Tuesday, 7 June 2011

PPD presentation




http://dl.dropbox.com/u/24294704/pdf.pdf

Presentation Script

Slide 3- LEVEL 4 to LEVEL5

At the end of year 1 I was still unsure about the kind of visual communicator I see myself. there were a lot of things that interested but I didn't feel confident in any of those field to say I am a typographer or that I never want to design for screen.

During the summer we were given a research task of 'what is good' and I decided that 'sustainable graphic design' was good. I became very interested in the issue of sustainability and how Graphic designers play a massive role in this culture of over consumption and unnecessary wastage. So, I ended up doing quite a lot of research on the subject matter
This interest was supported by what I witnessed during my internship at a packaging print company in the summer. For a month I observed the printing processes of what I assume to be a typical industrial size printers and there was a ridiculous amount of paper and energy being wasted. This internship really encouraged me to explore this idea of 'green design' even more and at the same time really taught me about the printing process.

As for being in Level 5 , the things I want to achieve this year are:

- to really define what kind of visual communicator I am but at the same time not narrow it doen completely so that I am just one thing but rather confident in a particular field.
-gain some new skills both technical and practical in order to better myself as a designer especially in typography
-really explore the idea of sustainability and design


Slide 4- What happened this year ?

SUSTAINABILITY

As mentioned , I became really interested in the idea of sustainability and design. I see it not as a field within design like typography, packaging and etc. but really a basis of what my design practice should be based on whether it would be print, type or image.

Obviously I want to voice my concerns and interest but at the same time I'm a Graphic Designer and unless I work only for non profit and choose all my I am still going be be hired to communicate to my audience whatever my clients want me to but I can still do my bit to be 'less' bad to the environment.

Images of plan A and hand made paper?

SLIDE 5 - PRINT

In this module we were taught the basics of the printing processes in the real world ( there are other ways of printing other than James' dungeon) and to apply that knowledge to our own self initiated project led on from the summer project

(images of shade of green)

learnt to really consider how the piece of design is going to be printed and which would be the most appropriate way to print at the beginning of the project. communicate with printers, consider colour matching and etc. all the things that needed to be considered.

I found that I did end up spending too much time researching for this project and then started design when I should have done them both coherently and when its a design for print...have test pieces!. the reusable packing where you can turn it into a pencil holder...turns out to be very small. but i guess the idea was there!



first brief about sustainability....I proposed using recycled paper and reusable packaging.


SLIDE 6- Screen

Second module was all about designing for screen and learning to use after effects and we got introduced to the concept of 'time'! the way i worked had to change quite drastically, the design rules still apply but now you have to think about time, preparing assets, story boarding and a new pet hate 'rendering' time

should have balanced the time I took to prepare the assets and to actually create the title sequence better. i took so long drawing my assets that I felt I didn't have enough time to perfect the animation.

we also touched upon web design towards the end etc


SLIDE 7- Typography

I chose type as my optional module I think this was one of the most useful things I've learnt this year. I found that I didn't have as much design work to show as those who took on the image module but I felt that the knowledge that I gained is something that will benefit me so much for the rest of my career. Its something that is rarely taught at other colleges and its something that I could really apply to my everyday practice.

show images

SLIDE- 8- Rediscovering illustration

The past couple of years I've done the odd bits of illustration but I don't think I've taken advantage of my drawing as much as I could have in terms of using it in my design work. This year for first module and in general I've really focused on becoming familiar with typography and not really thought about illustration. However, I feel like I want to get back into illustration a but more and actually use it side by side with my typography.

I dont want to do illustration but use illustration to support and strengten my typogrpahy

some drawings I did this year.

SLIDE 9- Combining all that for my self directed brief

images

I combined everything that 'happened' this year into this project. At the beginning of this brief, I decided what I wanted to design, and what were the things I was interested in ...and used them to write I brief.

NHM project,

print
type
illustration
a bit of screen

sustainability. NHM> celebrating nature ( didnt want to do a project ABOUT sustainability)
but incorporate that into project ei. prints on back of tickets instead of flyers etc.


SLIDE 10- NEXT YEAR

I want to -


contacting more studios both here and thailand
more projects to suit what I want to show in my portfolio
further my skills eg.
knowledge on sustainability and the recent development on that within the design industry
more web design.... screen vs. print
typography
explore illustration

from student to professional


SLIDE 11- This summer

possible internship...not yet confirmed
sustainability ( also dissertation )

develop myself as a designer,
competition briefs
self initiated briefs
live briefs

develop my website and blog ready for next year and my professional development.

