Feedback and Comments

Feedback and comments

Below is the feedback I received following the hand in of my project proposal. I have also added my own comments at the bottom in reply to the feedback. 

TUTOR COMMENTS:

'An interesting premise for a project, although some of the statements made are generalised and would have benefitted from critical evaluation of the secondary and primary information sourced throughout and a more informed perspective that goes beyond highlighting the most obvious links to the organic beauty industry.  What has become clear is that this is aimed at a growing specialist market, and it would have been more useful if the proposal had made this clearer by citing further relevant facts and figures, plus wider range of organic brands and social media links that this project proposal has based its outcome on. What is also not clear is why the platform you have chosen is an exhibition, specifically why an online exhibition would be desirable to your target market.   I partly agree that the target market you have cited is appropriate, but I would have liked to have seen more in depth research and questioning to evidence that you have truly understood who this will appeal to. I am surprised that the you have not suggested that the marketing arm of the organic beauty industry itself would not be interested in a vehicle to showcase its products. You cite Showstudio and Nowness as sources of inspiration - however both sites are viewing platforms for fashion innovation, not exhibition spaces - which is a very different proposition. You must make it clear which it is you wish to develop. However as a platform for displaying the potential for organic beauty now and in the future, this idea taken further could be rather successful.  Unfortunately while you have considered initial themes to base you visual outcomes on, you have not fully considered how they will be delivered - which is where the innovation and critical presentation should derive from.  This multimedia format could be presented in the form of not just video and photography, but also cinemagraphs, gifs, illustrations, animations, audio files, podcasts etc to take advantage of the fact that this is a virtual space.  The point is to involve the viewer in a more immersive experience that convinces them that organic is a more engaging solution to base their lifestyle choices and cosmetic beauty selections on - and this means that you have to acquire a more sophisticated method of translating your ideas beyond the 'model holding dead flowers'. This also appears to be trend led, without any reference to specific products/organic materials for the reader to aspire to attain, which is partly the point of this area of the cosmetic industry and the direction of the project as outlined on page 4  of your proposal "there is still more to be done to educate".

Your production schedule does not fully take into account the time it will take to develop a site that appeals to your target market - and a lot of the schedule you have outlined appears to be spent shooting images, with little consideration of the time required for post-production/editing, particularly as it appears that you will be attempting to do all of this on your own (I would have liked some indication of the team you intend to work with here).  There is also little consideration of how the website/exhibition will be promoted to potential viewers to support your launch in April.

The premise of this project proposal is a good one, but more exploration of its possibilities, how it fits in to advances in this field and how it could apply to its target market would have provided a more considered presentation. What is admirable is your attempt to conceive a project that contributes to the area of trend forecasting by developing this niche concept.  Please take note of the comments provided, they are there to help you move on with the project so that it can develop to its fullest potential.  

Agreed second marker Jane de Teliga'

The feedback given from the proposal I put forward to look into Organic Beauty has helped me to understand and further my research into my chosen project. I have realised from the feedback received that I need to look further into who my target market is and why I have chosen to aim the website at them. In order to do this I think I would need to do some more market research, such as surveys to find out what people really know about organic beauty and what they use already. This research will then help me create a visual platform that will really engage the consumer. I agree that I need to adopt a more sophisticated method of translating my ideas, which is something that I have always struggled with. This project will hopefully teach me how to convey my ideas in a better fashion. I think that I struggled to decide on what I wanted to make this project on, which is apparent from the feedback I have received. I wanted to touch on the current trend of Organic Beauty but did not want to base a whole project around this as I didn't want to make a trend forecast. Following the feedback I have decided not to make an online exhibition because I didn't want the project to be so formal, I wanted it to be perceived as more of a experimental photographic series. The exhibition would have had to have been formal and clean, I think that creating a photo series gives me more free reign to create different content, whereas I think with an exhibition I would have been restricted to what I originally stated that I would be doing. The photographic series would allow me to change my ideas as I went along. 

The feedback about the production schedule is accurate. I didn't take into consideration the amount of time that it would take to create a successful website.I also didn't leave much time to edit the images and I didn't state who I intended to work with because at that time, I did not know myself. 

I agree that it is a niche concept which requires a lot of work in order for it to be achieved. I hope that I achieve what I intend to set out to do. The feedback I received has helped me to realise how much I need to do in order to make this project work.