Life's A Pitch Flyer Design.

Life's A Pitch Logo Designs.

I have started off designing some possible logo designs for our company 'Juice'. I have never really done much branding work so to begin with it was quite a challenge.

Initially I looked at the idea of bendy straws that come with most juice cartons and using this theme to create some type. I quite like the fluidity of the letters but I think a logo would look more successful with a corresponding image.

I then moved on to creating some simple shapes, looking at the idea of a droplet effect. I like the contrast between the block colour and white but I don't think these shapes put across our brand or theme in a very clear way.

Next I focussed on getting across the theme of fruit, with simplified illustrations of the full orange and it's segments. I prefer this yellowy orange to the more red tone as I think it looks more zesty and fresh. The contrast between the orange and green is also effective.

This is my final design. We wanted to incorporate the type in a fluid style within the circle, using typography to get across the form of the object. It was quite difficult to get the letters to fit in successfully and still remain readable and it took a few attempts to get the correct composition.

Life's A Pitch Studio Outline.

Name:

• Juice Studio

Tagline:

• 100% fresh ideas

What we do:

• Web design
• Packaging
• Branding

Sector:

• Food and Drink

Target Audience

• organic
• healthy
• high-end

Ethos:

• environmentally conscious, recyclable packaging/stock
• reflected through studio ethics, recycling etc
• only take on clients with the same ethics/viewpoint

Team Skills:

• Beth - illustration, software skills, writing, web
• Jenna - management, branding, presentation
• Emily - writing, finances, packaging
• Kate - layout, packaging

Study Task Five - Who am I? Who are they?

Write a list of all the possible client groups that use graphic design in the development, production, distribution, promotion and/or communication of their products or services.

• Fashion
• Music
• Retail
• Education
• Health
• Transport
• Food
• Charity
• Government
• Agriculture
• Entertainment
• Finance
• Law

Identify one client group that reflects your current ambitions within the graphic design area (music industry, retail, publishing, education etc.) and focus on identifying:-

• What skills / interests you have and how they relate to the needs of your client group?
• What skills are needed and what skills do you want to develop?
• What are your professional/creative aims and how do they relate to the needs of the client group? 

Retail

I have chosen retail as the area that interests me as it is an area that I have really focussed on so far in my personal practice, especially within the 503 module. The skills I have relating to his area is the ability to create realistic mockups, I feel that this is a necessary skill as it gives the client something to visually relate to without the product having to be fully constructed. It gives a clear impression of the product to the customer to be able to see if it satisfies their need. I also have personal interest within retail and visual shelf appeal is something that really intrigues me. Being a visual person myself, what I buy will depend quite highly on what it looks like, this is a trait that I think relates to a majority of the public, highlighting the importance of a products visual appeal.

I think a skill that I need to develop for my work to be more successful in this area is audience consideration. When I'm designing I need to consider more the needs and opinions of the customer rather than what I personally like. This is a very important aspect to develop as ultimately it will determine the success of the design. Being able to attract the correct consumers to create interest around an item and have something desirable that they will want to buy. I would also like to learn more about the cost of products and how much it is to produce certain things, this also links with the audience and would they be willing to pay a higher price for a better quality item.

My professional and creative aims going forward link very strongly with the skills I want to develop, relating to gaining knowledge on how to appeal to different audiences. This also goes into the placements of products within a shop and where in context will the item be most successful. I would also like to cover a larger range of aspects regarding the retail sector, for example packaging, point of sale, promotion and the design of the product itself. I think by increasing this range will create a stronger body of work.


Examples of Retail design:

Gabe

Packaging and advertising

Firmalt

Carte

Branding and packaging

Firmalt

Pact

Branding, advertising, packaging

Lecture Three - Globalisation, Sustainability and the Media.

Definitions of globalisation

• Socialist - The process of transformation of local or regional phenomena into global ones. It can be described as a process by which the people of the world are unified into a single society and function together. This process is a combination of economic, technological, sociocultural and political forces.
• Capitalist - The elimination of state-enforced restrictions on exchanges across borders and the increasingly integrated and complex global system of production and exchange that has emerged as a result.

