Month: August 2020

What brands do you shop for? 
What brands do you wish you could buy? 
How do you purchase items? (in store/ online) (on websites / apps)?What music artists do you tend to listen to?

Are you inspired by ‘fit’ pictures? 
Please choose 3 you are drawn to, and explain why or why not!

Is community important to you in regards to fashion to find like minded individuals?

Do you enjoy using facebook groups to be a part of discussion?

What other Facebook fashion groups are you a part of?

Do you wish they were all in one place so you could find them easier?

Do you connect your Instagram account or spotify account to other apps?

Do you believe streetwear and luxury fashion are converging?

Do you shop archival fashion?

How do you use Instagram in relation to fashion and luxury streetwear?

Do you watch Youtube Videos related to fashion and luxury streetwear? 

Would you use a platform that personalizes what fashion youtube you would watch? Would this excite you?

Do you follow news articles from platforms such as Highsnobiety, Hypebeast, Vogue, etc? What news do you use?

Would you live chat with other individuals in a group setting to host discussions about luxury streetwear and fashion?

Do you attend fashion events? Are they hard to find?

Do you wish there were more?

Do you sell clothing? 

Where do you sell it? 

Do you wish you could manage a selling post across various marketplaces?

Do you ever create wishlists of what you are looking to purchase in regards to fashion?

Do you utilize websites that show you the best places to purchase that item for a lower price such as shopstyle, etc? If not what else do you use?

Where do you gain inspiration for your looks? What social media do you use for it if you do? 

Do you follow specific accounts? If so, please write them.

Do you put outfits together before you wear them? Do you plan your looks?

Do you wish there was a way to do this digitally?

Do you ever look at the way you used to dress?

Do you wish there was a place where you could see how your style has changed?

Would this interest you?

Do you believe individuals are stereotyped by what they wear?

Do you shop archival fashion? Do you shop high fashion brand new? Do you shop luxury streetwear? Do you believe people are a certain way because they purchase clothing from these departments?

What do you think of the original walkthrough (before rebranding) of this application? 

Would you use it? 

Do you think there are too many features?

What feature would you use?

What would you not use?

Would you download it?

When beginning my rebranding deck, I wanted to go back and ask myself..what actually goes into a branding deck? I grew up watching my mother doing it as an art director, but what content actually makes up a deck? So I broke it down through researching brand identity as well as UX branding. I looked at big brand’s style guides to make sure I was ticking off all of the checklists as well.

What goes inside?: A mission statement, buyer persona, color palette, Editorial Style guide, typography, Our Holistic Vision, Approach, Key values, Goal of rebranding, buyer persona, Symbol / emblem / letter mark / logotype / combination mark, Descriptor keywords, brand keywords, brand plus keywords, slogans, brand interactive elements, brand ambassadors, etc.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

When it comes to UI style guides, typography scheme, responsive layouts, color palette, buttons visualizations, spacing and positioning for design low res wireframes are important to include.

While working on my app during my BA, I created an instagram just to be scanned for a poster but never posted anything on there. It was originally under @youniformapp but I decided to change it to @youniform.global for a worldwide effect. My friend Maisey posted her photos and tagged the app, which I will be doing now on while I document this culture through photography. It can be content for the app as well as promotion! I collaborated with my friend Lauren on the emblem (process coming soon!).

In my Presentation / PDF Final Outcome, I decided to share some of my favorite books I had read during the break when I focused on secondary textual analysis / research. I enjoyed This is not a T-shirt the most as I visited the Hundreds office during my trip and went to their holiday party in Los Angeles. It was the most inspiring and I’d love to email Bobby Hundreds when I am home and continue this process to hopefully interview him as he reminded me of my love for street style as a multicultural melting pot of rebellion.

I also decided to insert my primary research of ethnography, taking photos of the streetwear culture of Los Angeles on Fairfax and Melrose (popular streets for famous shops). I challenged myself by shooting on a film camera – something I hadn’t done since I was 18. I want to continue this journey of photography. Heres some other photos I took when interviewing potential users who shop archive and elevated streetwear.

I was inspired by my moodboard, while creating the digital media content the app could potentially use. This would be for promotional banners and flyers, so I tried to follow and try graphic design the best I could by reimagining it in YOUNIFORM style. Note my inspiration from the Comme Des Garcon Poster as well as this other CDG Design Report. The banner below is for Facebook, Flyer to possibly be posted physically or used for any press articles.

After creating a font by changing the R in GLYPHS using the original DRUK Font, I decided to play around with how the word YOUNIFORM could be presented.

I was inspired by the recent change in many fashion houses to a minimal Logo, and I wanted to follow in their footsteps.