SLIDE 12- and hopefully, this is where I will be working straight after i've graduated


thank you for listening. :)

Structure for PPD

Slide 1

PPD
NAME
MODULE CODE
etc etc

Slide 2

Content
  • level 4 > level 5
  • what happened this year...... ( subs into)
  • Sustainability
  • screen
  • print
  • type
  • and back to illustration
What I want next year
In the mean time ( summer)
This is what will happen straight after I've graduated


SLIDE 3 - LEVEL 4- LEVEL 5

where I was at the end of the first year
the summer - growing interest in sustainability ( what is good)
- intern at Siam Toppan
what I wanted from this year

SLIDE 4- What happened this year...... SUSTAINABILITY

as mentioned > summer
how I put it into practice
basis for entire practice rather than a field within my practice
( images to support> hand made paper

SLIDE 5- PRINT ( OUGD201)

shades of green
what I learnt and what I do differently
link back to sustainability

SLIDE 6- SCREEN ( OUGD202)

screen shots?
what I learnt
what I'd do differently
screen vs print


SLIDE 7 - TYPOGRAPHY

any work?
what learnt- mostly knowledge


SLIDE 8- rediscovering ILLUSTRATION

left it to concentrate on type
show some i did this year

SLIDE 9 - combining all of that

self initiated project
how I've combined all of that, wrote the brief and this
images

SLIDE 10- LEVEL 5 > LEVEL 6

contacting more studios both here and thailand
more projects to suit what I want to show in my portfolio
skills?
from student to professional

SLIDE 11- In the mean time

this summer....work on....
intern
sustainability

SLIDE 12- this is where I will be straight after I've graduated




Sunday, 5 June 2011

Another reply from Minx Creative

Hello Sai,


Thanks again for your email.


Sadly, we do not run our internship programme other than between September

and December, however I will certainly let you know if circumstances change

or we decide to run a summer programme in 2012.


We really, really liked your handmade posters, a refreshing yet appropriate

solution and message. Your approach to sustainable design is very positive

and certainly a process that we feel very strongly about.


Definitely keep on developing your portfolio so you have a strong selection

of work on display. Work on honing in on the details, especially with layout

and typesetting, keep an eye out for spelling mistakes (example, page 4:

'stationary' should be with an 'e'), orphans and widows (see page 8 layout)

etc.


I hope my comments are helpful and good luck with the rest of your

course.


Best regards.


Charlotte



Charlotte Dickason

Designer

Minx Creative

2 Old Library Court

45 Gillender Street

London

E14 6RN


t: +44 (0) 20 7510 1005

f: +44 (0) 20 7510 1007

e: charlotte@minxcreative.com

w: http://www.minxcreative.com

Some new ideas for identity
























Tuesday, 3 May 2011

Enterprise Evaluation

To evaluate the overall module I think that our group succeeded in delivering our presentation to the standard that we were all satisfied with. We were all very committed in trying to answer all the necessary questions in order to perfect out business plan and I think we did quite well in our attempt to do that. We were quite organised in terms of meeting up with the group even during the holidays ( we had Skype meetings). Each member of the group were assigned quite specific tasks to complete for each meeting which allowed us to easily work out where we are and what we need to do interms of our progression in the business plan. However, I think at the beginning we got quite carried away with the really detailed stuff that weren't necessary for our presentation such as the pricing of everything, all the legal stuff, pricing for printers etc. They didn't seem to be necessary and would have made our presentation far too long but I think it was still a good thing that we considered those factors and blogged them. As a group I think we all worked together quite well I felt that we all had the same vision and were all on the same levels of understand ( apart from the finance section as I really didn't understand what that all about, not that I didn't try . As mentioned, we were all assigned specific roles. Ailsa was in charged of all the finacnes, Robyn with all the premises, SWOT analysis and competitors, Nick was in charged of all the legal stuff, branding and I was in charge with researching the printers them and also the promotion and marketing side of things. But I felt like I didn't have as much to do as the others and perhaps could have tried to get more involved with all the other stuff.

