Research Reflection.

Reflection
 Since beginning my research to now having done all of it (unless more comes along when experimenting!) I have learnt a lot and also been able to expand my knowledge and ideas on where I want to take my FMP.
 I began by doing some initial primary research aimed at my demographic of women ages 18-25, the aim of this was to gather some information on the brands, colour palette and overall aesthetic that my demographic gravitate towards. What followed this was a lot of secondary research that was essential to complete before moving forward with the designs and actual making of my products.

What did I want to find out?
 When setting out on my research I had firstly hoped to find out what colour palette my audience like, then I hoped to find out why those were popular colours, did they have an effect on the product and brand and do certain colours and finishes of a product effect its retail price. I found this out which is one of the most important pieces of research I did as along with this came looking into pricing, websites that sell certain brands etc. In addition to this I also wanted to find out what were the most popular brands in the UK and why. I wanted to be able to compare them and their products as well as their retail prices and ways of advertising.

Types of research I did...
 I conducted both primary and secondary research to gather a large amount of information linking to my fmp. The research I undertook was done through a number of sources, including online articles, books, and submitting a questionnaire directly to my target audience. For me personally I found the secondary research the most useful, both for theoretical reasons as well as inspirational reasons, however on the other hand I also found that primary research was really useful, being able to directly ask my target audience through a survey as well as in person allowed me to hone in on certain brands and areas of a product to focus my work on.

Idea development & new inspiration
 To me this section of the FMP is arguably the most important. By allowing yourself to have the creative freedom to create a brand and range of products is very time consuming, specifically for the research section. For me and my idea development I found all areas of my research good to keep my ideas flowing, I found that as I was creating the research myself I could really specify and hone in on the things in which are important to me and the brand I am creating.
 After producing a large amount of my secondary research I found the site Pinterest to be crucial, it really started my visual and aesthetic ideas flowing, I was able to find the colour schemes and images online that I couldn't specifically get from a google search. For me there wasn't a particular brand or artist that I discovered, however I always had brands from the beginning of my FMP that had influenced me and inspired me to actually do this project, one of which being Anastasia Beverly Hills. I have spoken about their colour palette and products prior to this post but that is the brand I think inspired me to begin this project.

Three most important things...
 The three most important things I was able to gather from my research would have to begin at the questionnaire I produced. The was essentially the first piece of research I did where I washable to reach my demographic and ask the specific questions. From this I found out the price range they are happy with, along with the brands and products they currently use, which influenced the three end products I am deciding to create. In addition to this I was able to find out that colour palette and minimalism is their priority when it comes to purchasing new products.
  I also found that looking at the UK's top 10 brands really helped me in regards to research. By finding this internet article and producing a case study on the brand sit enabled me to look into why they make the list, is it their advertising, products, product packaging, associates etc. This also gave me a nice place to begin with my own research and what I should base my products off.
  Lastly I would have to say that my online advertising blog post and research was another crucial step for me. In this I looked at a number of sources such as different YouTube videos, sponsored Instagram posts etc to examine the brands that are advertised and who they associate themselves with. This was really helpful to me as of course one of the things I really want to do it product an advertisement banner for the site YouTube, along with a larger poster, therefore this helped me look into the analytics of adverts and their success, if this were to be taken to a larger level!

Confidence
Upon having completed all of my research I can say that I am a lot more confident about completing my products now. Using internet articles along with other forms of research I have been able to look at all types of brands and packaging that has influenced me to begin creating my digital visuals and advertisements! I think having completed my research I have changed the way in which I will advertise them. By this I mean the aesthetic and visual way, I think I want to now go for a more smokey, pastel, calm, plant visual type branding rather than the more matte black average branding. I think the way in which I want to produce my brand packaging will still be minimalistic too, just a more colourful version!

Any changes?
 In regards to if there is anything that has changed since completing my research I would say that little things here and there have most definitely changed. Ranging from products I should look to for inspiration (what is most popular nationwide and in my demographic?). I think my idea from the start was very visually strong however seemed a little hard, after completing my research I am more confident and therefore are happy to make the little changes in my work, as all of the changes are inspired by my new research findings. These specific changes can be found in every piece of research & the matching blog!

Designing Experimentation Part 1.

Font, imagery & Layout
 Before I began my actual designs and experimenting with them I wanted to do some research regarding designing my products. Firstly I opened up photoshop and browsed the presets and templates they have to offer, as in a recent project (LJHugs) I was able to find a n iPhone mock up where I could inset my own pictures, making it appear as though it was on the phone! I downloaded the most appropriate template I could find just to do some initial work and just have a bit of fun with.

