First Dictionary Listing

I have started to add content by looking at Jemima Stehli.  Jemima Stehli is a Feminist Photographer/Artist who used her own body in her work.

Source: Musee Magazine: Friends with Benefits - Image from the Series Strip

In this work she stripped for a number of men that she knew and asked them to take the picture when they wanted to as she stripped - this was a comment on the male gaze and the reaction of the men in each image is very different - some are surprised, some happy, some stare blankly at the camera.

Source: Jemima Stehli: Lisson Gallery (2003)

In this work above from 2003 - Stehli photographs herself at various angles using mirrors and the empty space so that parts of her body are visible - again thise feels like a body performing in the space and we are, as viewers, forced to gaze upon her body and consider each curve, her skin, her breasts in these contemplative images.  The use of mirrors emphasises and enforces the idea of the gaze and 'looking' photographically. 

On my dictionary listing I had added facts about Stehli where she was born, education and exhibitions and then written a short blurb about the artists and added an image.  I am considering how much content to add and how I should add links to create a wide web of information about each artist. 

This was my process fro this: 

This is the listing in the directory above and how it will look as you click into her space

This is the listing - I have changed the text and colours however I still think the background image is problematic and will need to be changed to make each page more readable. 

Continuing to Create My App..

I continued to work on my About section on my app, I changed the background for the whole app to something much lighter and changed the font and colour settings of the icons to make them blend better with the backdrop.

I now also added the dictionary section to my app i did this by using a listings section as this works as a kind of database and is easily searchable using keywords, categories and names.  You can see here I started by adding Art Photography as there is no content you get the sad face!

I want to now start to add content so that I can see how that looks and whether this will work well on the app so for my next post I will be writing and researching one of the photographers that I wanted to use on the app.

Starting to Create My App

I began by simply putting together a basic template to begin the process: 

I called it simply DeVelde for the moment and then I will begin deciding which features I would like to customise.  I began with the the About Me page and as the App creator points out this is one of the most powerful pages as it tells the world who you are and why you are doing this - it is used to reach out to you target audience.

I wrote about the mission of the app in the following section and added my website and an about me as the founder of the app onto this page.

As you can see from this the background and colours still need change to make this work well and be readable.  You will see progress of this creation in my future posts!

App Software Online: Appypie

Prior to choosing Appypie the app software that I have chosen to use I researched other app software - I started by looking at this: Website Tool Tester Blog which discusses the differences between 18 different online apps.  As this article states many apps are PWA (Progressive Web App) therefore essentially a mobile friendly website.  Native Apps are what most people actually want to buy however to create these is far more expensive but you can get them listed in the Android and Apple ecosystems. 

Source: Example App Builder Interface

There are many different app builders to choose from each with different pros and cons and to go through all of these here would be very laborious so I will go into instead the reason I have chosen Appypie: 

• It has a cheap basic package at $12 per month which I can cancel if I do not like it.
• It has a user friendly interface
• It does not require computer coding
• It has the functionality I require to create my dictionary of photographers
• I can add instant chats
• I can promote and market 
• I can add push notifications
• I can monetise this app

This is the dashboard to start using all the features which are easily accessible and simple to use. 

Major Project Initial Ideas and Project Sign Off

For my major project this term I would like to create a dictionary of photographers that is easily accessible. Therefore I would like to create an app and app content of photographers - I will begin with photographers that really interest me and although in this project I may only be able to create six to ten entries this could be the start of a much bigger project in time. Here is a photograph by Helmut Newton from his Polaroids collection which his wife curated after his death in 2004. He will be one of the photographers that I will be writing about. 

By Helmut Newton from Polaroids (2011)

Source: Sensual Polaroids By Helmut Newton

I have also completed my project sign off here so that you can see other software that I intend to use and the list of photographers I would like to research.

Zoe's Project Sign Off

I will need to consider also the title and design of the app and the features that I would like to employ.  I will write much more about this in my next post which will be researching app creators online. 

The Final Advert & Reflection

This is my final advert for Fertility Magic....

Reflection: 

I like it that this advert actually looks a little old fashioned and out of date.  I enjoyed creating the oval images as this did remind me of bad portraits from my photo albums and how they used to be presented in oval frames.  I think the balance of the advert works well and the text explains the magic!  If there was much more time I would have spend much longer on this and added perhaps a background colour and messed around much more with the colours and compositions used.  I am looking forward to creating my own project as this means I will have more time to develop this artwork and create something in my own area that I am really passionate about...

Final Advert Creation

Now all the elements have been completed I can put the advert together using Photoshop.  I begin by creating a new A3 canvas at 300dpi so that it can be output if I wanted to create a high quality print version.

I then using the elliptical marquee tool selected the two images that I wished to use in the advert and added these and resized and moved to make this as balanced as I could in the advertisement.

I then added the text and kept the colour in keeping with my logo I used Britannica Bold to create the look I wanted throughout.

I moved the text and images slightly to ensure that everything lined up correctly and I also added a disclaimer to ensure that no liability could be placed upon Fertility magic if the magic did not work!

I saved this file is both psd and jpeg formats so that I could change if I wished and also upload where I needed to easily and quickly.