ten statements that summarise my research and identify my standing as a graphic designer.

1-

As a designer i am geared towards print based work, with a love of print and books. An interest and awareness is rapidly developing for sustainability in design also, and I feel in the future this will most definately dictate and lead my design work.

2-

I have confidence in the illustrative field and know what is current but aim to further develop this skill in terms of design.

3-

Taking into consideration my avid interest in sustainability in design - I think I would work very well within an agency that shares these same ethics.

4-

I aim to build up my contacts and network alongside constantly improving on my design work.

5-

I need to develop my work and understand where it could fit when put out there and then pin point my target audience.

6-

I found that using the SWOT analysis technique helped me to understand the ways in which people present their work to the masses, some strong, some not so strong - but in both instances I feel I could successfully exhibit my work and understand how to grab people's interest - whether it be on internet or another platform.

7-

The PEST analysis made me see that it is actually really important to get into your customer's heads, because it makes you see where you fit into another persons world (in terms of your work) and after knowing this, steps can then be made about how to acknowledge this for successful results.

8-

Thinking about how I would distribute my work still confuses me a little, but I think once I produce more work to sell, taking into account what the design actually is, will become less of an issue.

9-

I have had no industrial experience, and been on no placements and I am worried that I really should be getting in contact with agencies or places.

10-

The research done for tis enterprise module has made me feel that I have a long way to go in terms of actually being a designer, but has also made me see that action needs to be taken or I will "get" nowhere.

SWOT analysis

A swot analysis is useful for understanding alot of situations in buisness, and also can aid and boost the decsision making process when it comes to making the right moves in buisness.

SWOT is an acronym for: Strengths, Weaknesses, Oppertunities and threats.

Using the SWOT analysis, I can analyse my competitors and weigh up certain competitve factors (e.g use their weaknesses to my advantage, and be inspired by their strengths and oppertunities.)

I have decided to do an analysis on an illustrator called Kev Grey's website.
I chose Kev Grey because he is involved in things I am very intersted in exploring for future prospects in terms of the illustrative image and mixed media.

So, you load up kev greys webiste and the first thing you see is an illustration of a bulldog which you have to click to see the main page. After clicking, this then takes you to quite a simple main page which has a scroll window for some of his choice illustrations. Along the top you can navigate to the follwing pages: Artists, projects, blog, shop and about.

The website is nicely designed, and says alot about grey as an illustrator, there are nice images of his work which vary from vector imagery, scans of his illustrations, and photography of his mixed media work. From looking at this website Grey is clearly successful and I would say because of the lack of work to actually buy there and then from the website, Grey is a commission based worker. He has done illustrations for the frontman of the band, The Cure and also had his work displayed on the arena at Download Festival. So, time for the SWOT analysis:

Strengths: Nicely produced website, easy to find your way around, with a good amount of information about Kev's background as an illustrator and contact details. Good images of his work up and also a nice variation of his work on display. Kev also displays good competitive advantages over other illustrators by showing the large variation of media his work has been translated onto e.g Skateboard designs for EAST skateboarding and t- shirts for Fenchurch. Kev knows his main target audience well as he is obviously immersed in that culture, and therefor caters for them well with his artwork. (His target audience being, skaters, the more "gothic" and rebellious of us into metal and also men AND women who are into the burlesque or "new age" punk scene.)

Weaknesses: Theres a limited amount of work to order straight off the website, and Kev also sells his works for a very low price. (£8 for posters, and £7 for his book.. Underselling might reduce his audience's desire for his work.) On the webiste it also says nothing about kevs awareness for distribution or marketing reach. I dont know if theres a postal charge etc...

Oppertunities: Kev obviously gets alot of interest, being an independant, commission based designer is doing him very well from the information displayed on his website. As he has done works for major bands, festivals, skate industries, clubs and tattoo shops. As I said before he knows his target market well, and competitors dont seem to be a factor for Kev as he has his own niche, which larger companies seem to really like. From the website it is obvious Kev has contacts in high places, just through commission based work and also has got a platform to sell through.

Threats: A big threat to Kev is the market demand. Kev has a certain visual approach to his work, (this is apparant) which is very "in" at the moment with the rebirth of the vintage fashion craze. A risk could be that when this vintage hype dies down, so does the demand for his vintage and macabre work. There are timeless elements to kev's work but his media might trap him in a place he doesnt want to be in in the future.

Another example

I was just thinking about how to get into the heads of a target audience when selling a specified product, and my mum is a really good example of this, because she is looking at prints for the bathroom at the moment.

The product/ artist designer

Bespoke prints depicting a nauticle theme, pattern oriented and simplistic with a heart warming tone of voice.

The Demographic

Middle class mother of two, living in a boderline working class urban society,happy and artistic/ creative with a comfortable income, doesnt mind paying a little extra for prints with a one off, personal feel. Often feels if art is cheap, that the artist is under selling themselves.

2nd Task where? A PEST analysis

I think in order for this to be successful I need to invent a situation where I am selling something because otherwise I'm really just not going to be able to do this, this can be easily done because I did used to sell alot of urban inspired illustrations on canvas. The subject matter was often bleak and grim.. So, let's use that as an example.

The demographic of this target audience : creatives, contemporaries, innovators, alienated people in society, seekers, teens/ young adults.
How are they as people: enjoy decoding imagery, like mess, not arsed about society as a hierarchy, go out on a night locally, small group mentality, fun is loud, uneasy about violence.


Politically: Have a feeling of unease towards political standing, but also have strong feelings about current issues/ world affairs.

