- I would like to work within a small specialist print design studio that produces work that is outstanding and pushes the boundaries of what is possible to achieve.
- My main interests are within type and layout when it comes to my own skills, so I want to continue pushing these skills to ensure that I can produce work the best that I can using them.
- I want to know 'all there is to know' about the print industry. After the print module this year I learnt a lot of stuff about it that I didn't already know, and I want to further my learning of this to ensure that I fully understand it as I think this is something that would be highly beneficial in the future once I start working in the real world.
- I really want to have studio visits/portfolio reviews with a whole variety of professionals all over the country.
- I wouldn't mind visiting/doing a placement (although probably unlikely to) at some sort of design magazine such as Creative Review or Computer Arts to see what it is actually like behind the scenes and how they run things on a daily basis.
- Although I am not the best person at collaborating, I want to push myself into doing these more in order for me to feel more comfortable with doing them. I always see the benefits of doing them, it is just a confidence issue that I have when first going into them. I want to become more confident with them and ultimately be able to approach people and ask them for collaborations.
- Whilst I do want to work within a small design studio, I also want to get a brief insight into what it would be like to work in a large design studio with hundreds of people working there to see how/if I would actually fit in.
- I want to develop my networking skills, and get myself into a position where I don't forget to breathe even just at the thought of approaching someone to discuss my work or their work. I want to feel confident enough to think that I am not beneath anyone and hold my head up high.
- I wouldn't mind doing some sort of placement or studio visit(s) abroad somewhere. The dream would be to be in a place like New York, but even just Ireland would be an amazing experience to me. I think it would benefit me a lot to see how (if at all) different it is as opposed to in the UK.
- I want to continue any side projects that I have going on as well as Uni at the moment and push these to become bigger and better. I want to invest more time in them over the summer and really utilise them to their full potential.
Showing posts with label ENTERPRISE: TASKS. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ENTERPRISE: TASKS. Show all posts
Tuesday, 6 March 2012
Enterprise Task 5: Proposed position statement
Enterprise Task 4: Who else is out there - how good are they?
Effektive
effektivedesign.co.uk
Effektive are a young & established design and ideas studio based in Glasgow. They have a clear passion for what they do as their work is usually relevant to what their clients want, well considered and engaging. They keep things simple with their approach as they aim to develop strong long-term relationships with their clients. They listen, learn, understand and simplify to deliver design to them that adds value to their businesses.
Strengths: They are an ideas lead studio with a very nice, simple approach to their designs that works very effectively with what ever they produce.
Weaknesses: They are based in Glasgow - this could possibly limit their client base due to the location of someone being simply too far away to be able to work with.
Opportunities: The work that they produce is outstanding, and is a standard in which I hope to achieve one day. Possibly collaborations with this studio through things such as visits and placements would be great opportunities.
Threats: They are a well established and well known studio so they most likely have tonnes of other students contacting them daily.
Them
them.co.uk
Them is a studio based in London that was formed in 2007. They believe that the process of a brief can be fulfilling and enjoyable, and aim so that everyone who works for them enjoys it. Their portfolio is spread across different sectors as they believe that this is what keeps the creativity and the challenges fresh. They have experience with actually 'being clients', they understand that the service they actually provide and the delivery is paramount. They work intelligently with every brief they receive and aim to over deliver with what they do, combining academic rigour with common sense.
Strengths: All of their team have a strong experience behind them which they are now using to untilise what it is they do to ensure that they do it as effectively as possible and pushing something as far at it will go. They also work within different sectors allowing them to be creative with many different aspects of design, rather than just focusing on one.
Weaknesses: Their studio is based in London, which would mean that they have quite expensive overheads on them.
Opportunities: So because they do work across different sectors, it could mean that there are more possibilities of them liking your work as they are open and continuously exposing themselves to everything that is going on in the design world.
Threats: Although working across many sectors is a good thing in terms of keeping things fresh, they could eventually spread themselves too wide and loose focus on what it is they set out to achieve in the first place.
effektivedesign.co.uk
Effektive are a young & established design and ideas studio based in Glasgow. They have a clear passion for what they do as their work is usually relevant to what their clients want, well considered and engaging. They keep things simple with their approach as they aim to develop strong long-term relationships with their clients. They listen, learn, understand and simplify to deliver design to them that adds value to their businesses.
