Enterprise & Innovation - The Unit visit

Enterprise & Innovation - Group Meeting.

We discussed our progress over reading week and where we were up at this point. With just over a week left we really have to push to make final decisions and get things done in order to tackle everything for the presentation.

Marty and I have put together and designed a rough idea for the layout and order of the presentation, it needs a few tweaks as we missed out anything about finance.

Claudia and Lisa have done some research on the location for our business and looked at networking opportunities.

We came to the decision that we will be based at The Unit in Leeds which is part of Leeds City College. The rent is just £50 a month and it gives us 6 hours and month which would be perfect for weekly briefings in person. The rest of the time communication can be done via telephone, Skype and email.

After the first year we would hopefully rent out and office space at The Unit for £150 a month, this would allow us to keep the same address and contact.

We've decided that the focus of our business that will appeal to our clients and possible collaborators is that we are brand new, we are young and fresh and vibrant plus we are able and willing to compete on price against bigger more experienced businesses.

We plan to cut back our overheads with the hot-desking at The Unit for the first year, this will allow us to build up our client base, our reputation and funding to move into a more substantial office space at The Unit. Furthermore we will be providing a number of personal assets for the business to cut back on the overheads even more.

Claudia put forward the idea that we could hand out bottles of juice like orange juice at the presentation/any face to face business pitches as a creative give away apposed to a simple leaflet of print. The reason for juice is it connotes the characteristic of being fresh and refreshment to the audience. The labels will include our logo, slogan, mission statement, any contact information and any other services that we provide. We will of course be designing standardised business cards and letterheads for formal reasons as not every business or client will respond in such an informal manor to us. 

This idea then lead me to think about sponsor ship and who could provide the orange juice? Off the top of our heads we could think of supermarkets and their own brands of juice, Innocent Smoothies and The Amazing Smoothie Company. If we were to get sponsorship from anyone of these, they could provide the juice we hand out and some financial backing for expenditures and equipment in exchange for free advertising and publicity. Furthermore, the ethics and credibility of the juice company would be reflected onto our business and give it positive light with a wide range of possible clients.

Action plan.

Claudia - mission statement and slogan

Marty - business cards and bottle labels and letter head

Lisa - overheads and spreadsheets

Charlie - Networking opportunities and sponsorship

Enterprise & Innovation - Group Tutorial 2

This was a smaller tutorial session and for the majority was lead by us as a group.

We went over what we had done so far a a group and what we had been considering and how we've handled this module up to this point.

So far we have:-

- designed a company logo

- been meeting regularly to discuss progress

- been creating action plans and dividing tasks up within the group to move forward

Issues and concerns raised:-

- location

- presentation

- portfolio

What we did about these issues.

The location seems to be determining a lot of our business decisions and we don't want to be spending too much time on researching a broad range of places an end up neglecting some of the other key considerations and aspects of this module. Jane pointed out to us that we are all situated up North so it would be a wise decision to pick a location that is already close to where we all live at the moment. Realistically we wouldn't be able to get 4 people to move to one location so far as London.

We discussed the logo briefly just to get it finished. We decided that the direction of the arrow could imply that we are situated down South a the fact that it is pointing in  downwards direction gives it a slightly negative idea of decline. The concept behind the design is strong but the execution is a little off. This isn't a logo design module so all this needs is a quick redesign to make it work and we can move on with the important parts.

The presentation shouldn't be too long and the slides need to be visual aids to the notes of the speaker(s).

Enterprise & Innovation - Logo redesigns

In response to some decisions made by the group on location and some feedback from Jane I've redesigned the logo for our business. This will most probably become the final design unless we have time to readdress it later on as this isn't a logo design brief and it's purely so we can apply it to the promotional side of the business at this point.

These are the 3 designs from the first redesign of the logo for the press ad. It was brought to our attention that as we are going to be based in the north on england it might be a bit confusing to have a logo that points downwards with the arrow, this would imply that we are based in the south. On top of this it has connotations of decline which is quite the opposite of what our business is intending to do with our customers and clients.

