Target Market/Ideal Customer: Interior Design

 I created an Ideal Person for my Twilight House design on Venngage.  This is my client for my Interior Design

Being able to afford a home now in the UK is becoming increasingly difficult with 'up to 1/3 of millennials (people aged 23-38 as of 2019) may never be able to own their own home' (Finance, 2019).  The property value to ratio income in 1996 was 3.55 and in 2021 it was 10.01 and over the last three years has increased further. For Baby Boomers by the age of 30, around 50% owned property and for Generation X this dropped to around 45%.  My own interior design was targeted at the Generation X Market as they still have earning power and should be at the top of their earning potential so this home would suit them as they want to start winding down from full-time work or would prefer a more flexible working pattern that enables them to have a more balanced home/work life.  This home should enable them to work remotely and include smart technology to ensure that remote working is as seamless as possible. In terms of retirement, a study by Dunstan Thomas showed that Generation Xers have a 'patchwork quilt' of pension pots and they often are dormant or not consolidated, and  'the average total pension savings of the average Gen Xer resident in the UK is £159,837 and they put in just over £200 each month.' (Thomas, 2024)  However the gender gap for Gen Xers is wide with 'the average pension savings of UK Gen X Men (aged 39-54) is £186,611 and average pension savings of Gen X women is £117,854 (37 per cent less)'  (Thomas, 2024)  Women put a lot less money aside for pensions at just £139 per month compared to men you save £253 per month on average.  This gulf in pensions and the ability to live through retirement is compounded by the fact on average women live longer. 'As of 2020 the life expectancy for men in the United Kingdom was 79, and almost 83 for women, compared with life expectancies of 75 for men and 80 for women in 2002.' (Statista, n.d.)

The home I am proposing here is aspirational and as per my Ideal Customer above and research carried out, it is far more likely that a man of Generation X would have the ability to own this home and live here on a decent income through his remaining working years and be able to retire here.  As a Gen X woman, I can say from personal experience that figures from Dunstan Thomas bear out my own experience and I am close to the average on how much I add to a pension each month.  

References

Finance, A.B.C. (2019). The Truth Behind ‘Generation Rent’ - ABC Finance Ltd. [online] ABC Finance. Available at: https://abcfinance.co.uk/blog/generation-rent-study/ [Accessed 28 Feb. 2024].

Thomas, D. (2024). ‘EXPLORING THE RETIREMENT PROSPECTS OF GENERATION X’ Consumer Study. [online] Available at: https://www.dthomas.co.uk/content/fs/downloads/GenX.pdf [Accessed 28 Feb. 2024].

Statista (n.d.). Number of deaths in the UK 2018. [online] Statista. Available at: https://www.statista.com/statistics/281488/number-of-deaths-in-the-united-kingdom-uk/ [Accessed 28 Feb. 2024].

The Final Book: The Quietus

 After much work, rewriting, proofreading, and working on the design and layout of my book I have now completed this.

The Quietus

I will be embedding the book into my website so you will be able to read online or you can buy a copy from Blurb.  This is only the beginning of the story, I have so much more yet to write! However for this small project I give you the first three chapters and I do hope you enjoy reading this. 

Book Cover Creation: Photoshop

 I am going to create my book cover using Photoshop.  I will show the process here and my design decisions.

I began by creating a canvas, I did this by going to the top menu and clicking on 'file' and then clicking on 'new'. A dialog box then opened and I chose 'Print' in the top menu and then A4 size.  I then chose the orientation of 'portrait' and checked the resolution which was 300 ppi, as I wanted high quality for print.  I then chose the colour of my background, I chose white as I probably will fill the page with an image.

I then chose a couple of images from Unsplash that I intended to try for my front cover.  I then went back to Photoshop and I went to 'File' in the top menu and then 'Open'.  I then examined both images and then I chose the one I thought had more impact and was more suitable to the title of my book.  I then wanted it to be black and white so I went to 'Image' in the top menu and then Mode and Grayscale.  

I then went to select in the top menu and Select 'All' and then I went Edit the top menu and 'Copy'.  I then went back to my original canvas and clicked on Edit and the 'paste'. I then used my move tool and transform controls that I clicked on the lower top menu as they appeared as I clicked on the move tool.  I then transformed my image to fill the canvas. I wanted my front cover to fill the page. 

I then added the title and my name to the cover, I did this by clicking on T in the tools menu on the left-hand side.  I then clicked on my canvas and all my text tools were now in the top menu so I changed the title and changed the colour to a light grey shade, I chose this by clicking on the colour palette and choosing this in the pop-up box and then clicking 'ok'.  I then chose the font which was Century Schoolbook at 60pts.  For the author name I did the same however, this was 36pts.  I then used the move tool in the left hand menu and placed the title and author name in the right positions and lined these up using the gridlines. 

Finally, I saved my work by clicking on File in the top menu and then 'Save As', then the file folder appeared and I added the name of my cover and checked it was a psd file and clicked on save onto my desktop. I then went to File and Save a copy and then the file box appeared and I chose jpeg in the drop down menu and saved again on my desktop.  I will also save these onto my google drive. My final work is below. I can now use this, if I choose as my book front cover. 

I created this in class, and it was most enjoyable and it does rival the actual book cover that I used for the finished book.  I really like this image in black and white and the stream and water here, the woman i used on my final cover was completely immersed and floating so I think it perhaps is closer to the title of the work and so probably the right choice - however do really like this version - perhaps I can have alternate covers!

Blurb: Chapbook Creation Process Two

 After finalising the final chapter I went back to Blurb and began by adding the blurb to the back cover. I clicked on the back cover dragged a photo in filled the cover and then moved the image into place, I added a text container and again changed the font to Century Scholbook 16pts and added the text.