This image above was under the 'makeup/beauty' search results, I didn't manage to come across any free templates with makeup packaging such as foundation, eye shadow etc so I had a look at the one above in which showcases moisturisers etc. Having the bottles as a base for my own packaging was helpful as it gave me some inspiration, not to mention the subtle leaves behind the products as this is the type of imagery I really like!

 I next experimented slightly with the use of plants and some backgrounds, in my head I was trying to envision what would be on my packaging, so what I created would be what would be on the bottle for example. This was something I didn't intend to even include in my process / blog as I just wanted to experiment myself, however I think it shows my journey of experimentation and creative thoughts pathway.

 This image above was created using the plant from the template and layer underneath it was an image from Pinterest. I am very keen to include some type of marble/ water / water colour effect within my products as I think it reflects me as a person/brand but it is also a really subtle and minimalistic way of adding colour to a product, it is also a very popular pattern at the moment. 

Next I decided to change the leaves into the large ones which you would have seen in my previous collages, mixed with a different type of image. I looked into baby pink marble to use for the base of my logo and the name of the product, this is most definitely something I will have to experiment with because I also don't want the packaging for my products to be too 'blocky'.

 Something I have looked into using for my product background (like the above images) was using colour smoke and taking images of that, either from the internet or using my own, to bass my product around. Below is a screenshot on interest of the type of thing I mean.

 This inspiration not only came form me wanting to use a pastel coloured theme including marble/water, but also from a shoot I didn't this time last year for a friend's amp magazine. We went into the woods with some coloured flares where I photographed her and her boyfriend amongst the smoke, below is two of the images I had taken. 

 However realistically with the time scale and also the practicality of this happening is very slim. I think these types of images work really well for a magazine or perhaps video, but trying to use some in photoshop to put on a product may sound good, however I can see it not turing out how I would want it too. This is something I am going to consider doing a test shoot for however, because it may look good form my advertisement banner rather than using them on the actual product!

How to...

 I stopped experimenting slightly with my layout as I wanted to look into how to use foil lettering on photoshop, as that is a feature I will be using on my products. At first I thought it would be the case of using letters online and the quality may lower, however I came across a tutorial on Vimeo (here) on 'How to create a gold foil effect on photoshop'. This was easier than I thought it would be and is also something I'm very happy I found and now know how to do as this will help me a lot in the next coming weeks for design work. Below I have inserted some screenshots and steps to refer back too.

1. Make foreground a light yellow/ gold colour 
2. Make background a darker yellow / gold colour
3. Make new layer
4. 'Filter' > 'Render' > 'Clouds'
5. 'Filter' > 'Noise' > 'Add noise' > 'monochromatic'
6. 'Filter' > 'Filter gallery' > 'Distort' > 'Glass'
7. New layer
8. Add text
9. Put layer 1 above text in layers panel
10. Select layer 1, 'Layer' > 'Create clipping mask'

 Then I inserted my name to test the theory again without watching the video and added that to my little mock up example as seen above!

 Layout
 I really liked the layout and positioning of the template where it showcases the products with a plain background, but also included some plants. For my poster and banner I will be doing something similar, I will produce it on photoshop/indesign for a studio-like background with my products in the foreground and some greenery or some type of water in the background. i want the products to give off a very calm, nature vibe mixed with style and luxury. As you would notice I haven't discussed anything about the products inside themselves mainly because I am not focusing on them) so although I want to mainly achieve a very natural mixed with luxury brand I am not focussing on, say the ingredients of the makeup inside. When it comes to selling the product in the advert I will need to come up with something that sells it for being luxury/natural, as I don't want to base the whole brand around something such as natural ingredients/animal testing.
 As discussed in my initial sketchbook work about potential ideas for my FMP I talked about collaborating two brands together as well as a charity/ bringing in a new concept for an already existing brand, such as against testing on animals. I was very keen on this idea and liked that it would focus on that, however it isn't something I have much knowledge on and I also find that products specifically advertising 'no animal testing' are very much so about using simple, cost effective colours and materials, which is fantastic, however with what I want to create I would't be able to do so. In addition to this, when looking at my questionnaire results the most popular brands that people use such as MAC and Rimmel test on animals, therefore I personally would't think it would be as appropriate and easy to produce.

