Team Print visit

On Wednesday 19th October we had a  visit to Team which was a most informative and enjoyable afternoon out.  One of the directors Simon Bucktrout spent a considerable amount of time showing us around and explaining their process in detail.  
Team offer not only Litho and digital print they also have in-house facilities for finishing including special finishes such as foiling, embossing, die cutting, spot varnish and laminates.  They recently bought a local packaging company who offer high end boxes, files and other packaging which fits hand in glove with the print side of the business. 


I think the most eye opening part of the day is whilst they have state of the art litho and digital presses a lot of the processes still rely on the human hand.  Processes such as making up brochures and books were all done by a tam by hand, using double sided sticky tape!  The  die cutting, embossing and foiling is carried out on old Heidelberg presses in a small print shop ran by operators.
The other 'eye' opener was that the latest Hewlett Packard digital printers offer more than CMYK, you can get spot colours! 


TEAM 


As I forgot to take my camera on the day I have used some of Joe Warburton and Sophie Wilson's photos of the day.

The prepress print work flow schdule planned two weeks ahead for each machine.

A Cyan plate being prepared for the Litho press.

Paper is fed onto the Litho on pallets

Cyan inks on the Litho

This job on the Litho press was on hold awaiting the clients OK.  One of the photos of a Christmas pudding was being absorbed into its black background.  It is attention to detail like this that obviously has helped Team's success.

The digital ink controls for the Lithopress

Gullotining

A FOLDING MACHINE

This is a use screen printing press which they actually use for spot varnishes and laminating rather than screen printing as such.

All made up by hand!

A die cut template

An example of Foiling

The specialist packaging on offer

How to successfully promote yourself in six easy steps

The lecture was delivered from a Freelance design or small agency perspective.


The 'noisy' market - the average person receives on average between 5000 to 6000 messages per day.


Framework number one


Marketing/Communication matrix by Murray & O'Driscoll


Use this as a checklist

The Internet is not a method in itself but rather a 'place' or conduit to market yourself.

Step 0 is to do nothing!

1.  Get their attention

A memorable business card - networking at trade fairs, events '  Important to say what you can do.

• Advertising
• Events
• Radio interviews
• write articles
• Run a blog - news feeds, a conduit of info.
• Exploit social media
• Publicity

2.  Build their interest - need more info.

• Websites
• Portfolio
• Info. packs
• Catalogue
• Curation - vents, credited for organising
• Exhibition- interact

3.  Convince them of your authority, authenticity and professionalism

• Artist statements - values
• Recommendations
• Testimonials
• Awards
• Community engagement - Charitable, be visible, trustworthy
• Professional bodies

4. Make your offer irresistible - mirror their own values by understanding their values 

• A proposition
• Pricing stratgy - discounts, long term
• packaging - extra service
• Try before you buy
• Recommendations
• Differentiation - Who you are, chemistry

5.  Close the sale 

• Put all questions to them and allow them to convince themselves
• convenience - Make more
• But it now - is there a reason?
• Right place, right time - work through this
• Delivery - Can I make it any easier for you?
• Personal selling - face to face
• Interactive website - High investment

6.  Reinforce 

• After sales service show that you care, phone them for feedback
• Advertising
• Public relations - remind existing customers yo are syll there
• Longevity
• Merchandising - Clever  to keep you in people's minds
• Maintaining contact
• Building relationships

 Jonny Cupcakes World tour video - A US brand of t shirts

"Re-cooling' the brand

A - Attention

I - Interest

D - Desire

A - Action

Who are your customers?

Tailor your service to a market - target your market

An example Selvedge Magazine detail where their customers are and what they do

Can control who you are advertising to for example on Facebook.

Try to minimise spam and tap into latent demand in the market e.g. a supermarket you may go with a specific list but visual stimulants 

Personalise advertising

People and their lives are complex so becoming more difficult to target advertising.

Market Segmentation

Look at media usage of customers

What websites, trade mags, newspapers, understand their behaviour.

Business to business

Make it personal, direct communication to right person.

Media usage

Use the the correct conduit

EG

Do your businesses drive to and from work , airlines, networking and broadsheet papers.

Consumer segmentation

• Demographics
• Geographical facts
• Lifestyle choices
• Media usage - right place,right time.
• The Internet - watched monitored processed

Value - What are you worth?

PESTLE model

Druker - A marketing writer /expert argued that innovation is the tool of entrepreneurship. Both international and entrepreneurship demand creativity. Creativity is the process by which culture is changed.

