Development diary

1. DEVELOPMENT DIARY

2. WEEK
ONE
• This was the first week of my Final Major Project, the first day of this project was focused on the context of our
project. I had already created a pre-proposal with some ideas of what I wanted to do before Christmas, this week was
just extra information on this. I wanted to create a carry on feminist fanzine from my past project but this fanzine to
be focused on role models from all over the world. I believe context is the best way to get to the roots of your project
so I decided to research different role models as well as products which would suit my project. On Monday, I had
started to research Caitlin Moran and Fem magazine. I had enough knowledge about Caitlin Moran by the end of the
day with two PowerPoint slides full of information about this author, broadcaster and journalist. I like to research as
looking back at my other projects I would say that research is my strong point as I like to know lots about my project
before creating it. However, I would like to conduct further research on Caitlin Moran as I want to know what has
driven her and why someone should admire her compared to other role models like Michelle Obama. I have just
started to research Fem magazine so naturally I need to research further and find out what inspires them as a
magazine and why they decided to create a product with this particular topic. That being said, I need to create further
research as I want to at least research 3 projects/ people to make my product the best it can be. When I am in
projects, I tend to prioritise tasks over other tasks, this week this is shown perfectly as I prioritised my proposal over
finishing this context. From other projects I have liked creating a proposal as it makes me feel as though I am
organised with my work and I know what I want to achieve and how I am going to make it to this point. I think the
only problem I have when I create a proposal is the rationale, over two years I have learnt so many new skills to the
point when I can’t remember what they are until I hit my production when I need them. This is what I could improve
on, when I come back to correcting my proposal and proof reading it I would like to redo my rationale and make it
more reflective from the past two years. Overall, I feel as though this week has been a learning curve, I didn’t create
enough work considering that my deadline for this work is the 28th but on Thursday I will knuckle down, complete the

4. • This week was mainly focused on my research. I started with finding things about feminist theories to use in my
analysis. This was most of Monday morning when I was in the library trying to find different books which had
something about feminist theories. I ended up finding the book ‘Feminist film theory’ by Sue Thornham. There was a
chapter in there from Laura Mulvey explaining the Male Gaze, this was incredibly useful as I want to have the best
research I can do as this is normally my weakness on projects. I then started googling feminist fanzines, I came
across a fanzine called ‘Debate’, and this was created by Auckland university students every two weeks they create a
new fanzine on different subjects. This definitely caught my eye as it was the type of layout which I want to create
for my final major project. I am currently analysing the front cover, two double page spreads, a contents page and
the website. I am adding as much detail into it as I can so I have only researched one existing product at the time
being but I hope to analyse 3 existing products and hopefully more. After I have completed this existing product I
then want to try research a professional magazine, I want to research a magazine instead of a fanzine to see how
they are different and which style I prefer. With a published magazine I will most likely find out more about the
brand and what audience it appeals to rather than guessing that I have had to do with ‘Debate’. Looking back over
the past two days, I would have hoped I would have created more work than I have done, but when you take into
account that I had been to the library on Monday for most of the day and how I want to make a detailed existing
products I think it is going okay. By next Monday I want to start with my audience research so by the Thursday I will
have finished my research and will be prepared to start my idea generation. I don’t think I can improve the work
which I have completed this week, I just want to work quicker so when I come to my deadline I don’t have loads of
things to complete.
WEEK
TWO

6. • This week I carried on with my research. From last week I had only completed one of my existing products with the
help of feminist theory books. I wanted to add as much detail as I could in the few days which I had. On Thursday, I
finished analysing ‘Debate’, realistically I felt as though I had enough research in without analysing the website. I think
just from this bit of research I learnt how to create a professional format for my product, ‘Debate’ has a clear and
simple layout this is something which I felt like my last project didn’t have. Over the weekend I went shopping to see if
I could find any feminist magazines which were published. As I previously stated last week I wanted to look at a
magazine and fanzines, I found a teen magazine which was very empowering for women, this was called ‘Teen
Breathe’. I also researched ‘That’s what she said’ fanzine. I think these products challenged me this week, I felt as
though I struggled to analyse all the different features of the products, I knew I needed to take a break from analysis
on Monday so I decided to create a survey for my primary research. I created 8 short and simple questions and sent it
to people my age (17-24 is the age I want to target for my product). I have done surveys before, the only thing which I
was a bit worried about was if I would get sensible answers which were relevant to my work. Luckily, all my answers
were very relevant when it comes to my planning and production I will refer back to the survey and see what people
are more attracted to. I think what would also be helpful in my primary research if I could contact a feminist club and
see what they find more appealing, I think this will develop my idea because these are the people who I am wanting to
appeal to. From the 3 existing products I have looked at, I know what style of illustrations I want to try create, I know
what contents and what colour theme I want to aim for. My research has been very helpful, for my client project my
illustrations were all completely different styles of graphics and this is something I want to try fix, from looking at
different fanzines with art work in, I know what I want to achieve. I don’t think my research has changed the way I
approach my project but I think this time I will think more carefully into what my audience would like, this seemed to
be the recurring theme in the existing products. Through the research which I have produced I hope I don’t come
across any problems which will need solving, I feel as though I have tried to think of everything which would appeal
the audience. I think the most successful section of my research would be the existing products, I have put so much
effort in and detail into this part of my research, this is something which I feel is crucial in research as I like to see what
is popular and how I can beat that with my product. In the next few days, I hope to finish my research all together, I
have to write up my survey as well as research some secondary research and production research. On Monday, I would
like to start some production experiments and learning new skills for my final major project.
WEEK
THREE

7. https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/XG5B99Q