23.11.11 Jamie G

Tonight I went to meet my old friend Jamie Geoghegan.
Jamie has recently graduated from a graphic design degree and agreed to help me out with what I needed for the magazine.
After all the set backs I was looking at the meeting with Jamie as a positive step forward after the glitches of the last week.
We had a good chat and despite some reservations about the project because he didn't think there was any creative people there, by the end Jamie was convinced which was good, but he himself didn't feel inspired by the Island, but perhaps would if he knew a few more creatives living there.
We spoke for about 2 hours and at the end Jamie decided to tell me he was going away the next week and needed everything for the graphic in the next two days. This was humanly impossible for me...so again, I had another hitch!

23.11.11 Rapanui, no time to talk!!!

This has been the third cock up of the week..
I have been relentlessly emailing Rapanui in regards to an interview.
They have been such a priority as have received mainstream media attention of late and their USP is the Island.
They got back to me today and can't do this week, they are going on business to York. We've agreed to reconvene in 2 weeks. Its another set back, but they have said they want to speak to me in person so that is a positive I am taking out of this!!
But again,
Bugger.

22.02.11 Ventnor Blog too Busy!!!! ARGH

Despite Oscar not coming, I still had interviews to set up UNTIL NOW.
Just spoken to VentnorBlog and they are really busy with the Island funding cuts. They have suggested I email them questions, however I don't really know how I can condense what I need to say...
I've never done an interview prior to this project, however now I have realised my interview style is to probe my interviewee's into the direction of the interview....I haven't really had questions prepared for any of them!
Maybe thats unprofessional, maybe its my "style". I'll go with "my style"!!!
This second cancellation has left me a little disheartened now..everything was moving so fast and I've reached my first hump. It was bound to happen, but at least in Rochester I have Uni for comfort. I feel I've been on the Island for about a year now, it's less that a week!
Bugger.

21.02.11 Oscar can't make it

I'm home, been here since Thursday....
This weekend I planned to see Hannah and Katy, hopefully Rapanui and VentnorBlog.
I was only going to stay until Sunday, but Oscar said he would be down for the week so we could start on the portraiture...HOWEVER, he has just got back to me today and has a job at AllSaints so obviously he's not coming.
Now I am panicking because I'm here for a week and doesn't seem like much is going to plan!!!
ARGH!!!

19.02.11 Hannah George

Met with Hannah in Ventnor today.
Again, very interesting interview, Han was very easy to talk too!!
We were kicked out  of the tea room at 3??? But got enough material so we retired to the Pub for a gin!!
Good days work done!!

18.02.11 Katy-Rose Thorogood

Met with Katy at the met today!!
We had a long 2 hour Interview....very interesting!
Was scary being my first interview but she was great!

Interview typed and ready to go!!!

28.02.11 Second Tutorial in London

17.02.11

Getting the coach home today, Arranged meetings with;

1. Katy-Rose Thorogood
2. Hannah George
3. Faber Cunningham
4. Rapanui
5. Ventnor Blog
6. Oscar May

I have high hopes for the week and will hopefully get LOTS done whilst I am home lapping up the free food!

14.02.11 First Tutorial.

This past week, 7th-14th I have spent emailing everyone and anyone I know on the island, putting the feelers out about the project and gauging a reaction.
The feedback I have had is incredible and again I feel full of confidence in the project.
My next aim is to find a suitable date to go home and arrange meetings and interviews with the guys I have been chatting too over the last week.
This is one of my main problems with the project, that everyone has jobs- some successful, some not so- but nether the less this project is not their priority and I am going to be between the IOW, Kent and London. I anticipate that I will be travelling a lot and not always successfully meet with the meeting I wish too.

  In this Valentines tutorial, Dennis was keen for me to buy a Dictaphone and suggested Argos, were I found one for £20! Barg.
  He also suggested I set false deadlines for my collaborators to ensure I won't be panicking and let down which is something I had already considered. Dennis put forward the 28th Feb for the initial faux deadline.
   In terms of in the interviewing technique, he said I should "cross-interview". In other words to get those featured to interview one another and thus the tone of the piece will be chatty but informative.

For the next tutorial Dennis requested rough feature titles and a page layout.

I later this night booked a coach home to the Island for the 17th Feb. I planned to stay until Sunday 20th, however after speaking with Oscar he said he will be returning to the island for the week beginning 21st for the week, so I extended my stay and began arranging more meeting for that week.

