How To Be a Fan Girl

My manifesto was based upon the concept of "fangirling"; to be a fan of something or someone. I was intrigued by the psychology and thought process behind the behaviour, and felt that it had been largely misrepresented in popular culture. In the initial stages of the brief, the research I undertook entirely shaped my project, and many of the sources and inspiration that I found directly correlated to my final outcome. When I began the early research into manifestos as a wider concept, I specifically looked into fangirling; it was something that really intrigued me, and I liked exploring the social and emotional implications of it. Two of the most important sources that I looked at presented very different takes on the same concept, and together they provided a sense of a spectrum along which I wanted my concept to sit.

The first source was a documentary called “Crazy About One Direction”, and it was in many ways quite an unsettling watch. It dealt with the extreme idolatry displayed by the band’s – primarily teenage girl - fan base, and examined the ways in which social media like Twitter and Tumblr enabled and exacerbated their behaviour. It provided a clear example of negative, damaging and stereotypical fangirling (as evidenced by the genuine quotes from girls who featured in the programme, such as "if [One Direction] said 'chop off an arm'... I would."), and became the antitheses of what I wanted to portray in and promote through my work.

The second source was a segment of a speech that Tavi Gevinson, the founder and editor-in-chief of Rookie Magazine, gave at the Sydney Opera House in 2014, entitled “Tavi’s Big Big World”. In it, she essentially promotes fangirling as a healthy, productive and constructive outlet, and gives an example of how, when she was diagnosed with depression she found that she wasn’t able to be happy with her own work, but managed to find happiness through admiring and aligning herself with the work of others, as simply a fan. In contrast to the One Direction documentary, this provided me with a clear idea of how I wanted to present fangirling as a concept; as a natural, healthy and beneficial behaviour, that doesn’t deserve the negative stereotype that it has.

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As my research developed and I began to link the idea of fangirling and the manifesto together, I looked at a variety of established examples: I began by examining Biggie Smalls’ 10 Crack Commandments, and was struck by the way in which he had adopted such a well known, established text to fit his own agenda. I thought that was a really interesting concept, and I decided to apply it to fangirling. I really liked the link between the 10 Commandments and fangirling, as I realised that for some young people, such as those presented in the documentary I watched, their idolatry is akin to a religion, at least in their minds. As much as I didn’t want to feed into that stereotype, I thought it would be interesting to acknowledge it, and then turn it around. I found that the majority of 10 Commandments naturally lent themselves to fangirling, and could be rewritten to make them applicable.

Another relevant manifesto that I looked at was Apple’s Here’s to the Crazy Ones advert. I felt that by essentially acknowledging their inspirations, and in many ways aligning themselves with them, they were - in a sense - fangirling. I liked the notion that every person has their own, personal “crazy ones”; people they look up to, are inspired by, and who they perhaps try to emulate or live up to. I thought that that was something I wanted to pursue too - the idea that everyone has their own idols - and maybe link that into an idea of some idols being more “worthy” or “valid” than others.

I also explored some of Jenny Holzer’s work – both her Truism series and her Inflammatory Essays. Instead of linking or applying her work to fangirling, I looked at it from a different angle; from that of a genuine fan. I thought it would be interesting to examine an example of a manifesto that I actively and personally fangirl over. I’ve long been an admirer of her work, and although I had no specific view of specifically incorporating it into my project, I thought it was an interesting angle to research something that I genuinely liked and enjoyed.

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Once I had decided on the subject of my manifesto, I began to experiment with the ways in which I could relate the user guide to that theme. I had a very clear idea of the aesthetic that I wanted to produce, and I initially looked at typically “teenage” outlets, such as diaries and journals, clothing and jewellery, and posters and magazines. I created a variety of mood-boards and reference images, and began a degree of experimentation with each potential idea. By the end of the experimentation, I had every intention of continuing to develop the idea of a user guide in the form of a journal, and began to source items and materials. However, I wasn’t entirely satisfied with how it was starting to come together. I was concerned that it didn’t communicate my manifesto effectively enough, primarily the idea that fangirling is a shared, connected experience. I felt that a journal was quite symbolic of isolation, privacy, and an individual, which was something that I didn’t want to convey. I also realised that I have a tendency to be a perfectionist. I struggle to leave messy pages or pages I’m not entirely proud of in my sketchbook, and have a habit of writing titles or headers repeatedly until I’m satisfied that they’re neat enough. For this reason, I have never been able to keep a diary in the style that I was intending to present my work in. I was concerned that I wouldn’t be able to accept the “rough” style of it, and would either have to continue with a project that I wasn’t satisfied with, or entirely change it later down the line. I felt that in the last brief, I knew I wasn’t happy with my work, and still pressed on with it, then regretted in later, so I decided this time to change it whilst I could. I felt that it was important for me to recognise the distinction between the work that I would like to produce, and the work that I’m able to produce, not necessarily in terms of ability but in regards to style.

