Concept & Overview
The goal of 80s Flares was to encourage people to appreciate vintage fashion and design. In particular, I aimed to highlight the work of Australian designers and put a spotlight on the eccentric trends of ordinary people in the 1980ʻs and other decades. The concept was to initially find vintage photos of ordinary people however I found this difficult to source. The concept changed to highlight fashion and design trends that influenced everyday people.
Specifically focusing on Australian designers and trends helped differentiate myself from similar accounts. My concept is unique as the initial exploration of similar accounts found that these were mostly American and European focused. This allowed me to refine a target audience which revolved around vintage fashion and design lovers. These people particularly enjoy the vintage trends of everyday life as well as celebrities of the time. There was no attempt at targeting a specific age range as vintage fashion and design draws interest from all ages.
Extension of Research & Learning
The initial project goal was to source and share content of vintage life. I wanted to understand what tools were available to find vintage content and then how I could do the content justice on the digital platforms. I imagined this would involve editing the content to adjust any fading or washed out appearance in the scans or photos I took.
I was very determined to source period images and videos. This honed my research skills as I had to carefully select keywords and phrases such as “Memphis movement” or “80ʻs hair”. The most useful tool that I found for sourcing content was the South Australian library system and the online archival service, Trove. Using this I found articles from an 1981 copy of The Australian Women’s Weekly magazine about ʻ80s hairstyles. These were very useful in creating content for the Website Gallery and on the Instagram.
I noticed that the images in these sources had faded over time, such as with this spread from a 1980ʻs cooking book. Through posting content I learnt how to colour correct and adjust the brightness and contrast of the image in a basic editing app.
Spread from 1980ʻs cook book. 
Edited image using Instagram editing tool.
The focus of my project was on curating content found in magazines, books or online sources. I did not create any additional graphic elements outside of a banner for the homepage and the logo.
Visual Communication & Design
The primary form of visual communication was curated images I posted on the Website and the Instagram. I chose to post content from a variety of sources so that I convey what the type of people who would be influenced by the information. For instance, the 1961 copy of the Better Homes and Gardens magazine provides insight into the influence on interior design for a well off family. Whereas, The Australian Women’s Weekly article serves to highlight trends influencing an audience in a different stage of life. I also highlighted Australian designers in this article I posted.
Coffee Table, ʻColourblockʻ, wood / glass, John Smith, Tasmania Australia, 1984, (MAAS Collection 86/120).
As I began posting regularly on the Instagram, the colour palette that emerged (B) was different to the original palette I had envisioned (A). This difference may have negatively affected my brand image as the audience may not recognize my persona across platforms (Coles 2014). I decided palette B was recognizably 1980ʻs inspired, as agreed by class feedback. I also believe that this palette is web-friendly which ensured the information is accessible and also interesting.
I did not create original content outside of a banner and logo made using Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator. Perhaps this was a missed opportunity to develop my skills with these further however I believed this was best for the project.
User Interface Design
As I investigated similar websites, such as Architectural Digest and Domino, I gained insight into how to present my content. Most of these websites featured minimal tabs or with drop down menus. I enjoyed that minimal aesthetic and wanted to include that in my Website. Referring below, I included an About, Stories and Gallery page, which I thought was comprehensive for my concept.
I enjoyed the layout options of the WordPress “Twenty Twenty-One” theme and it was simple to edit. I did not particularly enjoy the process of developing the Website’s pages and posts as web design is not a passion of mine. This is reflected in the interface design which was kept conceptually vintage inspired and simple to navigate (Johnson 2010). I did not change much of the WordPress theme outside the colour palette.
This also might have been a missed opportunity to step outside my comfort zone to really jump into web design.
User Experience Across Digital Platforms
Creating Twitter and Instagram accounts promoted the project to a larger audience and promoted the Website as well. Each platform included a similar bio description (see below) and linked back to the Website for easy navigation. I kept a consistent brand image across these platforms through using the same deviation of the account name. However, this may have been ineffective given the evolution in logo and colour palette. Furthermore, using multiple platforms meant that a wide variety of users could be reached. Different audiences will use different platforms based on certain demographics factors, this strategy increased the reach I was able to access (Kress 2010).
