Monday 12 March 2012

Task 5 Ideas for a business card

Letter Gothic is a monospaced sans-serif typeface. It was created between 1956 and 1962 by Roger Roberson for IBM in their Lexington plant. It was initially intended to be used in Selectric electric typewriters. It is readable and is recommended for technical documentation and for sheets including columnar data. Gayaneh Bagdasaryan designed a proportional font called New Letter Gothic, based on Letter Gothic, for ParaType.
Letter Gothic was included in Windows 95. It was replaced by Andalé Mono in Windows 98 and in 2001, Windows XP replaced it with Lucida Console.


I want to find a font that feels reflective of me...I am not sure whether to find an 'analytical' looking typeface or a more creative looking one.


Luke inadvertently gave me an idea whilst having a joke at Joe's expense... hopwe Joe does not mind me 'borrowing' his idea...  Its a different typeface and looks squarer than what Joe has produced.



Inspiration for a decent Business Card

18-smokin-hot-business-card-designs



















Sunday 11 March 2012

Ideas for branding 'me'

Two for one


Buy one get one free


Sounds Too cheap/bargain like?


Two tone


http://www.twotone.co.uk/


Duo tone


 http://duotone2.com/
http://www.duodesign.co.nz/
http://duotonecreative.com/Index/Home.html


The Duotone Designer?


> Design


http://greaterthandesigns.com/GTD/Home.html


two in one


http://2in1design.com/


two over one


http://www.imageco.com/industry/accounting-graphic-design.htm


2fold design
http://www.2folddesign.co.uk/Blank.html


Double Design
http://www.doublesdesign.com/

Thursday 8 March 2012

Creative CV content

Five Facts


1. ACMA qualified accountant
2. Names
3. Date of birth
4. Qualifications/ BAGD
5  Contact details


Five Practical Skills


1. Exhaustive research and investigative skills- Concept developer
2. Project Management and meeting dead lines
3. Analytical
4. Detailed knowledge
5.


Five Creative Skills
1.  Creative user of Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, Indesign and After Effects
2.  Storyboarding for moving image
3.  Knowledge of printbased outcomes
4.
5.


Five personal qualities
1.  Team Manager of Slaithwaite Amateur Rugby league - An organiser
2.  Positive 
3.  Tenacity
4.  Supportive team player


Five Statements


An analytical designer with twenty years experience meeting deadlines and project managing as an Accountant.


A mature student on the prestigious Leeds College of ARt Graphic design degree.  Seeking a creative career after tenty years as a management accountant.


A Management Accountant who is now applying her problem solving and project management skills to the Creative Industry on the prestigious Leeds College of ARt Graphic Design degree

Tuesday 6 March 2012

PPD workshop

Industrial Experience v Professional Research













In groups we discussed Industrial Experience V professional research


Industrial Experience(Negotiated)Professional research('you'drive)


Studio Visits                             Studio Visits
Portfolio surgery                      Visiting prof talks and lecture
Live Briefs                               Enterprise Brief
Enterprise brief (live events)     Interview agencies/others
Collaborative practice              Joining Media groups
Professional Interview              Tweet/Linkedin/Creative networks 
Freelance work                        Joining mailing lists
Self promotion                         Subscribing to blogs
                                              Network events/ Exhibitions




  

Monday 5 March 2012

PPD End of Module Evaluation

BA (Hons.) GRAPHIC DESIGN LEVEL 05
Module Code OUCE255
Module Title Enterprise


END OF MODULE SELF-EVALUATION


NAME Lisa Whitaker




1. What skills have you developed through this module and how effectively do you think you have applied them?


The use of SWOT analysis and PEST analysis has been invaluable in understanding and analysing the Design Business. They provide a starting point to explore where I fit in and also identifying opportunities and threats.
Writing the Business Plan has been an eye opener in terms of realising I have the skills to actually set my own business up.
Just being more aware of what/who is out there at this stage can help me be more focussed on what direction my Practice can take.


2. What approaches to/methods of design production have you developed and how have they informed your design development process?


Being happy to be involved in the concept development for the logo than letting it go. The final logo reflects all our initial ideas.




3. What strengths can you identify in your work and how have/will you capitalise on these?


I felt I fitted in well with the team and I was able to play to my strengths. Charlie and Marty were keen to design so Claudia and I focussed on research and the business details.


