PPP2 : LIFES A PITCH - concept delevepment

These are some of the questions that we have been asking ourselves. We are trying to figure out our concept for the event that we are going to stage, wether we will take submitions to put on in an exhibition or we contact people who we like to be part of it. We need to iron out the creased and get the concept sorted asap for that

We had a meeting with John and some really interesting things were raised, like about the benefits of a niche market. We also spoke about the make up of our group wether we would be a co op , partnership, collective etc and gained a better understanding for each.

After this tutorial we decided to go ahead with the niche market idea as it would make us stand out, since we are all girls in the group, we decided our niche marker would be women. women in start up business's 

PPP2 : LIFES A PITCH - costings

This is what we sat down and works out we would need for our studio:

We worked out all the bit we would need including an important kettle and things that are easy to forget like the internet. It was really interesting to sit down and think of everything that you need to set up shop, there is so much stuff!  So its no wonder things can get a little bit pricey when you set up a studio. 

We also looked into ways that we could cushion the costs such as paying in instalments for things

or renting out things 

or just buying

We decided against renting, that is pointless. and are considering paying in instalments for expensive things like Macs etc

PPP2 : LIFES A PITCH : logo / buisness card

Really happy with the visuals for our logo and how it has been applied to business card. The subtle but clever use of the square brackets representing staples which are used to bind books works really well.

PPP2 : LIFES A PITCH - flyer

This is our Flyer introducing our studio to the rest of the class. Really happy with how it turned out. It was useful to have this pressure of coming out to all the class in a flyer as it made us focus on our aims and who we are and commit to things like names, logos, concepts as once we relaxed the flyer there was no going back.

PPP2 : LIFES A PITCH - the nature of your business

Life's A Pitch - The Nature of Your Business

Business name
Studio Bind

Business Activity (What do you do?)
We are a small studio focussing on branding, identity, editorial and publications. We also wish to run a pop up event that would create a networking opportunity for graphic designers, whilst selling publications that we and others have created.

Mission Statement
We are a small and friendly studio working with small to medium sized businesses, with a particular focus on designing for female driven and start up businesses, as we feel we have are able to relate to and understand these businesses and what is necessary to help them grow through a use of strong design.

Business Objectives
What are your plans to achieve your sales target in the first 12 months?
We will be marketing ourselves to all potential clients to ensure that we have enough work to allow us to reach our sales targets.

What new products or services will you introduce in the following two years to grow your business?
We would like to introduce a screen printing service in the following two years as we as a studio are passionate about print, and we feel there is a market for a screen printing service.

What is your long term / 5 year goal?
We would like to be an established design studio in Leeds, possibly with the potential for growth into a larger studio space. We would like to have a number of loyal clients using our services several times a year, as well as still targeting other small to medium sized businesses for new work. We would like to be running a smaller screen printing business as well as still hosting our Bump and Bind events.

The People in the Business
How many people are employed?
4 People are employed in the business.

What are their roles?
Emma Johnson - Print Management
Suzanne Moore - Web Management
Hannah Watt - Accounts
Elizabeth Tyrer - Client Communications

What is the legal status of your business?
We are a cooperative business.

Why have you chosen this status - what are the advantages?
It means that we have equal titles, and a sense of shared responsibility, so we all contribute equally to the studio's success.

RESOURCES
Products or services
Describe the range of goods/services you are selling?
Branding and Identity service
Editorial and Publication service.

Say what percent of turnover each will provide?
The branding and identity side of the business will bring us the most turn over: 70%
Editorial and publication design will be a smaller side to our business : 30%

What resources do you require & what equipment do you need?
4 x Imac
1 x Ipad
1 x Macbook Pro
1 x Lightbox
1 x A3 Printer
Adobe Suite
Range of stock
Pens, pencils, other stationery
Internet
Studio Space
(as our business grows we would like to have screen printing facilities available to us also)

How much will these cost?
Estimated cost of £12,000

YOUR CUSTOMERS
What evidence do you have that anyone will buy your product / service?
There is evidence of our niche market in every city centre, and this information can be found both online and by looking around the city centre at the new shops opening up.

Who are these people?
Female businesswomen, owners of start up businesses

Where are they?
City centres/outskirts, where small to medium businesses are present.

Why would they buy from you rather than anyone else?
Because of our personable and relatable team, competitive pricing, our approach to design.

Provide a SWOT analysis to show that you have analysed your strengths and weaknesses in comparison to your potential competitors.
S: Niche market being targeted in start ups and female driven businesses
W: Having a niche market is great, but what if there are no clients that meet this description?
O: Opportunities in Leeds and other cities to seek clients out and network
T: Other small studios

How much will the average customer spend with you?
£3200 (Based on a 2 week brief charging £10 an hour)

HOW WILL YOU PROMOTE YOUR BUSINESS?
How will you advertise your products / services?
We will have a website set up, as well as distributing business cards to potential clients, and using networking events and business link to advertise our services.