Strengths: They are an ideas lead studio with a very nice, simple approach to their designs that works very effectively with what ever they produce.
Weaknesses: They are based in Glasgow - this could possibly limit their client base due to the location of someone being simply too far away to be able to work with.
Opportunities: The work that they produce is outstanding, and is a standard in which I hope to achieve one day. Possibly collaborations with this studio through things such as visits and placements would be great opportunities.
Threats: They are a well established and well known studio so they most likely have tonnes of other students contacting them daily.
Them
them.co.uk
Them is a studio based in London that was formed in 2007. They believe that the process of a brief can be fulfilling and enjoyable, and aim so that everyone who works for them enjoys it. Their portfolio is spread across different sectors as they believe that this is what keeps the creativity and the challenges fresh. They have experience with actually 'being clients', they understand that the service they actually provide and the delivery is paramount. They work intelligently with every brief they receive and aim to over deliver with what they do, combining academic rigour with common sense.
Strengths: All of their team have a strong experience behind them which they are now using to untilise what it is they do to ensure that they do it as effectively as possible and pushing something as far at it will go. They also work within different sectors allowing them to be creative with many different aspects of design, rather than just focusing on one.
Weaknesses: Their studio is based in London, which would mean that they have quite expensive overheads on them.
Opportunities: So because they do work across different sectors, it could mean that there are more possibilities of them liking your work as they are open and continuously exposing themselves to everything that is going on in the design world.
Threats: Although working across many sectors is a good thing in terms of keeping things fresh, they could eventually spread themselves too wide and loose focus on what it is they set out to achieve in the first place.
Enterprise Task 3: How will I promote myself?
Knowing how to promote yourself is one of the key things within design to ensure that you get right in order for it to work effectively. When it comes to self promotion, the people that I would be contacting want to hear about my skills and interests, and how what I have to offer could possibly benefit them in some way. They want to hear positive things about myself such as the fact that I am hard working and have a keen eye for detail.
I should tell the client about my interests within graphic design, and how this relates to what it is that they do already, as well as maybe give some examples of other qualities that I have to offer for them. Not only should I explain this but I should also find an effective way to show them as well, that way the points that I would be raising would be backed up and more 'believable'.
The communication would be key between who I was contacting and myself. Too much contact could begin to get annoying and look a little bit desperate, where as not enough contact could make me out to not actually be that interested in them. The key is to find the right balance between this in order to form some sort of a relationship to then build upon this and gain their trust and interest. There are many ways of communicating with someone, and it would keep things more interesting to maybe use a mixture of ways rather than tiring someone out with the same thing all of the time. For example, I could mail over something to a design studio, and possibly follow it up by an email or a phone call. Then after this I could keep in regular (but not too much) contact with small things through social media websites such as twitter or facebook, and occasionally send over an email with more important/interesting conversations. Which hopefully then could maybe lead on to visits and placements.
I should tell the client about my interests within graphic design, and how this relates to what it is that they do already, as well as maybe give some examples of other qualities that I have to offer for them. Not only should I explain this but I should also find an effective way to show them as well, that way the points that I would be raising would be backed up and more 'believable'.
The communication would be key between who I was contacting and myself. Too much contact could begin to get annoying and look a little bit desperate, where as not enough contact could make me out to not actually be that interested in them. The key is to find the right balance between this in order to form some sort of a relationship to then build upon this and gain their trust and interest. There are many ways of communicating with someone, and it would keep things more interesting to maybe use a mixture of ways rather than tiring someone out with the same thing all of the time. For example, I could mail over something to a design studio, and possibly follow it up by an email or a phone call. Then after this I could keep in regular (but not too much) contact with small things through social media websites such as twitter or facebook, and occasionally send over an email with more important/interesting conversations. Which hopefully then could maybe lead on to visits and placements.
Enterprise Task 2: Where are they - How will they find me?
Following the first task, I will use the publishing industry to also complete this second task.