As of the tasks and lectures I felt that I took in a lot of what was said in the lectures and hopefully that would have shown in the tasks. I tried to do all the tasks straight after the relevant lectures so that it is all in my head and I found that it was really helpful. Some of the tasks I found quite hard to understand. For example , the second task, I wasn't sure whether I was suppose to find potential clients who are seeking Graphic Designers or Graphic design companies that are hiring. I thought that I should do the one that is most relevant and appropriate to me andI decided to analyse my potential employers who would be Graphic Design studios. Overall I think I spent a susbtantial amount of time doing each tasks and tried to show my understanding of each lecture. I believe that I completely them to the best of my ability , however good that will be.


Promoting our Graphic Design Business

There are many ways to promote a graphic design business, including blogging, word-of-mouth, email newsletters and social networking. Many of these methods are inexpensive or free, and can lead to increased exposure for your business and new clients. Even when a design business is extremely busy, it is important to continue to market your work, and many of these approaches can become a part of your everyday workflow.



Promote Your Graphic Design Business with Online Interviews

Getting interviewed for a website is a great way to promote your graphic design business. Online interviews will expose your business to a larger audience and drive traffic to your website. While it would be great if websites came to you for interviews, this will not always be the case. At any point in your design career, you have to self-promote. This can be as simple as contacting a website and asking if they are interested in an interview or case study on your company.



How to Use Twitter for Business

Twitter is a powerful and widely used networking tool, and among other communities, it is very popular among designers and web professionals. While many think it is just for announcing day-to-day social activities, there are many ways to harness Twitter for your graphic design business.



Using Facebook to Promote Your Graphic Design Business

Facebook is enormously popular, most often thought of as a social tool for friends and family to share photos, thoughts and anything else that the huge Facebook network allows. It is also, however, a powerful business tool. With so many people on one website, it was inevitable that businesses jumped in with profiles, or pages, of their own and by taking advantage of other business opportunities.



Using LinkedIn to Promote Your Graphic Design Business

LinkedIn is a business networking website that allows professionals to connect and help each other. Unlike many other networking tools that were originally geared towards socializing, LinkedIn is specifically for business networking and therefore an obvious choice as a tool to market yourself as a graphic designer.



How to Create an Email Newsletter

An email newsletter is an important tool for growing a graphic design business. It is one of most effective ways to spread the word-of-mouth on what type of work you are doing and looking for. Here’s what it takes to create and maintain one.



The Benefits of a Graphic Design Blog

There are many benefits to writing your own graphic design blog. Writing a blog can build a community around your website, promote your business, and help to establish yourself as an expert in the field.



How to Design a Graphic Design Business Card

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Five Ways to Improve Your Graphic Design Business

There are many ways to improve your graphic design business. Some of the most obvious ways include building your portfolio and improving your skill set through practice or courses. However, there are additional improvements you can make to your business that don't involve design work. These include anything from how you dress to how you write.



Interview: Social Networking in a Design Business

Social media really expands your ability to connect with like-minded groups, especially Twitter. Not only is Twitter useful to broadcast and interact, it’s also incredibly useful to research prospective clients, learn more about potential employees and watch what your competition is up to.


How and Why to Get your Credit Line on Graphic Design Projects

Getting your graphic design credit line on your work is a great way to spread word-of-mouth on your business. It is satisfying, and lucrative, when someone sees your work and contacts you for a project. In many cases your clients would pass on your contact info for you in case of an inquiry, but it is a great idea to skip that step and guarantee people can get in touch with you. Also, it is of course nice to get credit when it is deserved and see your name on a final work of design­­-

Design competitions










Script

Slide 1- Roles/ Introduction

Firstly, I would like to introduce all the members of our Company. First, we have Nick Lovegrove who is the Creative Directo, Ailsa Marrs, the Financial Director and designer, Robyn who is the accounts manager and me, the print liaison and designer

We are a limited company starting on 1st of April which is the beginning of the financial year in 2016.

I will now pass over to Robyn who will explain out vision statement etc



.........................( robyn with vision statement, premises etc, Nick our products )

Slide 6 - I will now talk about our competitors ( names and analysis of competitors on the slide)

We have picked 3 companies that are most similar to VOICE as our competitors, they are 7Nine, Fuse8 and Definitive.