 Conclusion

 To conclude, from these beginner experimentations of layout and imagery I am able to see clearly the visual direction I want to take my brand and what I want to incorporate when it comes to my digital advertisements. I will not use as many things as shown above as it looks a little mix-matched however it was a necessary step to take in order to visually see where things can potentially go for the visual of the brand. More experimentation and sketches will follow of my brand and the over all look of my products!

Things I will apply from this to my final product...

• The use of water colour / cloud / smoke effect is most definitely something I will incorporate into my branding as I think it shows off the overall aesthetic I am aiming to achieve. In addition to this I think bringing in a more 'earthy, natural environment' look to a product with perhaps the opposite 'intentions' is an interesting mix too and I think could also work really well if executed fantastically.

Makeup & Beauty On Websites.

Brands
 After receiving all my responses from my questionnaire of where people primarily purchase their makeup, 28% of people said they bought their makeup on the internet so I decided to further investigate the possibilities of where from. There are three main outlets online in which you can purchase makeup, The site itself (for example Benefit.com), a partnering site (for example BeautyBay.com), or thirdly from a website that sells a variety of branded products along side their own. By this I mean missguided.co.uk  and similar sites.

 Firstly I compiled a list of websites that sell branded goods along with their own, as this would allow me to research into sites that want to aim at the audience that are interested in makeup. I looked at clothing website popular in the Uk to compare and contrast what they sell and the variety of what they sell, giving me a wider knowledge of perhaps why they do / do not sell certain brands!

Asos
 1The beauty section for this website was the largest out of all 6 I investigated, giving a total of 2398 items. They had such a large variety of both products and brands which was very interesting to me. ASOS seems to be one of those sites where you can buy anything fashion/beauty related without the need to visit any other sites. The item and brand they sold most of was MAC Cosmetics having 435 products available. Next on the list I saw NYX with 130 items, ranging from lipstick, to eye shadow and lashes. The interesting thing about this was that they sold 5 out of the 10 'Top 10 Beauty Brands in the UK', so in regards to my research prior to this post, ASOS stock 5 of the top 10 products this year. These include Benefit, L'Oreal, MAC, Maybelline and Rimmel London.

Price ranges...
 As one of the things on my research list is to compare and contrast the prices of beauty products against each other, I decided to include it in this segment as it really allows me to look at the largest variety of beauty products and brands, and why their prices have such a large gap.
 So the price range on the ASOS Beauty page is £0-£175. The cheapest products to buy start at £2.99 (excluding sale), this being things such as Barry M nail varnish, lip liners etc. The most expensive thing to purchase on ASOS Beauty (more specifically makeup and skincare) is currently the Elemis Pro Collagen cream retailing at £145.  More specifically the products that have relevance to my project are Liquid Lipsticks, eye shadow palettes and foundation. So I narrowed my searches, the most expensive liquid lipstick they have to offer is Illamasqua Lip Lures retailing at £19.50, than the cheapest they have to offer is Barry M 'Matte Me Up' retailing at £4.99.


In regards to packaging I feel as though the illamasqua product (left) looks more sleek and has a more expensive feel to it, in comparison to the Barry M lip product. Saying this however I don't think the more expensive products always look the best.

TopShop
 2The next brand I wanted to investigate was TopShop. This brand name to mind for me because when entering TopShop I always remember them having a large makeup section of their own branded makeup, encouraging me to investigate their online site to see if they do only sell TopShop branded goods. Much to my surprise they exclusively sold their own branded makeup, with branded things such as EOS lip balm, and Eyelure Eye lashes. When looking more specifically into their products I immediately gravitated towards their Lip Kit. As you can see in the image below it comes in a container, including the lip kit that comes with lip paint and then in addition to that the option to mattify the lip kit. It retails at £18, however coming with three separate products to use on your lips, so you are technically getting more fore you money when you compare it to the high end brand Illamasqua.

£15- TopShop Brand

For this site I didn't see such a large variety in regards to price ranges as there were only 103 results altogether. So I next looked at eye shadow and noticed the only eye shadow palettes they have to offer are quads that are infact limited edition. They are all glitter shadows are it retails at £15, which in my opinion is quite high in regards to price ranged for eye shadow, especially for 4 eye shadows excluding any matte shades. When it comes to eye shadow palettes you will 9 times out of 10 expect 1-3 matte shades in the palette (unless they are all matte, or all shimmer, visa versa) to make it more wearable and also to make it the 'only product you will ever need'. You will be able to see example of this in the collages I produced in a previous blog post here.

