Friday, 27 May 2011
Thursday, 26 May 2011
Evaluation... Product, Range, Distribution
I enjoyed reading through the briefs before the brief started properly, it really opened my eyes to the diversity of briefs out there, and showed how terribly they can be written too. I selected 5 briefs, not having a clue what we were doing with them, but secretly preferring one in particular, Channel X.
Forming the brief was incredibly challenging, I am used to being given a brief with a small amount of flexibility and a given set of deliverables. This time however, we were forming our own briefs, using the chosen ones as a foundation. This proved very time consuming for me, as I am not the kind of person to jump straight into a project, without ‘testing the water first’.
After my first concept crit I was still unsure, and spoke to different members of the group to gain their opinion. A chat with Fred made me realise I had to stop writing and start making decisions and getting on with it. The brief wasn’t long enough for hesitations. I decided on the idea of a music channel, but changed the genre numerous times. When I noticed people sketching, I realised I have to decide and just get on with it, and I am glad I did.
It was this hesitation that lead to my quick development of the logo, I was worried I had fallen behind, and made a rapid decision before fully exploiting all avenues. Looking back now, I am actually glad I did this, as it allowed me to concentrate on the development of my work.
I am pleased with the identity I built for my channel, Infrasonic. A lot of people have commented on the ‘I’ being made up of graphic equaliser bars, which leads me to believe it is a strong logo. It had to be strikingly obvious it is related to music, as infrasonic isn’t a regularly used word and may cause confusion.
I think I exploited the range well across a variety of formats. The postcard idea is appropriate as people can keep them, with the chance of people they know seeing them too. The posters for nightclubs and music shops was an idea to directly target music lovers, I can imagine the postcards being distributed in locations like this also. The London Underground advert was an idea designed to expose the logo to the public, regular tube users would get used to the design and it may encourage them to look at the channel. Similarly, the outdoor billboard advert was another strategy for exposing the logo, with not as much information, as it would only be seen on the go. It wouldn’t be something people stand and stare at like they would in a tube station. The web banner was a way of expanding my communication, again directly targeting music fans, but more specialised as the featured websites would be Drum and Bass Arena and Mixmag. The magazine advert was about targeting television watchers e.g. featuring in television guides and again, Mixmag.
My proposed range was not as strong, for example, the website. I believe this is because other elements were included that weren’t part of the branding. Also, I am really upset about my ident, I would like my speciality to be motion graphics and felt this would be a fantastic opportunity to engage in my area of interest, ready to set myself up for the third year. After some development and a tutorial, the feedback wasn’t overly positive, I went away, corrected the areas for improvement and again, still nothing great. However, peers had really liked the idea, and thought it should be a product rather than proposal. I must admit, I didn’t do anything new visually in After Effects to try it, although I did pick up some technical knowledge.
I feel my boards communicate everything that is necessary, and are much better in layout than my pre-submission boards which had far too much information on.
I would really like to propose an event, a launch party for the music channel, I think it would work really well, and it was mentioned by 2 peers at separate occasions. Sadly, time was thin, and I had enough to sort out.
Forming the brief was incredibly challenging, I am used to being given a brief with a small amount of flexibility and a given set of deliverables. This time however, we were forming our own briefs, using the chosen ones as a foundation. This proved very time consuming for me, as I am not the kind of person to jump straight into a project, without ‘testing the water first’.
After my first concept crit I was still unsure, and spoke to different members of the group to gain their opinion. A chat with Fred made me realise I had to stop writing and start making decisions and getting on with it. The brief wasn’t long enough for hesitations. I decided on the idea of a music channel, but changed the genre numerous times. When I noticed people sketching, I realised I have to decide and just get on with it, and I am glad I did.
It was this hesitation that lead to my quick development of the logo, I was worried I had fallen behind, and made a rapid decision before fully exploiting all avenues. Looking back now, I am actually glad I did this, as it allowed me to concentrate on the development of my work.
I am pleased with the identity I built for my channel, Infrasonic. A lot of people have commented on the ‘I’ being made up of graphic equaliser bars, which leads me to believe it is a strong logo. It had to be strikingly obvious it is related to music, as infrasonic isn’t a regularly used word and may cause confusion.
I think I exploited the range well across a variety of formats. The postcard idea is appropriate as people can keep them, with the chance of people they know seeing them too. The posters for nightclubs and music shops was an idea to directly target music lovers, I can imagine the postcards being distributed in locations like this also. The London Underground advert was an idea designed to expose the logo to the public, regular tube users would get used to the design and it may encourage them to look at the channel. Similarly, the outdoor billboard advert was another strategy for exposing the logo, with not as much information, as it would only be seen on the go. It wouldn’t be something people stand and stare at like they would in a tube station. The web banner was a way of expanding my communication, again directly targeting music fans, but more specialised as the featured websites would be Drum and Bass Arena and Mixmag. The magazine advert was about targeting television watchers e.g. featuring in television guides and again, Mixmag.