As I have spent most of the time on the logos already It was only fitting that I take on the role to redesign it again. I haven't changed much as the concept behind the logo is quite strong and very relevant to the business.

The main angle of the redesign was to reverse the direction of the arrow, this in turn would reverse that idea of decline and downfall along with the idea that we area located in the south.

This one below wasn't working at all and i had to scrap the idea. I was trying to amend the design itself and salvage it but I realised quickly it wasn't worth the time.

This final one is perhaps my favourite. It retains the concept that we, as a business, will take our clients and refresh their brand/identity/company by 'taking them back to the start'. The arrow, which moves past the start point of the company name 'Re:' implies that our business will also take our clients further and give them that push start after revamping them. Lastly the arrow is pointing upwards and to the north/northeast which is most likely where we will be based on a realistic level.

Colour choices.

I played around with colours and layering up colours but they were more for a 'nice' visual and trying to be eye catching. We discussed it as a group and concluded that the most 'Re'-freshing colours would be cold colours like Aqua, Turquoise and Cyan. Below are some colour swatches and their application to the logo. We all agreed to stay away from greens as it would sit to closely to the idea that we are a recycling company.

Enterprise & Innovation - Group target - Research on location and personal assets

Below is a list of my personal assets that I can bring to the business to help kick start it and to save money on lots of equipment which would be difficult to find funding for.

My Personal Assets

- Desktop MacPro 21.5"

- Adobe Creative Suite CS5.5 Master Collection

- Wacom Bamboo A5 Graphic Tablet and Stylus Pen, Software included

- HP Inkjet printer, scanner, photocopier

- Books - artistic, design based, illustration based

The second target for our group which we set ourselves was to investigate 2 locations which we would consider to base our business.

MANCHESTER

Printers -

- http://www.printhouse.co.uk/print/quote/

- http://www.stretfordstudios.co.uk/

- http://www.finalprintuk.com/#price_list

Competitors -

- http://www.studionorth.co.uk/client-list.php

- http://www.growstudio.co.uk/services/20117

- http://www.cuckoodesign.com/headspace.php

- http://www.weareyoung.co.uk/

Possible Collaborators - 

- http://www.siscottstudio.com/

- http://www.ahoycreative.co.uk/web-design/web-design/manchester.aspx?gclid=CJfW5t7-3q0CFcx_fAodolKIuA

- http://www.kudoswebdesign.co.uk/

- http://www.websitedesignmanchester.org.uk/

Networking Opportunities -

- http://www.manchesterprofessionals.co.uk/?gclid=CN6SwcP93q0CFVBlfAodDHRPlQ

- http://www.business-network.co.uk/

- http://www.meetup.com/C-I-N-G/

- http://www.creativeboom.co.uk/north-west/

Costs of Rent -

- http://www.awol-studios.co.uk/

- http://www.rogueartistsstudios.co.uk/

- http://www.moneofficestudios.com/

- http://www.studiomanchester.com/

Living suitability -

- Hale

- Altrincham

- Sale

- Stockport

- Oldham

- Rochdale

- Bury

Transport -

- Magic Bus

- City Link buses

- Metrolink - Altrincham - Bury

- Taxi

- Train - Piccadilly Station, Victoria Station, Oxford Road

Education -

- Manchester University

- Manchester Metropolitan University

LONDON

Printers -

- http://www.printed.com/?tksource=seo101&utm_nooverride=1&TNkeyword=%7Bkeyword%7D&TNad=%7Bcreative%7D&TNnetwork=%7Bnetwork%7D&gclid=CJ78ppmA360CFUIMfAodvxSLnw

- http://www.crowes.co.uk/?gclid=CNnEg6WA360CFcYLtAodzGbn0Q

- http://www.solopress.com/leaflet-printing/leaflets.html?gclid=CNuMgayA360CFUhrfAodU0zAnA