Michaly - Theories about marketing 'Act of seeing things that everyone around us see while making connections that no-one else makes'

David Hockney helped people see things differently in his local town:

Phillip Kotler - A marketing strategy

CCDVTP

Product management - Open technology

Brand management - A promise, Inspiration, emotional not just about logo or packaging

Customer management - Meet the customers/ More personal than the database helps to create products

New approaches to using Customers as a resource eg Innocent smoothie.  Buy things emotionally not out of need.

We need insight to what makes people stick

Basic human needs have not changed:

• Security
• Habitat
• Social/Co-operate
• Social strata developed
• Status symbols - Education, position, labels, fast cars
• Spiritual needs - Music, Theatre, sports and religion

To help you ful-fill people's needs we need to understand people's motivation.

Maslow's Hierarchy of needs 

Advertisers play on our need for love and belonging.

Design is applied psychology- fulfilling people's needs.

Art is applied philosophy

Being useful and entertaining

Dan Germain video

Consumer behaviour changes in a downturn.  We need to keep telling people why we are useful.  retain usefulness and be interesting

Look at Ted talks Creativity http://www.ted.com/search?q=creativity

Vivian Westwood is an original thinker.  She says she never watches TV as TV is a form of massive distraction.

Where is the money?

Greatest human needs - Greatest market potential - Food, Housing, utilities and medicine.

Reduced human needs -  Lower market potential - Esteem, self- actualisation, Organic farming, Holiday cottages and health Spas.

Where does the money go?

40% on housing

Transportation is not in Maslow's hierarchy of needs as not everything is local.

Value proposition

Steve Rankel video

How to get your customers to Chose to buy from you

Short 

Specific - relates to customer - How can improve a customer's life

Customer language

Seat of the pants test - Make people sit up

The overal aim of a value proposition is How can us improve your customer's life?

Specific aims

The outcomes for your customer, how they are effected

Objectives

Output - how we will achieve our aims

Should not be more than three sentences, up to 60 words long

Examples

BBC mission statement

Ben and Jerry's ice cream

Leeds College of Art

Enterprise lecture 2 - Ideas and Opportunities

How to create/ spot opportunities


High failure rate in start-ups can be avoided by doing lots of research before you get money, before you get people, develop products.
It is better that you evaluate the ideas before you launch yourself rather than to waste time and money discovering you have made a mistake some way down the line.


What is an idea:
Occurs any time
To anybody
Randomly
Seldom materialise




What is an opportunity:


Environmental factors merge
The right conditions
The right place, the right time


An idea is not the same as an opportunity


How feasible
Plan
Why is it great?
Ideas need to be right time at right place We explored the many inventions and ideas of Leonardo De Vinci but they had no commercial application.


So, how do you find out find the environment is receptive to your idea or not? Here is a test list you can use to find out if your target audience may be receptive to your idea or not.


You can apply these questions to your own project work. For instance, if you are creating a site specific installation piece, you might consider what environmental factors you should accommodate in order to get an appropriate response from your audience.
•What site specific political issues should you be aware of?
•What are the local economic conditions you want to respond to or reveal?
•What cultural aspects of society in that place are you picking up on?
•What are the economic factors that will make this project possible?
•If you cannot answer these questions then you are not aware enough.


Example Concord worked when launched in 1969 as people across the Atlantic from each other did not have the communication networks available today. Business people could travel between Europe and New York in 3 hours rather than 7 hours.


Technology progressed and the first fibre-optic cable was laid across the Atlantic in 1988 which increased call capacity by 1000%. Jumbo jets increased capacity for transatlantic flight which increase trade and reduced travel costs. All of these things were successful because of political and social conditions.


Political and Social conditions that create the right conditions for new products and services to succeed. New technologies such as supersonic engines, wide bodied aircraft and fibre-optic cables. There is a fourth factor which affects the ability for products and services to succeed and this is Economic conditions.


Economies were growing. More people were making more trade between more countries and their need to travel more often was making travel cheaper. That’s what we call economies of scale.


These examples have flourished in the wealthy, stable economic conditions of western economies. But, how would you respond if you were creating products and services in a developing economy where there is very little financial support from government and little spare cash for people to help themselves?
Being able to pick up on these signals in a marketing environment are key qualities of Entrepreneurship. The common tool is a PEST analysis.
Look at current : -


1.Political Changes ( from local issues to national and international issues)
2.Economic changes (unemployment, Big new employment opportunities create new wealth, Currency exchange rates)
3.Social Changes ( trends, behaviour patterns, TV reflects popular trends)
4.Technology changes ( what has just changed, what are the latest opportunities on eth internet or on mobile applications)
5.Forget last year’s trends and last decade’s technology – Everyone else has already been there.