What other marketing methods would be effective for you?
We will be hosting an event called Bump and Bind where we showcase local designer talent, and as it is a design networking event, we hope that this will get our name out there and this will help to market our studio.

SET UP COSTS
Legal costs
£2000

Resources
£12000

Marketing
£500-£1000

How will you finance the business start up?
We are interested in seeking funding from the Design Council. As well as using and equal amount of savings and a small business loan.

YOUR PRICES
How have you worked out your prices?
By looking at similar businesses to see what they charge.

How do your prices compare with your competitors?
As a small, start up business we will try to be as competitive with our pricings as possible.

HOW WILL YOU MONITOR YOUR PROGRESS?
Financial Control
Monthly meetings to sort out accounts and discuss finances.

PPP2 : LIFES A PITCH - who are you

Emma Johnson , Lizzie Tyrer , Hannah Watt , Suzanne Moore.

Bind, a studio Based in Leeds, West Yorkshire.

As a group our primary purpose serves as a small studio that works for the benefit of small to id sized companies, as well as individuals. A mix of traditional versus new, crafted versus digital. Branding, identity, products & editorial publishing. Sustainable where possible, but not the main focus.

Our secondary purpose is creating a platform for people to showcase their work, with a pop-up shop initiative. Our own creative personal work, including a publication and prints.

PPP2 :TASK 4

Task 1 :

Identify 5 companies/studios which you consider potentially synergetic to you personally. Write a short explanatory paragraph and reasons for each ... 


- CONSTRUCT

Unit 7 Compton Court Yard
40 Compton Street
London EC1V 0BD
Telephone 0207 253 8740
International +44 207 253 8740
constructlondon.com
info@constructlondon.com

Construct is a design studio based in London. They label themselves as a 'design boutique' due to there small size, but high end cliental. There work is very clean and simple, but at the same time beautiful, luxurious and innovative. I sometimes over complicate my work and would love to achieve this simplistic but very effective working style.

- I LIKE BIRDS

I like birds is a design studio who take pleasure in using a variety of medias, this is something I enjoy doing, I like the experiment with different medias and outcomes even if they do not work, or are not achievable in the real world I feel that it is good to be as creative as possible (but also keeping it relevant to the brief) whilst we have the chance to be.

- ILL STUDIO

Paris

hello@ill-studio.com

www.ill-studio.com

 

ill-studio is a multidisciplinary studio filled with many different talents, I find this set up of a studio very interesting, the breth and versatility of the the portfolio is very impressive. They have the ability to go from beautifully simple branding to creating their own elaborate type faces, to layout, to crazy installations. With so much talent the world is their oyster and every project outcome fresh and exciting.

- HEYDAYS

Hey­days AS

Vibes gate 17
0356 Oslo
Norway

(+47) 905 19 260
studio@heydays.no

 

Branding and Identity is something that I find very appealing, I love seeing a brand applied across a range of products to make everything work in unison in a very aesthetically pleasing way. Heydays creates some lovely looking branding simple but very cleaver, this is a way i would like to work.

- CATALOGUE

Post: Unit 2
Aire Street Workshops
30-34 Aire Street
Leeds
LS1 4HT  

Catalogue is a studio I have so much respect and admiration for. They produce solid beautiful graphic design, but also have much more to offer as a studio. They are independent publishers, screen printers, run a bi-annual design magazine, curate exhibitions. I really like this mentality that you don't have to be restricted to just being a graphic design studio, you can build on it and make your studio into as anything you want it to be. 

 - other studios I would include are

http://www.heredesign.co.uk/
http://manualcreative.com/profile/
http://www.hort.org.uk/345
http://p-a-r.net/index.html
http://www.thebearcavenyc.com/
http://tillwiedeck.com/studio/#internships
http://snask.com/case/the-city-tunnel-of-malmo/

- A PRINT STUDIO

I really enjoy screen printing and would also find it very interesting and beneficial to find a print studio


TASK 2

Identify the top choice and WHY you feel that they may have synergy with your practice now, or in the near future.

I'm not sure where I am right now in terms of what kind of practice I would like to work in, I know I enjoy working in a range of medias and experimenting with my design work where it is a appropriate, but I also like simplistic design. I enjoy design that has meaning and is cleaver and evokes something in you. I would also want to work in a studio that isn't afraid to have fun. I really love the way catalogue has so much going on, and include all the things I enjoy like screen printing, zines/book publishing, design for print etc they have a good mixture of work for clients and also personal work, this is ideally how I would want to have a studio. 


TASK 3

Is your choice based on: Location, Direction of  Practice, The Brand Philosophy, The Clint Base?


TASK 4

What if none of those is your main reason for choosing to follow this organization, what is it specifically?