Three problems with globalisation

1. Sovereignty - challenges to the idea of the nation state
2. Accountability - transnational forces and organisations: who controls them?
3. Identity - nation, group, community?

Global Village Thesis

• ‘As electrically contracted, the globe is no more than a village. Electric speed at bringing all social and political functions together in a sudden implosion has heightened human awareness of responsibility to an intense degree’
• The internet
• 'We live mythically and integrally... In the electric age ,when our central nervous system is technologically extended to involve in the whole of mankind and to incorporate the whole of mankind in us, we necessarily participate... in the consequences of our every action.'
• ‘Electric technology... would seem to render individualism obsolete and... corporate interdependence mandatory.’
• Centripetal forces - bringing the world together in uniform global society
• Centrifugal forces - tearing the world apart in tribal wars
• Cultural Imperialism - If the 'global village' is run with a certain set of values then it would not be so much an integrated community as an assimilated one.

Rigging the 'free market'

• Media conglomerates operate as oligopolies
• News corporations divide the world into 'territories' of descending 'market importance
• North America
• Western Europe, Japan, Australia
• Developing economies and regional producers
• The rest of the World
• US media powers can be thought of as a new form of imperialism
• Local cultures destroyed in this process and new forms of cultural dependency shaped, mirroring old school colonialism.
• Dominance of US driven commercial media forces US model of broadcasting onto the rest of world but also inculcates US style consumerism in societies that can ill afford it.

John's Task Two.

Task

Make a list of 3 of each of these.
My chosen areas of practice as of now.
My main strengths as of now.
My identified weaknesses as of now.
A set of main goals for this year.
Wishes. 

Chosen areas of practice as of now:

1. Illustration - I really enjoy creating illustrative images whether they're characters, diagrams etc. I enjoy seeing it all come together to create an image that the audience can recognise. At the moment my illustrations are all done on Illustrator, but I would like to experiment more with a hand drawn style.
2. Typography - I always like looking at type and the clever ways people work with it. My skills aren't up to what I would like yet, but I do have strong thoughts about what I do and don't like.
3. Packaging - We haven't had much of an opportunity to look into this area yet, but it really appeals to me. I like how it incorporates image, type and colour, whilst also applying it to a three dimensional form.

My main strengths as of now:

1. Programme knowledge - I feel very comfortable using a variety of programmes on the Adobe suite and I feel that this benefits my work. Although I am aware that there is still much I don't know and can learn to develop it further.
2. Illustration - I am really happy with how my illustration skills are developing, especially considering I couldn't even use Illustrator this time last year and because of this I am excited to see how it can progress.
3. Analysing work - I think I am quite good at analysing my own work and the work of others. This is helpful because it helps me to be able to recognise what I do and don't like which will hopefully bring on the designs of my own work.

My identified weaknesses as of now:

1. Lack of confidence - at the moment I don't have a huge amount of belief in my own capabilities which may be holding me back. I'd like to gain more confidence in myself and my skills.
2. Lack of studio knowledge - whenever we have to gather a selection of studios or designers that we like I find it really difficult to identify places off the top of my head. This will be a big hinderance when it comes to industrial experience and selecting places to visit as my knowledge about it is so limited.
3. Idea generation - as of now I tend to find it difficult to think of innovative ideas or I just settle on the first idea I come up with. I would like to get out of this habit and push myself to think of more interesting plans.

A set of main goals for this year:

1. Produce some portfolio worthy work - as of yet I don't feel I have anything of a high enough standard that I could take to around and show people. This year I really want to have some projects that I am really proud of and am happy to show to people in the industry.
2. Identify studios that I like - because this is one of my weaknesses I would really like to rectify it and improve my knowledge. Maybe I give up to easily when researching online, so I will have to think harder or maybe even ask my friends if they know anyone they could recommend.
3. Continue to improve skills - I would like to continue improving with my knowledge on programmes as I think this will benefit my work a lot.

