B A C K G R O U N D . T O . M Y . P R O J E C T

"I designed my project through the combination of, my fields of interest within design such as Photography, Graphics and Typography along with my hobbies that I am involved with in my spare time such as running, bouldering, hiking and camping; therefore creating an "outdoor lifestyle and creative culture" magazine used to inspire people. My Magazine will be filled with images from the outdoors and articles from people with a creative or outdoorsy lifestyle."

"The idea to create a magazine was something I was very interested in, I love reading blogs, websites and books in my spare time and to combine all my interests into one printable magazine would be a dream. The reason to make it a print rather than digital also was very important to me as I feel that we have become a society who are super connected with this fictitious world and completely disconnected from the ‘real’ world, over engrossed with our phones, laptops, TVs and tablets. By making this a printable form, it can be an item that you take with you on your next weekend break or hike; the articles within the magazine will be a fine example that people can survive without always being connected, highlighting those individuals who have lived their whole lives from the land."

"The data that I will gather will be used to form articles that help to explain the experiences of those who have grown up in the beautiful surroundings that is, Sperrin, piecing together both the stories and memories, those of recent times and times long ago. The purpose is to educate those within this area of the upbringing that was before them and for people who are interested in learning more than what the tourist signs tell them. The purpose is to show this place off for all that it is worth, especially as I am working on this particular edition (volume 1) as my final major project I do want to continue it after college into more volumes focusing on those mountain ranges in Ireland and potentially further a field. This is the example that will show the potential of the rest that follow."

W E E K 4 : R O U L E T T E . P R E S E N T A T I O N

A little introduction to everyone as to what my project is all about, how I managed to come up with the idea through the interests that I have within the fields above.

I explained the issues that I have noticed from this type of topic, that we as a society seem to always be connected, we don't go anywhere without our phones and don't seem to see the importance of looking up and appreciating what is surrounding us at that moment.

Explain how I want to create an 'outdoor lifestyle and creative culture' magazine that educates, re-inspires and reconnects people with nature and our surroundings.

Developing my ideas and looking for things to help inspire me for new elements of my project. Pinterest has been a fantastic tool to use for this process, because it is all image based, it focuses on the importance of creating an idea and seeing it.

Blog my decisions and processes along with my own photography that inspires me.

I am in Padraics group and I have found that we can brainstorm together, bounce ideas around and get help with areas that we are having difficulty with has helped a lot with my design processes and development.

What I have done so far; starting the application for the RG1 form, sourcing a printer, contacting 6 of the potential 11 people that I have in mind to interview and lastly going out and taking some photographs, I climbed Sawel, the highest mountain in the Sperrin range. 

In the process of filling out the RG1 form.

One of the most important elements of my project is the final piece and this is my printed finished magazine therefore I see it very important that I source a printer who will be easy to work with and someone who I can begin to bounce my ideas off. I meet with Browne Printers in Letterkenny on Monday 15th Feb to discuss the idea that I have, the quality of paper, the weight, the size and the quantity.

# 1 . P R E S E N T A T I O N

The first action I took before starting my project was to look at my interests that I have within design and focus on the fields that I find most interesting and create a powerful project from.

Another key factor that plays a huge roll in creating a project (I personally think) is the interests that I have outside of design; these consist of being outside, activities such as rock climbing, running, hiking and one of my favourite past times is chatting with my Granny and hearing old tales and old stories. Sometimes I think that I am an "old soul trapped in a young persons body."

My reading interests: If I ever get any free time (which is very rare) I chill and read a book but I rarely have the free time so instead I read articles, blogs because I can read them on more of a daily bases. The topics of interest are travel, adventure etc

I want to design a project combining both my design interests along with my interests and hobbies outside of design, to help keep me focused for the next four months.

The internet has made us socially boring.

We don't spend enough time connecting on a personal bases, the purpose of the magazine is to re-inspire people to get outdoors.

By interviewing people from my local community to create articles for content within the magazine, the people at focus is those from a creative or an outdoor lifestyle background.

Theme for my magazine is 

"Mountain Range"

and this is the first volume of a potential series of interviews with people, each magazine will focus on a different mountain range and the first one will focus on my home area.

"The Sperrin Mountain Range." 

Contacted a local business about getting content and product shots. A back burner idea but something that I thought about in the early stages of my project.

Designed as a collectable item, for people who visit the area, tourists, local from that community, old, young, etc. A huge potential audience.

The angle I took to approaching my topic, was first looking at the problem at hand. How we have become so anti-social society and never seem to find the time or bother looking up form our phones, laptops or devices. I think a section of each day or every other day should definitely go offline and reconnect with the real world.

Counter-act the problem.

We gain enjoyment, positive experiences and peace when we surround ourselves with natural and being outdoors through connecting with like minded people.

The idea came to me a few months ago to create a magazine of this type but I didn't know that something out their already existed.

Then I found Another Escape.

Deliverable are to bring my document to print, in perfect bound and designed as a collectable item for the target audience.

Good content is key but my deadline is so important as my entire project is based on my magazine being a physical copy to flick through and read. I need to consider that my deadline is a week earlier than everyone else as it has to go to the printers.

I strongly believe in Quality over Quantity but in this case I have had to look closely at Quantity because I need a magazine that is at least 80 pages in size.

I'm a morning person, I am much more productive in the earlier part of the day and I hope to use this to my advantage.

I have many ambitions for this project but I would like their to be three main topics, Culture, Creative and Outdoors.

What have I done so far? Research on Pinterest and Instagram to find ideas and inspiration for my project.

P I N T E R E S T . R E S E A R C H

R E S E A R C H . A N D . I N S P I R A T I O N

Inspiration for me has been sourced from many different outlets, Pinterest is one, a website that I couldn't live without. Easily spending hours scrolling through images that are a fantastic source for my project, along with Instagram, other websites and blogs. Even simpler than any of that my own photography has helped to inspire me for this project:

F I N A L . M A J O R . P R O J E C T

Last semester. This is it. And my chance to choose my very own project to work on.

I wanted to look at all the fields within design that I would like to focus on for my Final Major Project; the key and most important one is Photography, combined with typography, graphics and possible some illustration and film making. Photography has become more of a focus for me in the past 3-4, I don't leave the house without my camera and it has become more of a passion than anything else. Combining all these fields of interest within design I feel that I could create a final project that I am super proud of.

Set aside the design interests and my next focus was to look at my interests outside of design, I love outdoor activities and any chance or free time that I get I spend it outside, either running or hiking, other activities such as bouldering or rock climbing and my hobby when I want to chill, reading and chatting with my granny. Hearing old tails and stories from a simpler time. These are the important things in life and this is the time to make the most of it when we have these wonderful people in our lives. 

Combining both my fields of interest within design and the hobbies I have in my spare time I decided to create an

"Outdoor lifestyle and creative culture" 

magazine used to inspire people.

My Magazine will be filled with images from the outdoors and articles from people with a creative or outdoorsy lifestyle. I idea to create a magazine came to me back in August 2015, to combine all my interests into one printable magazine, something I can hold up and say look my names on this. Perfect for portfolio purposes as well.