the birth of drift

last set of logs!

2010-05-03T05:59:00.000-07:00

Monday: 10 hours; e-mailed all school, e-mailed chris photos, made tonight driftwear facebook default, edited photos, tried to fix website, wrote a journal entry
Tuesday: 2.5 hours; made shirts, processed orders, updated QuickBooks, ordered more shirts,
Wednesday: 5 hours; printing shirts, ironing, printing labels & business cards, packaging
Thursday: 1 hour; printing packaging shirts, journal entry, delivering shirts, processed orders
Friday: 35 minutes; rethought business cards
Saturday: 3 hours; printed shirts, ironed, packaged
Sunday: 2 hours; printed shirts

Packages

2010-04-25T07:23:00.000-07:00

week #10 entry #2 04/19-04/26: academic journal

(source: here)

This week I focused on this question:

What packaging is environmentally-conscious, but maintains a professional appearance?

Last week in my Environmental Science class, we talked about how often there is so much excess packaging in a box. For example, you could order a plastic ring. the ring is wrapped in paper then put in a box and the box is wrapped in paper and it has a ribbon around it, then it is covered in plastic wrap, which is put in another box. And now you have wasted so much packaging on one little ring and all the packaging is probably going to be thrown away.

So I've been doing a lot of thinking an research about sustainable packaging. The first step is reducing the packaging as a whole. I am sending a shirt. A shirt really cannot be damaged, therefore I do not need bubble wrap. I could potentially send the shirt in a tube. The tube is cardboard, recyclable and the two plastic plugs at the end are recyclable. Currently, I have been using 5x4x3 boxes, neatly folding the shirt, wrapping the shirt in one piece of tissue paper, and slipping a business card with a note into the collar of the shirt. I tape up the box and stick on a label. I also silk-screened the side of the box with a boat design. This worked out pretty well.

(source: here)

It is reasonably priced and easy, however, I don't think it has the most professional looking appearance. Additionally, I would also have to raise my shipping prices because $2 is already spent on the box. So I looked harder for more packaging ideas. I found inspiration in packages sent from abroad. I liked the European feel of wrapping a box in brown paper. The brown paper is simple, but makes the box an even canvas. I can stick on a label and tie some twine around it, and perhaps even use some beautiful stamps. This is what I would like to do for the future. It fits right in with the driftwear whimsical, earthy feel, but also does not seem too amateur.

(source: here)

It also may be interesting to wrap boxes in maps. It would be very beautiful. If I can find some old books with maps in them on the library discard cart, this may be perfect. My goal is to make receiving a driftwear product a fun occasion. It is as beautiful on the outside as it is on the inside. It is so difficult to balance price, sustainability, and appearance!

Late Hours & my First Love Package

2010-04-24T12:33:00.000-07:00

week #10 entry #1 04/19-04/26: personal journal

Holy cow, it's week 10! Focus is coming to a close. (At least writing journals is coming to a close) I still have a lot of work to do to prepare for my presentation and portfolio, which seems kind of overwhelming right now. So it is 1:25AM and I am still up making shirts. My body is getting tired, but I honestly do not mind making the shirts. The boring stuff is ironing, folding, and washing screens. These are the kind of tasks I need an assistant's help with. Anyone interested... heh... seriously? :) But, I do like making the shirts. I have to be very careful not to get ink on the rest of the shirt and I get to fill in spots where there isn't enough paint with a paintbrush. However, lately it has been exhausting. I have had Calliope (the literary arts magazine) meetings everyday late after school. I am so lucky I have not had a lot of other assignments due recently. I screened 8 shirts tonight! I need to make a bunch more. I want to finish ironing and folding those in addition to creating a few new ones.

I got my first love package! Two of my blog readers, Austen and her mom, have been following driftwear since the beginning. Austen said "Congratulations on your launch!" and handed me a package. I was awfully surprised to receive any driftwear love token. I didn't know anyone was as excited as me about the launch! I am so happy to have such supportive fans. But anyways... the gift was in an Anthropologie bag and I knew it had to be good. Inside was a beautiful notebook with paper made in India bound with beautiful mustard color thread with twig colored pencils. The gifts were so cool and so driftwear. I totally loved them and hope to sketch out the Summer line in the notebook!

I am trying to keep driftwear in people's heads and stimulate my fans so I also thought it'd be a cool idea to see how different people style their driftwear t-shirts. So I have a contest to be posted on the website: driftwear How do you rock your driftwear tee? Upload a photo and have a chance to be showcased on the driftwear website! So post a picture on the driftwear fan page for a chance to be featured on driftwear.com. Thanks everyone for your support. I really appreciate it. After seeing how many sales I had in one week, I was so psyched. You guys are the best.

Drift on,

Isabella

Preparations for the Launch

2010-04-20T08:21:00.000-07:00

week #9 entry #2 04/11-04/18: academic journal

This week I focused on this question:

How can I best prepare for the launch of driftwear.com?

In preparation for the launch, there was much to be done. I organized a pre-sale for all my models with a $5.00 off on the shirts that were worn from the shoot. Additionally, I offered $10 off any shirt that had been washed since the shoot. It was a huge success. I sold over fifteen shirts and my models rocked them in school before anyone else. It worked out very well to promote the launch. Aside from hanging paper boats around campus and making a promotional stop-animation, I came up with a new contest. I posted the question on both my blog and Facebook fan page. I e-mailed the school announcing the launch and posted daily updates on the driftwear fan page. I asked people to name the bear design and I would use their name in my shop. Over fifty people commented on the Facebook page and 16 people commented on my blog. It was amazing to see everyone's participation.

My art teacher, Marisol Diaz, hosted a giveaway on her blog in unison with the name-the-bear contest. The rules were that you had to comment on the driftwear blog/fan page, and leave a name for the bear. The lucky winner would be chosen at random and would win a limited edition bear shirt in one of four colors. More than twenty people entered the contest and a classmate of mine won.

my mock-up for the website

Chris's final design for the Enter Page

Christopher Lo, my mentor, agreed to make a driftwear website. This was truly a great help to the professional look I sought with my project. I was able to link Etsy, an easy tool for selling items, along with a professional-looking website. I made some mock-ups for Chris to show him the kind of design I was looking for. However, I gave him artistic freedom because he has a great graphic eye. He did an amazing job! Check out his site!

Chris's design for the driftwear.com home page
Take a look!

10PM Nightmare

2010-04-19T20:17:00.000-07:00

week #9 entry #1 04/12-04/19: personal journal

(source: here)

My shop was supposed to open tonight at 10:00PM. I cannot put into words my frustration as the clock ticks to 10:54. This morning, Chris finished the site. I was so excited after being woken up at 5:20 from him asking for more pictures. The adrenaline rushed through me as I uploaded pictures for Chris. I couldn’t fall back asleep. Around 10:30AM my site was up and running, but not on purpose. Chris did an amazing job and I was so excited. I disabled the site for a bit. Then around the middle of the day, friends told me that my site was up. This was news to me, as I thought I had disabled it. So I tried my hand at disabling it again this afternoon. That is when I royally screwed up the site. Somehow one host site mixed with another and driftwear.com was nothing but a page of godaddy scams. It was only about 4 minutes to 10 when I realized that my site wouldn’t work. I tried not to panic and calmly tried to forward the host to driftwear, but this was not working and was processing. I franticly texted Chris and he couldn’t figure out the source of the problem. After a phone call with GoDaddy, he informed me that it could take up to 48 hours for the real site to be fordwarded to the driftwear.com URL.

I am so disappointed. I updated my facebook status and the driftwear status with: “due to technical difficulties the driftwear site will be temporarily hosted at http://mysite.verizon.net/bizs6vp3/drift/index.html“ That is what the site looks like and everyone who saw it loved it, but it still stinks. I had about 15 people text/IM/e-mail me that the page wasn’t working. I felt like I had not only let down myself, but my friends and supporters as well. I know it will all work out fine and the website will work, but I have been leading up to this day for so long and I have gained excitement from supporters, and I don’t want to mess it up now.