Wishes:

1. Have some successful studio visits
2. Gain more confidence and self belief
3. Produce some work I'm really proud of

Lecture Two - Markets, Audience and Analysis.

Who are they?

What is marketing?

• "management process responsible for identifying, anticipating and satisfying customer requirements, opportunities, profitability and success."

Marketing roles

• identify customer needs, 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

The four P's

• product - an item that satisfies what the customer wants, product/service
• price - amount customer pays or overall cost of product
• promotion - represents methods of communication that markets may use to provide information
• place - providing the product at a place or in a context that is convenient for a customer to access

• relationship between these can help analyse if something will succeed or fail

What is a creative entrepreneur?

• owner entrepreneur - designer, director, project manager, collaborator
• owner manager - creative with assistant, small studio with creatives, co-operative studio
• owner worker - freelance designer, partnership

What kind of creative are you?

• evolutionary or revolutionary
• manager or opportunist
• cautious or risk taker
• do you make calculated and informed decisions or to you react instantly when things are presented to you?

What is an idea?

• can happen at any time
• can occur to anybody
• can happen anywhere
• can be inspired by anything
• generally random
• seldom materialise
• rarely succeeds

What is an opportunity?

• the people are right
• the place is right
• the conditions are right
• the time is right

The wrong time

• Da Vinci - inventions before their useful time (helicopter, flying machine, machine gun, parachute)
• Why did they fail?
• politicians couldn't see any benefit
• economics were to fragmental
• society had no need
• technology to primitive
• PEST analysis

Things that can have positive and negative effects

• political factors
• environmental factors
• social factors
• technological factors

Where do opportunities come from?

• trends
• technological development
• political change
• economical boom and slump
• human need
• problems
• research

You think you've spotted an opportunity

• skills - technical, practical, conceptual, professional
• aptitudes - team work, collaboration, communication, project/people management
• predisposition - risk/cautious, evolution/revolution, manager/opportunist

Good opportunity or not?

• Look at your competitors
• how many are there?
• how well are they doing?
• what do they do well?
• what could they improve on?

Will anyone buy it?

Assessing the competition

• what are their strengths?
• what are their weaknesses?
• what opportunities have they taken?
• what threats do they face?

• SWOT analysis
• you can apply this analysis to yourself

Environments

• internal environment - your skills, your resources, your lifestyle. IN CONTROL.
• micro environment - your network, your competitors, your suppliers, your local community. HAVE IMPACT
• macro environment - economic, technology, social trends, politics, the environment, world market conditions. VIRTUALLY NO EFFECT.

Access the quality of an opportunity

• for me
• for the customer
• for the planet
• for the other share holders

John's Task One.

Task

• Identify five companies/studios which you consider particularly synergetic to you personally. Write a short paragraph why and reasons for each.

The Print Project

I have chosen this studio as they focus on letterpress which is a process that I am particularly interested in. I find the work they produce really aesthetically attractive as it appeals to the style that I like. It is also quite a local company that is based in Bradford.

Gemma Correll

I really like Gemma Correll's quirky illustrations, I think they are really fun and entertaining. I also like the sarcastic edge in her annotations as it suits my sense of humour. Her work has also been used in Urban Outfitters which is pretty cool!

 http://www.gemmacorrell.com/

Luke Bott

Again I really like the illustrative style of Luke Bott's work and how he applies this to other areas of Design, like logos/packaging etc. His choice of colour in how work also appeals to me as I like his use of tone and contrast.

http://lukebott.com/

Jessica Hische

I love Jessica Hische's gorgeous typographic design, I love the decorative and vintage style. The colours she chooses, especially in these examples really appeal to me, I really like the pinks and soft pastel shades. The only negative is that she lives in San Francisco, which is quite far away!

 http://jessicahische.is/

Aileen Cheng 

I have selected two web design images from Aileen Cheng but she also works in lots of other fields. In these examples particularly I really like how she incorporates pattern into the design in a subtle way and also works in the colours to compliment it. She also lives in California, but in LA.