I then began adding the final chapter.  Using the same method as previously adding text and photo containers and ensuring all text was consistent.

I then added an About the Author page and picture credits to ensure that all artists are credited, all images came from unsplash apart from the author image.

I then began the publishing process - I proofread and spellchecked everything several times and had to add some pages for publishing purposes.  I then uploaded it from Bookwright to Blurb.

This takes some time so I left it to render ...

After this, I went on to 'sell the book' on Blurb and completed the details 

I then went onto the pricing and how the book would be displayed and completed the details and saved these so that it would be publicly available on Blurb.

I completed this then I noticed a mistake on the subtitle as it had taken the subtitle from my previous book and used this here - this meant I had to re-upload and start this again to remove this as it was uneditable.  I completed this and then I could buy a copy and set it up for sale and download the pdf version.

I can now also embed the book on the website and thsi can be seen in full as a flipbook. 

Chapbook Final Chapter

 The disappearance book project is now on its final chapter, just to get this started I share with you 'Nobody Told Me' by John Lennon. A little inspiration to share

The final chapter 'The Frogget Estate Fire' is obviously not the final chapter but for the purposes of this first book it is the last we will see of Amande for the moment - her journey will of course, continue..

The Disappearance: Chapter Three

Here is the first draft and then the second draft corrections which I am adding now.

My next post will be the final process of adding the final chapter and publication of 'The Quietus'

Blurb: Chapbook Creation Process One

 After I completed the first and second drafts of my book based on the theme of 'disappearance' I began creating the final book for publication.  I used Blurb publishers online and I downloaded Bookwright to do this.  

I began on the 'Create Book' page and chose 'Trade Book' 15x23 

I then was in the editor and I could begin adding text and images.  I began by uploading the images that I might use in the book which I acquired from Unsplash 

I did this by using the top menu and choosing 'Add/Insert' and 'Browse for Photos' I then uploaded the images I had downloaded to my desktop 

I then created my front page by dragging the photo I had chosen into the container box filling the frame with images, and moving it using the move tool into position. I then added the text by creating two text boxes one for the title and one for my name. I then chose the name for the book which was 'The Quietus' - it means 'death or something that causes death, regarded as a release from life.'

The text I added was in the font 'Century Schoolbook', I will use this throughout The title was 36pts and my name 28pts and I did these in shades of grey to be consistent with the image. I then added page numbers at 10pts in the bottom right corner of each page by again going to 'Add/Insert' in the top menu and the 'Page numbers' 

After completing the front page I added the title again on the first inside page.  I then began adding my first chapter.  I selected and copied this from Google docs and pasted this into the text container I created just by clicking on the lower top menu and draw text container and then I elected the text again and changed to Century Schoolbook 12pts.  I add the chapter title in bold at 14pts.

I also drew a photo container and then dragged a photo that I wanted on the left-hand page and adjusted to fill the frame.

I then added the subsequent text and images for the first chapter using the same method as above. I then went on to my second chapter and again added images and text drawing a text container and using the same font, and font sizes and added an image after drawing in photo containers

The book was beginning to come together and my plan was to complete the final chapter and then do the same - it is not really the final chapter but the first three chapters of a longer story.  I saved my work so far and previewed to check that the layout and the text were working 

The pages looked good and I was pleased with the look that I was creating, I will work further on this over this weekend and see how far I can get....

Software Choice: Photoshop Practice

 Today we are practicing making presentation boards for a gallery in Wix for final portfolio.

I began by opening Photoshop

I then clicked on 'File' and then 'New' and a dialog box appeared and I clicked on 'Print' and then view all presets and then I chose A3 size for my canvas and I used a 300 ppi and then I chose 'Landscape' orientation and then the background colour of white.  I then clicked on 'create' and my white canvas appears on my workspace. 

Next, I added my title using the Text Tool in the left hand menu, I clicked on this and then clicked onto my canvas.  I then wrote my title and selected the text.  I then used the top menu to change the font to Baskerville Old Face and the size to 60pts, and I also made the text 'strong' by clicking on the drop down box in the top menu.  I then went back to the move tool at the top of the left hand menu and moved the text into place ensuring I left good margins on my board.  I then clicked again on the text tool and created subtitle and I changed the font again to Baskerville Old Face and then made this 36pts as I wanted it slightly smaller.  I then clicked back to to the move tool and using the gridlines on Photoshop lined up mu Subtitle with my title as above. 

I created  a logo on 'Freelogodesign.org'.  This will be brand name and I can use it throughout the year if I wish.  I downloaded completed logo as png.  I then went back to Photoshop and clicked on File and then open, I opened the file in Photoshop I then clicked on Select in the top menu and the Edit and copy.  I then went back to my canvas and clicked on Edit and then paste.  I then used the transform controls to resize and position the logo with move tool. 

I downloaded one of my rendered jpeg images from Homesbyme and then I clicked on File and open and then I selected the images clicked on Edit and then copy and then went back top my board and as above pasted the image and used transform and the move tool to position on the page. 

I then spent considerable time writing my concept, I added this to the board by clicking on the Text tool in the left hand menu and I checked that I was using Baskerville Old Face so that this was consistent with the title and subtitle.  I used this font at 24pts. I spaced and created the lines as I wrote this directly onto the the canvas.  Once I had complete this I then went back to my move tool and aligned the text and the margins using the gridlines on Photoshop.  I also did a spellcheck by clicking on 'Edit' in the top menu and then check spelling in the drop down menu. 

My completed first board I then saved as both a psd (photoshop) file, so that it was editable if I needed to change anything in the future.  I also saved a copy as a jpeg so that this could be easily uploaded onto my blogger here and my website on Wix.