Based on the principles that have been introduced in the PPP2 sessions so far and your responses to the previous tasks, evaluate the Strengths and Weaknesses of three practitioners or design agencies as objectively as you can. You should aim to identify a large, medium and small company from a sector or service that reflects your interests within the creative industries.
What opportunities for your own practice have revealed themselves to you as a result of this research,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 PEST analysis and evaluate their usefulness as an analysis or evaluation tool.
SWOT
Strengths: characteristics of the business, or project team that give it an advantage over others
Weaknesses: are characteristics that place the team at a disadvantage relative to others
Opportunities: external chances to improve performance (e.g. make greater profits) in the environment
Threats: external elements in the environment that could cause trouble for the business or project
PEST
Political factors
Economic factors
Social factors
Technological factors
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?
Small Design company
Because Studio
Who are they?
Because Studio is the creative practice of Loz Ives.
Collaborating with an ever growing list of talented creative folk and exciting clients, producing crafted outcomes in equal strength across analogue, digital and environmental disciplines.
Strengths
They offer a wide range of services across all forms of media and environmental discipline too. I think that the design style of the studio is very illustrative and this runs through all the different products that they create. I have mainly seen the print work in which they have produced and even though they seem very illustrative, this always as dominent within products such as editorial or promotional material. The illustration is used as a visual aid - they know where to use it and where not to over use it.
Weaknesses
If you compare them to other companies which are offering the same sort of services, i feel they are limited within the design outcomes because of the interest and strong use of illustration. Other companies can offer a better final outcome in areas such as editorial design because they have a stronger design aesthetic and focus within this area.
If you think about design of today, you see most companies taking on a digital approach, or offering this as a main service, with because studio, i have seen printed work with little digital work, maybe this is another limitation to them.
Opportunities
The main opportunity for the studio would be to widen the design style and become more loose around this illustrative style, this could bring in more custom and maybe make a better design style for the company to work with, which could enable more versatile projects coming in for them.
Another opportunity would be the digital aspect, as technology is rising and becoming a big part of todays life, digital outcomes are asked for more and more. I think if they took up this opportunity, again they could get more clients and custom, as the technology is developing and you can do a lot with web design today, the companies illustrative style can still be adapted for web and presented well.
Threats
The threats of design today are that the smaller companies can no longer last was the current climate of the country, this i would imagine is the kinds of companies that Because Studio would approach and work for, with these on the decline, i think there clientele may be on the decline. Especially with the style of design they have, i think its to them more creative and speciality companies, but again a lot of these can no longer make it through the recession.
As a company this will effect there turnover and over heads for future work, you could probable see that a more commercial style of design will start to come in and these would be the clients they would have to work for instead.
What Makes Me Different?
As i have previously said i am interested in this studio because of the print work that they produce, which is something i am interested myself. I think that i would be able to broaden their design style, as im not just about illustration, i use image and type within my print work, so this would bode well for them. Also with having a keen focus on publications, i could offer a strong design aesthetic for there publications and other branded print work. I believe this could be suitable for both commercial and non commercial work, bringing in more clients for the company.
Medium Design Company
Six
Who Are They?
We are an independent creative consultancy based in the UK, specialising in design and art direction for an international roster of clients.
Our aim is to produce design with intelligence, integrity and craft that both we and our clients can be proud of.
With equal strength across print, brand and screen we work on complete identity programmes as well as individual strategic projects. Each of our founders has over a decade of experience working with start-ups to established brands.
Services:
Brand Strategy
Visual Identity
Print Design
Digital Design
Art Direction
Strengths
As a company they offer a wide range of services which they have the same standard of work for each one. None of the services are less used or aren't designed as well as the others, they have an all round very high standard to their work.
All work is very design led and you can tell there is a lot of thought behind it all as it communicates well and presents the idea and concept that it is set out to do. Presentation of all work is great too which helps when you are looking are companies to work with.
Their clientele is very large and is from around around the world, which shows they have ambition and can actually do the work. Also working for large companies such as umbro, uniform wares, kirschner, shows that the company can work with big clients and deliver the needed products to a good standard.
Weaknesses
Even though the company has a good design aesthetic and is very professional and corporate, I think this can limit them in the sorts of clients and work they will receive. They will get all the commercial work and corporate branding etc, but this is very mondane and the same with every client. They dont have anything that makes them a little bit different or quirky, if they introduced illustration or some sort of print technique or something to their work it would make it a little bit more fun and have more of an personality to it. Im not saying that the work they produce isn't god or doesn't have any of these ideas within them, i just think they could make themselves be a bit more interesting and use make it more fn and playful?
