A zine is 'easy' to make apparently

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xh1W15BWCUk&feature=fvw

I love a bit of youtube so though why not search Zines ... loads of interesting stuff came up but i watched this one and loved how easy he made it look - if only!!

K x

SB Launch

Our labour of love will be launching at the respected London Zine Symposium on Saturday May 29th! 

This will be the first time you can purchase and take SB home with you, check out http://www.londonzinesymposium.org.uk/ for more details. We can't wait to see you there!

P X

KINK ...

Charlotte Cooper ... the creator over several succesful zines and decided to reintroduce her zine KINK.
She produced ten issues between 1996 and 1999 using 'the trusty A3 foler format' as she said, rather than recreating the magazine in paper she's taken to blogging. 

"It started out as a kinky queer grrrl sex zine, and ended up as a repository for odd little pieces of writing that I was doing." Charlotte Cooper

The blog mixes the dynac's of sex and quirkiness which inturn produce something really uniqe.

Kink front cover Issue 1

Kink front cover Issue 2

Kink front cover Issue 3

Take a look at the blog http://www.kinkzine.blogspot.com/

Charlie xoxo

We make Zines

So googling 'Zines' (as you do when you have a zine based project and need to do some research) this website came up :

http://wemakezines.ning.com/

figured that it could be a good page to get some helpful hints and tips and to spread the word of our zines!! Also a good way to check out the competition.

K x

Quotes equal a thousand words ...

Images and quotes can tell just as much as a whole article.

The Cool Hunter has taken their logo around the world and used inspiring people to show interesting quotes, they've used each image as an advert for themselves.

Charlie XoXo

The SB Reader Insight ...

Above are a collection of images that represent the SB reader and their interests. With a keen eye for design, a love for photography and a passion for collecting - these will be key elements to the Zine to reflect our reader.


K, P and C x

SB ...

My Something Beautiful

Charlie xoxo

The First Shoot ...

Today we figured we would be productive seeing as the sun was shining and we were all very eager and excited to get some visual work completed for the Zine, so we decided to do a shoot.

We ventured to the beautiful surrondings of Nottinghams Aboretum for the shoot  to take advantage of all of its visual delights and stunning visual opportunities and subsequently, got some gorgeous images! Now of course we're not going to show you them just yet but we will show you some pictures of how the shoot progressed from behind the scenes:

Charlie was actually present but as she was taking these pictures while i was taking the proper ones of which Pippa was featured - there is obviously a lack of images with her actually in them.
It was a fun and productive day that resulted in some FANTASTIC images.

Excited?

K x

What's Your Something Beautiful?

We want to know what your Something Beautiful is? Please email pictures to : somethingbeautiful@live.co.uk thankyouplease - Lovely!

K x

Location Location Location ...

Charlie and Myself went on a pleasant walk around Nottingham today with the intention of finding potential locations for one of our photoshoots. We literally walked miles around the city and came across a few beautiful discoveries as well getting a bit of inspiration in the sunshine.

Below are some of the shots/ possible locations pf aorund Nottingham - a city with a lot to offer!

It's got the ball rolling ...

Next on the agenda - an actual shoot maybe?

K x

My Something Beautiful.

P X

Love Contemporary

Taken from the January 2010 archive of 'Love Contemporary' magazine - i thought it was a beautiful quote summing up the essence and thought behind this young magazine.

'The most charismatic personalities in our history have been the ones who have had great opinions and have been honest and brave enough to say them aloud. They have loved a lot, they have been adored and they have been hated. But they are the ones that lived large. They have been passionate, sensitive, serious and sparkling. I would want our magazine to be a great lover, living free, brave enough to admit its mistakes. I would want it to be a human, a passionate leader and to light up the dark, unknown paths.

I would want it to be the one to carry the fire, not just the one to shine.'

– Paola Suhonen, Editor-in-Chief, Love Contemporary

P x

Collecting the past ...

For the SB writers and editors to define their something beautiful lots of back catalogue magazine research was needed, this is how I spent my Saturday (granted I was sitting in the garden in the sun).

I found an inspiring cupcake photoshoot in Vogue Australia; this fits in with our domestic goddess feel we may include in the magazine.

