Evaluation

Week One: Prior to the first lesson I was asked by my tutor to think about which fashion brands I would like to do the module’s project on. I decided on three brands that have extremely different target audiences: Gucci, Vans and Lucy & Yak. We both agreed that Lucy and Yak was the right brand because they are an emerging independent clothing brand with secure values and ethics.

We went through the briefs aims and objectives and I quickly started working on my first research task. I was asked to research a variety of topics that included: brand positioning, sustainability, brand values, innovation, brand environment, strategic marketing and marketing communications. Within this research I had to convey their meaning and definition, read scholars points of views , give real life examples and personally evaluate them.

Week two: I found the first week of researching very difficult. There was a lot of information to take in and my analysing skills were weak. My tutor saw this, and explained the assignment more thoroughly so I could better understand how the outcome should appear. The work that I showed her was not strong, however I left the lesson with confidence that I could accomplish the research task.

Week three and four: Over these weeks I focused solely on finishing this research assignment. My tutor gave me really good feedback after the second week and I felt more confident in my work. Around this period, I launched my WIX website so that I can upload all my research work into one place. I hand drew the title image on the website, I was inspired by one of the designs Lucy and Yak sell on their website (see figures 1 and 2).

Figure 1, The header image I made for the website

Figure 2, The 'Eyes' dungarees I was inspired from

I was also starting to research the Lucy and Yak brand. I asked myself who are their target consumers and made a costumer profile board to further define their target. In addition, I was researching brand positioning and with it, the SWOT analysis and position maps. I took this time to make my own versions of SWOT and a position map for the Lucy and Yak brand. Furthermore, I started to play around with layout designs and colours (see figures 3 and 4).

Figure 3, The first SWOT draft

Figure 4, The first customer profile draft. My first layout idea was patterned and colourful, I wanted to emphasis the quirkiness in the Lucy and Yak brand

In addition, my tutor asked me to bring forward marketing strategy proposals that link with the research that I have completed.

Week five and six: I showed my tutor the layouts that I had made. The feedback she gave me was that the design and the colour needed to change because it needed to look like it was a part of the Lucy and Yak brand.

I decided I still wanted to keep it colourful, however have a more minimalist approach with no patterns (see figure 5).

Figure 5, My second layout draft

We both looked at the layout and evaluated it. It still did not fit with the brand appearance. During the session we looked on their website (see figure 6) and agreed to use the same colours that they use, so that my work can be viewed as an extension to the brand.

Figure 6, The Lucy and Yak website

I focused on the teal colour that was on the websites header and worked on new layouts for my boards (see figures 7 and 8).

Figure 7

Figure 8

I played around with ‘squares’, font and the layout of the type. My tutor and I agreed that the squares looked good and decided to include them in the final design of the boards (see figure 9).

Figure 9

I played around with the tone of the images with the costumer profile boards; I made them darker and adjusted the colour to a bluer hue. Even though I liked the look of the board, I did not continue with the colour adjustments with the rest of the boards because it did not seem relevant to me.

In these sessions we also evaluated the proposals that I have submitted. Overall I had nine proposals: A consultancy agency, sustainable and affordable underwear range, children’s line, same sex advertising, a member scheme, traveling pop up store, podcast, influencer endorsements and a brick and mortar store. We both decided that a brick and mortar store would be the best strategy for Lucy and Yak. During these weeks I focused on finalizing all of my boards and uploading all of my work onto my WIX website.

Week seven and eight

A few days after deciding that the brick and mortar store would be the final idea, Lucy and Yak announced on Instagram that they are opening a brick and mortar store (see figure 10). I was shocked by the announcement! However, it did made it clear that my strategy was the right decision. I thought I would have had to change my strategy, however my tutor assured me that that was unnecessary.

Figure 10, Lucy and Yak announces teases store on Instagram

They only announced that they are opening a new store, the location was yet to be revealed.

On week seven, I started to work on my final report. I started of by writing the ‘body’ part of the report. I sectioned all of the elements I wanted to include into the brick and mortar store such as a café, podcast station (a former proposal that I included in this strategy), a monthly window display competition, location and the interior design. I wrote a few brief paragraphs on each topic. I wanted to keep the store in line with the brands values and ethos. For example, due to Lucy and Yak being sustainable, I made sure that they use an Eco friendly electricity brand and only use electronic payment methods. I also chose locations that I knew the Lucy and Yak target consumer would live in such as Brixton or Brighton.

As I was writing the body, I found that the monthly window display competition was lacking. The concept was that Lucy and Yak would hold a monthly completion for their consumers for a chance to design their window display. The more I was thinking about it, it did not seem possible. How would their consumers design a window display? What if they lived far away from the shop? Who would pay for the materials? I could not answer these questions. Therefore I decided to change the concept slightly. In the newer version of the concept, I proposed that Lucy and Yak hire independent artists to do their window displays. It made more sense, because it is in line with Lucy and Yak’s values, ethos and they are supporting like-minded people.

By week eight I had finished writing the introduction and the body, I had yet to finish the summary. I started to develop the report layout. I looked online for layout inspiration and found a few images that I had liked (see figures 11 and 12).

Figure 11, Layout inspiration

Figure 12, Layout inspiration

These images served as my inspiration for the layouts on my report. I combined the design of these images with my own board design by using the same teal colour that appears on all of my original boards.

Easter Holiday

On Easter holiday I needed to finalize the report and prepare the presentation, as well as finish any other prior assignments. I stated the holiday by writing the summary and including it in the report. By the first week of the holiday I had finished the report. I was very pleased with myself because I made sure to keep track of all my references. This made the ‘Reference’ page easy for me to complete.

For my presentation, I wanted to focus on the layout looking sleek. I looked online for presentation layout inspiration and found a few images that I found aesthetically pleasing (see figure 13).

Figure 13, Presentation layout inspiration

They were not too different from my report layouts, which is why I chose them. I wanted the look of the report and the presentation to be consistent. I made sure that on my WIX website everything came together holistically by using the same teal theme.

Throughout the Easter holiday Lucy and Yak released more information on their store. The location of the store is in Brighton, which is one of the locations I had chosen in my marketing strategy. I was really pleased to find this out, because it reassured me that I was taking in all of my research of the brand correctly. The similarities between my report and the real life store were increasing. For example: They announced that the store would be cashless, they held an online costumer competition for the design of their “Open/Close” sign (see figure 14) and they used sustainable resources for their interior design.

Figure 14, The winner of the 'Open/Close' sign

All of these announcements made me very proud of myself and reassured my decision to try to get into the marketing industry.

Week nine, ten and eleven

I still had some things to finish after Easter. The report and the presentation were near finished, just a few tweaks here and there. I was expecting to be finished by the end of the Easter holiday, however that did not happen. This was okay, because I still had three weeks. I made a to do list of everything that I needed to complete and made sure to push myself and complete all the tasks. I had also left a lot of WIX uploading as the last thing to do, this was to save myself time if I needed to rewrite or re-upload some of the documents or boards.

I have managed to finish this module just a few days before the hand in date, which I am really pleased with. I really pushed myself to do the best I can with this module and I am very satisfied with the work I produced.