Competitors -

http://aspirelondon.com/

Possible Collaborators - 

- http://www.webdesignerslondon.co/

- http://www.kdweb.co.uk/

- http://www.omdesign.co.uk/

- http://www.nicehotcuppa.com/?gclid=COGo7tn_3q0CFUcjfAod8h4Qmg

- http://www.folioart.co.uk/

- http://www.debutart.com/#/illustration

- http://www.andymartin.info/

http://www.verystudio.co.uk/

Networking Opportunities -

Costs of Rent -

Living suitability -

Transport -

Education -

Enterprise & Innovation - Tutorial & follow up group meeting

Todays tutorial with Jane was a catch up session to go over again what we needed to have done by this point and what the rest of the module holds.

Topics covered:-

- presentation - has to be 8 mins long, the last 2 mins are for Q&A on the presentation and business - we should be coming up with action plans and organising our own group progress meetings to keep on top of the work load and progress further. We've already begun these meetings but we haven't been making full use of the action plan method so this is something we will incorporate into our group at each meeting - we went over the content of the presentation and what key things should be mentioned such as SWOT, PEST and 4_'s along with anything else that is needed for the presentation

other topics:-

- skills and services

- target audience

- self promotion

- competition

- financial considerations

- location

After this we reviewed the grading criteria and how the presentations run just to give us a heads up.

In response to this we had a meeting straight after the tutorial to go over a few things and talk about some of the topics discussed in more detail, specific to our group.

Notes from meeting:

- look up Re: companies to ensure its available

- look up leeds branding - investigate what they offer and how we can differ and compete with them

- need to find a niche

- audience

- picking up freelance work now to build a financial base for when we take the business live

- this would build a client base

- availability of college facilities and affordability

- students on other course such as fashion and photography may need work doing and this builds on a networking level to gain more contacts for specific fields of work ing certain jobs, for example, photography for an editorial layout of publication

- personal assets - what we can give to the business that we have already at this point

- LOCATION - this is the main obstacle at the moment as it may define a lot of the above

ACTION PLAN - 17/01/2012

We've made a list of potential places that we could set up a business, we listed Manchester, Leeds, London, Huddersfield, Sheffield, Liverpool, Birmingham and Warrington. The plan is that we each pick two to go away and research further covering these specific topics:-

- competitors in the area

- collaborators

- networking opportunities

- cost of rent of the building

- costs of hot desking/ meeting room hire/ flexible working

- SWOT analysis

- living arrangements

- transport

- educational opportunities

The second task we have set for the action plan is to go over our own personal assets that we can bring to the company to help kick start it and reduce the overhead costing for out first year or two. This could be:-

- computers

- software

- tablets

- printers

- phones

- books

- televisions/alternative monitors

- furniture if necessary

The next group meeting will be the day before our next tutorial Monday the 23rd Jan

Enterprise & Innovation - Lecture 7 - Copyright

Protect your ideas.

Make a living from your work

Considerations of licensing:-

- how many times are you going to reproduce it?

- how long for?

- how big will it be?

- where will it be?

Your allowed to steal when your a student as its a contribution to your studies and development as a professional and its not for any financial gain.

What is Intellectual property? (IP)

Creations of your mind.

this covers anything from logos to cocktail recipes

4 Types of copyright.

1. Patents.

- applies to new inventions - machinery, software, medicines

- 1st patent was the Qwerty keyboard

- others are the ring pull on a canned drink - inventor licensed it and was earning £150000 a day

- Fenders tremelo wammy bar for guitars

- patent leather

2. Trademarks & Logos

- TM - to register it you have to send it off with precise colour specifications and information about the design(s) the TM symbol means that a logo or design is undergoing investigation which is the stage before its fully registered

- the R symbol means that the logo or design is a fully registered trademark

- even colours can be trademarked - Shell petrol garages, Heinz Baked Beans - this means that other manufacturers of the same or similar products and services can't legally use those colours and it creates a specific identity to that product or company and they become more recognisable.

