OUGD502 // Life's a Pitch // Presentation

The presentation in which we put together as a group and delivered to the remainder of the group.

The presentation went fairly well. The feedback we were given was that we had spent a lot of time creating the promotional material and doing other various things with the idea of the identity of the studio, but not enough on the background info and start up costs etc.

The initial workings out show that we have looked into some ideas of this and had an idea of what we needed to start up the business, but it wasn't fully polished and thought out.

There was also comments about the presentation not looking professional, but i disagree with this that, as the branding and colour scheme of the presentation is that of the studio branding and every slide is laid out the same, within the same grid structure. 

OUGD502 // Life's a Pitch // Review

I think as a group our creative ideas weren't all together in the same place, each of us wanted to try and do something different every time and we always had to come to some agreement / compromise to make everyone happy.

The ideas which we were creating and thinking of doing were good and i liked them, but we never followed them through, this is could of been because of the amount of other work we had to do and the fact that not everyone kept turning up and being part of the group when we needed everyone there to do things.

The tasks we were set to do as a group were always rushed and left to the last minute, but again this was because when we planned to do them people didn't turn up or wanted to do other work instead, it was as though this creative group was at the back of things and not important.

I think if we had the time and everyone wanted to actually do the work for it, we could create some good work, which was of a high standard and challenge other creatives out there. We had the plans to enter competitions and do work within the uni for other courses etc but the time contraints of these would jeopardise the other modules within the course and we all felt they were more important to do.

As a group itself we all got along, we all had something different to bring to the group and if we had of sat down and started to produce work as a group i believe it would have been up with the high standards, because it would have been something different and quirky because of the talents within the group. I think this was the trouble, we didn't actually do any design work or was told to set ourselves design work / briefs, so it all seemed a little confusing in the point of it.

When it came to the presentation, we were again let down by people not turning up, the presentation itself didn't look great because it was only done by two people, instead of everyone chipping in and helping out, i think the result of this and the feedback we were given was true and showed in the presentation.

We focussed on the promotion and how we brand ourselves as a company / creative and i think this took over what we were meant to be doing. We had the business ideas and how it would run as a company within the presentation, but this sort of took a back seat compared to the amount of time spend on the promotion and branding of the company, again i think this is because we wanted to design and being the design element into the brief instead of it all being about the business side of things.

It was a good experience working in the group and being apart of a group, i would say that it didnt go that well, but there were opportunities that could have made it go well if we acted on them and didnt sit back about it all. It has shown me that when im thinking about where i want to work or who to work with that it is very important and a long process that i should take to make sure it is right for me and for the business i would be entering.

The same goes for looking for experience or for a job when i finish uni, i know that i like to work within a group, but this has shown a smaller group is better for me as i can my view over and be more involved within the processes, it also seems more of a group effort and everything is split more evenly. But the companies i look at need to be right for me, i need to be able to relate to the practice of the company and be able to join in but also add something to it, it needs to have ambition for myself. If i can find this within a company then i know i will get along with everyone and make a success of it.

In many ways this group work has been a success for us individually, but as a group we decided that after the brief we wouldn't carry it on, because it wasn't working for us. The experience was good though and i've learnt a lot from it.

OUGD502 // Life's a pitch // Promotional Material

On friday, we got together as a group and worked on some material for our studio. We looked at developing the logo and brand identity. Heres some photos of what we have got so far, creating the gem is still ongoing. 

After creating the logo which David did, he then laser cut this out using wood.

When we created the E-flyer we used colour paper to create small gems to work in the installation we decided to take this net and blow it up to create a bigger and better gem and make it out of perspect.  

We still have to glue all the pieces together yet as it is held together by tape at the minute, but this was o get the idea of the size and to make sure it all fit.

After this i played around with the different elements we had created; paper gems, wood logo and big gem. I photographed them using some lights we had in the studio, again just playing around with some ideas for the branding.

I particularly like this photo and idea of the gems surrounding the logo, it has a good effect and is nice and bright by the use of colours within the gems.

The last thing we tried to do was create the alphabet using the paper gems on a grid of sticky notes. This was a quick idea and something that we may work on. Mainly just trying out some ideas which we can carry on and create later into the project.

From these ideas and photos of the work we have been doing, we are hoping we are getting across the kind of studio we are wanting to be and the sort of work we could involved in.

Full Photos

OUGD502 // Cost of Living

As part of the lifes a pitch module we have to work out our costing price as a studio. We were given a excel worksheet to work out our cost of living.
I did this as though i would be working in business and what the cost of that would be.

My cost of living as a working professional would be £28,883. This price is high compared to others within my group but that is because i have a car which i pay for and that comes to £5,696. If i was to take this off it would be £23,187 which is around the same of everyone else. Maybe when going into business i should get rid of my car?

To work out my daily rate - 

business expenses + income required / number of working days

£10,000 + £28,883  / 233 = £166.87 daily rate

I also took the opportunity to work out my cost of living as i am now, this would help me know what to charge on any work i am doing whilst being at uni.

I have kept everything the same, but got rid of the premises cost, as i live at home.

To work out my daily rate - 

business expenses + income required / number of working days

£10,000 + £16,474 / 233 = £113.62 daily rate

OUGD502 // Life's a pitch // E-flyer

As part of our studio that we have set up, we had to create an e-flyer which was to be posted onto the level 5 notice board. This would be used to show everyone else in the year group what our studio is and who we are.

As a group we came up with the name JEMM which was derived from our middle name initials. To keep in with this theme we wanted the logo/ idea for the e flyer and studio to be based around gems.

Initial ideas:
- gifs
- animation video
- installation
- moving flyer

We were originally going to go down the route of a animation video / gif but we ran out of time to create this idea, so went with the installation instead.

