109's
very own guidebook,proudly
presented to you
by Yolanda Chang!!!
VOL.11 CONTENTS
BACK NUMBER
|
|
 |
 |
I am Yolanda Chang, editor of the 109PRESS.As I will be soon returning to my
hometown in Australia, I am sad to say that this shall be my last
issue of the 109PRESS. Did you enjoy reading the articles? I thought
that I would take this opportunity in sharing my experiences in
producing and editing the 109PRESS throughout the past 2 years.
 When I first started working on this case, my motivation to create a masterpiece
came mostly through the recognition of SHIBUYA109 being the fashion
center, a building that is also widely ‘watched by’ many both nationally
and internationally. This meant that my work would be, in many
cases, a fashion-broadcasting source and fashion setter.
Through the publishing of the latest information on SHIBUYA109 issue after issue, I would always ask and remind myself “What kind
of information do 109Fans from around the world find interesting”
and “What questions do the 109Fans have for the 109Girls?”
All the articles were written based from my view of SHIBUYA109,
the way I saw it, the immediate feelings I got, my first impression.
I felt that this would best portray the customer’s viewpoint. Everything
was so new and interesting for someone like me, born in Taiwan
and raised in Australia. For someone who loved fashion as much
as me, it was so much fun being able to see the newest fashion
trend everyday as part of my job.
 Both the Japanese and English version of 109PRESS Issue 1 were published on the
7th August 2006. ‘A New MEETING SPOT for Everyone! ~’ from 109PRESS Issue 1 and ‘The Sherlock Yolanda Series~ I solved the mystery
“To Where?” Sculpture’ from 109PRESS Issue 2 are examples from
the mystery and investigation series, where I set forth finding
out about the origin of many SHIBUYA109 Wonders. It’s true what
they say, that ‘Great buildings write great history’. This motivated
me to write ‘The “109 Mystery” Series...’, and inspired me to describe
the details of the process of the changing of the 109 Cylinder
Poster.
109PRESS Issue 3 was published in December 2006, featuring information about
the Christmas Giveaways as well as the bargain sales at the beginning
of the year. The article ‘The Ideal Way of Spending Christmas
for 109Girls’ was based on a survey conducted on 20 109Girls.
At first, I felt a little guilty and despised my shamelessness
in writing about the 109Girls, as I had the presumption that
it was kind of against the ethics to write about their personal
and private lives. All my views were proved wrong after I started
interviewing the 109Girls, as each and every one of them were
more than eager to speak about themselves. As I recall, they
were very ‘outgoing and friendly’. Not only were they cooperative
for the interviews, they also taught me a lot about young Japanese
culture. I must say that 109Girls are truly beautiful both inside
and out!
 From 109PRESS Issue 4 onwards, a clear layout in the content was set: ①Information
on the 109Girls ②NEW OPEN/ RENEWAL OPEN ③SHIBUYA109 Event and
Information Corner ④Yolanda’s Fashion Corner. We paid a lot of
attention to the colour and design of the cover page. No matter
how great the content may be, if the cover page didn’t prove
to be eye-catchy enough, I am sure that it would be difficult
to expect the customers to take them, let alone to read them.
The cover page for 109PRESS Issue 4 was ‘Spring Green’; well
I thought it was appropriate at the time. However, along with
the decision, came many negative reactions. We found the green
to be too dark to catch the eye, and thus many customers became
confused to what it was all about. This further emphasized the
importance of creating something that is appealing at first glance,
preferably using bright or well-defined colours.
 Our efforts proved worthwhile for 109PRESS Issue 5, the colour and design of
the cover was much improved. The theme ‘holiday’ was set for
the whole booklet. In order to further enhance this mood, we
used exotic and relaxing pictures of holiday spots as the background
to match the theme. The same idea carried through with 109PRESS
Issue 6, Issue 7 and Issue 8. We wanted to produce something
that involved ‘beautiful pictures’. Unfortunately, this time,
we faced the problem of it being too pretty, hence losing its
impact.
Many of the SHIBUYA109 Fans mistook the 109PRESS for a pamphlet.
I guess that is why the phrase ‘Simple is best’ in English is
so meaningful. The key to an effective cover page for the 109PRESS was how effectively it conveyed and communicated to the customer
its purpose, that is, to make it obvious that it was in fact,
the SHIBUYA109 guide. If this were not done within seconds after
one sees the cover, then the mission would have failed.
For SHIBUYA109 Issue 9, the length was altered it to 2/3 the
original length and the page numbers increased accordingly, so
that the same amount of contents could be delivered. Following
the reactions we got, the editorial team decided not to use pictures
as background on the cover page in order to avoid confusion.
The 109PRESS home page (http://www.shibuya109press.com) was set up in order to allow more
109PRESS Fans access to timely information about events at SHIBUYA109. This
website
is in 3 languages, Japanese, English and Chinese. SHIBUYA109 is spreading its horizons after gaining much positive feedback.
It appears that SHIBUYA109 Fans exist not only in Japan, but
are scattered all around the world in continents like Asia, Oceania,
America and Europe. I found one fan who took a hardcopy of the
109PRESS and very kindly scanned all the pages to upload onto
his private website. This was a wonderful accident after typing
‘109PRESS’ in the search engine. Believe me, I was truly touched.
I had never dreamed nor hoped for such public support. This was
more than I could ask for…
 Time surely flies! Here I am with my final work for SHIBUYA109. Thank you all
for the warm support you have given me throughout all this time.
109PRESS will continue to present the latest information on SHIBUYA109 to its fans around the world. There will be regular updates on
NEW&RENEWAL OPENs. There is much more to look forward to, and this is all made possible
thanks to all the wonderful 109Fans out there! I hope that we
may meet again~
Yolanda Chang
If you have any opinions regarding the 109PRESS that you would
like to share, or any personal messages to me, please write to
the following e-mail address.
109PRESS Editing Room：maruq＠kvp.biglobe.ne.jp |
|
|
|
