Enterprise Evaluation.

After completing our group presentation and after attending all of the enterprise lecture and sessions I feel a lot more aware in regards to being a working professional. Although I do not yet feel ready to have my own company I know a lot more about the behind the scenes work that goes into making a company successful.

In regards to the group presentation I feel we all did really well as a team. We all had similar goals and so the aims of the company seemed to flow nicely. Our individual skills, in terms of setting up the business, also complimented each other and we each took on one section of the project. Therefore the work was evenly distributed and no one person felt hard done by. When necessary we would meet to discuss and help one another in the different areas and this again worked well and there were no arguments.

My personal challenge would probably be organization but this was encouraged as I did not want to let my team down. Another issue I struggled with was keeping on top of my blog. As well as having numerous other projects to be updating I felt I put enterprise to the bottom of the list but eventually did get it done and I am glad I have done it.

On a practical level I feel I know more about where I can see myself working and the tasks helped me evaluate my position as a graphic designer in the industry. I would one day like to set up a small studio though I now understand the implications behind this and I know that I would want to wait at least 3 years after my degree before attempting to do this. Again this has all been extremely helpful information to analyse. In terms of terminology and analyzing companies I feel I have been able to learn a more professional business language and so feel more confident when talking with other professional designers.

Another important lesson learnt was in regards to budgeting, rates and start up costs. Before I did not really know much about any of these when considering a business and so now again this has encouraged my professionalism and I feel a lot more ready to talk about my profession.

for presentation

SMALL COMPANIES NEAR FLINT GLASS WORKS -

vinyl revival

architecture M

the frog and bucket comedy club

band on the wall

the bridgewater hall

CHARITIES

Creative support

afflecks

mustard tree

wood street mission

PRINTERS WE CAN USE WHO SEEM TO PROVIDE A SUITABE SERVICE

Hedleys Foil Emboss Ltd

http://www.largedigitalprinter.co.uk/

banners banners banners

gas and electric

I have been looking on a few forums and working it out on my own experience it seems to be that people spend between £50 and £100 a month on Gas and Electric. I think as a company we would have to be aware that this will change depending how much we use it but if I place an average of £75 a month for us I should imagine this is sufficient.
Also there is the cost of water - I currently pay just £40 every quarter and I doubt we would even use as much as this. so on average we would pay around £150 on water.
This would mean the our average outgoings for bills would be approx. £1050

Manchester - £575 per month

£6900 pa

Manchester - £450 a month.

£5400 pa

Pudsey... £6,500pa

Commercial property leeds

Properties

1. I found this rural, eco friendly office setup in the yorkshire dales. Although it is really out of the way. It is a good place to start in attempting to work out what we can find. It is £250 a month and there seems to be loads of space.

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-to-rent/property-28535311.html

2. In keighley, set in between Bradford and Skipton. Good location for commuting and on good routes. Really great property which we could fill with all our stuff and put our mark on. £85 a week and so would be around £350 a month.

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-to-rent/property-24402637.html

Enterprise - property.

I popped onto FFFFOUND in search for work for my context blog but in the process of this came across, mainly for fun, some really informal interiors for an office. I think they were originally meant for a home but would be interesting to bring that aesthetic into a really relaxed but creatively inspiring place to work.

task 5

CONTEXT

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 WhoamI–whoarethey? o Wherearethey–Howwilltheyfindme? o HowwillIpromotemyself–whatdotheywanttohear? o Whoelseisoutthere–howgoodarethey?

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

BRIEF

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.

I am a young but passionate graphic designer based in leeds. I am focused on creating work which is based on the clients needs rather than forcing my own style on them. I specialise in typography, print, hand crafted and screen but also understand the importance in being flexible when creating something tailored to the clients needs. I want to create this focused work for charities, local councils(events, libraries, etc) and new/small businesses. I don't feel I want to work within retail though I could imagine there are some sectors within this which would be fun to illustrate for etc. I would be very interested to collaborate with photographers and other print and type based designers in creating a publication. There are many things I still feel I have to learn but I am exciting about this and feel that I have begun to identify the sort of designer I eventually want to be.

