ASOS: APP PROGRAMMING

As an extended part of the brief myself and Rinesh wanted to get our app programmed, so we deiced to contact the Leeds University programming course and offered to pay someone to do it.

Rinesh took control of this situation and I attended some meetings with him, however through our research and emails we wasn't able to get anyone to do the app in time.

We did receive some interest from a Leeds College of art student but he was already working on the same project with another student. 

Although the programming of our app didn't go to plan I am glad that we took the initiative to push the brief further and in doing this we now know the reality of how long it takes to get something programmed and if people are available.

ASOS: TRENDS AND LOOKS

One of my roles in the collaboration was too look further into styles and trends that I could piece together for the shoot. 

To start my research I reflected back on what was said on the primary research results to see what trends the consumers had suggested are current.

What do you predict are the new trends?

• Folk wear, florals and knitwear.
• Bright florescent colours, gym wear and lycra
• Wide leg pants

From the research there wasn't a lot to go by, so I decided to look on some well know fashion blogs.

 

I looked on 'lookbook.nu' which is a website that allows bloggers globally to post current and popular trends for the season. I found that this would be the perfect place to get a sense of a wide range of peoples styles of 20 something. 

From the website I found there were a wide range of categories which I listed

• Urban
• Sophisticated
• Preppy
• Grunge
• Vintage
• Sporty
• Monochromatic
• Pastel
• Block Colours
• Prints
• Co-ordinates

From the list of styles and sub-genres I felt that I had found a lot styles I could play around with and research into further on the Asos website to find how they would suit the brand.

Having already looked into the trendss for Asos I decided to look into their biggest online competitor boohoo to get a sense of how we could incorporate both styles.

Boohoo

Male

Female

The company covered a range of really interesting looks and some styles that had come across in the primary research and from the cookbook website.

From looking into the trends I thought I could also research into styles of photography that we could use for the photoshoot. Having already looked into the print campaigns for Asos I decided to look into their other online competitors to get idea's for location, shot types and so on.

Looking at these images has given me an idea on how we could have the photo shoot depending on weather it is a studio or location setting. Another important factor to the photo shoot is the clothing as it's what makes the shots stand out and defines the whole look and aesthetic of what we are trying to propose. With this research I can now start piecing looks together.

ASOS: DISTRIBUTION / PROMOTION

Looking into what Asos has created with it's magazine I decided to reproach further into their campaign and distribution techniques as a source of influence.

This campaign went into it's customers homes and took pictures of them in there natural setting with key items from asos they couldn't live without, this is a clever campaign in solidifying it's target audience and the range of people who are interested in the brand.

Asos doesn't heavily promote it's content with print apart from it's magazine and online features apart from this I found a few old billboard campaigns and posters. In looking at these I have a better understanding of the aesthetic that Asos have in regards to there promotional material and whats already been done.

ASOS: FURTHER PRINT RESEARCH

For the proposed printed element of the brief, I brought one of the magazines to take a closer look at to get an idea of what kind of colours, formats and font's they used. The magazine uses a multitude of layouts and grids and has a lot of content placed onto one page to create impact. The magazine also has interactional features for it's audience to play with such as stickers and flyers.

I also looked at other competitors that ASOS have, such as Topshop to see how they displayed their work for it's consumers to relate to and buy. The magazine uses hand rendered type to create a sense of friendliness and personalisation. It also uses a vast amount of white space and small text to compliment the images. 

Looking into these magazines has given me an idea on how I can approach the design of mine and my partners printed collateral.

ASOS: PRINT RESEARCH

As a initial concept we wanted to create a small publication to go along side the app design for the brief. I decided to research into the aesthetics of the old Asos magazine and layout to gain some inspiration behind the brands style guidelines.

Cover Design

The Asos magazine traditionally uses a lot of layering techniques with images and a multitude of typefaces. The  magazine itself doesn't have a consistent type of style and often changes the colour of the logo to show variation in keeping up with current fashion trends.

(textures and bold prints)

Layout Design

I then looked at the design of the layouts in that the magazine produced as a source of inspiration. The magazine solely focuses on product photography and keeps the same design as the front cover in layering images and experimenting with a multitude of typefaces. The magazine is definitely geared more towards as younger target audience of the age 20 somethings.