For this we created a lot of small gems which were made from different coloured stock. This idea came from david and jack who started creating the gems for the animation.
Also this photo of them, initiated the idea of the installation:

We all liked the look and feel of the gems and the bright colours used within them. 

For the installation we had alot of different ideas:

- hanging gems from the ceiling and hanging the name - JEMM in between these to create a 3D hanging installation.

- photograph the gems as above but overlay the logo on top in grayscale.

- make large scale gems and use them as a hat for each person within the group who would hold their initial to make the name JEMM in the photo

- have the name JEMM cut out 3D and all the cut out gems around it

We liked all the ideas and think that these will become some of the work we progress with throughout the module when we come to more specific tasks about who we are as a studio.

For the flyer we decided to go with the last idea:

- use 3D text of JEMM and surround it by the small cut out gems.

Work in progress:

Cutting out the JEMM in the laser cutter. 

Spray painting the letters in black.

Creating the installation

Creating the installation

Creating the installation

insert photo which were taken of installation

Final Flyer:

OUGD502 // Lecture // What is the Cost?

What is costs to produce the work

What are your costs?
- legal
- resource
- marketing
- finance

Outgoings
- overhead costs
- insurance costs
- premises costs
- utilities, postage, IT costs
- research & development
- equipment cost
- material cost
- maintenance cost
- finance cost
- professional services
- promotional cost

Expected income
- accommodation cost
- utilities and communication
- insurance
- personal loan
- food
- travel
- esteem costs
- entertainment
- holidays and breaks
- savings and pensions

What are your prices?
- how have you worked out your prices?
- how does your prices compare with your competition
- identify 3 competitions and give evidence of their prices

Calculating pricing
total outgoings
+
expected income
------------------------  = Daily rate
working days

Working days:
365 days in year
-52 weekends (104 days)
- 8 bank holidays
- 20 annual leave days
= 233 working days.

Example
15, 000
+
20, 000
----------- = £150.21 per day
233

Protect your work
Intellectual property
- patents - 70days period
- trademarks - forever - renew every 10 years
- registered designs - up to 25 years - renew every 5 years
- copyright - 70 years after you die

YOU MUST PROVE YOU OWN IT

When selling work:
protect work and yourself by terms and conditions.

Licensing
selling reproduction rights of your work
controlling exposure
license the same design for different purposes

Licensing Agreements
insert here

Resources

OUGD502 // Lecture // Who are they?

Markets, Audience & Analysis

Marketing Roles:
- identify consumer needs
- pricing strategy
- promote products to target audience
- identify distribution networks
- add value - customer benefits
- monitor performance of products

4p's
Product - item to satisfy what need / want
Price - amount to pay for product
Promotion - methods of communication. How markets find out about the product
Place - where the product is

87% of design businesses employ less than 10 people
16 % of design companies are in North of England
23% of design companies are in London
28% of designers are freelance

What kind of creative are you?
Evolutionary
- The evolutionary is someone who adapts current situations, products and designs to gradually make changes that will carry people along with you

Manager
- The manager looks after existing situations and makes them more effective and efficient

Cautious
- A cautious creative will give the market what it wants

Revolutionary
- The revolutionary will plough through everything and everyone to make change


Opportunist
- The Opportunist will seek new opportunities and hopes someone else will help them make it work

Risk Taker
- The risk taker will give the market something it didn’t realise it needed yet

Ideas and Opportunities
What is an idea?
- anytime, anybody, anywhere, inspire by anything
- random, rarely successful
- 5000 ideas a day

What is an opportunity?

- The People are Right
- The Place is Right
- The conditions are Right
- The Time is Right
RIGHT PLACE, RIGHT TIME

Why Fail?

Politicians could not see any benefit
Economics were fragmented
Society had no need
Technology too primitive

Positives & Negatives :
Political factors
Environmental Factors
Social Factors
Technological Factors

P.E.S.T analysis

Where do opportunities come from?

- Trends
- Technical developments
- Political change
- Economic boom and slump
- Human need
- Problems
- Research

Spotting opportunities:

Skills
- Technical
- Practical
- Conceptual
- Professional

Aptitudes
- Teamwork
- Collaboration
- Communication
- Project Management
- People Management

Predisposition
- Risk / Cautious
- Evolution / Revolution
- Manager / Opportunist

How do you know if its good opportunity?

- Look at your competitors
- How many are there?
- How well are they doing
- What do they do well?
- What could you improve upon?

Assessing the competition:
- What are their Strengths?
- What are their Weaknesses?
- What Opportunities have they taken?
- What Threats do they face?

SWOT Analysis:

Quality of opportunity:

- For me

- For customer

- For planet

- For stakeholder

OVERVIEW

Marketing Roles:

- Identify customer needs to develop new products

- 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

Marketing Basics:

PEST ANALYSIS      

- What are the chances of success?

SWOT ANALYSIS    

- How good is the opportunity?

PUSH & PULL

SUPPLY & DEMAND

- What do I have what do they need?

OUGD502 // Life's a pitch // Typeface

For our logo which is going to be in the shape of a gem, we need a typeface to work with it, something that will compliment the design of the logo and stand out and be recognised.

Just some ideas:

OUGD502 // Lifes a Pitch // Group

Group
Nathan, Ste, Jack and myself

Name
JEMM (our middle names, also represents the quality chaps we are).

Areas of Design
Branding
Print
Interactive/User Experience
Illustration
Video/Film

Who For?
Private Sector - Creative Industries
Wholesale and Retail / Hotels and Restaurants / Transport, storage and communications / Publishing / Music / Radio / Television