Lastly I wanted to look into Foundation as this would be the last product I will be producing myself, unfortunately TopShop don't offer foundation (on their site anyway) so this isn't something I am able to look into. So when it comes to their other products I notice the packaging is very simplistic and highly priced, from personal experience I have only ever bought one beauty related product from there many years ago. I bought a Matte Lipstick and I have decided to insert some images below of what the product looked like and how it was. I think personally it wasn't worth the money, so perhaps in their case people are so hooked on their clothing and accessories they will buy the makeup for the name as opposed to quality of product...





 To my memory I bought this for about £8 around 3/4 years ago, showing that since then they have raised their prices and also completely changed their packaging and image, something to take into consideration, as not all of this brands started off how they are now and that it takes time, development and trends to alter packaging to match a demographic.



Boohoo
 3The next brand I was going to briefly look at was Boohoo, this being that it is a cheap clothing site so I wondered whether they had their own makeup range and if they sold any branded things. What I did discover was that the pricing was intact very cheap and they primarily sold their own branded things, however did intact stock Barry M and Technic. I wanted to mainly look at eye shadow palettes for this brand because I noticed they had more eye shadow compared to TopShop, however at more than half the price and had 35 shades in as opposed to 4! From what I can see the product quality looks poor to me, in the images themselves it looks cheaply made to be cheaply sold, which there is nothing wrong with.

It seemed to me there was a sale on all of their own branded products, as I feel like there always is (on clothing and accessories) to lure customers in to buying things cheap 'before it ends'.









Once I had looked into the available eye shadows I decided to move on to liquid lipsticks, where I found a pack of three liquid matte lipsticks all nude shades, for £4.90 (with their 30% off). The packaging for all of their makeup looks very plain and simple, most likely so that it is easy and cheap to produce, however they are also technically sticking to what is popular and the national / international trends in the makeup world.

It seems as though so far Boohoo have the cheapest own branded makeup, however with no reviews available on their site I do not know if the simplicity and cheapness of their products are worth it! For me keeping a product's packaging simplistic is something I need to do, after all my demographic find that and the colour palette the most important, but for my personal style I don't think this packaging is gravitating me to buy and investigate more into the product, it looks a little too simplistic to me and looks as cheap as it is.

 Urban Outfitters
4
 Next I looked into the clothing/home/accessories brand Urban Outfitters. Online they had 204 beauty products to offer, but this time the brands they had to offer differed from all of the above I had researched. I came across BH Cosmetics and Pixi. What i didn't know prior to this research was that Urban Outfitters do not have their own beauty range, which surprised me because of it's popularity you would have thought they would bring out their own brand of makeup by now. So I looked at what they had available just in the makeup section and it was narrowed down to 28 results, all of which were brushes, makeup bags or lip balms. Meaning that I will not be using Urban Outfitters for inspiration for pricing or packaging as this isn't what I am aiming to produce!




Pretty Little Thing
 The second to last site I wanted to research is Pretty Little Thing which was founded fairly recently (2012) and this waste site that was important for me to research as they are a UK based retailer, with an audience of females aged 16-24, and is intact owned by boohoo.com. Once I had found out it was owned by boohoo my first thought was that it will be a similar site to boohoo, however it is completely different! Their prices are slightly higher than boohoo.com and their layout is more professional, the colours are more enticing and it - to me- looks like a nicer, urban, polished version of boohoo.
 
 Makeup wise they had 744 items to offer having a lot of different brands I had never heard of before, but seeing as I have done enough research and filled this blog with the other brands I decided to focus on the makeup and price/packaging of Pretty Little Thing branded products. Once I had refined my search I was left with 21 products branded by PLT, ranging from contour palettes to eye shadow and highlight. Much to my surprise they don't stock any liquid / any form of lipstick or foundation, they seem to be sticker to powdered goods for the eyes and cheeks! So I could only investigate the packaging and eyeshadow.


When browsing the website I came across another 35 shadow palette, as you can see from the visual above their images and way of advertising are different to boohoo, however this is the exact same price for quantity as boohoo, similar shades and layout. It seems as though everything on this website makeup wise is similar to boohoo, but the packaging is most definitely more enticing along with the supporting images of the products. When you order off of PLT the packaging you receive your goods in is a pink bag with unicorns on, they also seem to go for a holographic vibe, using a lot of highlight in their image son the models, perhaps to aim at the younger females and the 'girly girls' after all that is their demographic. I would say however I would be more inclined to purchase this as opposed to the boohoo palette, the difference in the demographic between the two is boohoo aim "at 16-30 year olds" both genders, but PLT states "16-24 year old females" this is something to take into consideration with my project because my demographic is females ages 18-25, so I need to find a good balance between simplistic and 'boring' (in my opinion) so over the top and too young and girly looking.

