10/12/2015

 As I am coming to the conclusion of this module, I am writing up the final parts of my big Week 8-10 evaluation. I have done the evaluation in two parts - a reflection on the Fashion Show itself and a reflection on the success and sales figures of the actual business. 

From previous experience I have in writing evaluations I am told to try and increase my communication methods to get higher marks. This was a target I set myself this year. To do this I wanted to try and incorporate different techniques to get my statistical information across. I settled on a line chart so I could show the comparing months and how figures increased appropriately and clearly in one table. 

3/12/15

As I have got the majority of the other work done I have been able to focus mainly on the business presentation. I get myself quite overwhelmed about presentations as I find it quite hard to understand how to 'present' the information. However, from past feedback in other years of presentations I tried my best to focus on the main, important parts of my development through the module and portraying this information through different visual communication forms. 

I am really happy with the final product of this and how its improved compared to my previous presentations. I just hope its enough to push my final grade!!

19/11/15-26/11/15

Between this period of time I focused on my week 8 -10 project paper work and started the main 2000 word evaluation to round the module off. I tried to get all my work prior to this evaluation and presentation done before hand so I could focus the majority of my final time on the most important parts. From previous experiences of writing final evaluations I know how crucial reflecting on my development is to my final marks and as I want to try and get the highest marks I can I put the most time into this part.

  I focused on the reflection of the day I had and the development I had within my own personality and feelings towards this type of event. I also covered the importance of entering competitions like this to help boost my profile and brand as much as possible from the feedback, industry contacts made and marketing.  I gained knowledge from this importance from Bridal Buyer - Winning Words (Appendix 3) which helped me push further and gave me tips on how to optimise the opportunity in the best possible way for bridal wear in particular therefore helped me put theory into practice.

12/11/15

I focused today on making a start on the write up of my 'Week 8-10 Project'. I have all my ideas planned out in sections to make it easier and more clearer. 
I managed to get the first section done - the manufacturing side, the second section - the marketing - nearly done, I just need to add in my photo-shoot photos and then I have just got the diary of the day to do and the outcome and evaluation. 
I want to have these done by next week so I can focus my time on the final big 2000 word evaluation, where inevitably most of my marks will come from. 
I also noted down again what I needed to do to reach the higher marks. I still need to evaluate each section in my folder which is starting to become a job I put off and off as my folder grows. I want to get it done over the weekend and get it out of the way.

5/11/2015

As my business plan is done and the majority of my folder is completed (I think) I wanted to make a proper start on my 8-10 week project. I haven't done any work within this yet as I wasn't entirely sure what to include and other work within this module took priority - but after clearing it up with Amy, I now know what is needed. 

As I have already done my live project (Midlands Fashion Awards that happened at the start of October) I am just writing up all my information. I have decided to include information on; the manufacturing of the dresses, why I have chosen the certain theme of them, evaluating my garments, the photoshoot side - evaluating, my own promotion - social media etc, the competitions promotion - their social media coverage and newspapers etc, the day itself - I did a diary, backstage photos, the outcome, and an evaluation on the whole day. I am hoping to have this done within the two weeks of when the project should be live.

Half Term

Over half term I decided to set myself a target. I didn't want to do too much of my 8-10 week project as I wasn't too sure exactly what to include so I didn't want to do loads and find out it's all wrong. So I focused mainly on updating all my work and folder to the maximum I could, and making a substantial start on my business plan. Having done a similar one before in my Foundation Degree, I knew the staple of what needed to be included.  

After researching into business plans and business plan mistakes I learnt what to include specifically to fashion. Luckily I even found a business plan example for a bridal shop which I found incredibly helpful - not just because of knowing what to include but to see how they have worded certain things in relevance to a small bridal businesses. A lot of business plan examples online are relevant to only big corporate businesses that have huge budgets and loans to work from. For example it helped me understand, what certain statistics to include, how to write my competitive edge correctly, my objectives over a period of time, my specific target market and how to sum up my business effectively, realistically and positively in a small paragraph.

I worked really hard on this through half term and managed to complete it all before the first lesson back. I really enjoyed completing it as I am hoping to take this exact business idea forward in the following summer.

22/10/15

Today I focused on my marketing strategy and the initial thoughts of my business plan; what needs to go into it and researching other peoples for ideas of how to make mine specific to my business idea as possible. 
I did some quick research within the business planning to take forward for next week and work on through half term.
After this, I worked on my marketing strategy on a shoestring budget. I looked into doing things locally/cheaply, not only to go within the limitations of the module; the shoe string budget, but also as I am hoping to take this business idea forward in the summer with extremely low outgoings. This can help me set aside a small budget/save up in preparation for the marketing I hope to use. I looked into a variety of ways, mainly internet based as this is where I hope to start off from so I want to try and build up a good, solid internet audience. However, as things - hopefully - progress, I will start to consider adverts in magazine publications, perhaps when I have a studio space for people to come and visit and be measured there. I haven't included this in the marketing strategy as my proposed one is to hopefully have immediate effect rather than what is planned in the next few years.