Enterprise Lecture 2

What kind of Creative are you?

Evolutionary designer?
Revolutionary?
Manager?
Opportunist?
Cautious?
Risk taker?

What is a creative Entrepreneur?

owner? Interior designer, project manager, coordinator, collaborator
owner manager? Creative with assistant, small practice of creative’s, co-operative, retail
Owner worker? Artist, craftsperson, one man band

Project Manager Skills

-Define the problem

-build confidence

-problem solving
-risk analysis
-physical resources

-planning

-human resources

-quality control

Enterprise Lecture 5

10 Steps to a future you.
Proactivity: Stimulus- Response.

Stimulus- Choice- Response.

We have an immediate sphere of influence, family friends, people in the studio, generally people you meet everyday.

Circle of Concern, Circle of Influence, Proactivity.

Develop a vision of your future, create a principle-centered personal mission statement. Extend the mission into long term goals.

-Pause to listen- Give all your attention, give yourself to the moment.
-Empathize walk in someone else’s shoes.
-Don’t re-iterate or interpret – just listen.
-Do you really know how they feel or are you just saying how you feel?

Sharpen up-bolt on, get new stuff

Enterprise Lecture 4

Enterprise Lecture 4

Marketing communication mix;

Personal selling, exhibitions, trade fairs, publicity, sales promotion, direct mail and direct response marketing, sponsorship, advertising, merchandising, public relations.

Steps to Marketing

-Memorable business card

-Advertising

-Events

-Radio interviews

-Write articles

-Run a Blog

-Exploit social media

-Publicity

Convince them

Artist statement, recommendations, testimonials, awards, community engagement, professional bodies, charity events.

Make your offer irresistible

Value proposition, pricing strategies, and packaging, try before you buy, recommendations, differentiation.

Close the sale

convenience, buy it now, right place the right time, delivery, personal selling, interactive web site.

Reinforce

After sales service, advertising, public relations, longevity, merchandising, maintaing contact, building relationships.

Target Your Market

How do we define customers?

Enterprise Lecture 3

Enterprise lecture 3

How much Am I worth within the Design World?

What is the Value of Creativity?

Creativity is the ability to make or otherwise bring into existences something new, whether a new solution to a problem, a new method or device, or a new artistic object or form. Creativity Is the act of seeing things that everyone around us sees while making connections that no one else has made.  (Mihaly 1997)

Brand Management, product management, customer management.

Philip             Kotler…

C Creating

C communicating
D delivering

V Value

T To a target market
P For Profit

Maslows Hierarchy of Need

Self-actualization- morality, creativity, spontaneity, problem solving, lack of prejudice, acceptance of facts.

Esteem- Self esteem, confidence,  achievement, respect of others, respect by others,

Love/Belonging- Friendship, family, sexual intimacy,

Safety – Security of body, of employment, of resources, of morality, of the family, of health, of property,

Physiological – Breathing, food, water, sex, sleep, homeostasis, excretion.

OUCE255 - Enterprise and Innovation Task 5

OUCE255 - Enterprise and Innovation Task 4

TASK

Based on the principles that have been introduced in lecture 4 of the Enterprise module and your responses to the previous tasks, evaluate the Strengths and Weaknesses of three practitioners or design agencies as objectively as you can. What opportunities for your own practice have revealed themselves to you as a result of this analysis and evaluation? Do not use subjective language or make unfounded comments about other people’s businesses. It is essential that you make references to SWOT and evaluate its usefulness as an analysis or evaluation tool. In responding to this task you will need to consider the following questions: Who am I competing against? What do they offer? What makes me better? What makes me different?

Research Sources / Further Information

See the OUCE255 Enterprise section of Moodle for further Information, resources and module content.

Mandatory Requirements / Deliverables

The results of your research should be posted to your Enterprise blog. and summarised by a 250 word statement/evaluation. You should am to illustrate your opinions with relevant examples of contemporary design practice.