Task 4

CONTEXT

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?

BRIEF

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 peopleʼs businesses.

It is essential that you make references to SWOT and evaluate its usefulness as an analysis or evaluation tool.

In the previous post I have shown work by a design agency in Manchester called 'Music.' I really appreciate the work they have produced and the way they approach design in a down to earth manner. Therefore I have decided to critically analyse their studio.

As the question states a SWOT analysis is to work out how my personal practice can be inspired by other designers strengths and also how I could in fact stand out by improving on their weaknesses.

Strengths of the company include a large range of focused design which has been taylor made for the client. When Music came to do a talk at college I thought their relaxed, down to earth style was really inspiring and they expressed the need to be motivated by the message before you could create anything which worked.

Although it is a simple point, all weaknesses are valid,I feel their website is quite confusing and doesn't showcase their work as you would expect. Also it is quite hard to navigate to their website when simply looking for 'graphic design in manchester' in google search - this will provide for them a large client base so could imagine they will have missed out.

Being in the centre of Manchester they are in a prime location for events and are surrounded by small/medium and large businesses who could go to them for work. Similarly being in a large city centre can pose threats as competition is high and I could Imagine they have to work extra hard in making every part of their company right for their target audience.

Enterprise and Innovation - TASK 3

Considering my current position in the Graphic design market it would be very difficult for me to stand out from all the other contenders out there. Though someone has got to come out on top. I think to start with my main focus would be getting in contact with various studio's regarding visiting and/or placements within their companies. Getting to know exactly what they do and how they work would be hugely beneficial in eventually finding a job there. Being passionate and knowing your stuff is vital when it comes to talking with potential clients. Business cards and a website – with simple layout of online portfolio seem to go without saying when it comes to promoting yourself. I would need a business card which related directly to me and shows that I would suit the company I am wanting to work for. Considering a previous example in task 2 of the company oxfam, I doubt they would be as interested in my business card as they were in my passion for the charity and what I can bring to them that is different. I think a company like that needs you to be able to do a bit of everything so the portfolio I put forward to them would need to consist of an variation of media within projects.

Enterprise and Innovation - TASK 2 part 2

As all of the companies I have chosen specifically are so different it is easy to compare them Politically, Economically and Socially. Technically I should think that graphic design is very similar throughout the varying companies. Style, cause and thought process may be very different but the way to get there would be extremely similar.

At Tigerprint the main aim is to create something exciting/colourful for the general public of varying ages to purchase. Their website is fun, colourful and inspiring and obviously the way they want to approach things. Still, they work for a huge retail centre, Marks and Spencer, and so professionalism is also very important. Doing things quickly, efficiently and within a small time frame.

Oxfam is very different as design is definitely not the main focus of the company. Rather it is a tool to encourage and inform people of the charity, what they are doing and how to get involved. Of course being inspired to create something different and eye catching is still very important as it is still about catching the eye of the target audience who are hard to pin point with such a huge charity as oxfam.

Sagmeister on the other hand is considerably different to both these companies. Working as a freelance studio using initiative and creative flare to stand out from the rest specifically within the design world. Their website features the awards they have won and shows how they want to be the best of the best when it comes to innovative design.    

Enterprise and Innovation TASK 2 - Where are they? How will they find me?

In the post previous to this I have pin pointed a local company - Set in Bradford, Tigerprint. I think this would be my local choice for somewhere to work.

Nationally - possibly a place like oxfam. There are so many oppurtunities for creativity in a charity like Oxfam and a great thing to be involved in. I already love their brand and the design surrounding the charity. There would also be opportunity to work with video, advertising, products, packaging etc etc. Oxfam Great Britain is based in Oxford.

Internationally - Sagmeister Inc. Looks like it would be a great place to work, based in New York.

Although this view is based purely on aesthetics and is very shallow I like to indulge now and again on my dreams.