Theory into practice publication proposal

Theory into practice publication proposal 

Today saw a formal presentation of our proposal plan for the publication we intend to create. I created a presentation based on aspects that could be taken forward from my essay. 

After some discussion within the crit/proposal I am going to go forward with the idea influenced by the Fashion idea based around doing a trainer design. Inspired from elements of the essay discussing trainer collaboration with rappers and the trainers initial intended use for sports.  Bellow is the quote from the essay.

"While having obvious influences from the jumper worn by Biggie the colors used to me connote retro elements, as I mentioned the element of recycling the 80/90s into the modern era this strengthens that concept. Bright vibrant retro colors that remind me off the 90s brought into a modern day production of a fashion item. The actual construction off the shoe is based on a retro shoe design created for the basketball scene, the high top creating great support for the strain the ankle goes through during the game of basketball. This design off shoe the “dunk” along side the “air max” created a duo one of the most iconic shapes off the 90s that are gaining ever more in popularity to this date. SNEAKERBARDETROIT (2013)

I also learned that like Pharell Biggie smalls released a clothing line not long after his spout off success. (BROWN. 2004) informs me from an interview in 1994 that Biggie quotes “I got some shit comin’ this year, no doubt I got my own clothing line line called Big Man Clothes” (BROWN. 2004. p.73). Rappers adding there stamp to the fashion industry was as ripe then as it is now."

Plan/Rationale

The initial plan I will work towards from this will be the following.

Looking into trainer design and how trainer design is influenced by certain aspects and concepts I will create my own redesign of a trainer. I will then go on to produce a booklet showing all the fundamental stages behind this trainer explaining its production stages, its influences, its design, technical aspects of it, color variations etc. 

It was mentioned that the print quality needed to be considered as these publications are usually quite high end aesthetically so i plan on printing it through the publishing company blurb.com. The ideal context of the physical book would be used in conjunction with high end limited edition trainer releases, the booklet would provide a sort of background behind the trainer and give the trainer a more exclusive consumerist need. 

The idea of producing my own trainer design has links with my essay where there was a point in there that talked about hip hop rappers and there involvement in trainer collaborations to produce limited edition runs of trainers with big companies like nike. So one idea for me would be too create a trainer design based on an artist or there album, this would give me opportunity to add some history and bio of the artist and there music within the booklet solidifying the link between hip hop culture and fashion which was a main point of my essay. 

Dizzie Rascalls Nike Air max released for his tongue n cheek album.  Bellow is the quote from the essay.

"This iconic air max shape gave hip-hop artists opportunity to put there stamp onto an already established piece off history within the fashion industry bellow is a design created by Dizzie Rascall in 2009 they were named Tongue & Cheek and released on promotion off his best hit album and gained huge popularity with the worlds “sneaker heads” fetching huge price tags for collectors. This proved to Nike that there were huge profits to be made by incorporating hip-hop artists into their product development and from 2009 onwards collaborations became a main focus with the music industry and other creative to keep with the current trends and inspire fresh ideas."

There was also some collaboration in the essay with graphic designers within trainer design like I love dusts urban designs they produced with supporting promotion material, this is along the same lines of me and my idea of collaborating a graphic designer (Me) with a fashion label. Bellow is the quote from the essay.

"A graphic design company I admire “I love dust” collaborated with Nike producing camouflage patterned trainers that met the current camouflage trend within the urban scene around mid 2013. They produced beautiful advertising campaigns and illustrations to promote there range off footwear collaborations. The color schemes used here consist off a monochrome scheme with different tonal ranges off grey with highlighting elements off pastel green included too add depth and impact to the design. The use of a camouflage pattern has definite connotations with urban culture as mentioned due too the colors and what they denote to me. The idea of asphalt been a main aspect derived from the streets is connoted in this design through the use of a cool grey color in varying tones, with the odd element off green added into the camouflage pattern to represent the sparse amount off greenery found in urban city scenery"

Another idea for the influence of the trainer design could be inspired by sports, the essay made a lot of points on sports and the link between sport and hip-hop culture and the link between street based sports (also linked with hip hop culture) and big sportswear companies. 

Some sports that could influence the trainer design and the design stages behind this could be; skateboarding, basketball, baseball and BMX.

After the design of the trainer is produced from the above underlying influences the design stage of the booklet has links with how Neville brody created iconic promotions for Nike adverts. This solidifies the strong relationships within graphic designers and sports brands I touched in my essay and puts this theory into practice to round off my whole plan of creating a trainer design along with a nicely designed booklet explaining the background of this trainer release.

The design stages will be documented like normal, it will consist of visual & contextual research, ideas generation, analysis of those ideas, design development, and actual production and presentation of the final product.