MFM Merch Research

Good points:

• distinct branding
• distinct range of colours- makes it recognisable
• lots of black, red and grey
• good range of products
• ranging from cheap ($5 drink coozie) to expensive ($59 sweater)

Bad points/ gaps in the market:

• not much design driven work available- mostly typography based merch, simple slogans on plain backgrounds
• humorous work on humourless products (funny slogan on boring black tote bag with no design)
• too much of the same colour
• everything looks a bit flat
• all looks a bit mass produced

What next?:

• I've been struggling to narrow down what I intend to make at the moment as I'm too excited about this project and what it could turn into
• I'll narrow it down to 4 or 5 designs and begin roughing those up in my sketchbook
• images will be mostly design driven and decorative but will aim to feature a slogan or saying from the show to as the words and their comedy is the main part of the podcast and I want to represent that
• then I'll make them digital
• maybe make smaller images along side those main 4 so that I can apply them to smaller products like keyrings?

Industry Research- Packaging And Retail

For our group presentation we decided to all research small parts and to compile the findings into a shared presentation, heres what I found out individually:

Case Studies:

• Lucie Sheridan: makes illustrations that are applied to mugs and cards, smaller priced items. Her designs are sold on her own site and through Ohh Deer (sell illustrated products by illustrators)
• Julia Rothman: specialises in fabric design and print, soft furnishings and fabrics. Also some homewares like plates and cups. More high end, sells her work in shops like John Lewis and Fenwicks
• Jessica Hogarth: fabric designer and illustrator, makes fabrics that are then used for scarves, aprons, clothing and soft furnishings. Higher end
• Gemma Correll: lower priced items like cards and postcards, some prints and stickers, sells her work on her own website and on Ohdeer who sell a range of illustrated products by illustrators
• Elizabeth Olwen: designs pattern designs which are the sold to other companies to make things like wrapping papers, phone cases and stationary
• Serge Seidlitz: designs larger scale work which is them used as fabric patterns, prints and murals. He also has collaborated with Lush to create some of their Christmas knot wraps and packaging 

Can be applied to:

• Infinite things!!!!!
• mugs
• stationary
• wrapping paper
• fabrics for cushions, clothing, wall hangings
• murals
• cards
• postcards
• record sleeves
• packaging for food, makeup, technology 

Trends:

• repeat patterns- lush knot wraps, Paperchase stationary
• "millennial" pink
• rose gold
• minimalism 

Online resources:

• Etsy
• Redbubble
• Oliver Bonas
• Society6

Group Presentation:

Feedback from this:

• we've identified a lot of different applications of illustration to product
• our job now is to narrow our field and decide what subject/style of illustration we want to do, then make it
• once that's done, that's when we fully decide what products we want to put our pre-existing illustrations on
• I've realised its important to me to have a wide range of price points available in my range of merch so that everyone who wants to buy something can afford something
• in that case I need to be identifying what smaller and larger priced items I might like to make

Proposal Feedback Session

Issues discussed at tutorial:

• David Fincher- look at opening sequence for Seven, creepy inside the mind of a serial killer aesthetic, hand written type and obsessive notes
• the shining "all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy", writing on walls and typewriter aesthetics could be effective
• ransom note research, Jon Benet, cut and stick from magazines, courier font
• might have to do a focus group on taste as this subject matter, if not handled correctly, could stand to offend some people
• look at Lore and Case File as podcast resources
• amend proposal as if you're working directly with podcast as your client, if its MFM you could put a positive spin on it and do "how to stay alive guides" "how to spot a psychopath etc"
• look at Jon Ronsons psychopath test, Robert Hare scale and list could be useful!

Amendments I will make to my proposal:

• I plan to work with true crime podcast My Favourite Murder to design a range of merchandise including mugs, stickers and a zine that can be sold on their website to represent them as a podcast. 
• to begin doing this I will make 4 main images that could work on their own or be used as vignettes on smaller products
• I will include their overall feminist standpoint on true crime as a part of this merchandise, championing the idea of "stay sexy and don't get murdered"
• I aim to make something positive and enjoyable out of a subject that is decidedly harrowing. I will not at any point be glorifying the murderers or what they did

Aims and goals for this brief:

• I'd like to push myself to create darker work with a funnier edge. Black comedy will be central to this project
• Also want to work with screen printing again as I think its a great way for me to simplify my images slightly but achieve a textural, dark, interesting aesthetic
• Work with a limited colour palette to give my work a clear and decided visual tone and make it instantly recognisable as true crime merch

Proposal

What do you intend to do and why?

I intend to design and make a series of true crime themed products that could be bought and enjoyed for personal use or for gifts by other true crime nerds. I have identified a rise in the popularity of true crime in the last few years, with podcasts such as Serial and My Favourite Murder, documentaries such as Making a Murderer, Inside The Mind Of A Serial Killer and The Keepers, and Netflix originals like Mindhunter. Theres a growing cult following surrounding these discussions of true crime, with podcasts such as S-town setting a new record for 10 million downloads after just 4 days of it becoming available. And although some of these podcasts sell merch, theres still not a huge variety of different products available out there. 