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Having scrapped the idea of a user guide in the form of a journal, I thought of other avenues that I hadn’t yet explored that could be applicable to my project. I knew that I wanted to construct the idea of togetherness and sharing in a common experience, and so I looked into clubs and societies. I felt that the notion of a club, or a named group, tied in well to the idea of fangirling – fan clubs – and also promoted the sense of connectivity that I was trying to achieve. I decided that my user guide would take the form of a welcome pack/enrolment pack to a fangirling society, and began to work on the design and branding. I started by deciding on a name. I wanted it to be simple and relatively self-explanatory, but also sound legitimate in order to link in with my wider aim of legitimising fangirling itself. I looked at a variety of well-known organisations, and I decided that I wanted to include the word “society” in the name. To me, it represented an almost historic element, which implied a sense of establishment. I hoped that it would reflect the idea that fangirling is not new, it’s an age-old behaviour that has existed ever since people looked to others to inspire them, and it has simply been exacerbated and intensified due to the digital age. I also wanted to include the world “royal”, as I felt that it had connotations of grandeur and legitimacy. I decided to go with the simple name of “The Royal Society of Fangirling”. I did initially intend to use “The Royal Society of Fangirls”, or “The Royal Society for Fangirls”, but I felt that the use of the word fangirls instead of fangirling implied the gender of the participants, rather than the behaviour of the participants. Having settled on a name, I started to develop the logo and branding.

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I researched some examples of society logos, and found that those that involved some form of crest or shield design particularly inspired me. I felt that, much like the use of the word society, this added a historic, established element and made the whole concept feel far more legitimate. With this in mind, I created my own using Photoshop. I included a motto on the logo, and intentionally used Latin words to add to the traditional, historical style of the logo, and really create the idea of an established, almost old-fashioned society. I chose to use the words “inspire”, “admire”, and “respect”, as I felt that they summed up the notion of fangirling that I wanted to promote. I wanted people to feel like they could be inspired, they were able to admire, but that they must respect that person, as an individual in their own right. For example, I planned to include a section in the guide book regarding celebrities right to privacy/a personal life.

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Once the logo was complete, I began to plan and develop the individual elements of the user guide itself. I intended for it to be made up of a few different but related items, which separately were quite simple but came together to make a cohesive, informative group.

- Application Form

I decided to produce an application form, with the intention that it would need to be completed in order for an individual to be approved for membership to the fictional society. I would use the application form to ascertain whom the prospective member was intending to fangirl over, and why that person inspired them.

- Application Guidelines

I also wanted to produce a set of accompanying guidelines for the application form, designed to make someone question their motives for fangirling, and encourage and promote a healthy relationship as opposed to an obsessive, damaging one.
- Terms and Conditions

I decided to produce some terms and conditions for membership to the society too, almost like a binding agreement. I would use that too to promote the constructive, beneficial side of fangirling, and strictly lay out what constituted bad behaviour, such as tweeting too often or stalking.
- Certificate

I wanted to also include a certificate, which would be received upon successful application to the society. It would essentially act as a form of licence or certification that you had agreed and committed to being a “good” fangirl and could be produced as proof in situations such as book signings, meet and greets, concerts and other such instances.
- Identification
The final component that I intended to create was some form of identification, marking the wearer as a member of the society. I decided that I would use something simple, such as an embroidered patch, a button pin, or a bracelet of some kind.

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At this point, in the final stages of my development, my manifesto changed slightly again. Throughout the project, I had intended for my demographic to be, essentially, everyone and anyone. I didn’t want to single out teenage girls, as I felt that it would only serve to further perpetuate the damaging stereotype of an obsessive, unhealthy fangirl. I was happy to use teenage imagery, such as journals and other items, but turn the meaning around and repurpose them. I thought I had been actively avoiding designing with only a teenage fangirl in mind, but I came to realise that they are perhaps the most important demographic, and that really I should have been working solely for them. Whilst I do think anyone can be a fangirl - and everyone is in fact a fangirl, whether they’re aware of it or acknowledge it or not - it is so important for teenagers – and girls specifically - to fangirl. Teenage years are rarely easy for anyone, so to be able to hear a specific song, or read a specific book, or watch a specific film, and feel that maybe you can truly relate to it, at
a time in your life when you often can feel very alone and isolated, is actually a really special and unique concept. As you get a little older, and perhaps a little more sure of yourself, and you gain some perspective on your life and your wider world, the issues that you faced as a teenager are less important, and therefore so are those connections that you felt to that specific song/book/film in that specific moment. Fangirling is a concept that exists at a time in your life when you need it the most. I spoke to a number of adults, all much older than me, and all of them conceded that the artists – be that singers, songwriters, directors, actual artists etc – that they had been inspired by in their teenage years and fangirled over, had never really been replaced in regards to their importance and the impact that they had had. As much as they’d discovered new artists throughout their lives that impacted them and inspired them, none of them quite matched the level of those who had inspired them in their teens, when they’d needed them most.