Tomorrow I think I'll sleep in. I only got 5 hours of sleep last night because of FOCUS. I also need to print a few shirts, because I got some orders tonight. I'd be nice to deliver some on Wednesday. Plus, I have to order some more Small mens and womens tees. Hopefully things will pick up before next time. I know they will.

logs

2010-04-19T13:54:00.000-07:00

(source: here)

Week Nine

Senior Focus Field Work Log Dates: April 12th-April 19th

Name: Isabella Whitney

Monday: 2.5 hours; sorting through photo-shoot pictures, washing & ironing shirts, indie biz,
Tuesday: 4 hours; drew the driftwear & .com font on bristol board, read non-fiction tee's descriptions, looked at different examples of t-shirt descriptions on Etsy, read an article about product descriptions on Etsy, looked at Urban Outfitters t-shirt product descriptions, talked to Ms. Diaz about a possible giveaway, E-mailed models about pre-launch offer, got sales, packaged sales, made shipping labels and business cards
Wednesday: 2.5 hours; screening shirts
Thursday/Friday: 30 minutes; designing website ideas, (college trip)
Saturday: 1 hour; designed all the mock up website pages
Sunday: 10 hours; added "driftwear, Photo by Harrison Co" on like 60 photos for facebook, printed shirts, made a sizing chart and looked at other sizing charts on etsy,

Exclusive driftwear photos!

2010-04-18T11:19:00.000-07:00

Check them out here!

Schedule 04/12-04/19

2010-04-11T15:02:00.000-07:00

Schedule for the week before the launch

(source: here)

Monday: clean & iron all shirts from shoot,

Tuesday: final logo, upload photos to flickr/facebook from shoot, write shop policies & descriptions for products, retouch photos,

Wednesday: edit etsy, etsy banner, edit photos, add logo on photos & send to models for FB, make help shirts,
Thursday: away

Friday: away
Saturday: engage FB users, upload brand video, decide on packaging
Sunday: upload products to shop,

(source: here)

Name the Bear!

2010-04-11T14:37:00.000-07:00

Name the bear! Comment on the driftwear fan page with a name idea and have a chance to have your name be showcased in the driftwear shop!

Whoops! & logs

2010-04-11T12:32:00.000-07:00

week #8 entry #2 04/05-04/12: personal journal

(source: here)

The amount of progress driftwear has made in the last two weeks is remarkable. This past weekend, my focus has been the driftwear photo shoot. I spent the prior week creating silk-screens and printing shirts. I thought I had my whole week planned so well until something went terribly wrong…

Over break I had created the driftwear t-shirt designs to print. I initially wanted to create five shirts, however I decided because of time restraints I would only create three. I wanted three different shirts that I really loved so that it would be easy for me to sell them. As I learned during my first semester project, it is hard to sell something you don’t love and believe in. Thus, I picked my three favorite shirts that were most well liked from the public and printed the designs on transparencies. Monday, I set a time with my dean and teacher Mr. Emery so that he could help me through the silk-screen process. He had some emulsion that we coated the screens with and we waited for the emulsion to dry until Wednesday afternoon. By Wednesday the screens had dried in the dark and we were ready to place the transparencies over the coated screens and to make the screens. But something went wrong. After the screens had sat under the light for seven minutes, the emulsion wouldn’t wash out of the designs.

Mr. Emery scrubbed vigorously at the designs with no luck, he finally created a big blob of uncoated screen where my design was. I was so frustrated. I didn’t know what had gone wrong with my screen. We did everything right. Mr. Emery and I came up with a few theories on why the screens did not work. A) Someone opened the dark cabinet where the transparencies were placed; subjecting the light-sensitive emulsion to light B) the emulsion was old and did not work properly anymore. And C) My printed did not print out the transparencies in dark enough black ink.

Aggravated, I washed the emulsion out of the screens and went home. Mr. Emery promised me that he would help recoat the screens and that I could re-try making the screens Thursday. When I came in Thursday, I arrived in the art room with a blessing. My three designs had been transformed into screens thanks to Mr. Emery. I started printing screens that day and worked over Friday with help from Royce, Allison, and Mr. Emery to print twenty shirts. With their help I got all the shirts printed that I needed for the Friday/Saturday driftwear photo shoot. Everything worked out! I am so lucky to have the help and support of so many FOCUS students and my art teachers.

Friday and Saturday were so much fun. Harrison Co, a talented photographer peer of mine, agreed to be the photographer for my photo shoot. (Check out his Flickr!) I asked 15 DE students to be models and many of them eagerly agreed. Friday, I drove two models that couldn’t make the Saturday shoot to the Englewood boat basin with Harrison. I briefly styled the girls and we found a few beautiful locations to shoot as the sun lit up the George Washington Bridge. I was surprised to see that it took two hours to shoot only two girls, but the photographs turned out brilliantly. Saturday, Harrison and I came back with 12 more models. Royce G., a focus peer of mine, stylized each model. Royce and I had talked the week before about inspiration for the shoot and what vibe I wanted to convey. David V., another focus student working on public service announcements, came to the shoot as well. David had dreamed up and awesome idea for a brand video for driftwear and I put him in charge of directing the brand video. He worked with models who weren’t shooting to get some footage. After a little over six hours, the shoot came to a close. It was so much fun to work with fellow students and to get more DE students involved in driftwear. Photos of that to come!

driftwear opens April 19th!

Over break logs:
3/30: 3 hours; drawing logos and getting feedback
4/1: 2 hours; making brand video
4/2: 5 hours; drawing designs, scanning them, making brand video
4/3: 4 hours; work on brand video, draw new logo, e-mailed cults, band
4/4: 4.5 hours; editing video, uploading icons, video, and bios on vimeo & youtube, worked on mission statement, edited blogger logo, updated flickr, made vimeo account,

Week Eight

Senior Focus Field Work Log Dates: April 5th-April 12th

Name: Isabella Whitney

Monday: 5.5 hours; invited friends to drift group, mission statement, coated screens with emulsion for silkscreens, edited website, hung up boats, photographed boats,
Tuesday: 2 hours, uploaded photos from The Paper Boat Project, printed designs on transparencies,
Wednesday: 2 hours, coated silk-screens, e-mailed faculty about boat project,
Thursday: 4 hours; practiced silk-screening on newsprint, decided on hairstyles for models and printed inspiration for photo-shoot, printed first shirt, wrote journal entry, updated flickr with pictures from today's silk-screening, edited photos,
Friday: 5 hours; silk-screening shirts, shot two models, sending Chris a package,
Saturday: 7 hours; photoshoot, ironing shirts, getting props together, styling models, packing up, driving to boat basin,
Sunday: 1.5 hours; journal entry & planning for next week, updated quickbooks,

Some Serious Progress

2010-04-08T19:08:00.000-07:00

week #8 entry #1 04/05 - 04/12: academic journal
Hello! Some major progress has been made with driftwear. Some of the things I worked on over break were: a 40-second, stop-animation, brand video, the creation of over 100 paper boats, the final drawing and scanning of all my designs, finalization of my logo, and mission statement.

Stop animation:

Last year in my studio art II class, I learned how to make a stop-animation video using Windows Movie Maker. I loved the way still images were put together to make motion and it's imperfections, like the shaky camera, were part of the charm. I thought that stop-animation works well with driftwear mentality. I also wanted to tie together my guerrilla art/advertising project with the video.

The Paper Boat Project

I have been really inspired by guerrilla art projects and the idea of uplifting a community through art. I thought that using guerrilla art on campus would be an excellent way to gain hype about the brand. Monday, I hung up over 100 paper boats around the school campus without explanation. I put 12 boats in one tree, which turned out to be a beautiful display. The reason I didn't explain the boats was because later that day, I invited all my Facebook friends to join the driftwear fan page and I wanted to keep the mystery in the boats. I used old notes, tests, and binder paper to make all the boats, staying consistent with driftwear's environmental-consciousness. People came up with theories behind the notes written on the boats. It worked out beautifully.

The final drawing and scanning of all my designs:

I drew out all of my designs on Bristol board, scanned the designs, and increased the contrast of the designs on the computer. Some designs developed more with drafts. For example my logo transformed and I went through 5 different drafts of it. My final draft was a mixture of both the first and second drafts of the logo. The first draft had very wavy lines outlining the boat. I liked the wavy lines because I felt they were whimsical and a little dreamy. The second design has straight lines, I liked the graphic-ness of this design and the sharp lines seemed professional. Since there were perks from each draft, I sought to mix the two together with less curvy lines. Additionally, lowering the sides of the boat made it look less like a crown, and more like a boat.