Missguided
 Lastly I investigated missguided as when discussing with peers popular online sites for clothing in our area this was a popular contender! For the makeup section there were 46 items found, however all of these were branded makeup and not their own. This was odd for me because when I knew I was going to research into missguided I immediately remembered their makeup collection launch and how I liked their packaging and creativity with products, however it is no longer available on their site for me. Below is a screenshot of the products that first come up when you look into the makeup they have to offer:

As you can see, brands such as Barry M and Models Own are popular on their site, and as mentioned previously I wanted to try and stick to own brands for the second half of this blog post to really investigate packaging, however I didn't realise how little these brands sell. I decided to hunt for some type of image of the product launch I vividly remember and I came across an internet article by Cosmopolitan7 back in October 2016.

 I came across this eye palette that retailed at £10, which almost seems in the middle of pricing such as TopShop, and Pretty Little Thing, giving my a 'higher end, middle and lower'. The packaging for this palette was really aesthetically pleasing to me, the blue and white smoke / water effect looked really effective, giving some nice colours yet keeping it simplistic. Interestingly enough you can see the shadows through the cardboard exterior and the packaging doesn't match and reflect the inside product (as discussed and analysed in the post here)








 Lastly I found a Lip Kit (right) which intrigued me, when I clicked the link on the cosmopolitan article it led me to the site where I can purchase the product, but searching for it independently it didn't exist. despite this fact it sells a gloss inspired lip kit, with two glosses and one lip liner all nude shades. I think the packaging for this product was strange, it looks like it comes in a 'space themed/ like' bag, something I hadn't seen and didn't consider before either. I think the reason this isn't my favourite type of packaging is that there isn't really much too it, having a transparent material showing the products off doest appeal to me personally. This lip kit is only £8 for the three products, a similar kit to what TopShop had to offer, but again a lot cheaper...

Conclusion
 This post wasn't intended to be the length it was however I also didn't anticipate to discover this much about individual sites and brands that are sold on them. I have discovered the huge price range gaps depending on the name of the brand and also that the packaging, in this piece of research, doesn't effect the price. We found the PLT and Boohoo palette that was the exact same retailed for the same price however one had metallic foil and images printed on. I have found this out now meaning that the cheaper the look of the product, doesn't mean the cheaper is to produce and sell, and visa versa.
 In regards to my FMP this has encouraged and inspired me to begin my creations, it was nice to see the price rangers and what you got for your money in a way, it gives me an idea of the price range I will set my products at and also gives me some nice inspiration for potential packaging. As discussed in one of my first FMP blogs I wanted to look into making a website to sell my products on ( a mock up of one...) and if time allows I would still be really interested to produce a little site, I think the website and layout of a website also reflect the products as I have learnt today.

 As I continue to wrap up the last pieces of research I am excited to begin designing, however I know I am going to be face with hurdles when it comes to delivering my end products physically. I know I need to either find a site that I can send my flat designs to and they will print them for me, or I need to start producing nets using illustrate as advised by Steve as opposed to indesign to attempt to print and construct myself. One thing for certain is i want to produce some mock up products and ensure my digital version of my products is outstanding, after all this is a Digital Publishing course and as explained before I don't think a printing issue will mark me down!

Things I will apply from this to my final product...

• When creating my website I want to really take into consideration the layout and use of images to show off the product as visuals is everything when selling products online as of course the 'touch' sense isn't there!

1: http://www.asos.com/women/face-body/make-up/cat/?cid=5020&cr=4&nlid=ww%7Cface%20+%20body%7Cshop%20by%20product
2:http://www.topshop.com/en/tsuk/category/beauty-3326659/face-1906567?cat1=208495&cat2=208568%3Fintcmpid%3DW_HEADER_VIEWALLMAKEUP_UK_FACE
3:http://www.boohoo.com/womens/accessories/beauty
4:https://www.urbanoutfitters.com/en-gb/make-up
5:https://www.prettylittlething.com/plt-caught-your-eye-35-shade-eyeshadow-palette.html
6:https://www.missguided.co.uk/accessories/beauty/make-up#p=2
7: https://www.cosmopolitan.com/uk/beauty-hair/makeup/news/a46434/missguided-online-beauty-range/

Online Advertising.