Economically: this can vary as there are levels unbalance when it comes to this sort of illustration, the image could simply appeal to people with quite a bit of money as equally to someone with none.

Socially: the social background of these people I have found mostly to be urbanised young adults who are aware of their surroundings and want to pursue extra corricular activity in creative fields, such as urban/ contempory music , e.g Hip Hop music and culture.

Technological: When it comes to music software there are alot of adepts in this demographic, being young adults and in an urban backdrop they find it easy to use technology such as the internet, alot of products they desire can often only be found on the internet eg certain types of clothing or specialised publications or software.


This leads nicely to where they would be:
these sorts of people are most likely to be middle class city dwellers, who would probably live in the outskirts of the city where life is similar to the nature of the art, this type of art was born in these conditions so contemporaries in similar places will obviously identify with imagery of an urban and suggestively rebellious nature. The internet is at their fingertips, and they are constantly subject to the mass media in a culture where advertisement is inescapable.

What media do my target audience use?

As i said in an earlier brief Im still sort of looking for who I am as a designer and currently dont know who my target audience on a larger scale would be, but I guess the nature of what I do at the moment (Being illustrative, mixed media and print work) The audience would have an appreciation for illustration and materials, this could be almost anyone, however the aesthetic qualities of my work lend themselves to a younger audience at the moment, but also an audience that likes to dig a little deeper than normal to get what they want!!

The 4 P's

In Enterprise and innovation we have been introduced to "The 4 P's of marketing" also known as the "marketing mix". I have been ticking over about how these 4 P's relate to me, so here's the run down:

Product:
This means physical products and services provided and aspects such as Brand name, Function, styling and quality have to be taken into account for the target market:

In my case this could be commissioned illustrative work as a physical product (.eg, print, 3-dimensional work like vinyl figures) and in order for this to be a successful product with successful service I would have to think about delivery, packaging and protection to the product, for an example.

Price

Pricing stratergies have to be considered in order to be successful in buisness. Bridget talked about something called penetration pricing which is where the product starts off at a low price to gain makret share and then the price is bumped up after this is achieved. This seems like a good way to introduce yourself into a market and its seen all the time in the food stores and also with TV. (Sky T.v did this according to www.marketingteacher.com). So as I said before the stratergy and how I use it to integrate myself in the market are key factors of becoming successful in the freelance design field I feel definitely.

Another stratergy is price skimming. This can be seen in games consoles all the time, the new PS3 comes out, 500 quid or something stupid, within a year or two its 300 pounds. This is because they charge high at first because they have an advantageous position, after a while they cant sustain this position so they have to make their price more reasonable (and often more realistic) to keep their target audience interested and buying.


Place

Distribution of product is really important and can often be the true test for a designer. A good example related to me would be, If I have a website from which i sell products, do I limit my shipping to UK only for ease of transport and to keep cost down? (this is called selective distribution) Or do I up the cost of my product to take into account inclusive shipping fees? A sounder move would be to use exclusive fees for shipping.


Promotion

This is the communication of information to the world about a product in order to help reinforce a target audience. Half the time the design is the promotion and designers have to be really innovative in order to strike a chord with the people and make them engage with either the product they are promoting or the promotion itsself. This P merges with all the other P's if you want to be innovative when using promotion as a tool in a design context.

public relations and advertising are a huge part of promotion and I imagine one of the biggest limitations would be the said budget for this promotion. I think this last P is the most important one because it isnt very often that a product sells itsself!

Task 1

What Skills do I have?
In the creative field, I would say that I'm confident with coming up with strong concepts which then lead the design outcome of the work. I am confident in illustration, especially characters, logos and patterns and work most effectively with ranges of paints, brushes and pens. My work comes across most effectively in print and I hope that I am skilled in this field. I love to book bind and make one offs with an appreciation for paper stocks. My illustrator skills are rapidly progressing and catching up with my other skills outlined above, and I now regularly use the computer as an enhancing tool for my work.

Other skills which I regularly integrate in my creative processes would be mind mapping utilising a right and left brain approach (a method of creative thinking I learnt outside of the college.) which usually does bring innovative and inventive ideas to the surface of my thought patterns. I am friendly and Like to be clear in what I am creating, and I do normally have to be fascinated in what I am doing to really benefit from it with a design outcome.


Who needs these skills?

Taking into account my concept management, I think I would suit a design agency/group who are known for solving briefs inventively and think laterally and often have off the wall ideas. Adversly, My illustration skills and knowledge of print could lend itsself to either freelance work (creating a brand/identity) or a company which already has an identity and sells this identity possibly in the form of clothing, books, vinyl and prints. I think poosibly design geared towards promotion would suit these methods, wether that be self promotion or otherwise, I am unsure...


My Aims

Currently my aims out of University is just to make friends in high(ish) places e.g doing design for management at sainsbury's. This happens not very often and isnt well paid, but I scratch theyre back, and possibly in the future, they scratch mine. I'm also putting illustrations into tattoo studios and doing experimental collaborative work with a printed textiles student to set the groundwork for a personal design identity.

I know freelance work would be really hard, although I also think selling the right wares off the right platforms can successfully initiate freelance work. I am attracted to the idea of freelance work because i like freedom of expression and work strongest under these conditions. The only downside to this, is I am not very organised and this lends me more towards a company where I could have my finances dealt with. Being 19 this is hard to think about as it no doubt will effect the rest of my life.

As an overview, my aim at the moment is to build up my contacts, network and keep improving on and producing work for my personal portfolio and give myself the foundations I need in order to progress as a Designer and "find myself more."