Here are some of my finalized designs:

The Mission Statement:
Finally, the last thing I accomplished over break was the creation of a driftwear mission statement. This answered my competitive differentiation question. This has been a very important part of my FOCUS project. I am glad that I did it at this time because I have created the designs and more clearly understand the driftwear mentality. I could not have written this a few weeks ago. It was only after I escaped from my project for a week, and re-focused on designs and a brand video, that a mission statement came easily. I worked on several drafts of it and this is the final edition:

The actual image needs to be edited, but all and all I think it sounds pretty good. I am so excited for the launch of driftwear.com on April 19th!

EXCLUSIVE: driftwear Brand Video 4.5.10

2010-04-04T10:58:00.001-07:00

My first stop-animation brand video! To be released tomorrow...Enjoy!

new logo

2010-04-03T15:37:00.000-07:00

I worked with some of the feedback I got on the

first few drafts of logos and this is what I got:

drift playlist

2010-04-02T18:16:00.000-07:00

source: here

kisses by kisses

home by edward sharpe and the magnetic zeros

so post all 'em by yacht

go outside by cults

swim by surfer blood

(some songs I am considering for the fashion show and second brand video)
enjoy!

new design!

2010-04-02T16:38:00.000-07:00

new design! any thoughts?

rainyday dreams

2010-03-30T16:52:00.000-07:00

first drafts of driftwear logo

2010-03-30T10:17:00.000-07:00

Here is my first draft of my driftwear logo.

with the font I made.

Here is the second draft, which I straightened out a bit.

second draft with font

third draft

fourth draft

What do you think?

Like? Hate?
Think the lines are too curvy? lines too thin?

Let me know! I'd love your feedback. :)

dreamy days

2010-03-29T20:47:00.000-07:00

monet's house via (here) via here

from here from here

sunday

2010-03-28T18:58:00.001-07:00

sunday beauty

2010-03-21T15:03:00.000-07:00

(source: here)

hair inspiration! (source: here)

logs

2010-03-21T13:44:00.000-07:00

I freakin' love succulents. (source: here)

Week Seven

Senior Focus Field Work Log Dates: March 14th-March 21st

Name: Isabella Whitney

Monday: 7 hours; printed out survey, photographed survey, posted survey on blog & flickr; indie business 2.0 two lessons, made my etsy a shop (www.driftwear.etsy.com), edited Etsy shop, researched bigcartel and other shop hosts, made and purchased font, video-chatted with mentor, prepared for pull-out day presentation,
Tuesday: 5 hours; check blog, wrote journal entry, researched brand videos, checked out wix.com to make my own site, made bigcartel store,
Wednesday: 4 hour; researched best prices on organic t-shirts, ordered samples of guys and girls white organic t-shirts, researched prices on t-shirts from popular apparel companies, looked for photo shoot locations in alpine and englewood, talked to lower classmen about effortless girls for modeling, emailed models, talked to my aunt (who worked in design) about it, she thinks the boat has all positive references, easy to reproduce, simple, yet has nice lines, powerful from a distance,
Thursday: 1 hour; blogged, received t-shirts, indie biz, made quickbooks
Friday: 0 hours
Saturday: 1.5 hours; blog-hopped, wrote journal entry

Sunday: 1.5 hour; uploaded Photoshop and Illustrator, decide on hairstyles for models photoshoots

P.S. I am currently in new Orlenes and will be back soon to update some great architecture and inspiration.

guerilla, not gorilla

2010-03-20T21:45:00.000-07:00

week #7 entry #2 03/14 - 03/21: personal journal

pretty hair. (source: here)

I have been so inspired lately I could faint from excitement. I ordered some sample shirts to silkscreen for my brand video/site yesterday and they came in the mail already! They're American Apparel, organic cotton. They're super soft. I just want to lay in a pile of them. So, yeah, that's really exciting for me. I thought that I would be bringing samples of all my designs around during lunch, but I have pretty much decided on the favorites. I will be printing a bear design, the day of the week, the drift logo, a suitcases one, and an owl. I also just got Photoshop and Illustrator in the mail, which is superb. I should have some final designs posted soon.

Today I went to the International Center of Photography (image: here) gift shop (I know, I have to get to the actual museam part, I just didn't want to drop $12). It was the coolest store ever; tons of postcards with awesome photography prints, sick cameras, cool shirts, and great books. Okay, it's about 100x cooler than I made it sound, but yeah it was great. I also had to pick up The Guerilla Art Kit (image: here) by Keri Smith. (Ms. Smith also has a really cool blog.) The book is this excellent spiral bound book full of wonderful ideas to lighten up people's days with art, in addition to wonderful illustrations. If you don't know what guerilla art is, here is a Wikipedia definition for you:

Street art is any art developed in public spaces — that is, "in the streets" — though the term usually refers to unsanctioned art, as opposed to government sponsored initiatives. The term can include traditional graffiti artwork, stencil graffiti, sticker art, wheatpasting and street poster art, video projection, art intervention, guerrilla art, flash mobbing and street installations. Typically, the term street art or the more specific post-graffiti is used to distinguish contemporary public-space artwork from territorial graffiti, vandalism, and corporate art.

So basically guerilla art is awesome. The book includes some ideas to draw eyes on parking meters (image: here) or leave an idea dispenser in public and gives tutorials. This book is full of enchanting ideas and I recommend it. I think that guerilla art/advertising is an essential part to the beginning of my brand. Drift is whimsical and non-traditional, like i think a lot of guerilla art is. I don't want obnoxious, in-your-face advertising, I want subtle, make-people-happy, lighten-your-mood/day advertising, if possible. Maybe I can even just have drift kids do fun guerilla art projects for fun, to brighten up the community and I can blog about it? Hm... :)

I have much to do. Over this two week spring break (Yay! It's spring break!) I will be going to New Orleanes to work for Habitat for Humanity, but when I'm not doing that I'll be editing designs on the computer and such. There is much to be done over break like ordering stickers, making paper boats (more to come on that soon!!!), and preparing designs for shirts to screen the day I get back from break. But in the meantime, I'll leave you a quote from one of the first pages in The Guerilla Art Kit. (image: here)

zooey.... in a boat!!!

2010-03-17T20:14:00.000-07:00

she is so cute I could eat her with a spoon! +drift! (source: here)

who will host my shop?

2010-03-16T11:24:00.000-07:00

Week #7 entry #1 03/14-03/21: academic journal

This week I focused on this question:

How should I sell my products?

The most recent lessons in my Indie Business class have focused on where to have your shop. Since I know that having my own brick-and-mortar shop is not an option right now, I focused on the lesson about online businesses. There are many advantages to having a shop online that one of my teachers highlighted.
Online is great because:

You are open all day, everyday.
I can make crafts, while my shop is open.
Much more reasonably priced than a real shop.
You can work at hours that you are most productive.
Can go on inspiration trips or leave the house when you don't feel inspired or productive.
It's flexible, like I could be in college and work.
I can create a connection to customers through the blog.

These were all great reasons why the online marketplace best suits me. But inside the online marketplace are so many options! Etsy is great because it is low prices and has great networking. People can find your site without advertising. However, you are limited with their shop layout. Paypay allows you to have a free "Buy Now" button, but doesn't have networking possibilities. E-mail is another option, but I want to create a shop so that people can see all my products in one location. I don't think I will use Artfire because it seems to have more of a craft focus. I don't like the silkfair layout as much as Etsy. And other stores like Dawanda, Pink Doodle, and Lov.li charge a higher commission than Etsy.

Bigcartel run shops:

(source: here)

I think BigCartel could be another potential way to sell my products. It seems like it is between that and Etsy. Bigcartel allows you to list up for 5 products for free. I imagine I'll probably have around that many products, however, one designs for male and female may count as two products. It also allows you to customize your page more so than Etsy, which can give your shop a more professional look. Check out Franz Tormer's site. It looks great. Plus, there are tons of clothing people on the site, more so than Etsy. On the other hand, Etsy is easy to use and I have experience with it. Etsy charges a 3% commission and a 20 cent listing fee, which isn't very much. I'll really have to think it through.

I am also seriously considering doing a craft fair or two after the FOCUS program is over. I think it will be nice to be able to interact with people and set up my own table. It will allow me networking opportunities with other people who like to do what I do too.

design! design! design!

2010-03-15T18:53:00.000-07:00

week #6 entry #2 03/07-03/14: academic journal

This week I focused on this question:

What designs are most attractive to my audience?