Digital Marketing
 Another large part of my FMP for me is creating some form of online advertisement in which is relevant to the product, and the demographic. When thinking of ways to do this I immediately gravitated towards adverts on YouTube (whether that be sponsored videos, banners running along side, or advertisements before and throughout) along with website advertisements ( for example through Facebook, Instagram etc).

YouTube Adverts
 So to begin this portion of research I went to youtube to find the three example above, one of each so that i have a variety and can look at their effectiveness, I imported the screenshots into photoshop and decided to annotate around them (easier said than done!)

1

2

3

4

 After I had analysed these 4 individual different ways of advertising on the platform YouTube I can see how brands heavily rely on these influencers to sell their products, whether that be directly in a video, or subtle hits and adverts along side. For me personally I prefer the more subtle hints, just because I like someone as an 'influencer' and they get paid to sell a product to me slightly puts me off! Sometimes when I see the banners for example on Zoella's video as shown above, I am more inclined to look at the product, because I can exit the ad at any moment, rather than the whole video being based on something, or video adverts before be able to view the video!
 Something I have only seen recently is the most subtle way of advertising, this was in the description box of another Zoella video as seen below:

 As you can see it clearly states "any links below with a '*' are affiliate links" meaning that she receives a percentage of the revenue that is made from her audience purchasing those particular items through her links. Something to put into perspective from this is that she is clearly a high respected 'influencer' and the more brands can use her and her platform, the more products people will buy.

Claris Clean Ad
 5The next thing I decided to do was research and discuss a very interesting internet article to me. This article was called "Clarins Cleans Up Ad Game" it discusses how the beauty and skincare brand Clarins managed to re evaluate their advertising techniques and clean them up all in one year. Initially Clarins adverts would pop up on art websites, irrelevant to those visiting the website as they had no interest in beauty. The reason their adverts ended up on these sites were "as a result of it's investments in programmatic advertising, which doesn't allow advertisers to control where their content appears"
  then in 2017 the brands "served 30% more impressions through direct channels than the average company" this indicated that the change in strategy had reversed. As the brand switched to direct advertising in 2017, YouTube became its top publishing site for video ads. To me this is a really important bit of information as it tells me that if I were to create a digital marketing advertisement for my products, YouTube would infact be the most effective space for it, especially given that it is beauty.

Instagram Posts
 The next social media site and outlet I investigated was Instagram, the reason for this being that it is one of the most popular social media sites worldwide, and the fact that it is a visual site, this is important for me regarding what I am advertising as it would be perfect for this site, as opposed to twitter.

When scrolling on my Instagram I constantly come across either sponsored posts (people / companies I don't follow) or #Ad / #Sponsored posts by individuals - as well as brands- I do follow. By having the hashtag AD, it lets viewers know that that particular post is sponsored by the brand and they are getting paid to say / review the product (the exact same as YouTube). The first one I found that was relevant was by the makeup company Sephora, they did a '#Regram' of a post done by a makeup enthusiast.

  When it comes to my project personally, I feel like creating an ad like this, where it includes a video, wouldn't be something I would want to create, a lot of the adverts I see on Instagram are tutorials or shot videos showing off certain products. On the other hand I have also seen images that are adverts too, however I feel as though using video is more appealing and grabs the audience, enticing them into the product. This being that through a video you can watch someone use the product, you can see their personality, the techniques they use and more, almost showing you that it isn't just for professionals.


Next I came across a sponsored ad on my timeline, by a brand I do not follow. This again was a stop motion video advertising the product to me. This is much like the above video however the brand are trying to reach new customers, the one above already had my attention are I follow similar brands afflicted with Sephora, along with certain influencers. Then this brand 'Alpo' wouldn't be attached to me or my profile in any way shape of form, so they are most likely expanding their demographic and aiming that particular add to me and those in my category.










Conclusion 
 To conclude, my findings here have been successful and very eye opening to the world of digital marketing using YouTube, Google claims "YouTube ads are more effective than TV"6  which isn't surprising to me. I feel as though the use of TV and advertisements on TV are becoming less effective for the new generations, I don't remember the last conversation I had with peers about what was on the television, it is all about YouTube and Netflix now.

Things I will apply from this to my final product...