  1. We are a much smaller company, unlike Fuse8 and therefore we guarantee a much more hands on relationship with our clients.
  2. We also have a print liaison who will have built a strong relationship with the printers meaning that we are involved/ over seeing from start to finish of a print job rather than just handing it over to the printers
  3. As mentioned, having just one print and client liaison were guarantee consistency and a friendly face all the way through each project.
  4. We are offering a 10% discount in the first year which means that we are cheaper than our competitors especially definitely who's price range is quite high
  5. Situated just on the southern outskirts of Leeds ( which means rent is not too expensive) and were are easily accessible via cars and trains
  6. We are also situated near printers we are working with such a Team Impression and Duffields

Slide 7- Marketing and Promotion

This is an over view of our marketing strategy analysed using the 4 P's.
Our budget for the 1st year is £ 5000 and we wanted to make sure that we reach as many of our target audience as possible.

Our main promotion is Advertising ( this is where most of the budget is spent)
We intend to advertise with the Yorkshire Post and the Leeds Yellow pages for a more local cliental and the Guardian Newspapers for a more national based group but still targeted at businessmen and broadsheet readers with a higher average income.
We also intend to advertise with design magazines such as Grafik and IdN. We also hope to get publish in such magazines.


(Slide 7.5)

The costings of the ads vary....
For example- for a large business card sized, mono print in the yellow pages is £351 and for a double page advertisement with an offered 70% discount is £1107

The purposes for these ads and publication vary as the yellow pages and newspapers are aimed more at clients directly contacting us and the design magazines is to get our name/ company seen by other designers and to get a reputation via these publications.

Other than that we also intend to....

  • put commonly used keywords into our website so that our website appears on the top of the search engine eg. Google.
  • enter design competitions monthly
  • Entice customers with business cards that stand out
  • customised direct mail for specific types of clients
I will now pass over to Ailsa Marrs who will talk abot Finances



Prensentation ( final)















Sunday, 1 May 2011

Slide 7- Marketing and Promoting

  • set our budget to 5000 pounds
  • therefore, try to cover as many of our target audience as possible under that budget
  • need to be as effective as possible ( otherwise, waste of money)
  • using the communication mix diagram to outline our marketing plan
  • also using the 4 p's to analyse our marketing strategy
  • We have established our target market to be medium-large commercial and cooperate businesses. with a high average income. Mostly would be regional but we are also aiming to expand our business to a more national based client group. Also, as this is branding design comnay.... most businesses that will be needing an identity and branding would be ones which are starting up
the 4 p's

  • Product - our Graphic design services mentioned in the previous slides


  • Pricing - we have already aimed to charge for our services less than our competitors with the 10 percent discount in the first year

Place - our advertisement are specified in the wanted areas of our target audience. eg. yellow pages, local news paper etc.



Promotion -...........

I would like to demonstrate this by using the communication mix diagram


advertising, this is where the most of our budget would be spent. we intend to advertise ourselves in the Yorkshire post and the yellow pages aimes for the more local client base. Then for a more national base group we intend to advertise with a broadsheet newspapers such as the Guardian as our target audience are most likely to be broadsheet readers and businessmen.

We also wanted to advertise ourselves in design magazine as to get our names out these with all our competitors and on top of that submitting our work ( with an agreement with our client) to magazines such as Idn, Grafik in order to get published.

the costings or these ads vary. For example, for an ad a size of a large business card in black and white in the yellow pages is 351 pounds. For an Idn magazine, we contacted their ad team and for a full page advertisement and a 70% offered discount, the ad would be 1107 pounds but the time scale, readers, location would also be different. the yellow pages is an annual publication where as Idn is quarterly. The purposes of each ad could also be very different, yellow pages for direct client contact where as an ad or a publication in a design magazine would give us the reputation which would be drive the clients to pick us over our competitors.

The most common way for people now aways to search for anything is google. te word is even in the dictionary as a verb!
We could, without extra costs, put in certain key words on our company website so that when people type in common words, anything related to graphic design, our website would be on the first page.

competition briefs is also another one of our promotional strategy. nothing is better than a good reputation. people don't like to be spend hours and hors going through every single potential employee, and the quickest way to judge someone is to see our many awards they have got. we intend to do one competition brief every month. However, some of them are open briefs and you can submit any work that you have done in the pas 6 months in a specific categories and

we need to make our company stand out.....

we need to entice our customers when we first meet them
  • a memorable business card ( a play with our company name (VOICE) so that they remember it)
  • direct mails to our target audience. we could create different types of direct mails which is aimed at certain type of companies. eg the companies who are more likely to be wanting annual reports, then the mail out would be designed to advertise our company about our annual report service but then also mentiona other services too.
  • as our company offers a branding service......most businesses that will be needing an identity and branding would be ones which are starting up...so we could aim to advertise our business with banks. ie. make a deal with certain banks to advertisie our branding service with their packages etc.






