Category — Blog

FILM BY PABLO DELFOS & THOMAS VERMEER from Thomas Vermeer on Vimeo.

May 29th 2009

The web-geeks…

Online, internet, web, browser, platform, template, blog and so on; these are the words we struggle with. I am the ‘website creator’, otherwise known as the web-geek. Ellis Schrijvers , Thom Snoek and I (Anouk) have created the website for Mint. It’s a hard job, but someone’s got to do it. For me it’s a pleasure. We are now working since the 20th of April 2009 and we have until 25th of June 2009 before the magazine will be in stores. Before selling the magazine the website has to be ready, so I naturally get a bit nervous when I think of the time we have left. Beside this, I am having a great time with my other two buddy-web-geeks Thom and Ellis. Maybe we are a little goofy but we are very serious when it comes to our work.
Thinking of it, let’s get back to work!

Keep looking at our website “http://mint.amfi.nl” and stay informed on our progress. Remember, Mint is growing!

May 28th 2009

Yessss!!! It’s finally set: Mint will be launched  on Wednesday the 1^st of July 2009 in Pakhuis de Zwijger. This week agreements were made between Janneke (our super duper coach) and Pakhuis de Zwijger.

We also got a new family member in our Experience group: Mitchell.When he was a student at   AMFI he used to organise all the parties and this time he was really excited to work together with our team, and make an absolute crazy and mind blowing final event.

Our dear Femke bought a huge bag of candy that was supposed to be for the picknick outside in the AMFI garden. Unfortunately I (Patricia) could not take my hands of this delicious candy! However, we needed to save some for the activity in the garden.

AMFI Students be prepared this week: you will be surrounded by Quirkiness! So Lil and I started the first activity in school with a lovely picknick. Styled by the lovely and fantastic duo Loek & Stephanie we created some awareness. The picknick was a success and students really liked to hang out and chat about Mint magazine.

The experience group is in  progress and we will keep you posted!

O yeah totally forgot to tell the good news for the ones that love Mint: our Mint plants are still alive!

May 27th 2009

Greetings from the yearbook team! What a wild week we had! We’ve been working like madmen preparing photo shoots, wrangling models, and finalizing some serious grids. Chowing down on mozzarella and pesto sandwiches while organizing all of the school’s fabulous grads was quite a task but now all of our contact lists are prepared and we can let our creativity run free. The four photo shoots this weekend went swimmingly. The models were stunning, the photographers on their game and the food was fantastic. Way to go Selianthe and Angela! All of your planning paid off and the fourth year designers can rest assured that their garments look great. Kara was a busy bee finalizing the yearbook layout in preparation for the grad photo shoots next weeks. Great work girl; your font placement is a total success! And let’s not forget Rosanne and her wonderful work preparing the advertisements. Finally, that crazy Natalie was yakking away on her phone and typing up a storm to prepare some preliminary interviews for review. Friday was reserved for some end of week Jackson Five and team bonding before the madness of the photo shoots and interviews to come!

May 26th 2009

The last week was short: Thursday and Friday were off and everybody enjoyed the sunny days. Loooooooooong weekend!

But consequently, we had even more to do from Monday to Wednesday. It was very important to take a lot of sugar during those days. Comfort food! Stephanie had her 22th birthday on Wednesday and brought some chocolate and vanilla muffins. Delicious! After that the whole Mint team suddenly brought  candy, so by the time we went home everyone was sick, tired of eating.

What have we done? We called more potential advertisers and contacted the ones who already decided to be in the magazine to put up a deadline. Furthermore, we sent out our own possible designs for some companies and afterwards a couple of them confirmed that they are in! Yes!

Yesterday Loek and Stephanie went on a picknick. The experience group had made a schedule for mini events in the school. In pairs we should have a picknick in the AMFI-garden. Dresscode: Quirky . It was fun to do. In the coming weeks everybody has to dress up once. So follow us next week, we will update you guys…

May 25th 2009

The first week after the winning concept was announced,  our team tried to interpret the Mint concept and translate it into a product line. We came to the conclusion that it would be nice to try to link the products to emotions, starting with the sentence ‘the time I felt most…’ (wishy-washy, touched, mixed-up etc.) The last few days we spend our time doing research on products and developing new ideas. These were translated on paper and discussed during meetings with the whole Mint company. The products that were developed are bags, bracelets, shirts,  skirts, hats,  glasses worn as a belt and clip-on bows. The main theme focuses mainly on minty fabrics and bow-ties with a quirky twist.  At this point we already made a selection of final products that will be in the product line. The product line team made several versions of each product to try out different sizes, colours, fabric combinations and finishes.  We’ve got a pretty good idea of the fabrics that we  are going to use, but the final ones haven’t been picked yet. This will happen after the next meeting with the representatives from every department coming Tuesday. For now we keep on working on the prototypes and work with the reactions and feedback we’ll receive.

