Business Lecture - Buyer behaviour and Business issues

We started the lecture by looking at buyer behaviour and the steps that are taken before a purchase. This starts buy the customer recognising they need something and then searching for something that meets the criteria of what they are looking for. They will then carry out a pre-purchase evaluation which is when they compare a product to another product that they already have experience with. The next stage is the purchase. You would think that after the purchase, this would be the end of the process, however the next step is consumption where they will have either a good or bad experience. Finally a post-purchase evaluation can be carried out where they will decide if the product was good, okay, try and justify the purchase and would buy again, or in bad instances, bad or vile.  

Understanding communication and promotion:

If you have a good understanding of who you are talking to, you can design based on what they would like. 

Maslows Hierarchy of Needs:

5. Self-Actualisation - Inflict personal values on others... 
4. Esteem and Status - A form of respect, power and worth
3. Beloningness - Trying to get a relationship, friends, a 'home', sex...
2. Safety - Gain shelter and defence.
1. Physiological - Need food and water.

It is important to think where people are situated on this hierarchy in order to design. You would always need stages 1 and 2 if you wanted to achieve stage 3 and 3 to achieve 4 etc. 

Pareto principle:

This is a principle that olds am 80:20 rule. This means that only 20% of people want the stress of making decisions. This results in 20% of people owning 80% of wealth and 80% of people owning 20% of wealth.

This is shown through the diagram. A small number of businesses all own multiple smaller ones. Even though this is not plain to see usually, it is happening. And the 80:20 principle is evidenced.

Communication Issues.

Sender > Message > Encode > Transmit > Decode > Receive

We spoke about messages being encoded and how this can effect how someone interprets the message we are sending. When sending a message there is often some disruption half way through which is referred to as noise or interference. In order to make sure the message is perceived clearly, a good thing to do is send it in multiple different forms therefore if one encryption does not make it past the interference, then another might and the message will be understood. If the message is received and understood, it will be accepted or rejected. 

Growing up - mental and physical alterations:

We looked at how as we grow up, the way we think changes. And this is down to society and how we get used to the social norms and conventions of the world we live in. As a baby through to 14, we learn through experimentation. However as we get older, 14-30, our social independence increases. This social independence increases the most we we become old as the physical decay that we suffer makes us rely on society in order for us to have the first 2 stages of Maslow's hierarchy of needs and in good cases, stage 3. 

Light and dark colour perception:

Peter went on to talk bout light and dark colour perception. This made me think about the way in which i design, and how i should always think about what environment the design will be situated and when people will see it. For example, if the design is going to be seen at night, it is important to think about the lighting, as the colours can be lost to the naked eye when no light is reflecting off them. The digram is an excellent indicator of this. 

Process and Production - Zine

In this session of process and production with Nick, our task was to create an single paper 8 page zine. A zine is a cheaply made, cheaply priced publication, often in black and white, which is mass-produced via a photocopier They are commonly known to be used for people making small publications based on a tv show or game as a fanzine.

We were given 8 words to illustrate in a zine. These where:
- Emoticon
- Off
- Share
- Live
- Dream
- Minimise
- Like
- Update

Out if all of the pages that I created, I have to say that my favourites are the emoticon page as well as the share page. I enjoyed creating the zine as it was nice to get off the computer and do something hand made. 

Process and Production - Typesetting

For the first Process and Production with Aiden Nolan,we looked at type setting.

This began by looking at the basic layout of typography. We have been taught this before, looking at the tails, defenders and ascenders etc. However it was a nice recap, and got me thinking about typography as an actual design and not just text.


Kerning

We then moved onto kerning. Kerning is the process of altering the space between each individual characters within a word. As you can see below er experimented with the words Windows and Claws. I found that kerning with the word "claws" was harder as the "A" and the "W" can make it hard to do by eye.

Tracking

After kerning we moved onto tracking which is the process of a;tiring the spacing of a whole word, or a line of text. 

We were asked to experiment on the words Jupiter and Jawwal. This was my experiments shown above. It is a lot easier using tracking as it is done automatically to look even. However kerning is essential in some instances where the letter forms do not look right on the eye, even if they are numerically correct. 

