Lydia Thompson

BCU Student

[lydiathompsonbcu]

The Almost Definitive History of Reebok Classics

Gary Warnett unpacks the history of the venerable sneaker brand, from the obscure genesis of its name to its subcultural significance.

“Reebok’s organically occurring roles in divergent subcultures happened through accessibility rather than any attempts to crassly force-feed the shoes to an influential audience. Younger brothers and sisters, nephews and nieces, and sons and daughters all witnessed the Classic’s role as a status symbol on older feet, ensuring that the legacy continues. Straightforward looks defy a specific era. This is proven by a shoe like the Workout, Club C, or Classic, which are simple surfaces on which to project the spirit of the times. This is how a shoe attains immortality.”

[lydiathompsonbcu]

The Almost Definitive History of Reebok Classics

Gary Warnett unpacks the history of the venerable sneaker brand, from the obscure genesis of its name to its subcultural significance.

[lydiathompsonbcu]

Top 10 Reebok Competitors - Reebok competitor analysis

Although it is a huge name in athletic footwear, there are many Top Reebok competitors which fight tooth and nail with the brand, the topmost being Nike.

[lydiathompsonbcu]

The Symbol Formerly Known as Logo

New Logo for Reebok

[lydiathompsonbcu]

A brand I have recently come to like and shop from is Adidas, I've only started to purchase products from Adidas over the last 2 years or so, mainly because the prices are a bit more expensive than what I would’ve paid before I had a job. I find that most of their clothes are well designed and are of a very high quality. so far from Adidas I've only brought a few t-shirts and jumpers, mainly because their footwear doesn't appeal to me.

I’m not overly fond of the Adidas website, this might be because I do the majority of my online shopping vis my phone and not on a computer, and I find that some of the drop down categories cut off on the screen. I don't buy my Adidas clothes from the Adidas store either, I mainly shop in JD or Topshop for any clothes I want.

In regards to advertising I know that they have a big media presence, theres always an Adidas advert popping up on Facebook and Instagram, they also have a large following on Instagram with 16.6M followers. in addition to digital advertising they also have billboards, magazine and TV adverts.

[lydiathompsonbcu]

I wouldn't say that I'm loyal to one brand of make up, however I am mostly loyal to Superdrug. I started shopping at Superdrug as a young teenager wanting to buy some cheap make up and 7+ years later I still buy my make up from here, mostly because they have a wide range of beauty products for anyone from a young age to 60+ and also because they sell affordable products that are of a high quality.

Along with branded products, they also also have a ‘Superdrugs own’ range, this ranges from make up to body care. what I like about the products in this range is that they are all cruelty free, and they try not to cause a huge impact on the environment. 

Superdrugs website isn't my favourite website to use, I often have problems with it crashing, or when you search for a product something completely different comes up as a result. I much prefer to shop in the Superdrug store near me.

Superdrug tend to reach out to their customers by TV adverts and by sponsoring a TV programme, such as love island. They also advertise with busses and magazine pages.

[lydiathompsonbcu]

Another fashion retailer I'm loyal to is Topshop.I have been a loyal customer here for a few years now. What I love about Topshop is that they keep up with trends but they tend to be different to what you would find at any other store. their take on fashion trends tends to be quite quirky, they think outside the box so to say. Even though some products from Topshop are a bit more pricey, I think its worth it for the quality of the clothes. What makes me loyal to Topshop is the fact that this is the only place I can buy jeans from that fit correctly, they do a petit range throughout all of the clothing, this makes shopping a Topshop ideal for me.

As with the New Look website, the Topshop site is very clean and easy to use, there are 9 different categories and another set of categories within those. However unlike New Look, I prefer to shop inshore for Topshop, only because of the sizing difference between regular and petit.

In terms of advertising Topshop tend to rely on digital platforms. They communicate with their customer via the use of Facebook, Instagram and their online website.

[lydiathompsonbcu]

New Look is the first brand I think of when I think about the ones I'm loyal to. I have been shopping at new look since I was a young teenager. What I like about New Look is that they always keep up with the trends, theres always something in store that I’d be wanting to buy. Their clothes are affordable and are a very good, long lasting quality, this sets them apart from other affordable retailers, such as Primark.

Another great thing about New Look is that their website is slick and easy to use and there are 800 new products uploaded online every week, which is good because I prefer to shop online.

In terms of advertising, they reach out to their customers via billboards, busses and TV adverts. They also rely on their social media accounts, for example, their Instagram account posts 3 new looks everyday. They have 1.5M followers on Instagram and 362K followers on twitter. 

[lydiathompsonbcu]

The final book

[lydiathompsonbcu]

For the making of the journal I decided that the physical book would represent Holden as a person.

I chose to have a hard cover that was simple in clean – to represent how Holden was on the outside. And then the book inside would have distressed off white pages that were barely sewn together – to represent Holden's mental state

[lydiathompsonbcu]

In my RVJ I documented the different was in which pages in a journal could be presented, from a simple ‘zig zag’ layout to writing over the top of an image. I then proceeded to mock up a page that could be used in the journal, using points from the layout page. I decided not to design the pages for the book, so that they would be more organic layouts when it came to making the book.

[lydiathompsonbcu]

[lydiathompsonbcu]

What is a book?

However, in the Kindle era, it seems pretty obvious. There is an implicit argument in the act of digitizing a book and removing it from the shelf: a book is its text. A book is a unique string of words, as good as its bits.

Is a book restricted to the ‘book shape’? 

[lydiathompsonbcu]

What is a book?

Dictionary meaning:

book noun 

A1 [ C ] a written text that can be published in printed or electronic form: A1 [ C ] a set of pages that have been fastened together inside a cover to be read or written in: a hardback/paperback book

[lydiathompsonbcu]

Flight to Imagination

- create a ‘new book’ with visual responses that represent the meaning and narrative of my chosen book - tell part of the story in a new way

- outcomes

   - research and ideas blog

   - sketchbook

   - final outcome > the book

   - 1000 word evaluation

[lydiathompsonbcu]

I created a repeating pattern influenced by the triangles used by Jelle Martens, the dot work by Sam Larson and the cool tones from my exploration of colour.

I envisioned how this could be used for the wristbands, lanyards and posters.

Unfortunately, the image is distorted and the colours are off when uploaded to tumblr so you are not able to view it how it will look in the designs.

[lydiathompsonbcu]

Next I decided to figure out my colour scheme. At the beginning of this brief I liked the colour scheme from the Little Fictions album by elbow, however I moved away from that style and the colours just didn't fit in with the feel of the festival anymore. I tired to more relaxing colours, like cooled toned blues, greens and greys.