4. What weaknesses can you identify in your work and how will you address these in the future?


The presentation went reasonably well and I think it helped there were four of us sharing the experience however this is definitely an area that needs work. If I ever do go into business I could do with a Partner who is a confident front man!




5. Identify five things that you will do differently next time and what do you expect to gain from doing these?


• Spend equal amounts of time developing the Business Plan and the Presentation as the latter felt quite thrown together.
• Do Client / customer Market Research. We made an assumption that small – medium businesses would prefer a clear pricing structure for cutting edge design. I am not sure if having a visible pricing structure ‘cheapens’ the design.
• I would like to have engaged with Enterprise more earlier on however with given the number of deadlines we have had I don’t think I could have done




6.How would you grade yourself on the following areas:
(please indicate using an ‘x’)


5= excellent, 4 = very good, 3 = good, 2 = average, 1 = poor
1 2 3 4 5
Attendance 4
Punctuality 5
Motivation 4
Commitment 4
Quantity of work produced 4
Quality of work produced 3
Contribution to the group 5
The evaluation of your work is an important part of the assessment criteria and represents a percentage of the overall grade. It is essential that you give yourself enough time to complete your written evaluation fully and with appropriate depth and level of self-reflection. If you have any questions relating to the self evaluation process speak to a member of staff as soon as possible.

Saturday 3 March 2012

Task 5 - Proposed position statement

TASK


Over the past 10 weeks you have been asked you to research and respond to 5 key questions in the form of a set of tasks. These are:-


o Who am I – who are they ?


o Where are they – How will they find me ?


o How will I promote myself – what do they want to hear ?


o Who else is out there – how good are they ?


Statements summarising your research should have been posted to your enterprise blog and should form the basis of an ongoing inquiry.


Write 10 short but informative statements that identify your distinctive ‘positioning’ as a Graphic Designer. Your statements should consider your ambitions, skills and areas of creative interest in relation to the market, your clients, competition and possible collaborators and should be based on the information that you have collected in response to the set tasks.
You will need to compare a list of your skills and services against customer/client needs to those of your competitors, this should help you determine how your company is unique.




  1. My skills and experience include project and financial management which provides me with a distinct advantage over a Younger Graphic Designer just graduating from Uni.              
  2. My areas of Creative interest are still both print and digital based at the moment.  I engage with and enjoy most areas of Graphic design we have explored at Uni.                                              There will be increasing opportunities in App and mobile advertising design over and above say Website design.  For example I noticed a Website design agency based on Huddersfield called The Common Agency have changed their direction to Mobile design. 

 

I intend to research Apps and Mobile platforms more fully as part of my PPD development and Design Context research. I see this is an area of potential collaboration between myself and the 'Technical' developers.         
              
3. I am drawn to Branding and Identity mainly because I enjoyed the Design for print module so much.  The research we did for this area in our Business Development proved quite alarming in terms of the number of successful businesses in the Huddersfield and Leeds area.  The Bundles/fixed price idea is quite a unique selling point for a high end agency.
I have been working on a live brief Re-branding a Labels and Packaging Company which is going well.  I will post the outcome of this should he go with one of my logos.  
If I should start to head in this direction I would definitely try to work for an experienced agency like 10 Associates before attempting to start my own business. 
This area of Graphic design demands experience and knowledge of a wide range of skills such as marketing, photography, digital technology as well as print based skills.  I believe the only way to gain this is through working with an Agency.                                           
4.  The Business Group task was inspiring in terms of realising I have the financial/business skills necessary to set up a business.  One area which could hold me back is my Presentation skills.  I would need to set up the business with at least one partner who was strong at pitching as this is a essential to win Design contracts.  Also visiting The Unit opened up a whole network of possibilities and support.  
Certainly when considering my future in Graphic Design Freelancing or setting up an Agency myself could be my only option given my age and the state of the current employment opportunities!                                         
5.  The Design module has made me realise how weak my typography and layout skills are.  In the sessions with Graham I feel like a fish out of water.  The positive outcome from these sessions is I am learning a great deal and I realise to be any good at this at all will involve lots of PRACTISE.  Also I am starting to 'recognise' good and bad layout and question the readability of text. This area is fundamental to being a Graphic Designer no matter which direction you head in.