After sketching some designs last Sunday, I shared them with my FOCUS group on Monday. I was nervous and did not plan on showing them anything, but they begged to see them, so I couldn't resist. They took to my designs so well and liked them very much. I asked everyone to put a check next to his or her favorite designs. I also asked people in the senior lounge and around the cafeteria for their input as well. The favorite ones seem to be the owls, bears, the boat, and luggage. Some people really like the days of the week one too. I think I will do at least one bear one, one owl one, a boat, and some luggage. I also began to survey which neck-cut people prefer when wearing a white t-shirt with a black design. I plan to do a more formal survey this week.

Today I made my own font. I think this is an important part of branding that I can use with my sticker, etsy, and blog. It looks kind of childish, but I like it. Once i straighten it out, it will be good.

(source: here)

My mentor and I talked about picking models. His advice was to pick role models and trendsetters. I was torn if I should pick models from all the grades or to stick with the older students. I thought that if I picked models from all grades I would be able to network easier and to get more people excited. However, I don;t know if having younger models would prevent older kids from buying. I think I will try to stick with older models.

This week I will be working on transferring designs to the computer, doing as survey on neck-lines, ordering stickers for promotion, making a banner for etsy & the blog, making a logo for inside the shirts, e-mailing models, creating an icon for etsy and flickr, and thinking through a brand video. There is much to be done!

survey

2010-03-15T10:53:00.000-07:00

fill out your answer and age in a comment!

stormday inspiration

2010-03-14T19:35:00.001-07:00

this exhibit was so inspiring i could die.

designs & drift dreams

2010-03-13T08:43:00.000-08:00

week #6 entry #1 03/07 - 03/14: personal journal

(source: here)

This week I designed a bunch of shirts, all of which were well-liked by the people I showed them too. It feels so good when someone is excited about your work. Here are a bunch. Like any of them?

Does the quality stick of your photos when you upload them to blogger? I finally figured out how to make blogger images not so terrible quality. Every time I uploaded my own picture from my camera, the quality was shot on blogger. The trick is to add them to another site like flickr or photobucket then copy them to the blog. The quality turns out so much better! Tomorrow I am going to talk to my mentor about purchasing bulk shirts so I should have some by spring break. Also, today I am going out to Michael's to get screens for silk-screening. Hooray!

Indie Business 2.0, the class I'm taking to help guide me through my process, is now in full swing. I have had a week of online classes. They have ranged from topics like which products to sell, picking a name, and trend-setting. Although I have completed some of the topics before the lessons, it is helpful to know that I've been creating the brand in the right way. Additionally, the class offers new perspectives on all the topics. It's really nice to have a craft community to bond with too. They have this thing called "Club Indie" where I can chat with fellow students and direct people to my blog. Everyone is really sweet and super excited about the class. I can't wait to update my Etsy so people can see what I'm working on.

I also have made some strides on the branding part of my business. The Handmade Marketplace put an emphasis on this aspect of my shop and it's so important. This week I made a driftwear e-mail, website, flickr, and etsy account. Today I updated the driftwear flickr. Check it out. :) I also picked out some models this week. I sat around with a yearbook picking whom I thought would best emulate the brand. I came up with a pretty long list of kids. It was a lot of fun.

I also thought of an awesome idea for the backdrop for my fashion show. On Project Runway and during most fashion shows there is a backdrop with the name of the brand, behind which the models come out from. It typically is very simple and has the name of the brand on it. I was thinking that for my presentation I would create a vertical garden (images: here & here). So I would create a large (bigger than a door) frame from old wood and fill it with lush green plants. I could spell out driftwear (or drift) with flowers or rope or a different colored plant. I saw this in the window displays at J.Crew yesterday. They spelled our "Spring.." in flowers in beautiful cursive. It was so pretty. The only problem with my plan is expenses. It seems like it might be pretty pricey... but it's so beautiful! Any ideas to get around the cost?

wednesday

2010-03-13T08:40:00.000-08:00

(source: here)

logs

2010-03-09T07:55:00.000-08:00

(source: here)

Week Six

Senior Focus Field Work Log Dates: March 7th-March 15th

Name: Isabella Whitney

Monday: 2 hours; designing, surveying favorite shirt designs, indie business lesson,
Tuesday: 3 hours; designing shirts, indie business lesson, made a drift e-mail and etsy account, edited proposal and e-mailed adviser, (driftwear@verizon.net & www.driftwear.etsy.com)
Wednesday: 1 hour; talked to mentor, indie business lesson,
Thursday: 1.5 hours; made a driftwear flickr, decided on models, blog-hopped, got Bristol board,
Friday: 1 hour; blog-hopped, inspiration hopped (J.Crew, win!)
Saturday: 3.5 hours; edited flickr, took photos of designs, wrote journal entries, bought silk-screens and searched for ideas for backdrops for fashion show,
Sunday: 1 hour; made survey for shirt-cuts for men & women, saw rodarte exhibit at cooper-hewitt,

(source: here)

tuesday's inspo

2010-03-09T07:52:00.000-08:00

(source: here)

logs

2010-03-07T19:12:00.000-08:00

Week Five

Senior Focus Field Work Log Dates: Feb 28st- March 7th
Name: Isabella Whitney

Monday: 2 hours; worked on inspo board, looked for possible URLs and e-mailed mentors for advice, researching typography,
Tuesday: 1.5 hours; drew, finished inspiration board, made a list of stuff to do for coming week,

Wednesday: 3 hours; secured my url! (YEAHHHH!), drew and drew and drew, made brand blog, updated my "clubindie" page, innovative design class presentation on advertising,

Thursday: 0 hours; nothing, busy, busy, busy
Friday: 1 hour; blogging,
Saturday:1 hour; buddy assignment, t-shirt design, reviewed business guide
Sunday: 3 hours, blogging, designing shirts, buddy assignment #2

inspo

2010-03-07T19:09:00.000-08:00

(source: here)

awesome! how haven't i found this? (source: here)

(source: here)

Deadlines

2010-03-07T17:40:00.000-08:00

Okay, so I've been meaning to make a calendar for awhile. I gotta get organized!

Week March 7th-14th
Tuesday 3/9th:
-order stickers
Friday 3/12th
-design three good shirt designs
Sunday 3/14th
-edit website, even if it's just a logo and says "coming soon"
-get etsy shop, flickr

Week March 14th-21st
Wednesday 3/17th
-have three more shirt designs
-do survey on which neck-cut like best (boat-neck, crew-neck, v-neck)
Thursday 3/18th
-walk around at lunch with designs on bristol board seeing what people like
Friday 3/19th
-silkscreen at least 3 shirts, basic drift design that I need for brand video
-walk around at lunch with designs on bristol board seeing what people like

Sprint Break Weeks March 21st-28th & Week March 28th-April 4th

Sunday April 4th
-make 100 paper boats with clear string to attach
-draw out frame-by-frame brand video ideas
-create brand video & release to public
-pick models
-dream up next guerrilla advertising project
-design more shirts if necessary
-start planning presentation structure, order anything I may need

Week April 4th-11th
Monday April 5th
-put up all paper boats
Wednesday April 7th
-create all screens
-plan props for photo-shoot
Friday April 9th
-print shirts for photo-shoot
Sunday April 11th
-have photo-shoot

Week April 11th-18th
Monday April 12th
-put up more guerrilla posters and unique advertisement
Tuesday April 13th
-edit all photo-shoot pictures
Thursday April 15th
-update Etsy shot with pictures
Friday April 18th
-make business cards
Sunday April 18th
-research and decide on packaging

Week April 18th-25th
Sunday April 25th
-advertise, advertise, advertise,
-prepare for presentation
-get sizes of t-shirts for panel

boats

2010-03-07T10:23:00.000-08:00

week #5 entry #2 02/28 - 03/07: academic journal

This week I focused on this question:

What logo is most appealing to my audience? (which I'd like to change into: What goes into the creation of a logo?)

Since the beginning of drift, I have had a picture in mind for my logo. After shopping around in Barns and Noble one day, I started window shopping in the mall. Petit Bateau, a children's clothing store, had a charming and whimsicle window layout of a huge paper boat. It was beautiful in its simplicity and it was a unique take on their logo and name. I didn't come back to this source of inspiration until I had come up with a list of names. Drift seemed to speak to me the most. Additionally, it was quite flexible and I thought I could expand my store to include more than shirts in the future.