May 24th 2009

Since the first issue of Mint should be ready and send to the printer at the 1st of June, the Editorial team is approaching their final deadlines. That means being plunged in to the never-ending pool that is called Mint. All members are breathing, living, eating and sleeping with the magazine constantly in the back of their mind. Photo shoots are being planned, directed and developed. At the mean time, interviews are taking place, articles are being written and edited. It is like riding a rollercoaster: making a magazine is a fast, fun and wild experience, with unexpected twists behind every corner. But than in the end there is always the satisfaction of well turned-out projects. Like the photo shoot we did this week: pictures were playful, fun and (of course) quirky. It made our Minty hearts glow with pride…

 And even when things are not always going the way we want them to, we are keeping a high positive energy level. This of course with the help of a hectic creative ambiance at school and the sugar rush provided by special candy deliverances. The coming week will probably be the peak of our rollercoaster ride. As things are starting to wrap up, we can almost smell the Mint that will soon be spread throughout Amfi, Amsterdam, Holland and the rest of the world….

May 23th 2009

What does marketing actually mean? People first think of the four P’s:
Price - Product -Place- PR.

But what does it mean to us? What are we doing at the moment? We’re calling left right and centre to find advertisers and sponsors for Mint. All of us at Mint marketing (Loek Coerwinkel, Kim Schaafsma, Stephanie van Nuland, Milou Steegman and Kathrin Fleer) are crazy busy. We’re communicating internally with all the members of the Mint company and externally we’ve started making contacts with possible POS. We want and have to know everything!

You can also call us…team curious!

 At the moment, we are addicted to sweets. We need sugar! Kathrin brought  a fantastic cake last week. It was her grandmother’s scrumptious pineapple coconut cake. While munching away we came up with the idea to promote the Mint company inside the school. Every employee will wear vintage glasses, with the look and feel of Mint. The glasses will look like a candystick; white with a red line. How quirky!

Are you already as curious as we are? Pay attention to the blog and stay informed about Mint. We are growing!

May 22th 2009

From now on we will post information about the Mint company and our working progress. The several branches of the Mint company are:

- Magazine
- Yearbook
- Marketing & Sales
- Formats & website
- Experience
- Product & merchandising

So stay updated and read how Mint is growing!

May 21th 2009

3,2,1……Lift of. Finally the second part of the minor magazines has started. And it makes my flesh creep. After consideration, some important people from the magazine world had decided that Mint was the winning concept. Frank, our mental couch and guide announces it cheerfully.

 A few days later a  nice lady from Sanoma,  the biggest publisher of popular magazines such as Elle and Cosmopolitain, helps us to understand the concept of Mint. So, armed with a big black marker and a flipover we al try to step into the world of Mint. Brainstorming. Within a few hours we al understand what Mint is all about.

Mint is mature, but has kept it’s childish approach. It’s something I can relate to. As a child I was fascinated by history. My father and I used to go to the museum where he would tell stories about Roman empiries.  I could listen to him for hours. One day I found a big bag with stones, useless in it’s entity for what I now know. But back then…..I was very exited because I thought I’ve found a treasure. J This childish approach, being open for new interpretation is characteristic for Mint.

May 20th 2009

Party time…..finally. After two months of hard labor each group finished their fashion magazine. Two months of hardly getting any sleep, producing each minute of the day. Sometimes nerve wrecking, but most of the time fun and exiting. Now it was time to show of. All groups had made a great effort to display the magazine they produced. All the teachers who were involved in the process were there. While everybody was talking to each other, the atmosphere was joyful.

 Some magazines stood out, but as Frank, our spiritual mentor, emphasized all magazines had something in common. A new, maybe more pure and personal approach on what fashion means to us in general. A few drinks and speeches later, everyone returned home satisfied. Now it was time to relax…and wait for the jury to decide which magazine would win.

Mint is growing but still under construction