Magazines are my vice and I especially enjoy collecting them when I go on holiday, I convince myself I'm allowed to do it as it's like a souvenir. Dansk I picked up in Amsterdam. This shoot with Brigette Neilsen inspired me to research an age issue.

Vogue never fails to offer it's readers an inspiring photoshoot that can capture all our imaginations, it pushed the boundaries with quite possibly my favourite shoot. The Fashion story of Little Red Riding Hood.

Charlie xoxo

A world full of Tweeting...

As we all know Twitter has become one of the words latest phenomenon’s. It’s even over taken Facebook in the popularity stakes. So what is it about Twitter that has got us…..tweeting? I have recently signed up myself and for the purpose of our magazine project I have decided to follow some specific tweeting magazines. So far these include – Dazed and Confused, Vogue, Creative Review, Drapers, Wallpaper and a personal favourite – Lula Magazine.

Not only a great promotional tool. Twitter seems to break down the barriers between the brand and consumer as well as the world created behind the magazine and reality. On first glance Lula’s page seems to be shared quite equally by consumer and brand comments/opinions. However, Dazed for example seems more formal and completely brand led and dictated. I prefer the balance created by Lula – consumer are encouraged to post their own thoughts and ideas about the magazine and for this reason it seems more authentic. I hope that by following these magazines in order to aid our research it will give us a further insight into how these magazines are really speaking and connecting with their readers. Watch this space for my favourite tweets J !

Something Beautiful has now set up its very own Twitter page! We hope it will act as a promotional tool further down the line but for now, a way of connecting with our potential consumer from the start. Search for us on Twitter at – s_beautiful.

P x

Cover Me Up

As Charlie mentioned, all 3 of us purchased 125 magazine yesterday. It got me thinking, why? I personally, have never bought 125 before yet I felt instantly compelled to buy it. The answer to this was it's front cover. The front cover of this issue particularly is striking and unusual and it gave me the sense that the inside would live up to the front page. This made me realise just how important the front cover is and even more so when purchasing a magazine I haven't come across before (as our SB readers will be). Alex from feverzine reinforced this is in his lecture with us by saying that is the front cover that sells and he's right. As I sifted through my collection of magazines, I wondered just how many I had bought on impulse because the front cover appealed to me (many probably that I lost interest with after turning the front page). This is something we will need to consider very early on for SB. In this case you can most definitly 'judge a book by its cover!'

P  X

United States of Love by Trouche

With LOVE being a big part of 'Something Beautiful' I had to share this jewellery collection with you; Trouche's United States of Love Collection, shapes each piece like one of America's states. Each one has a heart included to show the love.




A girl can never have to many necklaces and what a perfect way to show you heart NY rather than plastering it across your chest.

The new version of I love NY





C x

125 ... America

America ... The story of in my opinion the most extravagant country in our lives today.

Each photoshoot tells a story of the forward thinking nation, and shows how they live their lives.

125 was a magzine I discovered in my local WHSmith at home, Pippa and Kim loved it also and purchased it today (along with Tank magazine).

The drive thru movie theatre...the dates us English women can only dream of.

The teenage friday night spent at the local bowling alley.

C x

I Love You ...

During a recent trip to Parie, Kim and Pippa found a very unique magazine ... 'I love You'

The exceptional photography and inspirational quotes co-ordinate perfectly, this blog will tell the story of 'Something Beautiful' and this is the perfect Once Upon a Time beginning ...

Charlie xxx

The story of Something Beautiful

The 15.4.2010 saw the beginning of Something Beautiful...a magazine created by three fashion students from Nottingham Trent University. This blog will tell the story of our research, discoveries and publications.

Our online magazine is available on www.followsomethingbeautiful.blogspot.com, this website just tells the fairytale of how our magazine began and will continue to grow.

SB xxx

A Good Place to Advertise ...

Obviously as we are now emabrking on a Zine project and my knowledge on Zines is quite basis and restricted, i did what any normal person would do in this situation and googled it.
I came across a lot of interesting websites and quite a few good examples of Zines.
This website i thought would be quite good when we actually have a Zine made ready to sell to advertise:
http://wemakezines.ning.com/

I'll continue to research and continue to update

K x