The image of a boat tied surprisingly well with the name. I decided to stick with a paper boat because it is something that can be easily made, even made on the road. The origami boat has a very simplistic, yet sophisticated look. Boats also can be a more environmentally friendly way to travel. Plus, I have always been fond of paperwork in my own independent art.

A few movies with great art direction, The Science of Sleep (La Science des rêves) (image: here) and Where the Wild Things (Image: here) are, have a dreamy connotation with boats. A boat takes Max to a new world full of excitement and adventure. In The Science of Sleep, Stéphane (the main character, Gael García Bernal) has a crush on Stéphanie and sees that she has created a boat made from wool. She tells him that she dreams of filling with a forest. The main chaacter accuses her of never finishing anything, but he later finds that she has added the trees to her boat. In his own dreams, the boat carries the two of them away.

Sorry it's not in English! Ciao! :)

drifting..

2010-03-06T09:59:00.000-08:00

week #5 entry #1 02/28 - 02/07: personal journal

Big strides this week. I have my own drift url and blog just for drift. :D You'd be surprised by how time-consuming that process can be! I'll post links when I have some progress on them!

I also have pretty much finished my inspiration board. A lot of inspiration came from Anthropologie, Free People, and Urban Outfitters, pretty popular brands at school. Anthropologie has this sophistication, yet whimsical style, which I just adore. I also printed out pictures from the internet. You may spy a clip from Manhattan, some paper boats, homemade tepees, Zooey Deschanel (<333), some gypsies, and more! I find that UO and Anthropologie give off a kind of sad vibe sometimes in their catalogs. I'm hoping to evoke a happier vibe filled with a lust for life and travel, a genuine curiosity and environmental consciousness. I am not looking to create a new "i'm so green!" business. I want an environmental commitment build into the foundation of the brand, not something to brag about. I have the very clear image for drift, but I still have to get it all into words! So all is well. I'm hoping to finish my logo by the end of the day or tomorrow and to order stickers and make another Etsy account. My Science test had to push my logo work back this week

It's frustrating making designs. It's hard to make things that will appeal to my target audience. But, I'm working, dreaming all day, I'm going to come up with some great stuff. I'm feeling optimistic. My Indie Business class has kind of started, which is really exciting. I just need to decorate my Indie Portfolio.

This week's Inspiration

Aside from selling super unique, awesome glasses, Schwood's webiste is simple and clean. They have a streaming video and a simple menu. I think something clean like this would be nice for my URL with a shop link to Etsy, a blog link, etc. It would be really cool to do a streaming video of some paper boats.

Song Inspo, potential runway songs:

Kisses by Kisses & Rhinestone Eyes by Gorillaz

logs

2010-03-01T14:00:00.000-08:00

Oh, Mr. Van Gogh, I wish I could paint like you.

(source: http://www.vincentvangoghart.net/van-gogh-Irises-2.html)

Week Four

Senior Focus Field Work Log Dates: Feb 21st-28th
Name: Isabella Whitney

Monday: 2 hours; blog entry, read Handmade Nation, blog-hopped,
Tuesday: 1 hour; finished The Handmade Nation, blog-hopped,
Wednesday: 5 hours; read bios of class teachers, researched names, look-up Etsy history, create names, drew logos, hopped around Etsy, blog-hopped, edited blog, worked on journal #1,
Thursday: 7 hours; blog-hopping, messing around with HTML on the blog and searching for a new layout that I can edit, drew logos, finished and posted first journal, commented on other blogs, interviewed Aliza (1.5 hours!), worked on inspiration board
Friday: 1 hour; worked on inspiration board, blog-hopped,

Saturday:1 hour; read Why We Buy, read bio for teacher of Indie Business,

Sunday: 3 hours, wrote journal entry, read why we buy, video chatted with chris, blog-hopped, read course outline, and teacher's story,

drift

2010-02-28T14:25:00.000-08:00

(Source: here)

week #4 entry #1 02/21 - 02/28: academic journal

I learned a ton this week and made some major strides in my project. All the confusion of "What should I name my brand?" and "What am I doing?" is starting to come together. However, I think my proposal is backwards. I have way too many questions and some of which don't even matter. "What logo is most appealing to my audience?" should be deleted. I thinking doing surveys is a waste of time Conducting surveys is going to take up too much time, time where I should be designing shirts, researching, and contacting my mentors. Additionally, I am the best judge of what emotions I want my brand to evoke and how to create a cohesive message to my audience. This observation is true of my question: “What product is most appealing to my audience?” I don’t think I’ll be answering this with surveys. I may ask around school to my friends what designs they like best, but no surveys. I think I’ll be answering this by researching what’s popular and worn by DE students. I think a whole new set of questions is necessary. I need fewer questions too.

(source: here)

Thursday, I also conducted an interview with Aliza, an expert in marketing and branding. She gave me her brief history, which is full of incredible achievements, some of which are working with Spike Lee and working for Saachi & Saachi. She is currently working on her own business where she is creating her own line of environmentally friendly cleaning products and yoga products. After giving me her impressive bio, she gave me a ton of great ideas and a structure to creating a brand. Most importantly, she gave me a structure in the creation of a brand. This is so incredibly important because before that I had been “winging it.” I will use this structure this coming week. I have already started putting some of it together.

Some points and ideas she gave me:

I need to look at existing trends and make my own spin off of them.
Give consumers an opportunity to be a part of my brand.
Maybe partner with the art department
Do my own fashion show for the presentation. (!!!!)
Ideas for a basic structure for my presentation
Creation of a brand video
Inspiration board (which I have already started)
Understand why my brand is important.

She gave me some wonderful ideas for my secret ad campaign, which you will see more of in the coming weeks. I couldn’t just let her go, I asked her to be one of my mentors and she agreed. Oh, yes, I have decided on a name: drift. I have gotten the opinions of Aliza, Ms. Diaz, and my friends and family.

Plans for this week:

Create Brand Outline
Think about presentation
Work on Inspiration Board
Read more Why We Buy
Talk to Chris! (that didn’t happen this week)
Edit Proposal
Send Aliza my proposal and ask for advice about questions and how to edit them.

I made my first self-imposed deadlines of finishing Handmade Nation and creating a name.

It’s amazing how my project just kind of develops. For example, I have decided that interviews aren’t completely necessary for my project. A lot of the things I’m learning are best with the guidance of experts in the field and my research.

inspo

2010-02-28T08:49:00.000-08:00

credit: here

saturday inspiration

2010-02-27T08:42:00.000-08:00

Music is so helpful when deciding the direction of my brand.

Especially when I have a brand video in mind.

Tomorrow I'll update you all about the cool stuff I've been up to!

In the mean time enjoy Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros.

snow day inspiration

2010-02-26T08:36:00.001-08:00

vanessabruno-Le Bel Eté-SS2010 from presse vanessabruno on Vimeo.

(found on loveology, one of my favorite blogs!)

The beginning is enchanting. Anyone know the song?

the name game

2010-02-24T08:42:00.000-08:00

week #4 entry #1 02/21 - 02/28: personal journal

(source: saved on my computer, if you know, please let me know!)

I have broken this post into two parts: frustration and success.
If you would like to skip the frustration, please scroll down. :)

frustration
Deciding on a brand name is like pulling teeth. I have a lot of ideas, but so many of them are taken, or just don't work. It gets frustrating when I find what I think is a gem, and someone doesn't get it or doesn't like it. Or when I'm thinking and thinking and nothing comes my way. I want to bang my head against my desk. I'm hoping to come up with something by Sunday and have a survey ready for my FOCUS group (in my independent study a group of 6 students and an adviser meet once a week to discuss our projects) and Sunday is my first self-imposed deadline. I'm sure if I didn't make a deadline it would come to me so easily. Has anyone else dealt with this? Any advice?

Also, HTML? Yeah, I'm not the #1 fan of HTML. Blogger makes it easy to pick one of their layouts, but I'm looking for something a little more pro and I'm not exactly the HTML-master. I used to be pretty good at myspace and xanga layouts back in the ol' days, but this stuff is driving me nuts and is making me very frustrated. I was thinking of perhaps having a layout made for me, but that requires money, something I'm not quite ready and able to spend at this time. Urg. Any helpful HMTL sites or great simple layouts that you can recommend?