Political: With the ever changing %'s of stuff like VAT and tax over the last few years will have a knock on effect within every part of the process of publishing. With the VAT rate recently increasing to 20%, this will have increased the overall price of production, which will have left either a smaller profit margin for the publishers, or having to increase the sale price.
Economic: Due to the recession which occurred a couple of years ago, which is possible to happen again apparently, has increased the prices of everything. So the price to have a magazine printed will have risen quite a bit as there will be things from say the cost of the ink, to the paper charges, to the trimming and binding charges, etc. The increase in all of these prices will have ultimately affected the prices of producing a whole batch of the product ultimately increasing the RRP price for the consumers to buy - which could lead to a decline in sales.
Social: There has been a vast increase within the digital areas of design, meaning there will have been a decline in interest of printed publication as people are wanting more and more for things to be readily available at the click of a button.
Technological: The advances in technology over recent years has encouraged more people to turn their backs on print and go digital where ever they can with aspects of their lives. This will have had a knock on effect with the publishing industry as this may have caused them to loose sales. Therefore it has encouraged them to 'get with the times' and find a way to make available what would usually be available in print, to also be available as a digital format, which is usually things such as e-books.
The example that I will use for this task is:
Creative Review
The location of CR head office is in London, which is a good 3 hour car journey away from Leeds meaning that it wouldn't really be possible to just pop in for a chat. I would need to look at alternate methods of contact such as email, telephone, and social media in order to make contact with them and maintain a relationship. A good way I think to make the initial contact with them to let them know I exist would be to get something nicely printed which shows off my skills to the best of the ability and mail it down to them - something which would be rememberable, and hopefully make them want to actually know me.
In terms of where potential clients within the publishing industry would be located that I would target is hard to define as a magazine company for example could be based in any part of the UK really as the products that they actually produce and sell can then be stocked anywhere and everywhere all over the UK (depending on where is relevant). The main areas within the UK that they would be based though would be close to a city center, and the majority will be based in London as it is the capital.
The media that my potential clients use ranges across a whole variety of things which could be used to contact them, such as email, website, telephone and social media.
I would need to communicate to them my skills and my passion for the industry as a whole, and really emphasise my eye for detail and what exactly I would have to offer for them which would ultimately benefit them in some way. Most established publication companies will already have their sat ways and what not of how they do things, so I would need to really investigate into these to make sure that I fully understand this before I would even consider contacting them.
Political: With the ever changing %'s of stuff like VAT and tax over the last few years will have a knock on effect within every part of the process of publishing. With the VAT rate recently increasing to 20%, this will have increased the overall price of production, which will have left either a smaller profit margin for the publishers, or having to increase the sale price.
Economic: Due to the recession which occurred a couple of years ago, which is possible to happen again apparently, has increased the prices of everything. So the price to have a magazine printed will have risen quite a bit as there will be things from say the cost of the ink, to the paper charges, to the trimming and binding charges, etc. The increase in all of these prices will have ultimately affected the prices of producing a whole batch of the product ultimately increasing the RRP price for the consumers to buy - which could lead to a decline in sales.
Social: There has been a vast increase within the digital areas of design, meaning there will have been a decline in interest of printed publication as people are wanting more and more for things to be readily available at the click of a button.
Technological: The advances in technology over recent years has encouraged more people to turn their backs on print and go digital where ever they can with aspects of their lives. This will have had a knock on effect with the publishing industry as this may have caused them to loose sales. Therefore it has encouraged them to 'get with the times' and find a way to make available what would usually be available in print, to also be available as a digital format, which is usually things such as e-books.
The example that I will use for this task is:
Creative Review
The location of CR head office is in London, which is a good 3 hour car journey away from Leeds meaning that it wouldn't really be possible to just pop in for a chat. I would need to look at alternate methods of contact such as email, telephone, and social media in order to make contact with them and maintain a relationship. A good way I think to make the initial contact with them to let them know I exist would be to get something nicely printed which shows off my skills to the best of the ability and mail it down to them - something which would be rememberable, and hopefully make them want to actually know me.
Enterprise Task 1: Who am I - Who are they?