Leading 

We the experimented with leading which allows the user to create different densities in the text. This can be a good way to help fill a block of text, or make the words easier to read. 

This was my experimentation with leading. As you can see, there are different densities throughout the block of paragraphs. This is easy tool to use, and can make all the difference when designing a publication. 

Cropping

We then looked at cropping. Type does not always have to be concerned with legibility and communication, you can use it for decoration, pattern, texture and many creative opportunities. I experimented with this concept and this is what the result was:

Choosing suitable typefaces

Choosing the correct typeface for a word can mean all the difference between good and bad design. I experimented with this in the session. These are some examples:

Dynamic Type 

The next task we had was to make the word represent itself. These are some of the things i came up with: 

Overall I enjoyed the session. My favourite part was the last task as this let me get more creative. However I believe that the start of the workshop was the most important. Type setting and presentation is very important in design and looking at kerning, tracking, leading and cropping is an essential in order to improve as a designer and is something i will be thinking about in my projects. 

Cybernetics: Research 6 (Typeface)

Typeface: 

Memphis:

I saw this font through a an email promoting Revolution Bars Plc, and liked what I saw. I used the website "Whatthefont.com" in order to find out what the font was. It turned out to be Memphis. I am going to use this font for headers. I chose this particular typeface because of the block printed style that i am going with. I think the sharp corners and the blocky style will work very well with this visual. 

Cybernetics: Research 5 (Fold MockUp)

I decided to create a small mockup of the folded booklet in order to get a sense of where each page will be situated when it is folded, as well as how i needed to set out the design work in order for the booklet to be printed correctly. 

The inside of the booklet

The inside will just be designed as one long piece of art. I added the letters in order to see where the other panels would be when folded.

This is how it will be folded

After folding the mockup, i realised that the D panel on the back would be situated next to the C panel on the front. This made me think about what design I would put on this panel. 

The main reason for the mockup was to see where the panels where situated on the back. It became clear that i would have to design the back from right to left instead of left to right. 

I am glad that i created the mock up as it has helped to get a clearer idea of how to layout the design. 

Cybernetics: Research 4 (Feedback 2)

New process idea:

When looking into the facts about technology and the effects on children, it came to the conclusion that instead of creating the the net based print that would have shown the decisions made by a person and how technology effects those decisions, i have now decided to go down another route.

I am now going to create a type of timeline that will outline the pros/cons and looking at a neural aspect of how technology is effecting people. This will be presented on a roll fold booklet, as i think this will give me a nice area to work on, allowing me to utilise the full work area and create some nice layout solutions.

Roll Fold Dimensions

Design idea:

In order to make the visual look more aesthetically pleasing to the eye, my intention is to create a digital version of wood block printing. This, with a vintage texture and a selected colour pallet in my opinion will allow me to create a beautiful visual, which will help me outline my concept in a visual way. 

Wood Block Effect

Texture

Jonny's Feedback:

— Got a few good starting points, you need to really think about your pro/against/neutral stance on social medias effect on our idea of social reality vs digital social network. You've talked today about the scary prospect of digital/social taking over more and more of our lives, the next thing you need to consider is whether this is good or bad and whether this affects people differently. Does living in a virtual social network—that may appear fake to outsiders—outweigh a more conventional network like family meals etc. Should we encourage children to embrace an even faster social network and communication network, or discourage them (either way they will probably opt in). Should we be attempting to speed up ahead of the curve or continue to exist in an outdate mode.

Network Ego
Your ego, disseminated through a network – virtual and real. What is being said and what is being hidden as we endlessly curate and control the media perimeters of our lives. How has the acceleration and integration of social media affected the perception of ourselves and our egos? 

The question the piece will make the person ask themselves:

How does the network ego effect the self? 

Looking at the positives/negatives/neutral
positive - escapism.
negative - lost in virtual world - loosing grip of reality.

Cybernetics: Research 3 (Feedback 1)

Process Idea Generation 

From what we talked about in the lecture “WTF is the internet”; watching the video by Paul Pangaro made me think of the design process of humans. 

Cybernetics is basically steering in a way to get to a goal. All intelligent systems have this problem. Loop of acting, sensing, comparing. These properties make a system intelligent. Tech system have this property of self correct as do people! Cybernetics is the most powerful language of describing systems that have goals. 