OUCE255 - Enterprise and Innovation Task 3

Promoting myself will be the only way of gaining recognition within the design world and the only way of increasing my potential client base. Without advertising and promotion how will anybody hear about me? When talking about promoting myself as an individual rather than my prospects to start up and run a business there are many factors to consider. Below are some facts and statistics gathered in relation to creative clusters up and down the U.K and how Designers are regimented from county to county, North to South. Data gathered by the Design Council shows some key facts to consider when evaluating an area of the country to work in. 1. 87% of design businesses employ less than 10 people 2. 16% of design companies are in the North of England 3. Only 23 % of design companies are in London 4. 57% of design companies say they collaborate with other companies or practitioners on client briefs 5. 28% of designers are free-lance. Other Information shows where the countries creative clusters lie (below), I want to work in a shared unit/building constantly surrounded by inspiring and creative people giving me the possibility of collaborations etc. To decide on an area of choice I firstly needed to find out what parts of the country are ideal for this environment, what area’s have a high amount of people working in creative industries, mainly looking at the arts. The geography of innovation highlights key areas where I would consider working. One of the main area’s that sticks in my mind is Bristol, Even though its most popular creative industry is Architecture the city has one of the densest collections of creative practices. It is known for its street art and graffiti that I think would have a huge impact on the style of work I’d aim to produce. Bristol holds has the largest database of creative freelancers relating to population, It’s position is ideal as It takes around 2 hours to get to London and 3 hours to Manchester so travelling around the country wouldn’t be an issue. My main Marketing method would be online promotion, constantly blogging current and up to date work whilst keeping in contact with others working in the creative industry. This would involve networking on a friendly basis, for example advertising artists/illustrators on my website if they advertise me on theirs. Personal selling to family friends and existing clients will be a stepping stone to working as a professional. Exhibitions, E-marketing and Sale promotions will be a way of targeting my audience whilst building on my own personal public relations. Once I have a database of customers the consistency of work should be frequent if not constant. What do ‘they’ want to hear? Customers and clients want to know what I have to offer them in relation to every other illustrator and graphic designer out there, what makes me unique and what makes me different? Marketing myself will be a procedure where I stress the strengths I have which single me out as a Designer and advertise my skills. What should I say to ‘them’? Potential customers need to know my highlighted strengths and the way I work in order to understand how I would execute a brief. Through mail shots/emails/personal work I want customers to pick up on my passion for drawing and illustrations, my keen eye for layout, mixed media and web design. How will I communicate with ‘them’? Communicating with clients will be a very personal procedure, I’m not a fan of talking to people online as I find it very impersonal. Instead communicating through Skype, via the telephone and arranged meetings will help me to understand what my clients want of me on a face to face level.

OUCE255 - Enterprise and Innovation Task 2

Where are my potential clients/employers located?

Potential clients/employers would be located worldwide, creating an honest and diverse clothing brand stresses the fact that I want it to be as open as possible. I want to work with designers/illustrators/artists and collaborate with clients from far and wide, bringing a divergent range of outlooks to my business.

What media do my potential clients/employers use?

Clients and employers will need to be open to working with a range of media whether its pens and pencils or elephant dung. I want tolerant and easy going creative partners who are willing to work with almost anything, having limitations is ignorant.

What do you need to communicate and how does it match what your clients/employer need?

I need to communicate that the business I intend to set up is unique and different to any other, this will be apparent because of the way I will portray it to my clientele. It will communicate that my brand doesn’t tell any lies. I want to set up an honest company that produces well-made clothes, by people working In good conditions for fair pay something that in the 21st century is hard to come by.


The Industry I aspire to working within is the fashion industry, hopefully creating my own brand/label pushing a truly honest line sharing a passion for design and sticking to its roots. I don’t want to be a part of irrational consumerism or materialism but instead somebody who creates a label purely to get creative work out into the eye of the public for a reasonable price.

Considerations towards Political factors would mainly be focused at the workplace and global changes in Laws and legislation. Importing/exporting goods that are manufactured abroad would have to be executed in a professional fashion, making sure that workers are entitled to their human rights and a fair wage. Health and safety considerations in offices/shops would be another political factor as my employee’s/staff/customers have to be provided with current and up to date regulations regarding their well-being.

Economical factors relating to my clothing company would be heavily based around the business side of things. With the current Economic climate their would be many aspects to consider; exchange rates, inflation levels, income growth, debt & saving levels. These are essential considerations in the growth of my company making sure that profit margins are being stuck to and my organization is selling products that are cost effective in comparison to global changes.