However, I did have a turning-point in my project this week. On Monday, the author of my indie-business-bible (The Handmade Marketplace), Kari Chapin, commented on my blog. (she has a charming website) I couldn't stop smiling all day. I am so happy to have her support! (!!!) I am also psyched to have my work space generally spruced up. Even though the weather here has been so dreary, my space is bright and clean.

Tomorrow, my mentor, Chris, and I are having a conference. One of his designs is displayed here. We're going to talk about my blog, an ad campaign, my possible names, and all the advice he can give me. It's hard to believe that I have access from so many knowledgeable sources. Also, I am supposed to chat with another pro in the field this week too. I'll let you know how that turns out!

Also: Great Success! I talked to Aliza today and she agreed to be a mentor and she was so so so so helpful. More to come on that! Plus, I am working on HTML and have made some simple changes. HTML, I will conquer you!

winter formal decorations

2010-02-22T16:55:00.001-08:00

This past weekend was my school's winter formal. I was so excited to come up with a theme and make decorations. Inspired by the C hanel Coutur e Show of 2009 (pictured above), I decided to stick to a white only color scheme. All those white masses are flowers made from paper. Incredible, I know. The flowers are so beautiful and I have always liked to work with paper anyway, so all the decorations were made from simple white paper and tissue paper. Affordable and surprisingly beautiful.

Our formal decorations:

green thinking

2010-02-21T08:24:00.000-08:00

image from bluebird vintage

week #3 entry #2 02/14 - 02/21
I learned one of the coolest things thus far during this past week. I read an interview with Grace Bonney, the creator of one of my all-time favorite websites Desig n*Sponge, in The Handmade Marketplace. Grace talks about how she only accepts digital press kits. If you don't know what a press kit is, let's get a definition for you..

A press kit, often referred to as a media kit in business environments, is a pre-packaged set of promotional materials of a person, company, or organization distributed to members of the media for promotional use. They are often distributed to announce a release or for a news conference. (source: here)

If I were to make a press kit for my t-shirt line I might include my business card, a shirt, a bumper sticker, and perhaps a magazine with all my designs. However, a digital press kit includes a simple press release, blog url, images of work details on work, how my work differs from others, and how can someone purchase the items. Grace argues that this is more budget-friendly for independent shop owners. She says "why waste budget on sending samples to everyone?" and that's a good point. Additionally a digital press kit is a much greener way of promoting your work. It reduces printouts and if you use a flash drive, it can be reused. Brilliant! Plus, you can include lots of great photos and even attach videos.

I think that this would be a fabulous way to give my work to the FOCUS panel when I present my work in May. It's green, which I'm hoping to keep in my business ideology. Plus, it's creative. At least... it seems creative to me. I could even go so far as to paint my logo on each flash drive and tie my business card with some twine around it. Or I could even get them made like the one in the photo.

This past week there were also some workshops for FOCUS students on Tuesday. I attended one on crafting something by yourself and interviewing. Some things I learned in the interview workshop are to be aware of the behavior of the person that I'm interviewing, to make a solid list of questions and not to just "wing it," and to keep people on track. As I said in my last post, I have been reading a lot of interviews and I don't know if I really need to conduct to many myself. Instead, it is important that I focus on making my designs and to gain excitement about my brand. In the crafting your own.. workshop I learned that it is especially important to make a schedule and to stick to it. I know this is very important with my project. I also think I should start setting my alarm clock earlier. Additionally, I reconfirmed the importance of a workspace, which I have also read about in Craft Inc. and Handmade Marketplace. Mr. Emery suggested also starting with a creative warm-up everyday. Some important things I learned about my presentation are that i must prepare a lot in advanced with an audience, perhaps prepare a gallery space in advanced, and to engage the audience. Until next time...

logs

2010-02-20T07:37:00.000-08:00

For my independent project, I am required to keep logs of my work. Here are logs from the past 2.5 weeks.

Week One
Senior Focus Field Work Log Dates: Feb 1st-7th
Name: Isabella Whitney

Monday: ~2.5 hours; senior focus meeting, blog-hopping for inspiration
Tuesday: 2 hours; writing first journal entry & blog-hopping
Wednesday: 1 hour; blog-hopping for ideas for names/designs/what's popular
Thursday: 0; none
Friday: 0; none
Saturday: 3 hours; researching for how-to books, reading how-to books at Barns and Noble, blog-hopping, talked to mentor
Sunday: 2 hours; e-mailed Mrs. DeVito's daughter, wrote 2nd journal entry, blog-hopped,

Week Two
Senior Focus Field Work Log Dates: Feb 7st-14th
Name: Isabella Whitney

Monday: 1.5 hours; senior focus meeting, blog-hopping
Tuesday: 2 hours; reading & blog-hopping
Wednesday: 2 hours; reading & blog-hopping
Thursday: 1 hour; reading
Friday: 0; none
Saturday: 1 hours; read read read
Sunday: 2 hours; read, wrote journal entries, blog-hopped

Week Three
Senior Focus Field Work Log Dates: Feb 14st-21th
Name: Isabella Whitney

Monday: 1 hour; blog-hopping
Tuesday: 2 hours; reading & blog-hopping
Wednesday: 2.5 hours; working on my inspiration book, came up with lots of great ideas about the philosophy of my brand,
Thursday: 1 hour; reading
Friday: 3 hours; reading, writing, commenting on other blogs, getting inspiration, revamping the look of my blog,
Saturday: 2 hours; blog-hopping, buddy assignment
Sunday: 3 hours; buddy assignment, reading, clearing up space, making calendar

I could spend forever getting inspired

2010-02-20T07:32:00.000-08:00

week #3 entry #1 02/14 - 02/21

Hello! I am proud to say I have 6 followers! Hooray! It's so exciting to have people interested and excited about my project. I am so psyched! My class begins soon and I cannot wait. A lot of reading was done this week in addition to a ton of creative thinking. The Handmade Marketplace is really a great source of information. There are so many successful talented people who are feature in the book that it's impossible not to get something out of it. I'm hoping to try to read most of the rest today. Hopefully homework will not interfere.

I really should scan some of the inspiration pieces I cut out. The inspo book looks pretty good. On another note, I need to contact Mrs. DeVito's daughter on Monday to set up a time to interview her. This past week FOCUS students had panels to enhance our topics. I attended one on interviewing and self-creating something. Both of which were helpful. I'm going to have to craft some good, helpful questions. I may send them to Dr. Brown who knows so much on the topic. This week I also revamped my blog. Like the new layout? Picture? Banner? Links? I'm happier with it than before, however, I'd like a new banner with the name on it. I'm hoping to edit it a bit more, but it works for now.

I feel okay about my work this week. It's not like I'm not reading and doing stuff, but Colin is right: I need to get a list of deadlines. I could spend forever getting inspired, reading, and editing my blog. It’s critical to my project, but I need to move forward. Today I am going to clean up my work space (workspace above from here.) and add a calendar so I can keep track of my time and use it most efficiently and get cracking tomorrow and Tuesday. I wish I had a workspace as beautiful as the one above! (I'll post a plan of action for this week later today.) I think that moving past the research stage will happen organically during this week because I have my interview with Mrs. DeVito’s daughter, who has years of experience with marketing and branding. I hope to have a good list on questions to ask her and maybe I’ll have some names that I can show her when we meet. This will help me move past this name phase, which has been driving me crazy.

Goals for this week:

Come up with interview questions
Draw a picture of me for the blog
Create name and survey
Edit proposal

Accomplishing these things this week will keep me moving forward and keep me productive in my work. I also hope to rework my proposal this week to add some dates and add my class, which will be taking up a significant amount of time. Additionally, I would like to add “How to create interview questions?” or something about the topic of interview questions in my guiding questions because I feel that that may turn out to be an important part of my project. Then again, I’m thinking that interviews may not be essential to my project after all. I’ve been reading a ton in Handmade Nation and I don't know if I should conduct them myself. Perhaps, I could fix my proposal to do only like 3 interviews at the max. I just feel like the other parts of my project are so much more important.

Next week, I should maybe start some secret ad-campaign, to raise awareness about what is to come and to get people talking at school about something mysterious. I am very excited to do this. Maybe a huge mysterious bear banner (image from here) in the Klein hallway? Maybe some self-drawn characters? Not sure yet. I am psyched for this. More mischief to come.

inspiration part deux

2010-02-19T07:55:00.000-08:00

I was browsing WhoWhatWear and today the site is doing a special on what celebrities wore to NY Fashion week and I can't help but to be drawn to her headpiece. I just love the way the rich colors of the flowers fall on her dark hair. Stunning. I made a flower-hair wreath last spring with pink silk flowers. I defiantly will be making more for my photo-shoot with the matching color palette.