Once seen the world through cybernetic lens, all things are cybernetic, looking at factors such as physical, technological, biological and social systems. All systems become part of this set of languages of action, sensing, comparing and understanding. This is part of intelligence as if you know what you want and you act in a way to achieve what you want thats the best definition of intelligence and what drives us as humans.

Proposal

A way in which to visualise a thought process to get to an end goal. Taking different paths with barriers. A folded document that can be folded in different ways in order to reach your goal, however the correct decisions need to be made to get there. If you take the wrong course, you go back and try something new in order to get to it. 

Would it be possible to bring in emotional responses Vs responses based on fact and statistics? A way of bringing in the difference between human and machine. Even though both have a design process, humans are fueled by emotion and hormones, where as machines are fueled by data. 

Feedback

I spoke to Jay about my idea and he said that the idea of the process of making the book is a good idea. However i needed to find something that it will be about. At the moment i only have a process and not a topic to actually base the book on. After this discussion, i decided that i wanted to look at how the development of technology has effected social change, and how people are different now in this generation compared to previous generations before us who did not grow up with technology. 

Cybernetics: Research 2 (Impacts)

Social medias impact on children careers:

Children are now on social media at a very young age, and the new generation do not know what it is like to grow up without technology. This could cause problems for them when looking for a job, as the things that they post on social media as they are growing up could be something that ruins their chance of getting the job. Something that children don't understand is that actions have consequences, and something they post may have a ripple effect. 

Social media impacts the way teens see themselves:

Teens are now sending snapchats instead of written notes, and now selfie is a well known term in our vocabulary. 20% of students say that social media makes them more confident compared to the negative effects that only 4% of students feel. However, this can still be a problem as teens don't realise that their identity is not based on what they post on Facebook/twitter. 

The evolution of the mobile device:

An example of how mobile devices have become integrated into family life is the new baby bouncy seat that fisher price released that has a holder for an ipad. This is so baby's can watch cartoons on the tablet, however this begs the question; will it come to the point where as these children grow up, they need technology in order to entertain themselves? A recent study has shown that mobile consumption has increased by 133% in the last year. 

Cybernetics: Research 1 (Starting Point)

Cybernetic Self 

I thought that the key words that we were given in the brief would be a good place to start in order to come up with a strong concept that i want to take forward to create an output. A loose term for cybernetics would be "control of any system using technology". 

Autopoiesis -  

Definition: This is the self-maintenance of an organised entity through its own internal processes. Consider your Autopoiesis your ‘self making’ — ‘self poetry’, your identity and its subsequent interactions with others. What defines you? And how does interaction with others affect that? Redefine the self portrait, the selfie.

Personal Understanding: When reading up on the meaning of autopoiesis, the thing that sticks out to me is the phrase "self making". From a human aspect, we could think of ourselves as a system that can reproduce with our offspring. This is the deepest interaction you can have, when making another life.

However, a baby is a clean slate. It is innocent to the world and the difficult issues that it faces. It is when the child is growing up that these ideologies are engrained into their mind. This could be about who they want to aspire to. Who they don't want to be like. If they choose a good path, or steer down a darker, alternate route. This is through interaction with others and in a way, what in the long term, defines you as a person. 

Socio-material -

Definition: Technologies are socio-material assemblages, an ensemble of people, materials, equipment, components, and institutions. The idea being that the technical is not reducible to the social, nor is the sociable reducible to the technical. How does the self — yourself — circulate in the socio-material world? Is it circulatory, or rhizomic?

Network Ego -

Definition: Your ego, disseminated through a network – virtual and real. What is being said and what is being hidden as we endlessly curate and control the media perimeters of our lives. How has the acceleration and integration of social media affected the perception of ourselves and our egos?

Foundational principles of cybernetics

Foundational principles of cybernetics from paul pangaro on Vimeo.

This video helped me a great deal to get an understanding of what cybernetics are. The main things that i took from Paul Pangaro's speech was that humans live in emotion (hormones and nerves) where as technology is different. It is a system that is not controlled by emotion, but by facts and statistics.

He stated "We must be social to identify with our identity through language"... "Being human is to be a autopoetic system engaged in interaction which gives us a degree of autonomy, a degree of dependence at the same time to which we have our own responsibilities".