As my company will be producing ranges of clothes in correlation to the seasons I need to make sure that they are marketed considering current Social factors. Offending societies beliefs, values and attitudes through slogans on garments is an example of this, the consideration of my audience is vital, making sure that the items produced can be appreciated from all levels and don’t offend anybody.

I would like to be based mostly online, having an online shop to market my label worldwide. However the internet brings problems in itself. Data protection of my customers/staff and site security combined with global changes of online laws could possibly affect the sale of my clothes online. The Internet is constantly growing and provides a resource for people browse 24/7 so its an ideal place to begin a business as no form of premises is needed to start. Other technological factors would be keeping up to date with I phone apps, secure online shopping, email mailing lists etc, without the knowledge of contemporary and current technology my brand may be discarded and put to one side by possible customers for being out-dated by opposing organizations.

OUCE255 - Enterprise and Innovation Task 1

Identify and explain 5 reasons why you chose to study on this programme.

-I wanted to do something that I knew would interest me no matter what, I couldn't really imagine myself doing a course that isnt art/design realted and seen as its a very highly rated course I couldn't think of anything personally better for myself.

-This was the only course I found to have a small number of students on it, Unlike Leeds Met's 140 pupils Leeds college of art had 45, And I'm one of those people who benefits from a lot of one to one tutoring. I find it nice to have independence but at the same time I learn so much more when I'm in a small group of people as the teaching practice is much more personal.

-I'm being as honest as possible, but I met a guy in the printing room at my old college who explained to me that He'd been round Leeds College of Art for an open day and it was outstanding, and that in comparison to Leeds Met it didn't even come close to comparison for the graphics course. That's when I reconsidered my UCAS application and put a little bit more research into where I wanted to go rather than what I had previously done and just picked a few I liked the sound of.


-The employment rate and success of former students attracted me to the course. I worry about my future too much and knowing that 75% of students have come out of the course with either internships or jobs was defiantly what made the deal for me.

-I wanted to goto a art and design orientated university or college, I don't think I would have wanted to mix with people who weren't from a creative background as I spent the past 2 years at a different art college in that exact situation. Its better mixing with people of the same interests plus the idea of being able to collaborate with fine artists/photographers/fashion designers is something I've always wanted to do.

Identify and explain 5 things that you want to learn during your time on the programme.

-How to properly use a graphic tablet, so I can transfer my drawing skills to working digitally. I feel I can't work to my full potential solely using a computer, or scanning in images as you don't get the same feel to holding a pen or pencil. I used to have a graphic tablet for my old desktop computer but it wasn't compatible for my mac so that sort of went out the window, I only know the basics but If i really put my mind to it, I think this would be a major help for the way I like to work.

-I want to learn how to set up my own Clothing company effectively, I can honestly say that the only thing I want to do in my life is start up my own clothing company so If i could learn the basics of setting up a business then this would be a big help. I had a taster of the Enterprise lecture on Monday so that was a push towards the things I want to learn about. Industry scares me, It honestly does, I don't want to venture out into the big wide world and fall on my face, so setting up a business plan would be one of the essential things I want to learn.


-I want to learn how to properly hand render type, I feel I have a good grasp of drawing lettering but learning how how to map out kerning, height and weight of lettering more successfully would be at the top of my list before I finish the course. 


-How to use Photoshop/Illustrator/Indesign like an absolute pro! I want to know exactly how ever tool and button works, their programs that amaze me with how many features they have. At the moment I know how to use Photoshop and Illustrator reasonably well but my skills within Indesign are definitely lacking. 


-Last year I didn't thrive to taking much interest in Layout, however whilst researching over summer I've realised that without layout and grid systems design is nothing. I want to take more of interest in layout and learn more about grid systems and mapping out publications as I've started to get much more interested in magazines and book publishing. 

Identify and explain 5 skills that you think are your strengths.

-My drawing skills are definitely one of my main strengths, I don't have a particular style of drawing but I tend to dip into a selection of different areas. I wouldn't mind attending some life drawing sessions this year.

-I come up with plenty of ideas, If we have a group brief I always seem to have a lot of input brainstorming and coming up with a form of direction. I feel if somebody asks me for advice I always give them a good response, as I go out of my way to interest myself in what they're doing.