7.02.11 First Review

Pat

Very good use of the original newspaper pieces – as a visual on screen would not have backed you up as well.  There is a great potential here as you already know – but as you have found out this project could also overwhelm you. You must start to organise now, and develop your own strategies to deal with information overload, contacts, networking, and creative ups and downs. You  acknowledge that in the Lifestyle  unit you held a lot of ideas in your head and wrote them down late – that narrative was good, but could be a lot better, so keep up with it in this project – it will be thoughtful and entertaining and a good piece in itself . Consider a dictaphone, or filming interviews etc. Gather secondary research(as in publications from other places) to use as comparisons, and clearly organise all primary material – such as other people’s work, so that you could develop this work after university.

Dennis

An intelligent, measured approach toward a perceived gap in the market. Is there an area of a similar size abroad that can be a comparison. With the magazines you used as examples – who publishes them? Community magazines often have an odd market – a wide appeal that actually captures no one. A very strong idea with such a wide range of opportunities – you are branding an Island! Could you go in conjunction with the tourist board. You need to be determined in your role as editor – introduce false deadlines. You’re buying a Dictaphone – could you stretch to a video camera hire? Or an on-site assistant? If you’re avoiding advertisers, a directory sometimes works as a listing – can be formatted to your editorial ethos. It may be interesting to get an approximation of a Lots of things to consider!

Nine minutes.

Johannes

Is magazine really the right media for this – you talk how the magazine industry is not flourishing  - there must be a reason for this. Would online publication be a better platform for this? 

Beyond looking at the Isle of Wight magazine – have you look at other equivalent formats? 

Overall concept has a lot of potential – you just need to figure out how you can systematically manage this.

After this review, I felt very positive and motivated in my goals. I appreciated the constructive criticism's and suggestions. Reactions to this second early proposal completely reinforced my confidence in the project and my aims for the publication as a live project. 

I straight away started emailed and calling around setting up meetings on the IOW and London for the following weeks. The positive comments really helped me find confidence to do this and it was reassuring that professionals who are not familiar with the island and its current status would have so much faith in this promotional vessel. It gave me the confidence to pitch my ideas with conviction to people I have never spoken to before!

This review really helped me.

My aims now are to organise as many interviews and meetings as possible, formulate some consistency in the photography aspect and start considering layouts for either a magazine or website. At this stage I am aiming more towards a physical publication as I feel this is the best way to get the content read and spread awareness. I could not see how I would approach the promotion of a website and get people and the relevant people to actually read it.

Overall, very happy at this stage and feeling excited as this is a project I am really passionate about as it as effected me and all of my friends. It is time for change!

31.01.11

Today I pitched my final major project to Sheelagh, Dennis and Pat.

    To begin with I had two ideas. To create a street style/fashion history book. The basis of this publications was to photograph street style, including informational pages detailing the origins of iconic garments which have been adopted into subculture and street fashion. This idea was really a safety net in the case of rejection at my main idea....

  
    My main idea for my final major came to me whilst at home for Christmas.  Going home to the Island used to mean seeing all my friends together all in one place, but over the last three years graduation and jobs has left everyone dispersed across the country. This made me realise and perhaps appreciate that these people weren't my friends from school anymore, but now professional people within industry that I grew up with. I obviously associate my friends with their personalities whereas others now connected them with graphic design, event management, music, photography, writing and business.
    This realisation prompted me to look outside of my immediate friends, everyone knows everyone on the Isle of Wight and it's quite common to hear "ooh, guess what so and so's doing now" etc etc. Although I've always recognised that the island boasts a spectrum of creativity, having to think about the pitch made me realise just how many talented people have grown and been inspired where we live.
   The Isle of Wight provides a unique and harmonious environment where by talent and ideas can evolve and be inspired resulting in a identifiable originality in lifestyle, music, fashion and the arts. Despite this, opportunities on the island are few and far between, people tending to either finish school and stay put forever, or leave as soon as possible with the intent to return once careers are solid and fortunes made. There is something insular and charming about Island life and I for one would not have left if there were any means of a career to be had there.
    Taking these point in to account, I realised that I knew many of these successful and creatives, because of the nature of the Island and people with shared interests seem to gravitate to the same venues. The IOW can also be very cliquey, friendship groups form in separate towns, each group knows one another and may occasionally mix but on the whole there is a "clique" representative of each town or village. This is a shame and is what has perhaps led to a lack of networking.
    For some reason, Ventnor, a small town on the south coast of the island has become something of a hub for creativity. I think this is perhaps due to the idyllic coastline and rolling hills that surrounds the tiny seaside town combined with a distinct lack of things to do. There are no chain stores, no labels, no commercial businesses. Ventnor is essential charity shops, craft shops, a few gift shops and rustic pubs and swarve tapas bars on the esplanade.  This innate lack of anything has led to young people making their own entertainment. There are countless bands, photographers, artists, surfers and crafts people inhabiting V.town and most put their hand to all of the above. As a result, Ventnor has become something of a "scene", everyone dressed in rustic scarecrow-esk vintage ensembles, plenty of curly hair and some kind of vintage camera hanging from around their necks. This "scene" like any subculture, has also attracted its hangers on, kids from other towns copying the style and following similar interests. As well as this growing "subculture", there is the Ventnor Blog. This, in my opinion, is the only diverse and contemporary news source available to the island community at this time.
    For all these reasons, I started to feel there was something needed to bring awareness not just to the Ventnorians, but all those who have talent and creativity across the Wight.
  