P Politics - Local, national, international
E Economics - Trade laws, tax breaks
S Social - Are you aware of what just happens to you?
T Technology - Publications, Wired, The Guardian, Economics







To spot an opportunity read a broadsheet at least once a week as some media can be condensed and biased.


PEST analysis plus Environmental = PESTLE




What kind of creative are you?




< Evolutionary ------------------ Revolutionary >
< Manager ------------------ Opportunist >
< Cautious ------------------ Risk taker >


A Creative Entrepreneur


You may ask what an entrepreneur is. You may think that entrepreneurial behaviour or attitudes do not apply to your practice. Let’s have a look at some comparisons to help define it rather than take in isolation.


It may be better to define the difference between Entrepreneurial and other activities rather than to define Entrepreneurship itself


Where would you place yourself on each of these sliding scales. Where you place yourself will help you to understand what kind of creative you are, how you innovate and what kind of entrepreneur you will be.
The revolutionary will plough through everything and everyone to make change
The evolutionary is someone who adapts current situations, products and designs to gradually make changes that will carry people along with you.
The manager looks after existing situations and makes them more effective and efficient.
The Opportunist will seek new opportunities and hopes someone else will help them make it work
A cautious creative will give the market what it wants
The risk taker will give the market something it didn’t realise it needed yet!








There are roughly three types of entrepreneur.
1.The owner worker - Ltd by capacity
1.Pros. – you practice your own art in a solitary manner and are totally in control of every aspect of your work
2.Cons:- It is easy to fall into the ‘creative labourer’ trap. Your income will be limited by time, health and interruptions.
2. Owner manager
1.Pros:- your role is more diverse and you meet more people. You can develop talent in others and they enable you to generate more income. It is easier to control quality at arms length.
2.You have less time to do your own creative work. You have to think for others. You become a manger of people.
3.Owner Entrepreneur
1.You direct the creative work of others and orchestrate a number of different income streams so if one income stream fails, there are still others to keep you afloat. You can take more holidays and relax doing your own creative work.
2.Sometimes the opportunities you identify do not bring any income. Sometimes risks lead to disasters.
Example Damian Hurst - An orchestrator




Example Antony Gormley - Halifax Foundry makes his designs, Concept creators and Project coordinators


Where do opportunities come from?


Trends
•Technical developments
•Political change
•Economic boom and slump
•Human need
•Problems
•Research


Examples
Sony Walkman
was developed as an experiment in which some new technologies were put together to with existing technologies to create a brand new product. This is known as Technology PUSH. The market had no idea it needed this fun product but it was hugely popular and made a massive impact on social behaviour


Nike After the University of Oregon resurfaced the track at Hayward Field, Bowerman began experimenting with different potential outsoles that would grip the new urethane track more effectively. His efforts were rewarded one Sunday morning when he poured liquid urethane into his wife's waffle iron. Bowerman developed and refined the so-called 'waffle' sole which would evolve into the now-iconic Waffle Trainer in 1974.
This is also a Technology PUSH
Innocent Smoothie In fact, being accountable to our customers is something that is in our blood. In the summer of 1998 when we had developed our first smoothie recipes but were still nervous about giving up our proper jobs, we bought £500 worth of fruit, turned it into smoothies and sold them from a stall at a little music festival in London. We put up a big sign saying 'Do you think we should give up our jobs to make these smoothies?' and put out a bin saying 'YES' and a bin saying 'NO' and asked people to put the empty bottle in the right bin. At the end of the weekend the 'YES' bin was full so we went in the next day and resigned.


This is a Market PULL


Post it®It is a tale of two scientists/inventors, one who created glue that didn’t stick very well and the other had trouble with a bookmark that didn’t quite do its job.


Together with a band of determined scientists and marketers they created a product that redefined informal communication — the Post-it Note.


Once more, this is a Technology PUSH.


Technology PUSH means that new products that have emerged through the development of new technology are presented to the market without necessarily knowing how successful they may be
Market PULL means that products are developed in respnse to market demand for change


Where does the creative fit in?




•Project management
•Know how to find the right people
•Know where to source stuff
•Can work with a team
•Gets along with all kinds of people
•Optimistic
•Communicates well


We are great at these things AND we have been taught how to generate ideas and solutions to problems. The clever thing to do is to spot an opportunity where you can do it.


Project Manager skills

What is required by whom and by when
Gain client trust and convince people to invest in your innovations
Lateral thinking, holistic thinking and 3-D visualisations
PEST analysis
Know your suppliers, develop relationships and make them your frineds
Create a system that works for you and that helps you to communicate ideas to others
Be connected, network and know who can help you achieve high quality solutions
Define the quality of work required. Never entrust this decision to others because your reputation is on the line.