-I feel I take a good roll as a leader or spokesperson, I try to be as friendly as possible and get on with everybody I meet or work when when involved in group work etc. 


-Working well under pressure, I feel like I work better under pressure and knowing I have work in near the end of a deadline does boost the way I work. I enjoy the rock and roll side to Graphics.


-Getting my ideas from my head to my piece of paper, I don't feel I lag in getting my thoughts straight from my brain to my pencil.

Identify and explain 5 things that you want to improve.

-I want to improve my self confidence within my work, I never have faith that what I have produced is to a good standard and I always feel like I'm the bottom of the pile even if others tell me different. I guess its just the way I think, what can I say? I'm a pessimist.

-My organisation skills, not just for my work but generally making lunches to bring to college so I'm not wasting countless amounts of money. I've made a start by buying a flask and making some butties but I need to stick to it. However In relation to my work, I find that the only way I'm going to improve as a designer is managing my time and work load better. If I planned out my projects with a weekly planner as soon as I received a brief then I wouldn't rush around so much when It starts coming close to a deadline. 

-I want to improve my graphic design related vocabulary. I want to know the ins and outs of graphic related terminology because its essential to industry plus there's nothing better than impressing somebody in an interview with a few fancy words. 


-To improve my style of drawing so that I have a defined and recognisable flow when it comes to putting pen to paper. I need to sketch, sketch and sketch some more or else I'm never going to progress with refining my own specific style of illustration. 


-My knowledge of screen printing, I loved using screens on my old course and I've loved doing it here so far, but I really need to commit myself to going to regular sessions, that way I can learn the process inside out. Im want to properly learn about the more intricate processes involved and how to effectively understand colours and colour management. 

Identify and explain 5 ways that you will evaluate your progress.

-I will make sure I regularly speak to Amber/Lorenzo about my progress with current projects and ongoing work. I feel that a ten minute chat can often really boost the direction of my work.

-I always have the stickies app open on my mac to make lists of what I need to do each day, Its human nature that I forget sometimes but I think if I aimed to make a list of what I want to accomplish each day this would help to evaluate what I am actually achieving. I always have my mac with me at college and out of college hours I'm always staring at my laptop screen so I guess this would be a good method of recording. 


-Keep a folder of all my feedback from crits, that way I can monitor my errors and keep up to date with what I'm doing wrong and right.

-I need to start sending my work out to design companies and design studios so I can get some feedback from people already involved in Industry. This is where I want to end up heading so getting some decent criticism now would be a good start.

-Keep flicking through my old blog posts to remind myself of the mistakes I've made, that way I can monitor what I still need to work on and what I've improved on since the past.

Identify 5 questions that you want to find the answer to.

-How much can I charge per hour as a form of wage or payment If I work freelance?


-What country do I want to move to when I finish? (Im definitely not living in the U.K much longer) So really what countries are thriving in areas of graphic design that interest me?


-How much does the average studio cost?


-How can I design and produce my own business plan for a clothing company? 


-What sort of person am I? What area do I want to specify in within graphic design?

Monday 26th Enterprise Lecture Notes

Enterprise Lecture One

The design council carries out all the major research into patterns of employment and income in the design industries; they publish loads of reports on issues that affect all of us.

www.designcouncil.org.

What is Marketing?“The management process responsible for identifying, anticipating and satisfying customer requirements profitably.” – Chartertered institute of Marketing.

Marketing RolesIdentify customers need to develop new products.

-Understand needs, Develop concept, Test concept, Refine concept, Market Product, Get feedback.

·      Develop pricing strategies.
Promote products to a target market.
Identify distribution networks.
Add value to your product through customer benefits.
Monitor the performance of the products.

Value PropositionMake it short, be specific, Use your customer’s language, Pass the ‘Gut feeling test.’

Negotiate and close the deal
-How much it costs to do the job, Know how much your time is worth. Don’t be worried about rejection.
Consumers-End of line, B2B business to business.

The basic Principle of Marketing

·      Product- The service you offer, the work you produce, your creative input.

·      Price- Relative pricing level, daily rate, royalty, free.

·      Place- The best location to sell it, The sales environment, the services you offer.

·      Promotion- Marketing methods, Branding, Your Value proposition.