Draft written from the MSc portfolio notes. Damilola to rewrite in his own words before this is shared.
My first concept failed four tests: originality, evidence, clarity and relevance. Here is what replaced it.
Plain-language summary
My first idea for my MSc fashion project was a clothing brand about African heritage. When I checked it against four questions, it did not pass. I stopped working on it and started again. The new idea became Beyond Labels, a brand where each piece of clothing tells the story of the person wearing it.
Most portfolios only show the idea that made it. This post is about the one that did not.
Where I started
When the MSc brief for the brand project landed, my first instinct was an African heritage clothing brand. It felt personal. I had the visual references in my head, and I could picture the patterns, the labels and the campaign.
That feeling of certainty is exactly why I put it through a review before going any further.
The four tests
I asked four questions of the concept, and I tried to answer them honestly rather than hopefully.
Originality. Was anyone already doing this, and doing it well? The answer was yes. My concept added a new look, not a new idea.
Evidence. Could I point to research showing a real need? I had taste and instinct, but not data or voices from the people it was meant to serve.
Clarity. Could I say what the brand was for in one sentence? Every attempt ran to three sentences and still felt vague.
Relevance. Did it connect to the practice I wanted to build? My work was moving towards disability and inclusion. This concept sat to one side of that.
One failed test can be fixed. Four failed tests means you are polishing the wrong thing.
Letting it go
Killing an idea you like is uncomfortable. It can feel like wasted weeks. But the review did not throw the work away: it told me what the next idea had to do.
It had to start with evidence. It had to answer a need I could name. It had to be explainable in one line. And it had to sit inside the work I care about most.
What replaced it
The new starting point was research into how a lack of inclusive fashion, and stigma, affect the way disabled people express themselves and feel about themselves. I worked from theory, including Maslow's hierarchy of needs and Kim and Ko's work on self-expression, alongside UK disability data and a look at the brands already in the space.
That research produced a single sentence I could test everything against: disability is too often seen through pity, and clothing that tells your story lets people reclaim the narrative.
The brand that grew from it is Beyond Labels. Its tagline is "Wear your story".
What I took from it
I now build the kill test into every project, early, while it is still cheap to change course. The four questions are simple enough to ask on a single page, and they have saved me from more than one beautiful dead end.
Add an image of the first concept next to the final Beyond Labels identity, with alt text.
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testing this