I have four followers! Yay! :)

inspiration

2010-02-17T15:42:00.001-08:00

week #3 entry #1 02/14 - 02/21

I've been dreaming a lot lately. I've been skimming through old Urban Outfitters, Free Peopl e, and Anthropologie catalogs to form my inspiration book. Conclusion: I have image of this whimsical, almost midsummer night's dream-esque fantasy. However, it may all change when I decide on a name. Words that come to mind:

natural
free-spirited
a little romantic
whimsical, dreamy
fun and not too serious

Photo from Fondly Seen, Moodboard, {frolic!},and originally published in Elle Decoration.

When it comes to places for a photoshoot, I thought a beautiful greenhouse (photo from here) would be wonderful, or some sort of fort, perhaps make an outdoor bed with lots of rugs and blankets. Definitely somewhere colorful because it will be a spring collection. Flowers! Lots of flowers. I'm thinking baggy, dark, beautiful denim or belted khaki shorts paired with the crisp white shirts and perhaps black ink on the shirts. Ahhhh, gorgeous. Barefoot models with a summer-glow. Girls with minimal make-up. I'm getting ahead of myself. More to come..

we're getting somewhere

2010-02-16T14:03:00.000-08:00

Week #2 Entry #2 02/07 - 02/13

So... what have I learned this week? Now, that is a wonderful question. I learned something very important folks. I learned what direction my project is going. Woohoo! Okay, the last two weeks have been dedicated to research and finding inspiration, two essential pieces of my project. However, it gets tiresome. I want to DO something. I want to see tangible progress and just when I was feeling oh so down, I saw the light. Ms. Diaz showed me this wonderful online class which is essentially a step-by-step of my project and I have officially signed up! I am so excited! It's especially great because it caters to people like me, who are only interested in small-scale for now. I will perhaps expand later, but for now, I want this to be small time when its 100% me making products. Okay, so let me explain what exactly "Indie Business 2.0" is and what I will be learning in it.

Indie Business is a 6 week Online Class for women and men wanting to build an online or local creative business. We'll focus on Starting, Surviving and Succeeding in small business and cover everything in between! The class is taught by Leigh-Ann, Jill and Elsie and is hosted in a members only blog with 26 sessions, 7 DIY projects and 3 live chats to give you all the tools you need to establish yourself and achieve success with your Small Business! The course also includes a printable workbook with original illustrations by Elsie and room for all your homework, notes and ideas!

Oh, doesn't that sound marvel0us? If it doesn't for you, it does for me. Each of the teachers knows what she is talking about and has essentially independently completed my focus project. It starts March 7th and ends April 16th. This will give me some time to continue research, conduct interviews, try some surveys, and come up with an awesome name up until the 7th because I think I will be quite busy when I get involved with the class.

This class is also awesome for getting to know people who have the same passions as me. I will not get down. I will have a support group who understands what it feels like to smashing your head against a wall when you don't feel creative. Additionally, I will make friends and have people to network with in the future. Awesome. I copied the course outline, you can skim through it here:

Course Outline:

Teachers: Jill - LA - Elsie
(P=Project, S=Session)

February 22 - March 1
Leigh-Ann's Indie Business Story
Jill's Indie Business Story
Elsie's Indie Business Story

1P: Indie Business Portfolio
X
Term 1: March 7 - 20
2S: Open your Umbrella
3S: Product & Potential
4S: Style & The Importance of a Name
5S: Predicting and Embracing Trends
6P: Office Inspiration Board
7S: Find your Strengths, Weaknesses & Skills - Quiz
8S: Main Marketplace - Local
9S: Main Marketplace - Online
10S: Pricing + Production + Expectation = Success
11P: Business Calender
12S: Presentation through Display
13S: Presentation through Photography

Term 1 Text Chat w/ LA, Jill & Elsie
X
Term 2: March 22 - April 3
14S: Taking Advantage of Online Resources
15S: Taking Advantage of Local Resources
16S: Working with Etsy
17S: Working with Flickr
18S: 10 Things Not to Do
19S: Blogging Effectively
20P: Business Card Keeper
21S: Networking Locally
22S: Networking Online
23S: Print Media
24P: Creating a Blog Widget

Term 2 Text Chat w/ LA, Jill & Elsie
X
Term 3: April 4 - 16
25S: Full Time, Part Time, Hobby?
26S: Mainstream vs. Indie
27S: Time is Money
28P: Receipts Organizer
29S: Good Business
30S: Being the Face of your Business
31S: Work and Family
32S: Keep it Fresh, Stay Inspired
33P: Indie Goals & Dreams Journal
Bonus: You're your Best Cheerleader

Term 3 & Farewell Text Chat w/ LA, Jill & Elsie

Perfect.

This week I focused on research on the hows of starting a business. I re-addressed these questions:
What is the best way to show the development of my website? I had a wonderful idea to maybe make a short movie about the making-of my photo shoot for my first line of shirts. It'll be able to show my panel some tangible results and some inspiration. Perhaps a stop-animation to show the growth of my logo?

What product should I sell? I had an idea. Laptop bags? I am targeting a teenage audience that brings computers to school everyday. Genius or stupid?

My proposal needs a make-over. Questions like What is my brand name? and the Basic How do you photograph your items? need to be included in the proposal. I'll also have to revamp my plan for the 10 weeks to include this class.

Some things I have learned this week:

I need to create an inspiring place to create my work
I need to do some major research when I figure out a name to see if it is taken anywhere else so I don't have legal issues (yikes.)
I need a name that is easy to spell.
I should keep an inspiration journal (i do this) with times and dates so i can go back to the source when I'm not feeling inspired.
what words I want my brand to evoke.

Words that should be tied to my brand:

Fashion conscious
Environmentally-friendly (not focused)
Modern with a vintage twist
Edgy
Clean, Fresh
Young, but Mature (Is that possible?)
Excited
Focused
Fun
Whimsical, Dreamy

Goals for next two weeks:

Fix the Proposal
Come up with a name (big task)
Make a new blog layout.
Draw self-portrait for blog picture.
Make a survey for brand name
Finish reading The Handmade Marketplace
Schedule a DATE for my interview with Mrs. DeVito's daughter
Make interview questions.

Sounds like a busy week. Talk to you later.

the blues

2010-02-10T19:32:00.000-08:00

Week #2 Entry #1 02/07 - 02/13

I forgot to upload my journal entries for last week... here is one:

When my FOCUS adviser said focus can be lonely at time, I laughed. Didn't really believe her until now... I guess the double snow days kind of contribute to this, but I can't help but feel a little isolated. Tuesdays I don't have to go into school until 12:30. Sometimes it feels like I never get to see my friends because of my freak schedule. Plus, I have club meetings during Monday and Tuesday lunch, and typically my friends eat early. Additionally, work is overwhelming.

I am trying to create my own brand identity, product, running website, and become recognizable on campus in less than 10 weeks.

Awesome.. Sometimes I just don't know where to start or if what I'm doing is even going to help me down the road. Plus, it is SO frustrating doing an artistic related project. I feel like the program doesn't understand that I need to sit around for hours on end searching through blogs to see what is popular and to get inspiration. Getting inspiration can come from anything. I could be watching Annie Hall and suddenly come up with a brilliant idea that could be the breakthrough to an amazing company name. However, watching Annie Hall doesn't look as good on paper as doing a lab. It's annoying. All venting aside,things are beginning to look a little better. Ms. Diaz found an awesome online class, that is absolutely perfection for my project that I will talk about in my second journal. I am really psyched. In the class, I'll have structured homework and connection to a community of people doing the same thing as me, which is the solution to feeling so blue. It's really cool, but I'll wait until my other entry to share all the good news.

All things considered, this past week was pretty productive. Aside from blog-hopping, a term I made up to describe the process of looking at all the blogs that I follow for updates, I have been reading a lot. Also I found an excellent book. When I was out buying a Valentine's Day gift at Barns and Noble, I peeked through the crafts section and found The Handmade Marketplace just laid out right before my eyes like a message from God. I could not have found a more perfect book for my project. (I'll talk about what good information I have learned from that source in my other entry.) It is also so pleasing to look at. The illustrations are beautiful and inspiring in themselves. Like Six Week Start-Up does not make me want to cuddle up in bed to read. Six Week Start-Up reminds me of an army sergeant.