Autonomy: Freedom from external control.

Seminar - Introduction

We were introduced to the new seminars with Polina by discussing the plan for this year in theory, and what everything will be worth. 

Here is some key information:

Theory blog (50%)

Essay/visual appendix (2500 words)(50%) This will be expected in November.

There will be a summative assessment in April which will be in the form of a 10 minute presentation. 

Polina asked us what we thought theory as practice was. My answer was "looking at different art in order to develop a deeper understanding of multi disciplinary work in the industry." This year of theory is about finding myself as an artist. I am not sure who i am, or what i want to do and why yet. This is something i hope to know throughout this year. 

Research

What do I want to research/investigate? The things that we should be asking our selves are as follows:

Why: Context/background and literature review - why do you want to investigate that topic?

How: This is looking at the approach/methodology. It is important to ask yourself how will you proceed with a critical investigation when looking into the subject.

What: This is the outcome/ results and conclusions. This is the point where I should ask myself what i have achieved, and if there is anything in relation to future plans.

Research leads to originality, therefore when carrying out research this year we should be trying to improve our skills. Last year was at foundation level. This was to get us used to research on a basic level. However this year, as a second year student, i am expected to improve as this is classed as the transformation stage. Year three is where professionalism should be achieved. This fits as i want to partake in a placement. For the final year of my studies we are expected to be at the point of independence and originality.

"I had a story to tell. There is a gap between what is possible and where vision is, and i've had to fill that gap. You don't invent technology to figure out what to do with it. You come up with an artistic problem, and then you invent the technology in order to accomplish it. So it's the opposite of what most people think it is, and any artist will tell you that. And art, at all levels, is just technology." - George Lucas 

From sticking to asking these questions as a designer when trying to understand a brief, it should help to develop some starting ideas that can be developed further after some intensive research. Research is an important tool. The more a designer understands what is required out of the brief, the better the outcome will be fore both the designer as well as the client.

Task

We were handed a sheet in the seminar with a case study on. I chose the case study "Whitney museum of american art."

What?
The museums graphic identity allowing the communication to the audience providing the important point of continuity for members, visitors, and the public during the transition of a new space. It should appeal to the present audience as well as a new one.

Why?
Embrace  the spirit of the museum whilst serving as a visual ambassador for the new building, presenting old to new.

How?
Talking to staff who have been there for years. This would allow the designer to get an inside opinion on what the new brand should be like. This could be done through distinctive and inventive graphic systems that literally respond to the art. The brand need to be something that represents the museums ever changing nature.

This task allowed me to put what we had learnt into practice.

Business Lecture - Market data and market research

We started the lecture talking about quantitive research. There are 3 types which include:
Geographic
Psycographic
Socio-economic

The Pros to this Detail / Clarity - statistical information objective
Cons - Costly - £150000 + complex and difficult to do needs careful control

We then discussed qualitative research. Firstly looking at Primary data. This can be done through a interview focus group where you discuss with people in the know. We then talked about secondary which is data thats already been published.

The Pros - Cheap - cost of train ticket and lunch! Easy to do and offers holistic view.
Cons - no statistical validation, subjective, success depends on control of discussion.

Market segmentation - breaking market into specific blocks.

Can be done by:
Age,
Sex,
Social Class,
Geography,
Hobby/Interest,
etc.

Successful segmentation
Measurable/ identifiable
Accessable
Substantial
Meaningful

Segmentation ensures successful targeting.

Important:
Define the product offering clearly
Don't try and analyse different objects/products
Only compare like with like
Do not re-invent the wheel! Don't mess with the data to make it fit your criteria as this may ruin the authenticity of the data.

Data sources:

Mosaic
ACORN
Mintel
GMDB
Keynote - Reports
FAME - purely financial
Newspaper ProQuest
BRAD Insight

You need to be looking for turnover and not profit, as its misleading. The more profit you make, the more tax you pay. Turnover will tell you a lot more about how the company is preforming. It depends on the nature of the work the business does and what they are doing. They may be making a loss when it comes to profit, however the share price may go up every year as they are actually preforming well.

