The Most Accessible Fashion Week Ever

To me, Fashion Week is about creativity, innovation, and a lifestyle. As a student it is often times hard to really connect with this dreamy sector that is fashion. It can be expensive and seem out of my league, but every year I am reminded of the things that draws me into the industry. The clothes look great, sure, but the whole presentation and its details are what amazes me. Better yet, this year, I could watch it all on my computer, giving me the accessibility I never had before. That is why I decided to create a design about this year's online Paris Fashion Week.

The main thing I learned during the creation of my poster was that if you carefully plan a media product, each element can contribute to the overall meaning. As I began brainstorming my design, I initially just threw things on a blank page until they looked good together. However, once I re-read Golombisky's chapters on Design, I realized I could create something even more meaningful if I planned things thoroughly. So, I started again. 

For the second draft, I kept the original idea, but carefully looked for the appropriate design elements to deepen the overall meaning and make it more visually appealing. For example, I purposefully chose triad colors (yellow, red and blue) that paired well together, and a plain background so it does not distract from the focal point. The main takeaway from this anecdote, is that I learned that content creators select each element that goes into their final products very meticulously, and with a purpose.

I want to highlight that when creating the final draft, I struggled with the movement and eye flow in my design. The phone in the poster was in a diagonal position at the beginning, and visually, it did not connect with the title that was positioned vertically (as you can see in the picture). Moving things around, I was able to place the phone vertically as well, which provided a better movement throughout the poster. But, it was not easy to manage that.

Overall, I think my design was executed well. It took much research and multiple drafts, but the final product had meaning within each element and was aesthetically pleasing to the eye as well. However, that does not mean it couldn't be better. Looking back at it, I feel like it could include something else in order to gain the target audience's attention even more. 

My intended audience was college students, mostly women who are interested in fashion, but are on a budget. The 'budget' part is included to emphasize the idea that this year, Paris Fashion Week could be experienced without a cost, thus it was accessible to all. The signs included in the design did revolve around those ideas of innovation and accessibility (especially the photo of the runway in the phone). 

Nevertheless, an attention-grabbing phrase or image that resonated specifically with college girls would have emphasized the audience even better. For instance, making the hand of the person holding the phone clearly a college student (with a bracelet reading Trinity University maybe), would have connected girls like me to the poster immediately.

After the creation of this design I will definitely be more conscious when looking at others. From now on, I will be able to assess the quality of a design and the presentation of its message more accurately and positively learn from each one some more.