6. Promotion/Networking go hand in hand in this industry.  I will endeavour to create a website, set up a Tweeter account and continue to explore Networking opportunities.  
For example I found out the father of a friend of my son Oliver's is a Freelance Graphic Designer.  I took an opportunity to introduce myself to him and I have arranged to meet up with him over the Easter holiday.  He has not got a blog or website so I see this as a potential opportunity to offer him a service.  Equally he has twenty years experience in Branding and Identity.


7. Following on from 6, one potential'niche' for me could be to offer to collaborate with Freelancers, perhaps around my age, who feel they have lost contact with what is currently 'cool' and happening.  I can offer my experience gained on this fantastic degree programme and perhaps 'freshen' their practice.  The two people I have spoken to so far do not have websites and also don't blog or attend networking events. 

8. I will continue to explore the Culture sector and now also Education sector opportunities for Graphic Design.  Even though there have been Government cuts there will still be opportunities in this area.  I want to extend the research i have started on the Academies and explore the opportunities available in the Yorkshire area.


9.  Location is pretty much a given in that I need to be able to commute within a 30 miles radius of Huddersfield.  Virtual Office services and hot desking is a concept I had not considered until doing the research for the Group Business task.  I can see these services can offer a Self Employed Graphic designer not only a 'city' address but also lots of other support and networking opportunities.  The facilities at Inc. enterprises are excellent and include ten hours use of their boardroom and all the presentation equipment.  The visit to Inc. Enterprises made me believe I could potentially work from home but also have a 'professional' outward facing appearance to the client.  



Task 5 - Proposed position statement - Further research

I will be honest I did not do this at christmas , as recommended however I am quite glad now.  The reason being developing the Business and also specifically writing the detailed Business Plan has actually made me realise I not only could set up a business but that I may be foolish not to try.  The reason being as a qualified Accountant I have a whole skill set that has been developed over the last twenty years.  It seems wasteful not to capitalise on these as well as the four years I have spend developing my creative and design skills.


The SWOT and PEST analysis are essential in 
  • identifying current opportunities in this competitive industry.  
  • gaining a clear understanding on what is happening on both a local, national and Global Scale.
  • Not being blind to the competition in your area
  • Creating a unique selling point for your business
I can see there are many networking opportunities in the North for me to engage with both as a means of promotion but also as a means of collaboration.

I have identified a potential area to target which is School branding and identity including prospectus design and printing.  My sister is a Primary School Deputy head and she said schools are managing themselves like businesses and there are opportunities for Design in this area.  I know that Education, particularly aged 5-16 is one area which has not been targeted for cuts as much as the rest of the public sector.

Also schools are being encouraged by the Government to run as Academies which gives them freedom from Local authority control.




I found a Company in the North that is specifically branded towards and specialises in Education Graphic Design:



They are based in Rochdale and have clients seem to be based on the Oldham/Lancashire area although some schools are based as far away as Surrey.

They offer not only branding and print based outcomes but also web design.

Another studio based in London and Durham





They have an extremely polished website and also huge portfolio of work.



Another nugget of information I have found out though someone who works at Leeds Council is how they source their suppliers (over £10,000).  This is for most of the councils in the North, West and South Yorkshire area. They invite suppliers to register their details on athe following website:




They invite applications for tenders for the work on this website.

She said even if your pitch is not successful it can often lead to lower value orders if they are impressed with your work....it literally can be a foot though the door.

Friday 2 March 2012

Design for Re:


Marty and Charlie focus was on the design of the business cards,  the promotional material and the company stationery.










To make the Statement and Invoice more authentic we added the Terms and Conditions on the back.

The Presentation

We set up the orange juice with our promotional labels on and our business cards for people to take as they came in the room.


Unfortunately we literally ran out of time to properly create and rehearse the presentation.  We had decided to share responsibility for the presentation and deliver the part we were most comfortable with or had most knowledge of.  Thankfully we all knew our bit and we had planned the running order and who would talk over which slide so overall it actually went well.  We also managed to keep the presentation under 10 minutes.

              Open publication - Free publishing - More business plan






The Powerpoint could have been visually stronger and there were some issues with font sizes.  A lot of the detail was covered in the actual Business plan document.  We also did not mention we had designed invoices, statement and a website. We also did not get across everything we had researched which was apparent with Jane's questions.  I am pleased that Charlie and I were able to answer the questions really fully as we had included them in our research.