I met with the two UX Designers I am collaborating with, Fei and Jason and we went over functionality of the application. We realized create and inso could be two separate things. Also the overview sections were pointless due to the toggle thing at the top part for switching between options. We decided to move INSPO to the bottom as well as profile to get rid of the hamburger menu at the top which was pointless. GROUPS after doing my focus group was un-necessary as these could be within the chat feature.

We also wanted to find a better way to toggle between the archive of the user, so we decided to put a timeline feature the user could toggle between. We also decided create should be within here so the user could create looks through their profile as it made more sense for the personalization of the application.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

I went to visit the Archive.DNA Exhibition at the StockX pop up in London before I went home for the holidays. I had been reading a variety of books, going back to understand the original roots of streetwear. I was looking at a pattern within these books: marking the hype of Jordans and sneaker boutiques, the rise of Shaun Stussy as a pivotal point within streetwear, the influence of the Japanese fashion scene, etc. This exhibition focused on popularized shoes throughout the birth, growth, and flourish of this culture’s timeline. It was interesting to see those select limited edition pairs I was drawn to on page, (previously shown in these books), and to actually be up close and personal with them. I especially enjoyed StockX’s section called: The Hall of fakes – it highlighted the signifier of their mobile application, how they authenticated anything resold within the app to make sure it was not fake product (a common scamming technique used within online reselling). It showed fake Supreme box logo hoodies, as well as fake Cactus Jack Travis Scott Nikes (which had come out pretty recently).

Recently, I was listening to the audio book version of “This is Not a T-Shirt” by Bobby Hundreds, and he defined streetwear as a merchandise associated with an attitude, THE attitude of youth and rebellion. He says, “Streetwear is rooted in diversity and an exchange of cultures: not solely skateboarding, not just hip hop or runway fashion or the avant-garde: streetwear incorporates all of these effects….” I have actually had quite some involvement with The Hundreds while being in LA. I visited their Los Angeles Christmas Party at the Roosevelt Hotel, and visited their offices in Vernon, California to interview my friend Justin who works as marketing within this iconic streetwear company. The Hundreds was the first streetwear company I took an interest in. At the age of 15, my cousin asked me to give him a makeover, and dress him like the cool kids in school, and I had noticed a trend where boys wore The Hundreds. I walked into their previous location in Santa Monica, cool skater boys behind the till, the large sculpture of their signature adam bomb, not even coming across the fact as a girl I could have purchased something for myself. I recognized it as a mens only club type of store. It made me laugh to think of this memory and how far streetwear has come. While in LA, I’ve decided to take a step back from what I know and instead of glossing over the classic shops and Americana signage that I passed everyday of my childhood – I use a magnifying glass almost, to notice those streetwear boutique lined stores I take for granted, and the culture that has become normalized, in almost a decade (thanks to the internet).

As Bobby Hundreds described his love for blogging, I realized I can utilize this blog in a form to document my experimentation and Journey of YOUNIFORM, but also how this project is changing the journey and influences of who I am. Just as he created the Bobby Hundreds Project, I feel this could be my: Sophie Bernard Project.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

During a discussion with my mother who is an art director, I asked about typography – something that was never taught to me during my BA, but I was interested during the rebranding of YOUNIFORM. I had barley worked in Adobe Illustrator, and wanted to adventure into the world of font. As an avid documentary watcher, she recommended I take a look at the Netflix Series Abstract. The famous typography designer Jonathan Hoefler, discussed the basis of typeface design, as well as previous famous projects he had worked on. I was inspired, as he walked around New York City, I thought of this time last year, when I was there, visiting the Public Theater (a project he worked on), and walking past the tiffany display on 5th street near my grandfather’s apartment on 62nd and 5th. It was interesting how easily he recognized fonts through various interfaces in the world around him. I then became hyperaware, driving through Los Angeles, looking at street art, billboards and large store signage (something my boyfriend had focused on during his photo series he produced while visiting me). While my boyfriend visited me in Los Angeles, he studied Graphic Design at Chelsea. We discussed the rebranding of YOUNIFORM’S font. He showed me how to change and design my own lettering in Illustrator (and I also watched a few tutorials online to further challenge myself). He also showed me some inspirational typeface designers, similar to the aesthetic I was trying to achieve. I will link them below.

https://www.patrickthomas.com

https://bamlondon.com

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

I attended the Los Angeles Intro to UX Workshop by General Assembly, to cover the basis of UX that I may have missed during my BA. I realized there were steps missing in my previous approach. I also wasn’t thinking of the user journey, by asking the potential user. I plan to have a Skype call with UK potential users that I reached out to from the High Fashion Talk, to go over the usability of the application (i.e. what they would use/not use). In the talk, they said the prototyping is all the same, and after talking to some coders from the Dots, I have decided to stay in XD through my own approach, but I am collaborating with those working in FIGMA, and trying it out as well to mind map our new functionality of each feature.