Current publications available on the Isle of Wight are;

• THE ISLE OF WIGHT COUNTY PRESS-  

    A long standing newspaper covering the IOWS hottest topics from cat's stuck up trees to old people being penalized in car parks. 

   I recently underwent work experience at the paper and I must say it was the biggest waste of a weeks wages. My role during this week was going to court every morning and take notes on the antics of a host of delinquents and their cases. Any story of interest could not be reported due to children being involved or they weren't even from the island. 

    This week was most degrading also, I had to sit at a desk and read the paper everyone morning to make sure I knew the style(it is weekly so on the first day I'd read it and I also read it before I went to make sure I was up on everything if they asked me questions...they did not ask me questions.) I then had to wait to be collected and go to court every morning, sometimes they would go without me. A few of the journo's acted as though they were editor and chief of a high flying tabloid, when the reality is the papers most hard hitting stories are write up's about school fetes. It was awful. I also choose to do this work experience over Cowes Week thinking there would be lots of exciting thing going on, perhaps I could follow a reporter out in the field. No. I sat at a desk re-writing press releases for the week. Every time I wanted something to do, I would have to walk over to the editor, in front of everyone where she would dress me down and tell me my style of writing was too elaborate. I knew this having spent  the past hour an a half trying to drag out an interesting tale about a man who'd been given a ticket for double parking because his wife was disabled; in avoidance of constantly pestering her. If she had bloody given me something to do, the story would have been the brief four lines it was good for. I say to all budding writers, NEVER do work experience with this paper, it is a waste of time, a point address by even the journalist's I shadowed.  

• THE STYLE OF WIGHT- 

   This is a new publication started in 2010. I ended up working for the first issue of this publication. It was pitched to me as a contemporary new island magazine with a focus on fashion and lifestyle. I had many ideas for the magazine, much the same as I have for this project, however the content wasn't what I thought. The first issue was a "Best of British" theme. 

   I started thinking of typically British shoots using the many heritage locations the island as a backdrop, models kitted out with the finest wears from the many vintage shops and boutiques. However I was asked to organise a golf shoot. This is not something I personally associate with Britishness? More horses and rugby but nether the less I went ahead and Oscar May photographed, using clothes from Westridge Golf center and Visual Impact, a luxury niche boutique for men. On being commissioning for this shoot, I had more problems when I said I would be using young male models. The editor wanted 40 year old men, however I was under the impression he wanted this to be a contemporary and professional magazine with appropriate editorials. It turned out it was just another magazine again aimed at the middle aged, middle class island population.

   I used the young models anyway, Jasper Rouse and Charlie Harris of Island band "The Majortones". I felt it appropriate then as I did now to give the young talent on the island a chance to be noticed. At the time the band was very popular, winning many competitions and making the main stage at IOW festival. The youth of the island could identify and aspire to want these young gentlemen were doing, and using recognisable faces within the shoot would generate a broader readership, especially amongst the 16-25 age range the Isle of Wight tends to ignore. 