Lastly, as mentioned in the previous slide, we have analysed our competitors and came up with unique selling points that make us better than our competitors and therefore that is also part of our marketing strategy. ( using the SWOT) analysis)

Write a marketing plan


Your marketing objectives should be based on understanding your strengths and weaknesses, and the business environment you operate in. They should also be linked to your overall business strategy.

For example, suppose your business objectives include increasing sales by 10 per cent over the next year. Your marketing objectives might include targeting a promising new market segment to help achieve this growth.

For more information on how to identify the best opportunities, see the page in this guide on external and internal analysis for your marketing plan.

Objectives should always be SMART:

  • Specific - for example, you might set an objective of getting ten new customers.
  • Measurable - whatever your objective is, you need to be able to check whether you have reached it or not when you review your plan.
  • Achievable - you must have the resources you need to achieve the objective. The key resources are usually people and money.
  • Realistic - targets should stretch you, not demotivate you because they are unreasonable and seem to be out of reach.
  • Time-bound - you should set a deadline for achieving the objective. For example, you might aim to get ten new customers within the next 12 months.



    Once you have decided what your marketing objectives are, and your strategy for meeting them, you need to plan how you will make the strategy a reality.

    Many businesses find it helpful to think in terms of the four Ps:

    • Product - what your product offers that your customers value, and whether/how you should change your product to meet customer needs.
    • Pricing - for example, you might aim simply to match the competition, or charge a premium price for a quality product and service. You might have to choose either to make relatively few high margin sales, or sell more but with lower unit profits. Remember that some customers may seek a low price to meet their budgets, while others may view a low price as an indication of quality levels.
    • Place - how and where you sell. This may include using different distribution channels. For example, you might sell over the internet or sell through retailers.
    • Promotion - how you reach your customers and potential customers. For example, you might use advertising, PR, direct mail and personal selling.

    For a more comprehensive approach, you can extend this to seven Ps:

    • People - for example, you need to ensure that your employees have the right training.
    • Processes - the right processes will ensure that you offer a consistent service that suits your customers.
    • Physical evidence - the appearance of your employees and premises can affect how customers see your business. Even the quality of



      Your marketing plan must do more than just say what you want to happen. It must describe each step required to make sure that it happens.

      The plan should therefore include a schedule of key tasks. This sets out what will be done, and by when. Refer to the schedule as often as possible to avoid losing sight of your objectives under the daily workload.

      Resources

      It should also assess what resources you need. For example, you might need to think about what brochures you need, and whether they need to be available for digital distribution (by email or from your website). You might also need to look at how much time it takes to sell to customers and whether you have enough salespeople.

      Cost

      The cost of everything in the plan needs to be included in a budget. If your finances are limited, your plan will need to take that into account. Don't spread your marketing activities too thinly - it is better to concentrate your resources to make the most of your budget. You may also want to link your marketing budget to your sales forecast. See our guide on how to forecast and plan your sales.

      Control

      As well as setting out the schedule, the plan needs to say how it will be controlled. You need an individual who takes responsibility for pushing things along. A good schedule and budget should make it easy to monitor progress. When things fall behind schedule, or costs overrun, you need to be ready to do something about it and to adapt your plan accordingly.

      From time to time, you need to stand back and ask whether the plan is working. What can you learn from your mistakes? How can you use what you know to make a better plan for the future?


Researching your potential customer base

Once you know your groups of customers, you can look to conduct further research to see if there are any types of customer with more specific needs than others. For example, older customer groups may buy different types of products to younger groups.

'Market segmentation' can be an effective tool for this. It involves splitting your customer groups into smaller segments to find the sections of your customer base that will be most profitable to your business. You can segment customers by:

  • lifestyle
  • social class
  • opinion
  • activities and interests
  • attitudes and beliefs

You should also consider the factors such as the following when deciding which marketing segments to target:

  • Is the segment large enough to support your marketing goals?
  • Does your business have the skills and expertise to deal with the chosen segment?
  • Is there growth in the segment?