"YOU HAVE SIX WEEKS TO MAKE YOUR OWN BUSINESS. DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME, SIR?!"

Sir, yes, sir. Thankfully, I don't know if Six Week Start-Up will be useful at all with my project. I think it is better suited for people who are trying to make the big time, not me just yet. My other book, Craft Inc., is proving to be helpful, but not as helpful as I had hoped. However, I can't judge it, I haven't finished it yet.

Oh yes, I have very very good news! I have scheduled an interview with Mrs. DeVito's daughter who has worked with major Fortune 500 companies and has a ton of experience in branding and marketing. I hope this interview will be helpful. She may be more knowledgeable about the big time companies, rather than my little project, but I am still so excited to talk with her. She will probably be very helpful in pointing me in the right direction when it comes to starting a brand and what makes a good name-type of stuff. I have to make a list of questions in the coming week to prepare.

Personal Goal for the Week: Don't get so stressed! It is a huge waste of time. There are a million creativity-sparking things that I can do that will be productive for my project and will make me happy as well. Okay, that's all for now.

Week #1 Entry #3 02/01 - 02/07 "Focusing"

2010-02-07T15:29:00.000-08:00

This week was spent mostly getting inspired by other websites, names, and products. week one is over and I have already decided what product I should sell, answering my first question. T-shirts will be my main product. When talking to friends and family about products, everyone seems to agree that t-shirts are the best option. They can be sold to a uni-sex audience and somewhat easily mass produced. A shirt added to someone's closet never hurt. Friends, male and female, said that they would definitely buy one. I think tote bags are also a good choice as an accessory. Tote bags promote bringing your own shopping bags to grocery stores, which adds to the environmentally friendly philosophy I hope my brand will promote. This has also generally answered "What product is most appealing to my audience?" I hope to conduct a survey about this perhaps next week.

I have debated whether I should make my own website with my own URL or use Etsy. Making my own website could potentially look more professional. However, it will take a tremendous amount of work that I may not have time for. Also, I am most definitely not HTML-savvy. I would have to do a tremendous amount of research for the making of the website, as well as deal with legal work. If I decided to continue this a majority of my time would be spent making a website, not doing what I want, designing and selling products. Successful independent Etsy shop owners have been able to make six-figure incomes. Using Etsy will be much easier for me as well, as I have used it before. I already have my own shop on there, that I can keep if I want to.

This week I finally got to read an article in the NYTimes about Yokoo from December, my favorite knitter. About a year and a half ago, when I was spending most of my summer selling accessories on Etsy, I came across her Flickr and Etsy shop. Her photos and site were inspiring. She has a great graphic-design eye when it comes to her logos, labels, blog, and photography. I also briefly got to speak with her when I was interested in buying one of her knit bows. She gave me a deal and was a pleasure to talk to. I'm hoping to get an interview with her, however, after reading this article I realized how busy she must be. She knits up to thirteen hours a day. Yokoo quit her day job to pursue her Etsy shop. She makes high-end knits and has just this past winter, sold her own designs at Urban Outfitters. In my eyes, she is living the dream. Also this article confirms the fact that I do not need to make my own website to be successful. This helps answer my question "Does a website host for handmade sellers (like Etsy) work better than creating my own site?"

This week I hope to make a business plan and start reading more of Six Week Start-up and Craft Inc.. I got it from Barns and Noble on Saturday after searching through every "start your own business" guide. I hope it'll be some help!

Week #1 Entry #2 02/01 - 02/07 "Timeline Master Plan"

2010-02-02T06:09:00.000-08:00

These are some of the things I hope to accomplish in my ten weeks of fieldwork. I do not think that I will get through all the interviews, however I hope to conduct three.

My goals:
+ Decide what product to sell.
+ Research what products are hot.
+ Decide what my brand name is and what the mentality behind my brand is.
+ Design and create all of my products.
+ Create a website where my products are sold.
+ Interview experts in the field. (See below.)
+ Decide the best way to advertise my website.
+ Come up with a unique, cohesive, green packaging.
+ Create business cards.
+ Follow a book on creating a company & read a book on marketing.

Additional:
+ Show the development of my site with a stop animation movie.
+ Create a running, attractive blog with traffic.
+ Conduct DE surveys to see what logos, products, designs appeal to who (age, grade, and gender)
+ Advertise on FredFlare

Note: I realize that I am being very ambitious in my plan and that everything on my Master Plan may not be accomplished, however I will do as much as I can and hopefully create a design-conscious brand and website with excellent guidance in an environmentally-friendly fashion. I have also taken out the names of the people I plan to interview.

Week #1 Entry #1 February 1st through 7th "The Beginning"

2010-02-02T05:46:00.000-08:00

My name is Isabella and welcome to my Senior FOCUS journal! As you may or may not know I have embarked on a yearlong journey to explore one of my passions. During first semester I completed a case study on Apple Inc. I wrote a 20-page thesis paper focusing on the question: "How applicable to its competition are the steps that Apple took in becoming a successful brand?" I researched and decided what Apple does that sets it apart from its competition and if the competition can copy these steps. I defined a brand and what makes a brand successful, researched how a brand makes a connection with its consumers, the role of design in attracting an audience, and analyzed Apple’s founder and leader Steve Jobs. The first part of my conclusion was that Apple has taken steps that many companies can copy. For example, they have created stand alone-stores that Microsoft is only beginning to understand the importance of and is also beginning to copy. Disney has realized the importance of selling an “experience” as opposed to just products, as Apple does. Although companies can copy Apple’s strategies, they can not copy the genuine culture that has been set in place in Apple by Steve Jobs. This mentality focuses on “thinking different.” It embraces creative thinking, taking risks (which goes against typical corporate values), and most importantly operating with a consumer focus.

But that was first semester.

Originally what inspired me to take Senior FOCUS was my interest in creating my own brand. I just loved the idea of developing a brand identity for myself; deciding and creating a logo that is a small representation of what my company is; a name that is both sophisticated and appeals to my target audience; developing packaging that leaves little environmental impact, but still is unique and professional-looking, and other things that are tied to a brand. So here I am trying to do it for real!

This is my current topic question: How can I create an online retail business in an environmentally friendly fashion from home?

These are my current guiding questions that I will be working to answer throughout the process and some potential methods of answering them:

+ What product should I sell? –Learned through Research, piloting some products
+ What is the best way to mass produce my products in the most environmentally friendly way? Is mass production necessary? –Research, interviews
+ What is the best way to advertise my brand and become well recognized? -Research & Interviews
+ What logo is most appealing to my audience? -School wide Survey
+ What product is most appealing to my audience? Research, Interviews, Survey, and my own work
+ What designs are most attractive to my audience? Surveys, FOCUS panels
+ What aspects of a business are harmful to the environment? Interviews & Research
+ What profit is lost with an environmentally friendly company? Interviews & Research
+ What website layout is easy to make, easy to use, and professional looking? My own work
+ Does a website host for handmade sellers (like Etsy) work better than creating my own site? Mentor, Research, my own work
+ What packaging makes the least environmental impact, but still maintains a professional appearance? –own work & research
+ What is the best way to show the development of my website? –my own ideas and inspiration from other websites

Yesterday, when I was blog hopping I came across Loyalty and Blood's online shop. Oh, how I love their name and site. They have a name that can appeal to both men and women (something I hope to do) and their website is very graphic, using mostly blue, black, and white. Their designs are simple and modern and are printed on bright shirts. The founders of the brand are a couple in Brooklyn who ended up quitting their day jobs to work on their brand. Sounds kind of like me! Minus the couple in Brooklyn... and quitting day jobs... However, being able to drop classes will allow me some free time.

A Loyalty and Blood Shirt from their Flickr

I also totally love their "Big Wolf" shirt from their online shop. I love the strong black contrast to the blue of the shirt. I think something like this would make a cool design for my brand, which I want to have some environmental flair.

They sell their shirts at Brooklyn Flea a flea market that takes place every weekend at One Hanson Place; the Williamburgh Savings Bank Tower during the winter. Do I see a potential selling site for me? Do I hear a potential interview? The Brooklyn Flea website says that they have vendor spots open for the winter. I could also sign up for the spring when it moves back outside.

That's all for now!