Great...

... check this out it is great.

Apart from watching videos on You Tube I have had a more productive day, honestly! I have been sourcing clothing samples for my photo shoot, which proved not to be as successful as I hoped; with all high-street stores being totally ruled out with lending me anything, I went to various vintage shops to tell them about the shoot and what I was doing, with some places being really interested whereas others not so much.

Despite all this, when I got back and I had a think about everything over my cup of tea, I came to the conclusion that in general the vintage clothes are not right for the style I am going for and therefore my look book. There may be the odd piece that will fit, so I do not want to the idea out totally, however need to really research exactly what pieces I want to avoid anymore time wasting and hopefully find a suitable boutique/shop that will be able to help me out.

On a better note, I got my business cards today and they look great! Check them out they are double sided...

And finally, I wanted to add a link to this song because it is great. Bit of a weekend tune, but thought I would throw it in there anyway. Hands In The Air by Girl Talk

Monday

Good Monday Morning all... busy week ahead in Lucy Jay, I have got a lot of 'stuff' to organise, with my photo-shoot fast approaching, a look book needing to be produced there after, so preparation for that is on-going and just generally chasing up any loose ends and keeping myself organised along the way... I have planned a trip to Staples to buy files, it is serious business guys! So this is the plan:

• Organise meeting for Wednesday to discuss website development,
• Continue sourcing clothing samples for photo shoot,
• Pick up business cards,
• Layout and design research for Look Book,
• Design Look Book,
• File and organise all papers have accumulated up until now,
• Gym?

And the most important thing of all that must under no circumstances be forgotten:

• Mother Day Card and Present,
• Remind brother that it is Mothers Day on Sunday and to get card and present.

And to keep me going this morning Tunng has put a spring in my step, it is a good sunny morning song and the album cover is pretty nice too!

Tunng – Hustle

Lovely Lula

I really love 'Lula Magazine' and get a lot of inspiration and ideas from it, despite not being able to get hold of it for love nor money anywhere outside of London, however I was really lucky (and quite excited) I managed to get my hands on one recently.

It is the fifth birthday issue and as usual all the images featured are really lovely with the grungy/girly theme that I particularly like and I wanted to share the love with you if you have not already seen it! Enjoy!

Promotion, Copy Right and Brad Pitt Doing Crackers

The past few days I have been working on the promotional side to starting up my business; being a designer this is not particularly my forte as i would rather sit and faff over shapes, colors and all of that. However, after my work experience in a fashion PR company, as I have previously mentioned, I have a pretty good idea of where to start and potentially what I can do to promote my label and start to get Lucy Jay a name that is known in the industry and beyond.

So after sitting and drawing up my lovely spider diagram I had some idea of what I wanted to do. I know it is not rocket science, but first things first, I set up a Twitter account; this will enable me to communicate with people from the fashion industry, along with potential buyers and those who are interested in the label itself; it is a great initial starting point for getting my name known and out there. My first 'tweet' as they say, was simply a link to my blog in an attempt to expand on its readers and to make people more aware of exactly what Lucy Jay is and what it is doing. I had two followers almost immediately which was good, well three, however had to block them, as 'Hot Single Babes' was not really what I was going for!

In addition, you may have noticed that I have been adding my logo in various places with regard to my blog and now my Twitter page. I am conscious of doing so to ensure that this is starting to become related to the label and when seen it is representative to Lucy Jay and that the two will gradually become linked and renowned.

Before I added my art work to the Twitter page I wanted to copy right it all... properly, as up until now I have been doing so by what is called 'Poor Man's Copy Right'. This involved me posting the artwork to myself and was temporarily a satisfactory way of copyrighting my work, however was not reliable enough in the long run as the process is easy to forge a method I do not recommend. Therefore I went through the surprisingly easy process of registering my work properly on the 'UK Copyright Services'. Very easy and I now have a peace of mind... great!

I am now going to continue this promotion process starting over the next few weeks and have been reading up on it in various publications from the local libraries. I am going to be sure to cover the following areas:

• Fashion Publications
• Networking Sites
• Magazines/Newspapers
• Blogs

I will be sure to keep you informed on the process as it develops.

And just quickly, yesterday...

... I am not really a film buff and am aware that I am not really on the pulse with recommending this, however I watched 'Burn After Reading' last night, it is great and Brad Pitt is so cracker in it. Definitely worth a watch.

And also, the Monolpoly board as it stands between me and my boyfriend. I have Mayfair and he has has Park Lane, the battle is on...

Thanks Girls!

Today I have have been sorting through everything on my laptop, yes exciting I know, but apparently 'my start up disk is full' which means deleting a lot of stuff I no-longer want. This post does get more interesting, I promise... just bare with me!

I came across the image above in one of my inspiration files and totally forgot I had saved it months ago. They are four really great images portraying scarves and how they can be worn, I am guessing from somewhere in the 1940's-50's era (I will have to confirm that with my nan, am pretty sure she will know!). I particularly love the bottom left image where the scarf has been turned into a halter neck top; really interesting idea, highlighting the versatility of scarves themselves.

The images also seem to have a lot of character and I like how they portray scarves in a really interesting and innovative way. It is a shame that I do not know the purpose of the images or publication they may have been used in.

The photographs have definitely got the cogs turning in my head and raised a few ideas. Thanks girls!

Good Ole Harvs

1st of March, the start of my favorite month... it was not a conscious decision of mine to pick a favorite month, it just happened, this is probably mainly due to the fact it is my birthday in the next few weeks (woo!) but also because we have also managed to crawl out of the deepest darkest depths of the Winter, to Spring, and the weather today did not fail us... it was gorgeous. Most definitely put a spring in my step. We can also safely say that a certain someone else was taking full advantage of the weather, my dog, harvey. Yes I know it was a mere 5 or so degrees, but who cares and it was great, any excuse for ole Harvs. (Just to avoid any confusion from the picture below, Harvey is the dog on the left not the right and yes we do have a Westie ornament.)

Anyways, less talk about the weather and back to business...

... today I have been sorting out my business cards as I am hoping to get them into print at some point this week. I have spent the past few days researching the identities of existing companies identities looking at how they choose to present themselves, through layout, use of colour and choice of typography.

Form Fifty Five is a blog site that features the work of young designers who specialise in creating identities, along with photography, typography and graphic art... a perfect source of information for my research. There is a mass of varitaion and types of work that will be bound to inspire you regardless of what design work you are doing . I used some of the work I liked from this website along with ideas I had previously collated and applied it to my logo and font so I could mess around with various layout ideas that I feel would be appropriate for my business card. I have been working on the dimensions of 90mmx55mm.

This may all seem like a lot of fuss just for one card, however I am really conscious of getting this perfect as it has to represent Lucy Jay in the most professional manor possible, while portraying the companies design styles.

Wirral Biz are able to print the cards for me, which is great as I know they will not only do a good job of it but will also be reliable. I popped in to see them today to get some samples of the finishes that are available and to have a quick chat about layout ideas etc and to check I was on the right track with everything.

Happiness In Bed

It was weird that I should across this, because it was just the other day I found myself twisting and turning in bed to try and achieve some sort of way of being able to read my book, however ensure that my arms did not get cold and then, feeling slightly annoyed that my idea of getting into bed a bit earlier than normal to read my book was, well, a lot colder and not quite as cosy as I had hoped.

Low and behold I came across something so simple, yet the answer to my problems... the blanket with sleeves! Aptly named Happiness in Bed, the blanket basically does as it says. Not yet on sale, however is high up there on my wish list for sure.