The Enterprise and Innovation module has been very different both in terms of structure and content compared to others we have completed on our course so far. Beginning with the lecture programme, we were introduced to many different themes and subjects relating to how design works alongside business in the real world of work. For some of these themes it was more of a refresher for myself as I studied business up until A-Level which proved to be highly useful as I already had some existing knowledge on many of the topics discussed and so I felt it didn't take long for me to pick them up again. What I hadn't learnt up until now was how business and graphic design overlap and all the ins and outs of setting up a design studio.
When first faced with the Enterprise blog tasks I definitely found it more than a little daunting as the way they were worded made out that we were deciding exactly what kind of designer we wanted to become and which areas of graphic design we wanted to focus on. This was the first time I'd been specifically asked to write in detail about this and the pressure of doing so made me reluctant to start. Once i'd had time to digest what was being asked I managed to go about the tasks in a more pragmatic manner by just simply thinking about what I enjoy doing the most in graphic design and how I like doing it. Once finally completed, I can see now how I have benefitted from trying to focus more specifically on what I want to do and by how starting to think about this now will help me next year and as I move into employment afterwards.
For the group task we were challenged with researching and presenting information based on four of us setting up our own design studio. I worked with Hazel Gage, Steph Bourne and Jo Catlow. At the beginning of this task we split the main bulk of the work into four key areas for each of us to research. Hazel looked into start up costs and analysing our competitors, Steph concentrated on the finances and calculating our daily rates, Jo sourced the location/property and I conducted the main SWOT and PEST analysis of ourselves as I had experience of doing this at A Level. Across the period of this work our group actually seemed to work really well together as we had similar ideas for how we wanted our proposed studio to be presented. In terms of organisation I think we ended up with a flurry of activity as a group at the start and end whilst the middle section we tended to be working individually on our areas. Everyone did however stick to what we agreed to do and got it done on time which was great.
We put all our findings together and presented it in front of Jane and half of the group and it turned out really well, even better than I thought it was going to be. The feedback we received was that our presentation was very 'thorough' and that the fact we had put together our presentation with humorous images gave 'a lift' to something that was very informationally heavy. The main positives that stemmed from the presentation part was that it continued to build my confidence of speaking in front of the group and just also the overall body of work my team put together. I think the personalities were very complimentary and we proposed a studio that I could actually see myself working for which must mean that this exercise was a success.
Tuesday 3 May 2011
Monday 2 May 2011
Sauce : Identity
Below I'v tried a few colour fills on the logo/identity I've been working on for the studio using the eyedropper tool to pick out some of the hues from the photograph that inspired the type.
Sauce : Identity
This isn't far off being the finished thing. I'm going to try some colour fills and a few other tests to see what looks best and then I'll have a few different variations to show the rest of my group later.
Sauce : Identity
We agreed that we should all do a bit of work with regards to forming the identity of the proposed studio. For the enterprise module, the design work isn't a central part but, it certainly has a big role to play in how we communicate the 'feel' of the business.
I noticed an old photograph in the 'random' file on my Mac (below) of the word 'sense' that is spray painted onto a wall and instantly thought it could help me form the look of the name of our studio. Apart from looking similar to the word sauce, I thought the font had a great flow to it which would lend itself well to our name so I set about copying letters that I could use and then forming ones that I needed in a similar style.
Useful Organisations
The Design Council has an amazing wealth of resources for design led businesses that would be invaluable to us as a new studio. Many of these companies we wouldn't need on a daily basis but it's hugely important for us to know where we can obtain information should we need it.
Sunday 1 May 2011
Making Comparisons
Hazel collected some really useful figures and research to help us compare our business against the averages of other design studios across the UK:
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