Who am I?: What do 'They' do?

Based on the principles that have been introduced inthe PPP2 sessions so far and your responses to the previous tasks, evaluate the Strengths and Weaknesses of three practitioners or design agencies as objectively as you can. You should aim to identify a large, medium and small company from a sector or service that reflects your interests within the creative industries.

What opportunities for your own practice have revealed themselves to you as a result of this research,analysis and evaluation?

Small Freelancer

http://www.g1creative.co.uk/work

Strengths:

• Clear and Functional print
• Logo and brand identity
• Web Design
• Vector Illustration
• Publications

Weaknesses:

What G1 Creative do, is done well and to the point. If I were to identify any weaknesses it would be that the design is quite 'safe' which is what would please the client but isn't very hard hitting to the public and wouldn't stick in the mind of a designer.

Certain things that G1 avoid more than others are:

• Packaging design
• Motion Graphics
• Complex illustrations

Medium design studio

http://www.studiomikmik.co.uk/index.html

Strengths:

• Up to date & Crisp Design
• Branding and identity
• Vector Illustrations
• Colour
• Print and Publications

Weaknesses:

Studio MikMik specialise in print and illustration, if I were to pick a weakness within the publications they produce it would be that they use standard formats that don't experiment with interactivity.

Other disciplines that MikMik avoid are:

• Web Design
• Motion Graphics

Large design Studio

http://www.thechase.co.uk

Strengths:

Because The Chase are quite a large studio they have the opportunity to span a much wider breadth of design and explore a wider range of solutions that the previous two studios.

• Well suited and effective design
• Creative products and solutions to problems
• Experimental Typography
• Photography
• Advertising

It is difficult to find weaknesses with The Chase as they have so many designers that specialise in a wide variety of practice,  if there is anything they don't seem to do a lot of web design which isn't necessarily a weakness, just something that they choose not to focus on.

From looking at these 3 studios I can see that the main focus is on print which would suggest an opportunity to push a more digital approach to design and communication, however I think that there are an abundance of companies with web design as their first specialism - rather than graphic design, that could satisfy clients that require complex digital design.

I think that from these 3 companies, especially the smaller ones, there is a need for more creative and interactive print that strays away from standard sizes and solutions that are very common within graphic design.

Who am I? : Who are 'They'?

Task: 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. 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?

It is essential that you make references to the ʻ4 Psʼ from the PPP2 Presentation. This is an exercise in applying that theory – it is not appropriate to write about the theory itself. Demonstrate your understanding of it by actually using it.

The possible clients that could use graphic design is vast.
The primary sector of Industry consists of products from the earth, mining, forestry and farming, this sector has the least use for graphic design as it covers the basic essentials that are needed for industry to work at all.

The secondary sector makes products from the materials provided by the primary sector such as: breweries, smelting and chemical engineering which will require a level of graphic design to cover branding, company handbooks, websites and reports.
The largest group of clients needing design are grouped within the tertiary and quaternary sectors as these sectors have the most interaction with the public and creating an identity and selling products is key to the success of the businesses.

Tertiary Sector Client Groups:

•      Government & political parties
•        TV & Communications
•        Pharmaceuticals
•        Tourism
•        Collectables
•        Travel
•        Healthcare
•        Waste Disposal
•        Utilities
•        Banking
•        Insurance
•        Construction
•        Retail
•        Food and drink packaging and branding
•        Clothing
•        Hygiene
•        Leisure
•        Posters
•        Real Estate
•        Education

The 4 P’s : The factors to consider when designing for a particular client / Sector

•PRODUCT - A product is seen as an item that satisfies what a consumer needs or wants. It is a tangible good or an intangible service.

•PRICE - The price is the amount a customer pays for the product or the overall cost of a product.

•PROMOTION - represents all of the methods of communication that a marketer may use to provide information to different parties about the product.

•PLACE- refers to providing the product at a place or in a context which is convenient for consumers to access.

What skills / interests you have and how they relate to the needs of your client group?

I am interested in working with a large range of these clients but at the moment I am most interested in the packaging and branding of consumables in the retail sector. My skills and interests at the moment are net/ package design, colour and illustration. Defining the specific audience and tone of voice that the client wants and designing for a new product that needs to stand out from the existing competition is interesting and exciting to me. The food and drink sector also brings with it the potential to use creative campaign ideas that can span the breadth of print and web to raise awareness and promote the product which is a great opportunity to employ new and ambitious ideas to really set the product apart from the crowd.

One of the main interests I have with any design that I create is how the audience can interact with it, rather than it just being something they can look at I like to include some tactile and hands – on interactive activity with the design, as this is something that I appreciate with design and I think that this extra level of involvement with the design communicates clearer and on a more personal level and is more likely to affect the user and stick in their minds.

 

What skills are needed and what skills do you want to develop?

To be really successful in this area, and not create ‘samey’ and uninteresting packaging I will need more knowledge about net design as I have experimented a bit with interactive nets but I would love to be able to create more complex and engaging objects.

My own work to do with interactive print:

  

Interactive alarm clock box:

I will do this by dismantling packaging and identifying packaging I like, why it works and why it doesn’t, this will allow me to modify existing designs and create packaging and interactive print that I would approve of myself.

As well as this I want to improve my skills for design for web as this is going to be a demand that is going to be relevant for many years to come and being able to design and code successful websites will be a good asset to have. This is also applicable to the vast majority of client groups as a web page and internet presence is standard today. I would love to be able to add interactive elements to web design but this is getting too complicated for my current coding and web skills.

What are your professional/creative aims and how do they relate to the needs of the client group?

Aside from software and design skills I want to improve that I have already mentioned, my professional aims are to improve my confidence and verbal communication of ideas. This is one of the most important qualities in getting work chosen and networking in general that I do not have. Pitching ideas and discussing ideas and design with the client is something that relates to every client group.

My creative aims are to improve my knowledge of existing packaging through documentation and experimentation so that I have a greater knowledge of packaging. This will allow me to communicate confidently with the client to thoroughly unpick what kind of design solution they are looking for, for their product that will best suit the consumer need.