My proposed range was not as strong, for example, the website. I believe this is because other elements were included that weren’t part of the branding. Also, I am really upset about my ident, I would like my speciality to be motion graphics and felt this would be a fantastic opportunity to engage in my area of interest, ready to set myself up for the third year. After some development and a tutorial, the feedback wasn’t overly positive, I went away, corrected the areas for improvement and again, still nothing great. However, peers had really liked the idea, and thought it should be a product rather than proposal. I must admit, I didn’t do anything new visually in After Effects to try it, although I did pick up some technical knowledge.
I feel my boards communicate everything that is necessary, and are much better in layout than my pre-submission boards which had far too much information on.
I would really like to propose an event, a launch party for the music channel, I think it would work really well, and it was mentioned by 2 peers at separate occasions. Sadly, time was thin, and I had enough to sort out.
Wednesday, 25 May 2011
Friday, 20 May 2011
Tuesday, 3 May 2011
Quarter... Evaluation
This has been one of the most challenging tasks so far, probably because we know about Graphics, and the world of business is something completely new to us.
At the very start, we took too long deciding what we were all about, but once we had decided we knew what we were doing. I was unable to begin the cost list over Easter without the bank loan figures from Liz.
I do feel the amount of research I did over Easter was not adequate, which matched some of the other member's work, although I am not in anyway justifying this. Over Easter I had looked at some properties for us in Headingley, as this was our original location, again, without loan details, I could not select a property.
When we returned from Easter, it was extremely clear what needed doing and it was a case of doing it. However, we were a team member down, Liz, so again the costing was put off, until I decided to take on the job into my own hands which I actually found interesting, although it was stressful, it was something I knew nothing about, and I entered with my eyes shut. I found a selection of appropriate business loans from different banks, and selected the one I felt the most suitable. From here I could begin my job properly.
Sourcing equipment was confusing, in terms of stationary and stock, as I had no idea how much we would need for a year, so made some kind of educated guess. Originally, we were going to all use our personal macs, but we could afford to factor in new macs. And from briefly looking at the technological factors in the PEST analysis, I realised how important it is to be completely up to date with software and technology and decided, if we were financially stable to buy macs, then we definitely should.
In terms of preparing for the presentation, putting it together was done the day before with a few run throughs, but from Jane's meeting we already knew the content of the presentation. It was mainly Amy's job to put it together, mainly due to her concern for it not being done properly, and for the finance and premises section, I helped to set up the slides as this wasn't her area. I was incredibly anxious due to Emma and Liz not wanting to partcipate in the presentation, leaving it to Amy and I to deliver. In any other situation this wouldn't usually bother me, but as I had to take some of the other matters into my own hands in areas I was completely unsure of I had very little confidence. Amy had assured me that what I had done was correct, but none of us could be sure as this was something none of us had dealt with before. Due to the workload being the job of Amy and I this turned into a very long night, and there was significant tension because of this, but we stayed optimistic and ploughed on.
On the day of the presentation, it was arranged even with my reluctance, to meet up early to have a few run throughs, however, I found myself turning up early with swollen glands and feeling under the weather to sit on my own. This increased my anxiety and my confidence fell even more. What panicked me more was Amy's oversleeping, I worried that if she didn't turn up I would have to do the whole presentation on my own, and I didn't want to let the group down. This was not the case and she eventually arrived.
Time management seemed to be one of our weak areas.
The overall delivery of the presentation was clear and fluent, compared to our previous run throughs, where there were areas of hesitation. I did notice a few flaws in the presentation, things missing, but as the presentation was so packed with information, it would have been hard to include more content. Although I did mention to the group that it would be really important to include the PEST analysis and the 4P's, as this would help to gain more presentation marks.
By the end of the presentation my throat was really sore, and I just wanted to leave. Amy handled the question and answer part well, it would have been good for the other group members to have spoken but nevertheless it was handled. Bridget gave back some really positive feedback on Amy's research into our target market for the magazine. What was noted, and was missing from the presentation was research into our target audience of clients.
This evening Amy and I discussed our next move, to rectify this comment, was it a case of creating a new slide to add on as an after thought, or to leave it. Amy's suggestion was to cut out the complications of having several target audiences and just run the magazine, I wasn't so sure.
Overall, it was an interesting experience and it gave an insight into what makes up a business, and what's required to start a business.