 

 http://aileencheng.com/

• Identify the top choice and why you feel that they may have synergy with your practice now, or in the near future.
• Is your choice based on: location, direction of practice, the brand philosophy, client base?
• What if none of those is your main reason for choosing to follow this organization, what is it specifically? 

I think my top choice would be Jessica Hische as I feel she covers a large range of design areas whilst still keeping her style, as she can apply it to a range of things very successfully. Therefore my choice is definitely based on design practice as the look of her work is really something I aim for. Also, even though it would be easier if she was based in the UK the idea of travelling to another country is very exciting and appealing to me.

• WHO they are/who are you?
• 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 should they come back to you?

Jessica Hische.

I am contacting her because her design aesthetic really appeals to me.

I would like her to get back to me, maybe send some work samples, answer any questions I may have.

She should get back to me because...

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

Telephone

Email

Post

Twitter

Study Task Three - What is Industrial Experience?

What is industrial experience?

• It is about broadening your knowledge of the professional, creative world. Regarding different studios, fields of design and business information.
• Becoming more comfortable and confident about it, so that in the future it isn't such a daunting prospect as you'll know more of what to expect.
• It can also be gaining contacts and making a name for yourself within the graphic design community.
• Taking part in freelance work and live and competition briefs to get a better understanding of projects outside of the university environment.
• Helping to get a better understanding of what you want out my future prospects. By visiting studios you can get an idea of what you do and don't like.

What can you learn from industrial experience?

• As your experience is increased so will your confidence in your personal and professional self.
• Improve your decision making skills as you will be a lot more informed and knowledgable. Increased confidence will also give you belief in the choices you have made.
• Industrial experience can be seen as a practice run for getting a real job so it can give you a lot of preparation and also teach you to not be afraid to make mistakes.
• It can also give you direction with your design practice, either cementing your choices in what path you want to follow or give you a different perspective that can open your mind to other options.
• On a professional level it allows you to meet people within the industry, to make contacts and get yourself a name within it, through meeting new people and promoting your work.
• It will be a benefit for future job prospects, as well as something to put on your CV and additional portfolio work.
• You can gain motivation by seeing what can be achieved and finding something you'd like to be a part of.

What form/format could industrial experience take?

• visiting studios for freelance work or an internship
• live briefs
• visiting exhibitions
• selling work
• competition briefs
• online networking
• business support

What areas of industry are you interested in?

• Illustration

•  Publishing and Editorial

•  Branding and Identity

• Packaging

• Paper Craft

What are your concerns about industrial experience?

• That I won't have the required skills or knowledge needed when I get there, which will be embarrassing and disappointing for the studio I've gone to
• I'll mess up something important for the company I'm with, which could jeopardise a job for them
• Putting across myself in the best light, making sure the people I'm with see me as confident and professional
• Making sure I make the most out of my time. Ensure I'm not shy and make my self be proactive with regarding the work and talking to people
• Not being able to get my head around the business side of graphic design. I know we will be getting a lot of guidance with this but I still find it daunting.