To begin this task, I first sat down and drew a mind map of all the different sectors that use Graphic Design that I could think of that I could possibly see myself working within or doing this task on.
Product: Heat is a British entertainment magazine launched in 2004. It is now one of the biggest selling magazines in the UK, with a regular circulation of over half a million. It is a mix of celebrity news, gossip, beauty advice and fashion, primarily aimed at women, although not as directly as in other woman's magazines. It also featured movie and music reviews, TV listings and major celebrity interviews.
Price: The cost of the magazine from a shop is £1.65. To subscribe to the magazine, you can either subscribe for 1 year which would give you 51 issues at £60 (saving £24), or you can get a rolling yearly subscription at £51 a year for 51 issues a year (saving £33 per year)
Place: Heat magazine is available to buy in all news agents, and supermarkets all over the UK.
Promotion: Heat promote themselves using web banners and things such as TV adverts to raise awareness towards their magazine, usually highlighting this weeks 'hottest topics' and what not.
The areas of design that I really like and where my interests are are:
- type
- publishing/editorial
Publishing
I have a strong interest within type and layout, and I am very particular when it comes to detail which is what I think is needed within publishing in order to produce something that is not only appropriate, but also effective.
Within type and layout skills which are needed within publishing, it is important not to only know them, but to understand them too. Knowing the difference between how to make a layout look friendly and how to make a layout look intense is something that not all designers particularly know how to do, or not effectively enough in some cases. This is a skill that I do believe I have developed quite a bit already throughout the type module that I am doing, but is also something that I am keen on pushing further. Using type is basically speech as a written form, and achieving the right tone of voice within anything that uses it is what is key to is being effective. You wouldn't whisper something that needs shouting from the rooftops, so why would you use type in that way either?
My professional/creative aims are to push my skills within type and layout so that I produce work that is to the best that it can be every time I do something as I believe this is the difference between every day design and outstanding design. This relates well within the publishing industry as it is important to speak to the readers with a tone of voice that they can relate to which would ultimately keep them coming back to the publication, whether it be a book or a magazine. If a layout uses a tone of voice that seems as though the publication is talking down to the reader, or seems a little patronising in anyway then this can potentially damage the way that it is perceived in the future.
Two distinct examples of this that have the same responsibilities but different audiences to work with are:
Creative Review
Product: Creative Review is the leading magazine for visual communication which was launched back in 1990 who now have subscribers in over 80 countries and readers online in over 120. The aim of CR is to inspire, inform and stimulate among their readers in graphic design, advertising, digital media, illustration, photography and all other fields of visual communication worldwide.
Price: The price for a copy of Creative Review from a store/online purchase is £6.50. To subscribe to the magazine the price is £12.80 for 3 issues (saving £6.70), £71 for 12 issues (saving £7.00), and £119 for 24 issues (saving £37).
Place: Creative Review is available to buy from magazine stockists such as WH Smiths and art galleries such as Tate. It is also available on subscription which can be ordered online through their website, and then each month the latest copies are delivered straight to peoples doors.
Promotion: Creative Review is the leading magazine for visual communication, and basically every one within the creative industry knows about it - ultimately meaning they don't really have to go out of their way to promote themselves. For similar magazines to CR though, they would usually promote themselves within similar magazines, as well as on each others website through web banners. Creative Review offer all of these to other publications at a price both within their magazine and on their website.
Heat Magazine
Product: Heat is a British entertainment magazine launched in 2004. It is now one of the biggest selling magazines in the UK, with a regular circulation of over half a million. It is a mix of celebrity news, gossip, beauty advice and fashion, primarily aimed at women, although not as directly as in other woman's magazines. It also featured movie and music reviews, TV listings and major celebrity interviews.
Price: The cost of the magazine from a shop is £1.65. To subscribe to the magazine, you can either subscribe for 1 year which would give you 51 issues at £60 (saving £24), or you can get a rolling yearly subscription at £51 a year for 51 issues a year (saving £33 per year)
Place: Heat magazine is available to buy in all news agents, and supermarkets all over the UK.
Promotion: Heat promote themselves using web banners and things such as TV adverts to raise awareness towards their magazine, usually highlighting this weeks 'hottest topics' and what not.
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