The end...

This project had been long, stressful, exciting and new. The whole experience had allowed me to discover my strengths and weaknesses as a creative director and make-up artist as well as other skills along the way such as stylist, photography and graphic design. I would love to continue down this path of creating and designing new stories for individuals as I have proven I can do it once and I can only get better.  My major issue is time management, I must learn how to not waste my time and use it wisely as it prevents stress and increases good results. I also need to get better at trusting others in assisting me in my work rather than relying only on myself to do numerous jobs.

The power of time travel...

Looking through my final physical outcome and product, if I had to re-do it or make changes I would have DEFINITELY got a team together. Although you can only rely and trust yourself, having a photographer, stylist, graphic designer would have contributed in taking away a lot of stress and expertise in polishing and making the book even better. I would have also used my time A LOT more wisely, although my models were unavailable, I should have made better plans with them in advance. Following that, I would have also used extra time to shoot in better locations with nicer scenery such as rivers and flowers rather than plain woods and parks and swings in my garden. Although the images have turned out great, better choice of rural landscapes would have improved the final images vastly. Another thing I would have done is explained to my models how important it is to keep their appearance the same, I realised working with younger people, they do not understand the severity of small actions and how dying her hair blonde, my model could have ruined the continuity of my project. I had had more money I would of LOVED to design my book to look like an old leather bound, gold engraved fairy tale book, centuries old. This would have needed a lot of time to be created and would have been over £100 per book, but I will keep this in mind for future projects.

I forwarded my final images and storyline to the target audience I was in contact with throughout my proposal and have been throughout the development of the project to see if the final outcome matched their original ideas and contributions to the design. I am so happy in their feedback as all answers and replies were positive. The overall consensus was the storyline was fantastic, original although sad. The imagery was perfect especially having two incredibly 'normal' looking individuals they could relate to and were not the usual Hollywood looking faces and body shapes that Disney always portray. I also surprisingly have been asked by 3 individuals I could have copies printed for them and they will pay for them. This was a wonderful feeling as it has tied the whole project together by proving it to be industry relevant as the target audience have successful approved it and want to pay for and own the final product.

The curse is lifted and they live happily ever after...

THE BOOK IS HERE!!!!

I got an email saying I couldn't pick my book up until Tuesday, the day before the deadline so I called and explained it was too late and I was busy all day. Luckily the company pushed my book to being completed for that afternoon. I got to Imagewise as 5 and I looked through it there. It looked amazing, although it had been put together completely wrong. The odd thing about this is I LOVED IT. My intentions were to have the text on translucent paper over white paper on the left hand side of a double page and the image on the right. They put the translucent paper with text over the image on the right hand side of a double page and a blank page on the left. It looked amazing and completely added to the effect of this dream like feel to the book. Because of this mistake it did result in the book also have a few odd blank double pages which I could stick together with double sided tape, although not ideal, also not a major issue. The images also all looked fantastic and looked a lot better than hoped for! I am so so happy with the final outcome and it makes me excited to submit it and proud to show it off.

The final check...

Thursday morning Imagewise gave me a final call to ensure the layout and order of the book was correct. I sat on the phone with a team member explaining each and every page until there was mutual agreement and understanding. I am finally feeling more relaxed that everything will be done correctly and on time just still a little apprehensive. Another positive is that the price of my final 5 books had reduced in price when I had predicted they would increase. Instead of £215 they cost a charming £161 and after returning the dresses that cost £480, my budget was looking healthy and was happier.

The plot thickens...

Tuesday evening I get an email from Imagewise saying I must send my page layout before Thursday morning or my books will not be printed in time. This confused me a lot as I had sent them the previous evening. I call the office straight away explaining and they instantly apologised and told me they have had issues receiving things via Wetransfer. I re-sent the documents for a third time using a different email address and called back again to confirm they had definitely received my work. They had. I felt relief knowing they finally had my work and could start Wednesday but still panicked that I have lost 2/3 days and with a bank holiday approaching, deadline day was closer than around the corner.

The curse of the printers...

I waited until Monday to submit my page designs as I wanted to go the the Imagewise office myself to explain where everything should be on which paper and so on. Thank goodness I did go as I discovered my layout was wrong. I was so frustrated with the lack of communication and explanation of how everything should be laid out. I found out that anything printed on the translucent paper needed an extra white page after it on Indesign so It could lay on top. I went back to Uni to fix the problem which took hours, as it shifted all the other pictures and was a mini disaster. Finally I used Wetransfer to send my documents to the company so they could get started Tuesday morning.

Pages and pages and pages...

Similar to Photoshop, I have no technical ability to use Indesign. I was a little nervous to get stuck in and really wished I had hired a graphic designed to help me but once again I had left it too late to organise any help. I got stuck in and I was surprisingly whizzing through and completed my document after 2 days of working on it! I had shocked myself again and was so proud. Another confidence boost. The book worked ad flowed really well, I ensured all spelling was correct, the layout was central and neat and I was ready to head off to Imagewise to get it all printed.