No News is Good News: Message and Delivery

Following our first progress crit, I have decided to change the focus of my mail shot, and aim it at men, rather than women. I think that this will be a more interesting target audience to tackle. I have spent some time surveying my year group, finding that with only a couple of acceptions, none of the boys can sew. Interestingly, many of them expressed an interest in learning to, predominantly for the purpose of making their own repairs. I think that it's really interesting, especially in todays 'modern' society, that few men are handy with a needle. Especailly when you think that tailoring is traditionally a male proffesion. Following my research, I have in fact found that there is an increasing amount of blogs, websites and even sewing brands which are being aimed at mens crafts. For example Aisin, who have brought out a sewing machine soley for men. It's black, and extreemly masculine in design, resmbling more of a power tool than a sewing machine. I wan't my mail shot to engage the recipitant both visually and interactively.

My concept is essentially the same:

What? To promote sewing and persuade men to try it for themselves

Why? In the current economic climate, making do and menindg can save the individual money, and is also beneficial for the planet. To make men more self sufficient when it comes to repairs etc.

Who? Men in general, perhaps focus on students, or people away from home (and their mothers/wives/girlfriends! ) for example a business man on a trip.

How? By creating a stylsish, visually engaging, tactlie and interactive product. I think that men associate sewing as being a fairly efeminate past time for a man, perhaps because so many male fashion designers are such flamboyant characters, completely comfortable with their feminine side, which many men don't seem to be. I need to look at this challenge through the eyes of a man, which I think means it needs to promote sewing as something practical, and metrosexual.

After some experimentation with design and lay out, I came up with my initial solution. I like the idea of creating some kind of 'pack', so that there is the possibility with immediate interaction. I decided to get straight to the point, and offer some instructions for a practical task, and the impliments required to try it there and then. I thought about the best way to present the items, and came to the conclusion that the smaller, the better. The likeyhood of a man actually holding onto the products is greatly incresed if they would actually it inside his wallet.

Here is my intial desicn for this idea:

I want the instructions to fold down to the size of a business card:

As far as the envelope is concerned, I like the idea of encorporating the idea of recycling, by using a material such as an embroidery fabric to constrcuct it. This way the recipricant is actually provided with a piece of fabric with which to practice on. I also think that it will make the mail shot appear more intriguing and more tactile. I hope to either sew the adresses on by hand, or investigate the possibiltiy of getting hold of a sewing machine which can produce type. I am also considering experimenting with printing onto the fabric. The main problem I will have to consider, is how the envelope will hold it's structure, i.e. the contents will need to double up as the actuall backbone of the envelope. For this reason, I think that I will need to create some kind of sleeve to house the 'kit' that I am producing.