• From these findings I now know the type of banner and advert I want to create for YouTube, meaning that I can now look into appropriate dimensions in order to create my mock up, along with who I will place my 'ads' with, taking into consideration what the youtube video is about, and what the demographic is ( Uk based as opposed to international for me)

1:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRNYoWFjmEc&t=185s
2:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gL9zZaBw2pU
3:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eljAjPH6zQI
4:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fAZjCdenE8s
5: https://www.l2inc.com/daily-insights/clarins-cleans-up-ad-game
6:https://www.theguardian.com/media/2016/apr/20/google-youtube-ads-tv

Build A Digital Marketing Plan - Google Presentation.

Primary Research
 Conveniently this presentation that was hosted by Google in college conjoins with my project and the way in which I want to market my products. I decided to take some notes as this will be useful for me, not just for my FMP but also when I leave college and my future with digital publishing/ digital marketing.
 The whole presentation was based on building a digital marketing plan, shooting facts and statistics I had never even explored or researched before! First of all I learned that 72% of people in the U.K buy products on their mobiles, and that across the world  60% of searches are done via mobile. In relation to my fro this is interesting because I want to advertise and market my makeup collection digitally, however I also want to produce one poster (physically printed), these statistics however back up my idea that  I want to primarily produce my makeup collection and the advertising for these products online, after all that's where everyone is looking!
 I had taken some pictures of the slides in which I thought were vital and intrigued me so that I could further research into those specific places, below you can see a handful of them:








 At the end of the presentation there was also an opportunity to go online to google and learn from them, doing short courses (15 minute courses for example). I thought this was really interesting, even just to expand my knowledge and learn something new, so I went to the website and set up my first course, this being the introduction as seen below:


 This will help me with my FMP as it will extend my knowledge on the world of marketing products online and the importance of using certain sites and techniques to do it successfully. I will Complete these lessons and if I enjoy it I will continue with them in my spare time, and look forward to learning more about building a digital marketing plan!

Mood Boards - Existing Products & Packaging.

Product Packaging
 This next mood board I produced consisted of the makeup products I own and have kept the packaging for. I decided that when it came to this section of my research I wanted to create a collage based on the products I had bought and can physically see and feel the packaging for, making it clearer in my sketchbook for texture purposes. I looked at a variety of products, ranging from primarily eye shadow palettes, to lipstick and power packaging. The reason I specifically chose the items below was for the variety in texture and colour they have on their packaging. I can see gold foils, chrome finishes and 3D printed letters, then a more simple design for the NARS foundation with a matte box and white plain writing, keeping it very simplistic which was good to keep into consideration as simplicity and colour palette were the top two most important features according to my demographic. The first collage was to be kept as simple as I could keep it, as a more textured and 3D version is available in my sketchbook. Something I found really interesting was of course that the outer packaging to all the products I own, match the packaging of the physical product inside, however varying materials as you will be able to see in my second college. For example the Modern Renaissance eye shadow palette gives a cardboard exterior, then the actual palette itself comes in a velvet dusty pink box, then within that you have the eyeshadows, all of which relate to the chosen colour palette of 'neutral and berry tones'. for me when it comes to physical inspiration for colour palettes and brands I think Anastasia Beverly Hills is one of my main creative inspirations, I like the materials they use and also the colour tones of each individual product, the quality feels amazing and the outside packaging and advertising really does reflect and match the product inside.

As you can see all of the products packaging include some sort of embellishment of ink, and also involve a lot of rose gold/ gold somewhere on the packaging. I personally hadn't noticed this about all of my products but after this exercise I decided to look into the reasoning for this and came across this interesting internet article that explains the latest trend and the reason behind it. The title of the article is 'Metals and Metallics Are Trending'1 and Mike Warford (director of sales at ABA Packaging cooperation) says that "Metal and metal effects for primary packaging give the perception of high value and luxury product" However it is not just used for makeup, but skincare and fragrance too, sporting a metal cap and clear glass bottle. David Greco who is the vice president of sales added that "we have been getting many requests for metal, especially for lipstick cases and compacts"

 This is really useful information for me as I did already know I wanted to add one foiling and rose gold onto my packaging, however knowing the theoretical reason behind this being a popular print it now encourages me to continue with my idea, as it backs up my thinking for products that include this in their packaging tend to be more popular and aesthetically pleasing!

 Now below I constructed one more college using photoshop to briefly show what the products themselves look look once taken out of the packaging as seen above! This was something I wanted to do so that I can show the ouster packing reflects the product inside and why it is so important to keep designs consistent, through adverts, to the packaging, to the product!