Ten Statements Task

1. After selecting images of the areas of graphic design I am interested in I became even more aware of the style of design that I like. I am going to need to keep this in mind when selecting what studio's to contact about visits and internships. I think this will help me to get the most out of it, by gaining more specialist knowledge and design ideas.
2. I am looking forward to taking part in live and competition briefs during this year. I believe it will help me to prepare for briefs and tasks during my industrial experience and actual work in the future. As they be very different than the ones we have in uni regarding time scales, topics and deliverables etc. Getting used to this variation will be very helpful.
3. After doing this task it has made me realise how important it is to have an online presence, as it helps to get your work out there and to make a name for yourself within the industry. Over the next few months this is something I definitely want to work on.
4. Before I start my studio visits and also during them I would like to work on and improve my professional skills, regarding talking to other designers I am meeting for the first time. I want to be able to give off a good impression of confidence and likability that will be memorable in the future. Working on my conversational skills will also be helpful as even though it is normally fine , being under pressure may make me more nervous and shy.
5. I would like to visit more exhibitions and trade events as I think this is a great way of getting to know a designers style of work which could help me when selecting people to email later on in this module
6. I am hoping that visiting studios will raise my confidence in my abilities as at the moment I can't imagine myself working for a studio and fitting in as part of the team. So I would like to go and realise my skills and that getting a job in the future in an obtainable goal.
7. Before this workshop I hadn't really thought much about industrial experience but now I have realised that it is a fundamental part of growing as a designer and taking steps into the industry. It will give me the knowledge and confidence to start to make a name for myself with other creatives in a positive way.
8. During my industrial experience I want to gain a better understanding of the path I want to go into for my future. At the moment I have a variety of things that I'm interested in but I would like to make these opinions a bit more focussed.
9. I would like to start creating an identity for myself, even if it is just a business card. This means I will have something I can give to people for them to associate with me, so that hopefully they could contact me in the future.
10. Industrial experience is a very broad field of our education and covers a large variety of topics.

Lecture One - The Business of Design.

UK economy

• 7th largest in the world
• 3rd largest in europe
• one of the most globalised countries - visual, social culture
• London is the largest financial centre equal with New York - trade, industry, finance

What is an industry sector?

•  goods
• producing segment of an economy
• an area of the economy where businesses share the same or a related product or service
• sharing common characteristics
• primary sector
• extracting products from the earth
• agriculture, mining, forestry etc
• basic industries, no societies can exist without them
• secondary sector
• the economy manufactures finished gods
• metal working, engineering, construction etc
• tertiary sector
• service industry
• retail, wholesale, transport, entertainment, administration, healthcare etc
• exist around the other industries
• quaternary sector
• intellectual activities
• government, culture, education, law, research
• builds on and informs the other industries
• These exist within any industry or culture
• allows for more in depth analysis of the economy as a whole, comparing and contrasting
• any economy can be divided into these sectors

Why do you need to be aware of economic sectors?

• helps us to make informed design decisions
• identify ourselves against competition
• current market, trends
• finding gaps in the market
• understanding relationships between sectors
• see where the money is, investments
• predicting future trends

The service industries

• an industry made up of companies and organisations that primarily generate revenue through providing often intangible products or services
• selling lifestyles, brand
• heavily involved in retail, transport and distribution as well as other service related businesses.

Public sector

• the part of the economy concerned with providing basic government, state or publicly owns services
• varies from country to country - structured, funded
• usually provides services that are free at the point of delivery and a non payer cannot be excluded
• these services are often to benefit the whole of society
• produces the idea of equal opportunities, open access
• centrally funded by the tax payer
• government departments - health, justice, foreign office, MOD, education, home office

Private sector

• not controlled by the state, run by individuals
• run to make a profit
• not owned or operated by the government
• where most jobs are held
• differs in countries where the government exerts considerable power e.g China
• driven by private enterprise and investment
• includes personal and corporate sector
• only accessed by payment

Third sector

• includes voluntary or non profit organisations
• a space between business and government, private sector can be used for the good of the public
• the presence of a large non-profit sector is sometimes seen as an indicator of a healthy economy in local and national financial measurements

Service industries

• creative industries
• education, health and social work
• financial and business services
• public administration and defence
• real estate and renting
• tourism
• transport and communication
• wholesale and retail trade

The creative industries

•  concerned with generation of exploitation and knowledge of information
• they may also be refereed to as the cultural industries or the creative economy
• activities related to creative work creation or production are carried out
• using skill, creativity and talent
• advertising, architecture, designer fashion, music industry, film industry, radio, post production, publishing, visual and performing arts, graphic design, animation etc
• "design is the thread that connects ideas and discovery to people and markets", The business of Design, the Design Council 2005
• design is becoming one of the main indicators of a healthy economy

Design and industry 2005

• 185,500 designers are generating £11.6 billion in annual turnover
• 62% of designers are under 40
• 31% of design businesses are based in London
• 59% of design companies employ fewer than five people
• Over 50% of UK design companies are related to work in communication and multimedia design