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I began developing my environment very shortly before I changed my manifesto. Initially, I was looking at creating an environment that encompassed a large group of people, to represent every- one. It wasn’t until a little later that I focused specifically on teenage girls. At the beginning, I started by exploring James Hopkin’s Shelf Life series. I was really intrigued by the way in which he had managed to create separate and distinct environments out of each shelf; they all had an individual identity, despite being really quite stylistically similar. I considered creating my own series of shelves; each representing a different kind of person, and the ways in which they fangirled. I considered the image of an overly elaborate, bordering on shrine-line, teenage girl’s bedroom, versus a homely, family-oriented middle-aged married couple’s bedroom, versus again an elderly, retired, widowed man’s bedroom. Each would look so distinctly different, and be presented in very different ways, yet all would almost certainly bear evidence of each person’s personality and interests, and therefore would bear evidence of their fangirling. I wanted to create a series of shelves, each arranged to represent a different person, a different age, a different gender, a whole varied scope of differences, but united in that they would all illustrate fangirling. I really liked the concept that it would force the viewer to revaluate the notion of what it meant to be a fangirl, and perhaps even revaluate their own personal preconceptions, by forcing them to confront it in a form that they maybe didn’t expect. I was concerned that, unless I directly took reference from real people’s bedrooms and environments, I would almost certainly end up representing a generalisation of a person, rather than a genuine, authentic individual. Authenticity was still one of my highest priorities. Ultimately, I chose to move away from that idea simply due to time and budget constraints. I didn’t feel that I would be able to achieve the degree of realism that I wanted with the time and money I had available to me.

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I really liked the concept of the idea though, so I decided to scale it down and try to develop that instead. I began to move towards the idea of a dolls-house sized project. This was something that I had a degree of personal connection to; I was given a dolls house for Christmas when I was five years old, that - despite it spending a good portion of the intervening years in the loft - I do still own. I saw an exhibition at the House of Illustration in 2015 that featured a dolls house and related art by Lauren Child’s, and that was pivotal moment for me personally and professionally. I’ve never truly enjoyed drawing, I’ve always preferred physically making art, and to see an object like that in an illustration exhibition really made me how broad Illustration was and is as an artistic avenue, and how I could make it work for me. As much as I didn’t want to make this project autobiographical, I did want to incorporate genuine fangirling into it. I thought it would go some way to aiding me in achieving the degree of authenticity that I was seeking. I felt that pursuing the idea of an environment contained within a dolls house was suitably personal enough to me to constitute fangirling, without feeling like I was adapting or appropriating the brief to be self indulgent. 

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At this point, I altered my manifesto to focus on teenage girls. I had been considering creating a series of rooms, in a scaled down version of the series of shelves I had hoped to create, but I realised that the smaller scale didn’t really mean a significantly smaller cost or smaller level of work, so I decided that I needed to reduce the work that I had planned. This coincided with the manifesto change, and so I continued the development of my environment with the intention to focus solely on a teenagers room. I began by compiling images of genuine girls bedrooms, supplied by my friends. I told them not to tidy or rearrange anything; I wanted genuine, authentic examples in order to produce an accurate representation. I added images of bedrooms that I felt captured the aesthetic that I wanted to achieve, and began producing a mock up. I used thick card to create walls in order to get a sense of the size of the room before I began working with wood.

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The first part of my outcome is the user guide for my manifesto. To make up my user guide, I produced three pieces of work; an application guideline, an application form, and a page of terms and conditions. They were all designed to be sent out as an application pack for the fictional Royal Society of Fangirling. I was intending to also produce a certificate/confirmation of acceptance, but I felt ultimately that that didn’t quite fit with the theme in that it didn’t really serve a purpose and communicated next to nothing, so I didn’t include it. I did however create a small bracelet, with the intention that it would be given to successful applicants as a mark of membership. I used the initial manifesto that I created based upon the Ten Commandments, and worked it into the three documents in various forms. I produced the bracelet as just a little extra piece to accompany the user guide, and to tie it in to the theme of teenagers a little better. I chose a casual, friendship bracelet style, using generic and cheap beads to reflect the kind of item that a teenage might genuinely wear. I also chose the pink intentionally to tie into the colour I used in the logo and branding.

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The second part of my outcome is the dolls house bedroom. Whilst I am very happy with the overall appearance of it, and I do feel that it communicates the idea of a teenage girls bedroom quite well, I don’t feel that it really displays a high standard of work. I can certainly imagine my manifesto existing within it, and I wish I had created miniature print outs of the components of my user guide to put in it. I think for teenage girls, and probably teenagers in general, their room is the centre of their world as it’s the only space they have that’s - probably - theirs alone. Thereofre it makes perfect sense that the manifesto, as it’s aimed at teenage girls, could only exhist or be en- countered in their bedroom. I think it looks quite basic, and isn’t really reflective of the amount of time it took to create. In a professional context, I personally view it as more of an exhibition piece than as an item for sale. It was inspired by the work of Lauren Childs, and I think it works better in that context than as a commercial product.I am particularly pleased with the wall art. All of it is in some way relevant to me or a friend. Every picture was specifically chosen, some are from my room, some are from friends rooms, some are by artists I admire, other are by friends I admire. The paintings in the two frames by the end are tiny scale versions of huge oil paintings, and the artist is a man who was the art technician when I was at school. Every piece is relevant or important, and represents fangirling.