Something that was very clear for me was that the packing did intact reflect ht product inside, however not all the time. For example the Kat Von D eye shadow palette had a very dull outer packaging and very dark muted colours within, however there was also an orange and red shade that one would hot necessarily expect if you didn't know what was inside! Then on the other hand you have the ABH Glow Kit, with a body of chrome packaging that shines and changes colour depending on the light, the product inside reflects this completely, coming with all shades of glitter and holographic like highlight shades within, something you would expect from the packaging! Saying this however it isn't necessarily expected of the brand to have the packaging match exactly what is inside, maybe it gives it all away, or sometimes the packaging can override the product inside, leaving you with disappointment, as you expect so much of it inside and it lets you down.

 After producing these sets of collages using my own products and the materials and colour palettes they use, along with comparing them I have been able to see what appeals to me and also what my audience mean when they say they think colour palette and minimalism is priority for packaging. However I do think these two are almost opposites, how does one use vibrant and aesthetically pleasing colours to attract customers and reflect the product within, whilst still ensuring it is minimalistic and doesn't give too much away or distract you from the product inside.

Things I will apply from this to my final product...

• The use of metallic/holographic is definitely something I will incorporate into my designs, I think the way they look and feel gives off such a nice vibe and sets your expectations for the quality product inside, something I wish to aim and strive towards.

1: https://www.beautypackaging.com/issues/2015-04-01/view_features/metals-and-metallics-are-trending/42055

Weekly Reflection.

Secondary Research and lacking motivation...
 As it stands the deadline is looming for this project, and as I have mentioned before I feel as though I may have over estimated the amount of work I can compete to the standard I am happy with. Looking at the master brief, along with my own detailed lists as long as my arms, I see myself drowning in work meaning that I had lost momentum and motivation for a period of time. Battling through this and working on my secondary research I produced a case study based on an internet article this was my blog post titled 'KIKO's Success' (here). When looking into makeup brands and the current competitors I found as though theres so many to look at and so much information to absorb, meaning I needed to narrow my searches down slightly. So I started this by exclusively looking into national brands, and those of which came up in the Top 10 Brands in the U.K. Why I chose the brand KIKO was because when I was researching into brands and pricing, KIKO sat in-between what we would class as 'Hight Street of High End' products. I wanted to investigate what puts them above others and is this having an influence/ knock on effect to other well known brands? if so why and how.

The thing that I was most intrigued about this case study I produced was that it is inspiring the other brands in the top 10 to change their ways, it also allowed me to investigate into why perhaps their products can range form cheaper to more expensive, and does their packaging (more bland, dark colours) come into the price?

 After I had produced this case study it opened up a whole new can of worms that I needed to research for this project, why their prices range so much? does the packaging effect the prices? Is it the same for some of the higher end brands? so on and so forth. Despite this I decided I needed to focus now on the physical project and the practicality of getting my packaging professionally printed and made, as this would look better than if I were to do this myself. I made a blog post names 'Cosmetic Packaging To Order'. This was one of the research articles that took a lot more time than I had anticipated. When it came to my FMP last year, I found printing a magazine was very easy, whether it be online or in a physical shop, the prices were good as was the service. However because of what I want to create this year it was a little bit more difficult to find UK based brands that were cheap, and also allowed you to order some packaging under the quantity of 200!
 As I briefly mentioned in that blog post I think as long as I have all of my digital visuals and everything produced I will be happy, I think that the marking board and tutors will be able to see why I might not be able to have them physically printed to a high standard as it is just something that is really difficult to have made, so I will try not to focus and worry on that too much.

Soon after completing this crucial research I was able to look back on the questionnaire I had produced, to find I had 31 responses which was a number I was happy to work with, especially when it came to looking at the submitted responses and the variety of answers I had! I decided to produce an infographic in order to show my results in a more visual way especially as my whole project is based on visuals and creativity! I also put all of the answers into a spreadsheet too, as this way it was easy to look at ALL of the responses to compare and contrast them. 

Lastly what I want to discuss in this post is the moodboard for the colour palette I created. This can all be read into great depth over in that particular post here but as is stands I need to get a wriggle on for my mood boards. As of right now I want to still look into potential box / packaging, that will be done through existing products and looking at the wire variety or the different brands, along with brief research into brand prices for the same products and what the difference is between them (i.e more extravagant packaging = more expensive? or are people paying for the brand name due to those linked and associated with the brand). In addition to this I also want to look into websites that sell branded products (asos?) along with YouTube and the way in which advertising is done through that particle platform. Once I have looked at all of these I will then be happy to move on to looking at advertisement posters and banners to get inspiration for my own work, then allowing me to move off from the research side of the project and begin my visuals and creating!