I intend to make a cohesive range of true crime themed products with an emphasis on dark humour and the feminist and survival aspect of podcasts such as My Favourite Murder. Among these products will be lower priced items such as stickers and badges ranging to slightly more expensive items like tote bags and mugs. Its important to me to have a wide range of price points available so that any true crime fan of any income can buy something they can enjoy. 

Themes and subjects:

What Themes/Subjects will form the content of your work for this module? This should include theoretical and non-creative based content and concerns. This section should identify your consideration of the social, cultural, ethical and creative concerns of contemporary Illustration practice.

General themes:

• true crime
• murder
• dark humour
• humour
• gifts
• merchandise

Specific subjects:

• true crime podcasts
• serial killer puns and jokes
• emphasis on the feminist and survival aspect of true crime
• infamous serial killers
• portraits
• lighthearted merch for a not lighthearted subject

Practical and conceptual application:

Specific disiplinary area:

- packaging and retail, predominantly online retail

Audience/ contexts:

• consumers of true crime media such as podcasts, TV shows, documentaries and books
• collectors or buyers of contemporary illustration products or homewares
• possibly to be bought by those who run murder podcasts to sell on their own stores

Production/ distribution methods:

• some items such as badges and mugs could be printed externally by companies such as Awesome Merch
• other items like tote bags could either also be outsourced or printed by me in university
• I feel these products would be best promoted and distributed online as that is where most of the true crime Podcasts and programmes are consumed
• More specifically on websites like Etsy, they could also be sold on a dedicated website specifically for the selling of true crime merchandise

Illustrators/ designers/ studios:

• Rebecca Green (portrait and documentary style)
• Daria Solak (blending of paint and pencil)
• Pippa Toole (graphic images and character design)
• Molley May (especially her Macbeth zine and character design)
• Kristyna Baczynski (varied range of products and applications)

Studios:

• Ohh Deer (especially their paper gang monthly subscription boxes, filled with a range of stationary, stickers, cards etc)
• Paperchase (stationary and stickers)
• Typo (cards, stationary, gift range, mugs)

Creative skills I hope to develop:

• more confidence and variation in my hand drawing, especially when it comes to creating portraits of people which will be a large part of this project
• development in mixed media, I enjoy painting with gouache and drawing with pencil so it would be nice to find a way to mix the too
• more screen printing! I enjoyed the process of screen printing a lot in the last module and i’d like to develop that further and find a way to put more of my self and my own visual quality into it
• proficiency in using and formatting hand drawn text alongside my illustrations 

Key texts:

http://time.com/4172673/true-crime-allure/

https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2015/dec/12/serial-thrillers-why-true-is-popular-cultures-most-wanted

http://www.insightnewsmag.co/articles/Murderinos-Women-and-True-Crime-Podcasts

https://www.elle.com/culture/movies-tv/a39370/jonbenet-ramsey-cbs-part-one-recap/

https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/features/why-true-crime-and-podcasts-were-made-for-each-other-w476090

Ann Rule- The Stranger Beside Me

John Douglas- Mind Hunter

Christoper Berry- Dee -  Talking with Psychopaths and Savages

Studio Brief 1- Evaluation

What I did well:
I felt that during this brief I came up with three outcomes that I felt were very different to what other people were making and also reflected a lot of the personal style I've been developing throughout the rest of this year. Although for this particular project that may not have been exactly what they were looking for, I made something that I was happy with and that I felt like was a visually appealing piece of work. 

I also felt I used type and image effectively in a way that I haven't before and considering I've never really done a poster before I think it was easy to read and understand and I'm glad I pushed my practise by doing something new. 

What I could have improved on:
I could have considered the media size a little more when I was planning the piece, I was thumb nailing very small images and the final poster was meant to be quite large. When I saw the poster printed out the composition looked a little sparse and I could have included more detail which would have shown up really well when it was printed at a larger size.

How has this changed/affected my practise?:
Its made me realise I enjoy working with text and images together and so making posters is an activity thats probably well suited to me. I should try and identify more of these briefs that play to my strengths and use that in the future. I also think this brief furthered my confidence in my own work as I have seen that I can put together an image that I feel works well and is visually pleasing as well as fitting in with a brief.

Moving forward:

• I will try to design more posters
• I will work more with text and image combined
• I will continue to try to make the work that makes me happy and that I believe people will enjoy
• I will try and enjoy making my own work more

Sketchbook Progress

So far:

• the general aesthetic of the work I'm aiming to produce is dark with an element of humour and whimsy?
• I'm not sure if whimsy is the right word but I don't know what is
• dark humour? I want this to be weird to look at but have a lot of personality and charm
• hand drawn type will be a massive part of this for sure, maybe get a graphics tablet out?
• also need to settle on a colour palette:
• black/lime green
• black/orange (too close to Louis?)
• black and blue