   There is NOTHING available, acknowledging or aimed at this age group on the island and these people are with whom the talent lies. The adult population of the Isle of Wight tend to be one of two types, those who have lived there their entire living and working since school or successful professionals who have been educated and trained on the mainland and moved to the island for a slower pace of life and more house for their money. It seems no one has identified this point yet in regards to promotion of the Isle of Wight and continue to churn out these publications aimed at no one in particular with no continuity or style.
    As well as the shoot I wrote a piece discussing the increased use of the Union Jack in fashion, this piece was in fact an edited and conversational adaptation of my dissertation pitch. I was quite happy with this article, it made a DPS and relevant Isle of Wight products were featured along side it. This was much more what I thought the aim of the magazine would be. The magazine is still is circulation but again seems to lack a distinct direction and style that can be associable with the magazine. Like many publications, the magazine has fallen to an older generation and seems to again lack a network leaving a distinct lack of continuity between issues. The art direction of the magazine itself it basic and uninspiring, much of the page is filled with irrelevant advertisments. This is a trait common amongst all the publications. I can never understand why the publications don't research into the businesses and tradespeople on the island and make the necessary adverts relevant to the piece and also create advertorial features instead of slapping a logo on a page. It is the same well known businesses featured weekly through all of the publications.

• THE BEACON- 

    More of a supplement, The Beacon is a diary of events/ review of past events specific to "your area". Again, it is not very inspirational, the art direction and graphics are bland and uninteresting. Every current island mag is so heavy on advertisements framing every article making it very difficult to hold attention on the piece you are reading. The Beacon does its job and is informational, but the design and images are again very outdated and uninspiring.

• EXTRA- 

   This is another new magazine, the first issue released in January 2011. The front cover an interpretation of REVEAL magazine. With its pink and yellow graphics, Extra is the Isle of Wights answer to OK and HELLO. From start to finish this magazine copies art direction and graphic from various commercial publications. Extra is comprised of an events directory and reviews, accompanied by a piece of writing and photo snap shots from the night being the main focus. The art direction copies that of glossy mags and the layout they use report on celebrity events and fundraisers. Again, the magazine is very uninspirational and an outrightly obvious copycat. The only attraction I can see is in getting your face in the mag, however this is a long shot seeing as the type of events Extra covers ensure that it's the same councilmen and county press party crashers featured monthly and that in general there is no one under 35 featured in the mag. The most exciting thing I found was several pictures of a very uncomfortable Rob De Bank surround by differing crowds of smiling faces desperate for a photo with a celeb ensuring their place in the magazine. 

• ISLAND LIFE- 

Island life is again a magazine that aims to cover lifestyle but also has a focus on traditional Island past time such a history, equestrian events and gardening. It features interviews, restaurant reviews and event features. In my opinion Island life is the probably the most valued island publication after the county press. It is not pretentious or trying to be something it is now, however the content again is very age relevant and I have no idea who many of the people they feature are! This publication details that it contains fashion pieces, but there are few people (so the editors think) that are in the know about contemporary fashion. This really isn't the case, there are plenty of people with the knowledge and skill to make the fashion, lifestyle and music sections of all of the above publications interesting and forward thinking, however the people in charge of these magazine don't look for them, they have a go themselves with dyer consequences. Many a time I have seen a feature with potential butchered by awful styling, art direction and a lack of knowledge. Island life is again a magazine that if it was retailed, only a small selection of 40+ country loving adults would buy, but because like the other publications it is free, these magazine scrape together a wider audience without actually diversifying their content.

   

    The entire promotion of the Isle of Wight and the publications it produces are thinly washed and outdated. The islands image is controlled by an age group and class not in touch with what is going on on the ground and possibly not even from the place they are trying to sell. The Isle of Wights image is naff and tacky when the reality is far from this if anyone bothered to research and moved away from the attractions that were aged even when I enjoyed them as a child 20 years ago. This Christmas made me realise the Isle of Wight was in desperate need of a brand overhaul and I began to think I could perhaps take a step towards this change through the promotion of the current successful career of the people the island inspires but ignores. 

Despite my knowledge of the island and the need for this image overhaul, I was concerned as to what my cosmopolitan London editor tutors would think, and also my fashion forward peers, hence the plan B..

This brings me neatly to my original pitch...

My aim is to create a contemporary magazine by which to showcase and promote creative talent on the Isle of Wight with an aim to move towards an updated tourist perception and Island image whilst simultaneously acting as a foundation for networking that is currently lacking. 

*ESSENTIALLY TO RE-BRAND THE IOW*