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.