UPDATE #1

Sunday, 24 February 2019

Welcome to my FMP weekly update diary, where I will be blogging about my progress each week during the final project of my university course. This week is  mostly about planning and creating the first draft of my gantt chart to begin the project management section of my project. Following on from my dissertation topic, it felt natural to move onto produce something around the topic of inclusivity. My dissertation taught me that there is a gap in the market for media to be inclusive and accepting of everyone. Not just stereotypical slim models or plus-size as we know it. Therefore, i have explored the possibility of creating an 'inclusive' magazine, that shows no ideals. This means that anything goes.

Here are my initial mind-maps:

After discussing my thoughts with Charlie & Guy, they felt that the magazine needed more purpose. For example, becoming associated with a charity or clothing brand that already promotes this message. Therefore, i decided to go with a mental health charity, as it is hugely important for both fashion and clothes to improve someones mood rather than hinder it.


After research on WGSN, i found that there are trends forecast for this subject.



I explored the ideas of an inclusive magazine and then began to nail down its audience, particular articles to include and a potential name of the publication. Here, i began to get a little confused and bogged down with decision making as i struggled to find a common ground between the target audience of Mind and this proposed publication. I also didn't want to exclude anyone due to the idea of inclusivity, but then struggled to determine a target market segment. I'm basically having huge doubts that my concept isn't good enough and not feasible.
I'm at the stage of my planning where i'm trying decide the market for the magazine, working title, where it would be sold, and it's content. I feel like i'm not confident in any of my ideas and i'm scared to keep going with the idea incase it doesn't work out, and i don't achieve my desired grade. I decided to focus on fashion & mental wellbeing, by creating a magazine for the charity, Mind. I'm unsure if the magazine is just sponsored by the charity, or if the magazine is by Mind, amongst other decisions. 


I tried to narrow down my thoughts further and I have valid research which suggests that :
  • fashion can improve happiness (book)
  • self-comparisons between 'average' women and models causes dissatisfaction (journal)
  • current magazine industry lacks inclusivity (survey)
  • trend for 2021 is inclusivity (WGSN)
With these research findings i think that by collaborating a brand with Mind, it will make more sense but be more feasible.

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