Opportunities can simply arise from these aptitudes because you, or others, recognise that you can put things together in a better, more effective, more imaginative and more convincing manner to achieve higher quality results. This is the most common opportunity that is developed. Some people think that entrepreneurs are heroes with massive personalities but actually, they tend to be quiet, hard working people who are sometimes a bit dull. Richard Branson, James Dyson and Sir John Hegarty are perfect examples of this.




So you think you have spotted an opportunity?


Skills
- Technical
- processes


Aptitudes
- Teamworking
- Entrepreneurs do not do it alone


Predisposition
- Risk / caution
- Evolution / revolution
- Manager / opportunist


How do you know if this is a good opportunity or not?


Look at your competitors
How many are there?
How well are they doing
What do they do well?
What could you improve upon?


Will anyone buy it?


This is not down to a matter of chance.
How many customers are there – are there enough.
How many competitors are there.
This known as Supply and Demand.


Where are you customers and who are your competitors.
Can you choose a location that would give you a competitive edge in relation to a target market.


Is anybody else doing this thing differently from you and if so, is their way better or worse than yours?


Assessing competitors


Apply these models to your competitors:
SWOT anaylsis - Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats
The 4 P's -Product, Price, Promotion, Place .
PEST

Assess the quality of the opportunity


For me
For the customer
For the planet
For other stakeholders


How will it affect your personal life, where you live, your family and your work / life balance?


How will you affect the customers’ quality of life or businesses


What beneficial effect can you have on your local, national and global environments?


Who else is affected by your business? For example, if we look at Leeds City Art Galery, who can you say is affected by its activities? These people are all stakeholders.


Stakeholders can be organised in these three brackets.


The internal environment in a business / practice
This may just be you. Or may be 10 people who work together
Your skills
Your resources
Your lifestyle




The Micro environment
- These are the stakeholders who are just on the periphery of your ‘world’
- They are affected by your success or failure


Your network of friends and associates
You competitors
Your supplies
Your local community
Stakeholders




The Macro environment
- These are stakeholders or factors which are beyond your control
- They are not directly affected by your success or failure but by the cumulative effect of many successes and faillures
- You may be significantly affected by these factors beyond your control


World market conditions – currency – populations - cultures
Economics – exchange rates – wealth - debt
Technology – supporting – emerging – alternative
Social Trends – trends – Behaviours – demographics - needs
Politics – legislation – tax – war - population
The Environment – pollution – conservation - sustainability


Conclusion


Understanding this principle and being able to research and evaluate some of the aspect we have looked will mean you are already in a better place than 80% of people who start a business based on an idea and end up failing.


By using these models of marketing basics we can avoid basic business errors.

Why am I here - What do I want to learn?

I chose to study on this programme:

1. As a mature student it felt the best platform to pursue a creative career.
2. The structured programme and intense learning appealed to me more than a course nearer to home which was less hours.
3. Fred's obvious enthusiasm and commitment came across on the Open days
4. I liked the idea of attending a Specialist Art College and the courses links with the Industry and D&AD
5. The location; although the commute can be a pain it is achievable.

Five things I want to learn on this programme:

1. Packaging nets and design
2. A deeper understanding of typefaces and layouts
3. Practical printing and colour management skills such as preparing files for Print in the correct format
4. Understand and designing for Branding and Identity
5. Website set up and design 

Five skills which are strengths:

1. Enjoy researching to the nth degree and beyond to inform and develop ideas and concepts.
2. Project management skills such as achieving deadlines
3. Hard work and tenacity
4. As a mature student I have broader understanding of the world generally and more life experiences to bring to briefs
5. Analytical, confident with the use of spreadsheets and handling data.

Five things I would like to improve:

1. Confidence and speed in hand drawing ideas
2. Designing Layouts particularly more confidence with thumbnails
3. My attention to detail particularly in being able to spot strengths and weaknesses in other designer's work 
4. Refocus and apply myself to the course after the summer break 
5. Increase and improve skills in Adobe software particularly Illustrator and Indesign.

Five ways I will evaluate my progress

1. Re-visit the level of work I was achieving last year and ensure this year's is stronger
2. Evaluating my peers progress in line with my own
3. Asking for feedback from Professionals outside the course
4. Revisit this task in January and April
5. Be honest with myself and also with tutors when considering my progress

Five questions I want to find the answer to?

1. Which Agencies Between Manchester and Leeds are open to Mature students
2. How to value my time?
3. What subject will I be able to write 8000 words about?
4. What it means to be a Freelance Graphic Designer and how do you get work?
5. Is it possible to get special print finishes on a small run?And how much it costs?