Working in the creative industries

• Three main types of companies working in the creative industries
• design studios/consultancies
• in-house design teams
• freelance design

Disciplines in the creative industries

• communication design
• graphic design and illustration
• retail and promotion
• publishing and editorial
• branding and identity
• information and way finding
• type and typography
• product and industrial design
• interior and exhibition design
• fashion and textile design
• digital and multimedia design
• web design and development
• interface design
• motion graphics
• games design
• special effects
• service design
• 50% of designers working in communication also work in digital and multimedia
• these are the two most integrated areas in the creative industries

Who is looking after our interests?

• financial, legal, creative levels, facilitate
• CBI - confederation of british industry, covers broad industries
• the design council - government funded but an independent body
• CSD - chartered society of designers, ethical concerns
• creative england - charitable organisation, encourage collaborations between different practices
• creative and cultural skills - links with education and industry
• creative coalition campaign - union, human rights, ethical

How the money flows through the government

• treasury and civil service, sits separate from the government
• work out funding
• local government, education, business and innovation, culture media and sport, international development
• social interest groups - student unions, creative unions etc push the money and opportunities up and feed back into the services and economy

Task - 5 examples of design working in different sectors:

This is a recruitment advertisement for the NHS. It falls primarily into the public sector as the NHS and health are one of the government departments that are funded by the tax payer and provide services for the whole of society. Regarding the industry sectors this falls into the tertiary sector as it is part of the service industry, it could also be considered to be part of the quaternary sector because of its government links. It also covers a selection of service industries: education, health and social work because of its topic and the creative industries because it would have been made by a designer for the advertising purposes. I think this piece is successful because the message of encouraging more people into the industry to work is very clear, the comparisons between the two halves is also very strong which gives a good persuasive edge that is needed.

Here is some packaging for the Savannah Bee Company. It is an example of something that fits with the private sector as it is a company run by individuals to make its own profit. It is part of the primary sector as honey is a product that is produced naturally and also the tertiary sector because it will be sold and the retail aspects. Because of this it is also in the wholesale and retail service industry and the creative industries because of it's packaging design. I think the design of this project works very well. The surfaces used to create it are all very natural which links nicely with the primary sector and I like how the honey is visible through the clear sides. All the necessary information is clearly displayed which makes it easy for the retail customer.

Next is an advert to help promote awareness of cruelty to children by the NSPCC. Because this is a charity advert, a voluntary or non profit organisation created for the benefit of the community it is in the third sector. I think it fits into the tertiary sector and quaternary sector because of its links with health and law. The education, health and social work is the main service industry that it fits with and again the creative industry because of the creation of the poster. I like the simplicity and use of white space in this composition as I think it helps to focus on the severity of the message it is trying to portray. I didn't read the hidden sentence straight away when looking at the poster, I don't think this is a serious problem though as the nature of the cause made me look longer until I found it.

These are some selected pages from a Fiat 500 brochure. It is initially part of the private sector as it is a privately run, for profit business. It also covers the secondary sector because of the engineering and manufacturing aspects and can also link with the tertiary sector because of the retail, wholesale and transport.  The service industries it falls into are very similar to these, for example, transport and communication, retail and trade and finally the creative industry where it falls into the category of editorial and publishing. I think the design of this is very successful, the images are very clear and detailed and how they are shot really appeals to the target audience. There is also all the necessary information you would need to know when buying a car and the visuals relate to this.

My final example is a corporate design for an acoustic music festival called 'Back and Forth Music Festival'. This is a private sector organisation driven by private enterprise and investment that is only accessed by payment to this organisation. It is part of the tertiary sector for entertainment and the quaternary sector for its links with culture. I would say it is in the wholesale and retail trade service industry, as well as the creative industry not only for its design aspect but also the music area. The design disciplines involved with this project are retail and promotion, information and way finding and branding and identity amongst others. I think the design of this whole set of work has been really successful, especially the branding and identity aspect as it is so constant throughout and makes for consistent recognition for the audience.