Wedding stationary and greetings cards - new development.

After completing my final project in the second year I have noticed a new passion forming of wedding stationary, greetings cards and printed goods. Although before now I have designed cards for friends etc and always wanted to get more into this I have struggled to know whether I would be limiting my practice too much. I found a number of beautifully crafted design work for wedding stationary to be inspired by including designers who specifically focus on pattern as the main focus of the design. I have never really seen myself as a designing who likes nice pretty things and I don't think that has changed but I feel with this it is giving something a personal touch which doesn't always have to be super girly.

A couple of design studio's who specifically design this sort of product are:

Hum creative. Based in Seattle, Washington.
I was very impressed with HUM creatives collection of work and it really inspired me in thinking that there were companies out there for me... even though it is based in America. Is that too far? maybe.
I think I was so impressed because of the range of products they have covered whilst being consistent with their own personal touch without becoming like any other high spec design agency.
Their attention to detail is key throughout their portfolio of work and as displayed below they have covered both screen and print within their design.

I like that the studio seems small yet they have done work for starbucks and still want to do work for couples who are getting married. I am very excited by the thought of being able to work in a studio similar to this although I understand the importance therefore of my own art direction and the need to design with attention to detail and with a personal touch. Maybe one day!!!

The wedding artists collective. Based in New York.

Again another inspirational studio in relation to the sort of work I eventually want to be able to produce. Attention to detail and character are again kay features within this including the importance of choice of stock, thinking outside the box with ways of communicating and trying to be different from the normal standard invitation design. They use a mixture of illustration and type to create these beautiful original ranges.

Business Card.

I feel I am in a place now where I need to be considering how I specifically want to present myself, especially with my PPD presentation coming up. This is an oppurtunity to show people who I am and want to be as a designer and so little things like branding myself may be a place to start.

I have been looking around the internet at different business card designs and ways people make themselves stand out. These are all foiled and embossed. As a designer who wants to be in a large way print based it would be vital that something about the print was clever, stood out - possibly to do with colour or similarly in these examples, the way they have been printed.

I love the designs below. Different to the normal look of a business card but not so different that you just throw it away. They look like something you would want to hold on to and keep in your purse even if it is just to show people what you picked up.

Hello! Lucky.

I am not really sure what to do with this stationary company. As much as I like their design work I am a bit concerned about getting in touch when it comes down to the simple fact that my stationary company I branded is called helloLOVE which obviously is very similar to their name. I am sure they would understand that I am still learning etc and that it is not yet a live company so if need be I am able to change the name of it. It has though made me aware of the importance of finding a name which takes into consideration all competitors names and their target markets etc. I really want to make the website live over summer which is a big task in that I still have a lot of work to do for it. Even if I simply build the website so that it is ready to go live and then continue to build the ranges which are to be presented on it.

I completely understand the implications behind starting up a business- or should I say I don't quite understand the implications behind it and so therefore I don't feel I am yet ready to take on this challenge but I am going to keep in touch with my tutors in an attempt to work out the best way forward.

I have realised it is important when you have a concept or goal to carry on trying with it. All you can do is have a go and if it goes wrong in the process then there is no doubt you will of learnt something along the way.

Mark - design studio in Manchester

This is a different type of Graphic to what I would usually pick out but I feel it is important for me to keep an open mind still and in this I felt this company did stand out in their ability to visually communicate mainly within community projects, promoting colleges, universities, manchester branding, the arts etc. Although not something I was initially drawn it is all a part of bringing people together within the community, improving learning etc. Mainly type based, they have been very creative within this limitation and I was inspired to see how they have kept their audience engaged within this.

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