3. Registered Designs

- re designs and decorations/features of a design or product are registered some nobody else can profit from them

- not inventing something just redesigning or altering the aesthetic of it

- iPhone is a registered trademark of Apple Inc

- just because its registered, it doesn't mean its good 

(see ipo.gov.uk and registereddesigncatalogue.com)

4. Copyright

- automatic - there's no list of everyones copyrighted work like registered work

- date and recored your work/sign it

- post offices and banks stamp dates and are the best proof of date for copyright - its not done digitally as it cant be proof

- you can post it to yourself but this can be impractical and costly, plus you have to keep it sealed and this can be hard to prove if in a court case years after the postage.

- ISBN number - usually in books - you can google this and it acts as a reference to the book/product

Recent cases of ripped off work.

Richard Fairey vs Associated Press

Johnny Cupcakes vs Benny Fryingpan/Urban Outfitters

Palin vs Heart(the band)

Fair use legislation - basically personal use is ok so long as it's not for financial gain or profit as this is effectively stealing their income.

How to secure your copyright now.

copyright symbol // date (year is enough) // your name

- this should be on the work somewhere

- log it somewhere e.g. a blog or website

- store it on an external hard drive and CD

How long do they last?

- patents - maximum 20 years - after this it goes into the public domain

- this is common with cosmetics, medicine, healthcare products etc - Boots is an example of a place that sells products that have become part of the public domain

- trademarks and logos - for ever - needs renewing every 10 years

- design rights - up to 25 years

How do we use it?

George Lucas (fluent in copyright)

- wasn't paid for the first year but made a deal that he had the rights to all the merchandise and he had shares in the box office takings - he's now a multi billionaire

Andy Warhol Foundation - bequeathed his copyright to the foundation and the money goes towards things that benefit young artists with little financial backing or support

Peter Pan copyright - bequeathed to charity and provides lasting funds and help to a good cause

Deviantart.com - licenses work for no fee.

University of the Arts London

Enterprise & Innovation - Lecture 6 - Don't just get a job

Issues raised

- be passionate about what you do

- great time to get a job

- collaboration - disney - warner bros

- 4ps product place promotion place

- marketing - brand - longevity - scarcity

- getting ripped off

- risk

- overseas trade/expansion

So...

start as a student - do what you love - don't do it alone - business plan - research - professional help

- legal advice

Getting started - Mark Boulton quote - web designer

Whats a business plan?


4 parts to it.


1. Mission & Values
- who you are and what your going to do
- problems that you'll solve
- values and ethics
- how you'll make them better


2. Resources and Equipment
- how much
- what you read
- determine how much you charge


3. Marketing, 4p's, Monitoring Competitors
- how you make people engage with you
- research
- promotion


4.....




In short - what are you going to do - value proposition - resources you need - cost - how will you pay - target customers


Why do we need a business plan?


- focuses what your doing - rationalises your ideas
- set objectives - manage yourself better
- track growth - measure yourself and plan
- raise finance
- attract collaborators - they want to know the plan


Funding a business.


- banks - barclays
- the arts council - grant
- www.businessballs.com
- www.businesslink.gov.uk


Finding Funding.


- helping others to get grants
- crowd funding - google - investing
- we did this
- cooperative


Organisation.


Meredith Belbin, Charles Handy


- power culture - 1 main boss
- role culture - large organisations - breakdown of management
- task culture - temporary projects - e.g. Hollywood film industry - multiple companies and professionals collaborating on different levels
- person culture - dental practice - several dentists each with their own patients


Income.


- freelance design work - turns you into a creative labourer
- workshops
- part time teaching
- royalties from book sales
- private commissions 
- pop up shops and craft stalls
- print selling and retailing designs
- professional seminars and lectures


Jeff Bezos - founder of Amazon.com



status/legal status types


taxation in the UK - NIC


Limited Company - Taxes and debt is determined on stakeholders %


VAT 20% on all goods and services - if you make over £70000 it's obligatory that you apply VAT
Avoid this by having more than one business accounts e.g. a book publishing business, a print business and a design firm.


Richard Branson