zine.

The photography and images I used were also very effective in reflecting the

punk/rebellion time era of the late 80's. I tried to make my photography more

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interesting with the model showing attitude rather than just modelling for the sake

of it. This approach made my overall Zine work well to reflect the negative and

positive aspects of the Boot.

The redesigned Doc Marten logo was also very good as I adapted to a more

modern theme to reflect the theme of my Zine, showcasing the good and bad of the

DM. I really liked the logo and market research also found that others found this

new logo more aesthetically pleasing than the old one.

Furthermore I felt the use of both males and females in my photography

worked well as it appeals to all audiences as is not sexist. By doing this, I have also

made the DM Boots fashionable to the male market as well as the female market.

Other good points about this project I felt I achieved was adapting to different

design styles of Graphic Design Artists such as David Foldvari and Alan Kitchin. I

thought my artist interpretation designs really matched the same style as the artist,

which I intended. By doing this I made each individual design more appropriate and

effective. I also looked into various themes and cultures such as punks, skin heads,

and the grunge scene. This influenced some of my work in the Zine as I wanted to

portray attitude.

Finally, throughout the project I ensured that design was produced to highest

possible standard and quality. I did this by making sure the measurements and

pixels of al files were correct and most appropriate to create a good quality final

image.

On the other hand, there are some aspects of my Zine which I would change if

more time was allocated.

Myself and others felt that some of the designs in the final Zine became too

crowded, and this made the pages look too busy. After improving the layout of the

Zine in the second outcome, the response from students was much better as they

felt all the pieces fitted together much nicer like a neat puzzle. Previously the

designs were all of different styles and did not match up together to create a flow

through the Zine.

The quality of some of the images was slightly blurred, while others lacking

emphasis on the actual DM. I had four photography sessions with various people

wearing DM boots to improve the representatives and to make the range of models

bigger. However by doing this, it created a bigger gap between some of the styles

in-between each model. Therefore I could have improved this by, taking more

effective photographs with maybe just two or three models all in one session with

similar backgrounds/ atmospheres and attitudes to create a sense of togetherness in

my final Zine.

Another negative aspect was the quality of some designs, they did not all reflect

one theme, rather lots of themes. Because I was adapting to styles of various artists

I did not overlook this, and carried on creating new design pieces that did not match

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others. After putting all the images together in one Zine I realised I made a huge

mistake, and had to go back to re order the designs so that they match one another

in the Zine.

All of the factors which I felt were of poor standards was mainly due to the time

constraint as I had only a certain amount of time to finish this project due to other

subject burdens.

However considering the amount of time spent trying to perfect my Zine, I am

pleased with my final Doc Marten Zine as from market research others found it of

good quality.

I tried to use artists that would connect and relate to my Zine. This is why I

chose Alan Kitchin and David Foldvari and they hugely influence today's design

market and are popular designers. I copied their styles in my experimentation which

was used in the final Zine, by creating Alan Kitchin Style Typography mixed with

David Foldvari style compositions. Both of these artists influenced my designs. David

Foldvari's piece of Obama swearing influenced my own piece of a girl wearing the

boots and swearing which I felt really worked well to show the attitudes of the street

scene.

I also purchased a ‘Fanzines’ book by Teal Triggs which showcased the history

of Zines. The British Zines depict the history of the movement through the efforts of

the Artist Cazz Blase. She exhorts feminists ‘to challenge the things that aren't right’

while exploring the issue of alienation. I chose to look at this set of Zines as it is

similar to the sub culture of punks/ skinheads in the 70’s which I am studying. From

viewing these designs by Cazz Blaise it influenced my own work to create

compositions using photos that I have taken and scanned images of newspaper

words and titles that I have cut out.

From this research into existing Zines I learnt about the 1970’s aesthetic of punk

and 1980’s which saw political protest Zines as well as Fanzines devoted to the rave

and street scene. These images helped to further develop my designs as my brief

consists of a similar time period.

Throughout this year I believe my work has progressed in many ways, not only

am I able to think of new creative design concepts but I have improved in my quality

of designs as I have learnt useful things from Photoshop and Illustrator. Also for

this project I believe my photography was better than those of the other projects.

Overall, I think my Zine outcome was very successful.

For this project I experimented with range of different materials, not just with

the computer software as I felt it would be more effective to have textures and real

life objects bring the Zine to life. Materials I used included; plastics, wrapping paper,

newspapers, magazine cuttings, scanned images of newspaper headline titles that I

have cut out and a boot print made using paint and a DM boot. I felt the newspaper

headlines which I cut out were effective in putting across certain text which stands

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out. Especially when adapting to the style of Cazz Blaise, I used these cut outs to

emphasise the power of the DM movement. Also the Boot print I created using gold

paint, created a real life effect as I scanned in this print to add to my Zine. I could

have just found an image online of a boot print, or taken a photo of the sole of the

Boot, however I felt it would be more effective to create my own boot print. The

computer software I used in the making of this Zine was Adobe Photoshop,

Illustrator, Microsoft Word, the Internet and a website called Issue; to publish the

final Zine.

After reflecting back on the final Zine done on the computer, if I had a chance, I

would publish the Zine to see how it would work in the real world and if it would be

effective with readers.

Zines are a small circulation usually reproduced via photocopier, therefore my

Zine would be printed out by hand and photocopied by hand, as it would just be a

batch production. I would have to print on fine quality paper, such as glossy 90gsm

which is used for magazines.