Opportunity
As i have just mentioned, i think the opportunities that they have as a company is to broaden the design style and how they work aesthetically. They work over print and web and offer branding etc within all this so the disciplines of design are covered, but they have a very professional and corporate feel to their work, which works for their clientele they have worked for. But if they adapt the ability to use illustration, more colour, print techniques, interesting binding techniques i think they would open their doors to whole new clientele. This can still work with the aesthetic they already have and maybe be incorporated throughout everything.
Threats
As discussed earlier, the company have a very corporate design feel. They have a modernist design aesthetic that is built around a very clean and precise design style, that uses sans serif type, limited colour palette and if any a couple of images. As a studio this is a good aesthetic to carry and they do use this throughout all the work they create, so everything is consistent. But as a threat, i think this could be their downfall. They are limiting themselves to a certain audience and market out there which is very competitive within. As i have said before if they introduced some sort of aspect to there design discipline that made them different from the rest, i think it could open the studio to new clients and broaden the clients even more.
What makes me different?
I believe that i can offer a lot of what this company can offer. With my own practice i am very interesting in print work, with a keen interest in editorial and promotional material, also i have some skills within digital design, so i think i would be able to fit in well with this studio and get along with the sort of design work they produce. What i could offer the studio is more of illustrative style, along with the idea of having a well structured and thought out design i like to bring in illustration to aid the type and image and make it something a little different. Also within the print area, i have a good interest within stock and format, which i think working around these elements you can produce a more interesting product by looking at binding techniques, printing techniques and other things that make it more unique.
Large Design Company
Pentagram
Who are they?
Pentagram is the world's largest independent design consultancy. The firm is owned and run by 19 partners, a group of friends who are all leaders in their individual creative fields.
We work in London, New York, San Francisco, Berlin and Austin. We design everything: architecture, interiors, products, identities, publications, posters, books, exhibitions, websites, and digital installations.
Each of our clients works directly with one or more of our partners. This reflects our conviction that great design cannot happen without passion, intelligence, and personal commitment, which is demonstrated by a portfolio of work that spans five decades.
Strengths
Pentagram are know worldwide as a company that produces amazing graphic design across all means of media. As they are such a large company and have so many designers within them they can offer a extensive range of services which pretty cover the whole discipline of graphic design. Which ever project or product you look at which Pentagram have designed, you can see the quality of design that has been taken with it and you can see that they know exactly what they are doing with any project. They have a certain professional design style that you can tell is pentagram when you see a product or project designed by them.
Weaknesses
With such a large company that cover so many disciplines and clients within the design world it is hard to pick out the well designed pieces. I would say overall that pentagram produce high quality work, but I dont think it is interesting or that engaging because it is standard commercial work. I think because they are so large and have so many clients, which all will be worked on at the same time, everything can kind of look the same and nothing is that special within their portfolio. When i look through the large portfolio on their website, i can see that it is well designed and looks really good, but nothing stands out to me or seems that interesting to stop and take a closer look at.
Opportunities
Within the work they produce because the majority of it is commercial there seems to be no real personality to the work. I think that the work is effective in the design and it communicates well but there isn't anything that makes it different or stand out, i think this should be addressed by the company. Also i think clients use pentagram because of the name and the brand, you could probably get the same design from a smaller company, which you could be more engaged with and have more of a say within the design process.
Threats
I don't really think there is a threat to the company, they have been around for a long time now and built up the brand name throughout the years to make them worldwide known. I dont think they have any sort of threat because of who they are and what they can produce. I personally think they are just a commercial company that produces the same design work for each project they take on. There is no personality within the work.
What Makes me different?
If i was to work with Pentagram, which i probably wouldn't because it is such a big company that i feel I would just be a pen pusher, someone that works a mouse at a computer and not be known for anything. I would feel lost within the vast designers of the company.
But anyway I find the areas in which the company work in interesting: print, typography, branding and identity etc. The only thing i would do different is to make it have more personality, make it seem that it has had a lot of thought and time taken into the process of the design and developed to create the final outcome. I would want to make it more interesting by using print techniques, different formats and stocks. This would be how i would tackle the pentagram company and inject my own personality into the design of the projects - break the mould.
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