Twitter Account Bio 
Instagram Account Bio
Linking to the Website helped establish external links. This followed search engine optimization principles, as external links help the search engine algorithm believe that the Website is relevant and trustworthy in relation to keyword searches (Kelsey 2017). The influence of this basic principle was not realized in the timeframe of the project, but I believe this was a good effort to attempt to increase traffic to the website.
I used Instagram more then the Twitter account as the project was very image heavy and so was more appropriate. This was also due to personal preference as I am unfamiliar with Twitter. In the future, I might create a Tumblr account as this is an image based platform which also facilitates engagement through “likes”, “reblog” and commenting.
Audience Metrics
Audience metrics provided useful information regarding the effectiveness of how the content reached social media users. This helps to refine strategies to grow the account and to retain the current following (Ebster, Poecze & Strauss 2018).
The Website and the Instagram account’s reach was fairly small as I did not include actionable prompts in social media posts to guide viewers to the Website or entice them to follow my accounts (Ebster, Poecze & Strauss 2018).
WordPress analytics indicated that the 80s Flares blog received traffic when social media posts included a link back to the Website.
The majority of visitors to the website were Australians, most likely classmates. This occurred as I had visited and commented on a classmate’s website, who returned the favour.
The Instagram account accrued 77 followers; Instagram audience insights only unlock at 100 followers so my understanding of my follower demographics is limited. My concept is a niche interest so it was understandable to not reach 100 followers and was likely due to irregular hashtags use which limited the impressions I had on the target audience (Brodie et al. 2013).
The Instagram account reached 1120 users, mostly non followers (1,187 accounts) compared to followers (33) using hashtags. This could mean that the current followers are not interested in the hashtags I used. Most of the engagement was passive through “likes” (Shahbaznezhad, Dolan & Rashidirad 2021). I ought to have included actionable prompts in the posts to encourage commenting or sharing.
Instagram Reach (May 10 – June 8) 
Posts that Reached the Most Users
The majority of the reach occurred on pop culture content compared to interior design posts. This is not surprising as vintage Australian interior design is a very niche category compared to vintage musicians or popular TV characters.
Future Direction and Development
The most enjoyable aspect of the project was building the Instagram presence, which I plan to continue. Sourcing content using local services like the library system was also enjoyable and beneficial for my research skills. I still enjoy the concept yet to increase interaction with users, it is clear that I will need to modify how and what is posted. This involves more exploration into hashtags and providing a wider range of content categories. I still want to post Australian fashion and design however it is clear that the most engagement is on popular culture content. To retain the following I have built, I plan to continue posting every 3 days and using a wide variety of hashtags to reach a larger audience.
I do not plan to continue posting on the website, and I may delete it. Building and maintaining a website is not enjoyable to me. The lack of engagement on the website is a further reason for me to stop.
References
- Brodie, RJ, Ilic, A, Juric, B & Hollebeek, L 2013, ‘Consumer engagement in a virtual brand community: An exploratory analysis’, Journal of Business Research, vol. 66, no. 1, pp. 105–114, viewed 8 June 2021.
- Ebster, C; Poecze, F & Strauss, C 2018, ‘Social media metrics and sentiment analysis to evaluate the effectiveness of social media posts’, Procedia Computer Science, vol. 130, no. 1, pp.660-666, viewed 6 June 2021.
- Johnson, J 2010, Designing with the Mind in Mind: A Simple Guide to Understanding User Interface Design Rules, Elsevier Science & Technology, pp. 11-12, viewed 9 June 2021.
- Kelsey, T 2017, ‘SEO Basics’, in Introduction to Search Engine Optimization, Apress, Berkeley, CA, pp. 29–42, viewed 8 June 2021.
- Kress, G 2010, ‘Multimodality’, New York, Routledge.
- Shahbaznezhad, H, Dolan, R & Rashidirad, M 2021, ‘The Role of Social Media Content Format and Platform in Users’ Engagement Behavior’, Journal of Interactive Marketing, vol. 53, pp. 47–65, viewed 8 June 2021.
80s Flares 