As the IFCP is nearing a close I wanted to reflect on how I have followed an industry brief. I set myself a brief in coherence with industry practice in combination to a job role described to me by the contract publishing team at Condé Nast which was encompassed on print publishing, editorial, social media, event planning and digital strategy. Through this I have been able to reflect industry outcomes within my final outcomes of: A coffee table book branded publication, a launch plan, a digital strategy and promotional video and imagery.
I set myself the task of utilising Indesign and Photoshop as programmes to conduct my project when I first wrote my brief, however now I am at the final stages of my project I have learnt and utilise many more than first imagined- indesign, photoshop, imovie, premiere, final effect pro and lightroom in order to create an industry standard level of work. I had to over come some barriers in order to utilise these however, such as the video applications. I was let down by my video editor meaning that I had to self teach myself the programmes to be order to develop a promotional clip that complimented the book well. I also taught myself light room for editing to make the images with the crystals in a lot brighter and more on brand for Swarovski. I fully believe I now have a much more refined skill set in order to translate myself into a work environment and to be able to fit a diverse industry brief.
It really is true that the majority of learning takes place in that last 80% of the project. Without me being able to take a step back from all the work I had been doing in the first weeks, I wouldn’t have been able to extend my skill set, push my ideas further and know fully what needed more refinement. I made some bold decisions in the last couple of weeks regarding the first video I shot for the promotional video, I scrapped the first one due to it not sitting up there with the rest of my work. I then went away planned another shoot and shot the next day, having to edit and refine it myself and with much dedication to make the video as on brand as the rest of the project, I can now say I am glad I made the bold decision to re shoot (as hard as it was at the time). On reflection, I believe in doing this- I have been able to push every inch of my skills and knowledge to produce a full piece of work in which each aspect compliments each other, a trait I can now take forward into my professional career.
Through the underpinning of my dissertation and primary iFCP research I have been able to generate work that responds to modern luxury publications, consumer requirements and to and industry practice brief from within a luxury contract publishing team.
