Collage and Ephemera - Fashion Show Poster

I am unsure about how this week's task will go because I think the poster will need to have a strong layout which is something I don't see as a strength of mine. I was unsure of where to begin with this task so I looked through the collection of magazine cuttings and other found images I already had to see if this sparked any ideas. I know that fashion revolves around the seasons so I made two groups of images, one for winter and one for spring. 

Winter

Spring

I started playing around with the winter themed images as I thought I could get a lot of inspiration from around me due to the time of year. I was thinking of a monochrome theme for the poster with shocks of deep red and purples as I feel these colours are festive but also rich, suggesting wealth and class. However, I didn't seem to be progressing with my ideas so I decided to move on to the spring themed images and see what I could do with these.

Some experimentation in my sketchbook led me to the idea of constructing a garment from collaged images and papers. I researched haute couture photography to hopefully get some inspiration for an interesting composition.

A common trait of the images I researched was that a lot of the impact comes from the skirt. It often takes up the most space on the page and is the largest, most dramatic part of the dress. This made me want to play around with having the skirt of a dress as the focal point of my poster.  

I arranged some found images, patterns and textures into the shape of a dress, using a found image for the figure. I wanted to have a contrast between the greyscale of the figure and the spring-like colours of the dress. 

Cut out and scanned in to computer

Experimentation with effects - this drains the image of its life which is what spring represents so I am going to stick with the colour version. 

I scanned in my collage and used it to fill the text to tie the whole poster together as a whole. I used Pages on my mac to do this but I should have planned my time more effectively so I could have done this in the studio using Photoshop as I feel this would have given me more options and produced a more professional outcome.

Mock up on the computer

Final Poster

Evaluation

This is the first week of visual language where I have not enjoyed the task and am not pleased with my overall outcome. 

I think the composition needed to be pushed more to create more drama in the skirt, therefore the figure would need to be smaller and pushed further into the corner. I am feeling better about the collaged skirt after receiving good feedback about this aspect - I think I had maybe been looking at it too much and was noticing all the imperfections whereas other people were pleased with its initial impact. I think the yellow bodice is too bright and doesn't link to much else on the page so I feel like it attracts too much attention to the wrong part of the piece. 

I think the typography is what really let this poster down as it looks very amateur. I feel like I have been really busy with other modules this week so this task took a back seat and unfortunately this has shown in my outcome and I feel that some decisions have been rushed. Looking at my type now, I don't know why I thought it was appropriate for this theme as it is too bold and playful and not elegant and feminine enough. I think the layout of the type is also an issue - I aligned it to the right so it could balance the woman on the left of the page but I don't like the gap this has left beneath it. Also, the contrast between the straight line of the type and the curve of the dress is not easy on the eye. 

I really struggled with this collage and ephemera task and it has highlighted that a clear weakness of mine is typography. I feel that this task has been left to the last minute and I didn't like that this was what I had to show for this week's task. I feel like I really need to develop my skills in Photoshop more than ever, it has become apparent that looking at other people's work that this is a really useful tool even if it is not used extensively.