In terms of preparing for the presentation, putting it together was done the day before with a few run throughs, but from Jane's meeting we already knew the content of the presentation. It was mainly Amy's job to put it together, mainly due to her concern for it not being done properly, and for the finance and premises section, I helped to set up the slides as this wasn't her area. I was incredibly anxious due to Emma and Liz not wanting to partcipate in the presentation, leaving it to Amy and I to deliver. In any other situation this wouldn't usually bother me, but as I had to take some of the other matters into my own hands in areas I was completely unsure of I had very little confidence. Amy had assured me that what I had done was correct, but none of us could be sure as this was something none of us had dealt with before. Due to the workload being the job of Amy and I this turned into a very long night, and there was significant tension because of this, but we stayed optimistic and ploughed on.
On the day of the presentation, it was arranged even with my reluctance, to meet up early to have a few run throughs, however, I found myself turning up early with swollen glands and feeling under the weather to sit on my own. This increased my anxiety and my confidence fell even more. What panicked me more was Amy's oversleeping, I worried that if she didn't turn up I would have to do the whole presentation on my own, and I didn't want to let the group down. This was not the case and she eventually arrived.
Time management seemed to be one of our weak areas.
The overall delivery of the presentation was clear and fluent, compared to our previous run throughs, where there were areas of hesitation. I did notice a few flaws in the presentation, things missing, but as the presentation was so packed with information, it would have been hard to include more content. Although I did mention to the group that it would be really important to include the PEST analysis and the 4P's, as this would help to gain more presentation marks.
By the end of the presentation my throat was really sore, and I just wanted to leave. Amy handled the question and answer part well, it would have been good for the other group members to have spoken but nevertheless it was handled. Bridget gave back some really positive feedback on Amy's research into our target market for the magazine. What was noted, and was missing from the presentation was research into our target audience of clients.
This evening Amy and I discussed our next move, to rectify this comment, was it a case of creating a new slide to add on as an after thought, or to leave it. Amy's suggestion was to cut out the complications of having several target audiences and just run the magazine, I wasn't so sure.
Overall, it was an interesting experience and it gave an insight into what makes up a business, and what's required to start a business.
Monday, 2 May 2011
Sunday, 1 May 2011
Quarter... Follow Up Email
From: gembobs24@hotmail.com [mailto:gembobs24@hotmail.com]
On Behalf Of Gemma Byrne
Sent: Thursday, April 28, 2011 4:28 PM
To: sales@themillatscotthall.co.ukSubject: RE: Enquiry
Thankyou very much, I have one final question for you, is insurance included with the rent also?
Regards,
Gemma Byrne.
The reply:
RE: Insurance
'Gemma Byrne'
From: The Mill at Scott Hall (sales@themillatscotthall.co.uk)
Sent: 01 May 2011 10:52:39
To: 'Gemma Byrne' (gemma@gembobs.co.uk)
Hi Gemma,
All of the building itself and public liability is insured through The Mill @ Scott Hall, and then we advise that all of our tenants take out their own insurance for the contents of their office.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Kind Regards,
Fran Etherington
For & on behalf of “The Mill @ Scott Hall LLP”
http://www.themillatscotthall.co.uk
On Behalf Of Gemma Byrne
Sent: Thursday, April 28, 2011 4:28 PM
To: sales@themillatscotthall.co.ukSubject: RE: Enquiry
Thankyou very much, I have one final question for you, is insurance included with the rent also?
Regards,
Gemma Byrne.
The reply:
RE: Insurance
'Gemma Byrne'
From: The Mill at Scott Hall (sales@themillatscotthall.co.uk)
Sent: 01 May 2011 10:52:39
To: 'Gemma Byrne' (gemma@gembobs.co.uk)
Hi Gemma,
All of the building itself and public liability is insured through The Mill @ Scott Hall, and then we advise that all of our tenants take out their own insurance for the contents of their office.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Kind Regards,
Fran Etherington
For & on behalf of “The Mill @ Scott Hall LLP”
http://www.themillatscotthall.co.uk
Quarter.. Pension Contributions
If only I had my notebook back! I have completely forgotten how the pension contribution scheme operates and nobody else seems to know. Time to consult Google and my new favourite site, http://www.hmrc.gov.uk Clearly this is sarcastic.
http://www.h-l.co.uk/pensions/sipp/how-much-can-i-invest
Not sure this was my job, but it needs doing and adding to the cost sheet.
http://www.h-l.co.uk/pensions/sipp/how-much-can-i-invest
So basically, it's anything we like, which really doesn't help, £50 a year? That seems too little. Or is it?
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