TASK 5

When considering these practices: 

WHY you are contacting them and why they should listen?
WHAT do you want them to do next and what do you actually want.
WHY they should get back to you?

TASK 6

Now you have identified initially these studios you feel synergy with. Please list 8 methods you could utilize to contact them?

- Phone
- Email
- Studio visits
- Sending something interesting and exciting in post
- being creative in a way to catch and hold their attention
- have a visual cv 
- if emailing ad something extra like a visual
- use social media to build prior relationships 

PPP2 : SECTORS

PP2 : TASK 3

What is industrial experience?

- A chance to understand and witness working professional designers in their own working

  environment, gaining an understanding of how professionals work.

- Learning how to work for and with clients on live briefs, which will involve constraints such as

  money which would effect colour use, stock etc.

- A chance to gain insight into how different studios are run, what it involves to run a studio and the

  business side to running a studio

- A very important and key thing that all students should seek to gain as it will give you more

  knowledge about the profession you are going to go and work in, it helps prepares you so when you

  leave uni you know what to expect and how to apply what you have learned.

- Understanding how the practice runs and works outside of education, gaining a knowledge how to

  apply what we learn in uni to the professional world.

What can you learn from industrial experience?

- Learn how to conduct yourself in a professional way dealing with clients, colleagues, printers etc

- Help you understand and decide where you fit in the professional world, wether you want to work in

  a small studio, large studio, freelance etc

- Learn the processes within working for a client, learning how professionals present and pitch work to

  clients

- Learn how the design process works in the proffesional world, from recieving a breif of the client to

  pitching ideas to final resolved peice of work and then presenting once again to client.

- What areas of graphic design you are interested in and if you might want to specialise

- Learn about the business side of graphic desing like running your own practice, costs, what you need,

  if its something you are interested in etc

What form / format could industrial experience take?

- visting studios

- work placements

- working on live briefs

- visiting printers

- going to visiting proffesionals talks

What areas of industry are you interested in?

- print procedures and techniques

- branding and identity

- publishing and editorial

- webdesign

- design for print

What are your concerns about industry experience?

- Not meeting the high standards of the design proffesionals

- Not having the confidence to present my work, my ideas and myself to proffesionals 

- Not finding a local placement

- Not enjoying it

- Getting stuck on briefs they set

STUDIO WORKSHOP

PPP2 : TASK 2

Client: Any of her customers- freelancing 

Intended audience: Creatives- 18+

Function: Decoration 

Budget: Low budget- freelance work 

From: London, UK

Designer/Studio: Sophie Henson

Client: Dunkel Ottoman- club in Denmark

Intended audience: 18-30 years old unisex- drum & bass

Function: Event promotion 

Budget: Low budget- mass produced 

From: Denmark 

Designer/Studio: Kasper Pyndt 

Client: Personal 

Intended audience: Designers- young creatives- 18+

Function: Motivational- inspirational 

Budget: None- personal piece- digital 

From: Romania 

Designer/Studio: Felix Hornoiu 

Client: Phase 2 Design Studio 

Intended audience: Companies wanting web designer- most existing clients are high end news based 

Function: Personal portfolio- brand identity- promoting their own work

Budget: Looks high budget- high end web techniques- still made for themselves 

From: North America 

Designer/Studio: Phase 2 Design Studio 

Client: Ten times Rosie book 

Intended audience: Female- 20 to 40 years old- people in the fashion industry 

Function: Fashion branding- fashion and editorial 

Budget: High budget- location- model- stylist 

From: London, UK 

Designer/Studio: Rankin

Client: Newly opened gourmet store 

Intended audience: Food lover- environmentally friendly users 

Function: Brand identity 

Budget: Low/medium budget- especially as it is a newly formed company- just opening/starting out 

From: Brooklyn, New York 

Designer/Studio: Mucca Design 

Client: Part of a collection- Depthcore's 'Echoes' collection 

Intended audience: Creatives- age 18+

Function: Personal- design inspiration- networking 

Budget: None- just for digital use 

From: North America 

Designer/Studio: Jared Nickerson

Client: Food industry

Intended audience: Creatives- food industry

Function: Educational- inspire and inform

Budget: High budget- embossed- cut out- foiling

From: Honk Kong

Designer/Studio: Victionary 

Client: Berlin based street fashion brand Violence Elegance 

Intended audience: Male- aged 17 to 30

Function: Aesthetic- fashion 

Budget: Limited edition- hand screen printed- £29 each- medium budget 

From: Berlin, Germany 

Designer/Studio: Emily Hadden 

Client: Accents decoration- interior design company 

Intended audience: Customers of the company 

Function: Brand identity- promote and inform 

Budget: High budget- foiling- lots of different components- stock quality 

From: Mexico 

Designer/Studio: La Tortilleria