Magazines - try WH smiths
Newspapers - Ditto!
Company websites - Many give details of products and prices, they also give details of brand ethos and intent
Retailer websites

We looked at various ads that went beyond the norm. Doing something a little bit different and clever is a good way to advertise, as people will remember it.

I like what they have done with the camera add. I actually had to look twice, and i'm sure that other people would too. Its a very clever idea and has been designed well. 

I thought that this was a brilliant ida. A building under construction can be an eyesore. This is a good way to make something ugly into a work of art. 

Cybernetic self week 2 - *WTF* Lecture

Social Media is people. You are social media/ mediums. Its a way of communication.

Internet is a network of networks and internet culture is a culture of cultures. Internet is people. 

The video we watched described the internet as humanity as well as a culture as we takeke it for granted. It is revolutionising different areas of the world. 

It can mirror both good and bad.You are your Facebook post.  Good and bad reflections. Painted a painting or carved something in stone in past, this is the modern generations way of making their mark. 

It also discussed how the internet is now allowing us to be more creative than we have ever been before. The cost of creating used to stop people being creative however now it has enabled a human to be someone who can now be heard. It has made us more equal than ever as information, creation and distributing is more accessible. 

With social media of today, it can actually help your work take off. If you post it online and can blow up. This is a big advantage of working in the creative industry in todays day and age. 

Key words: 
Scenius - the talent of a whole community 

Creativity - people from different backgrounds having mutual respect and crossing over ideas in order to come up with an output. 

Mary Ponomareva - Sematic space 

Took imagery and graphics from differnt cultures and brought them together to create a new identity for the clash of imagery in graphics. 

Douglas Coupland - everywhere is everywhere and anything is everything 

Anyti-social man - animation 

A man who stops people from being anti social. Get off the internet in order to socialise. This concept is a bit tired. Clearly not the case.

Cybernetics - comes from the greek word meaning "to steer" 

Steering and getting to a goal. All intelligent systems have this problem. Loop of acting, sensing, comparing. These properties make a system intelligent. tech system have this property of self correct. people also self correct. 

Most powerful language of describing systems that have goals. 

Exceptionally great way of characterising tghe way the worl works. Biological world that has to work. Social world where conversations have to work . 

Once seen the world through cybernetic lense, all things are cybernetic. 

Physical, technilogical, biological and social systems. 

Recording devices tracking, capture what gets done, go editing room, imagine what he meant and take out stuff that doesnt make sense when editing video. You are having a conversation in your head when making a cut. using feedback in order to understand what has been done to improve what you do. 

Paul Pangaro - our design process. 

idea - different folds allow a different route, allowing different processes to represent the conversations we have with ourselves when making decisions. 

placement fair - next wednesday

Business Lecture - Different types of analysis

Placement Recap

We began the lecture going over more details about looking for placements, recapping on the free Index which has every registered graphic design agency in country.

The directory of design consultants only has companies that pay to be on site however this is is better if you are thinking of going abroad for your placement year. We are more of interest to people in the industry at university level than we were at college, so we should not sell ourselves short. Some of the countries that where mentioned were, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Each of these places massively appeal to me and i will be making the effort to get a placement abroad if possible.

Business structure

Peter talked to us about a business and the different areas that us as designers need to try and keep happy when designing a product. The different areas that were mentioned are; Marketing, Finance, Technical/ R&D and production.

The problem with having so many departments to please is that they all have different goals, and different aspects of the company to worry about. When designing a product for a client, it is important to know what they need/want. This can be tricky however, when marketing is telling you to improve the quality of materials in the design, and finance is trying to have you cut costs. R&D may ask you to incorporate new technology into the design which will also raise the price that finance won't agree with. Production get involve and then ask how it will be made. Under pressure to alter design to please other areas of the internal company. This is only concept stage and will cause a lot of pressure and stress.

When the development stage comes along, the finance department realise that your design will end up costing a lot for production a year down the line, and this can cause problems as it puts finance under stress. After the development stage is over, it is embodiment, detailed design in order to finally have the finished product.

understand what is happening....
the world
the economy
the client
the firm
the market

An example of when a designer not understanding what he was designing is when a Chinese designer didn't understand cultural importance of the arabic words that meant god that he put on slippers. This caused riots in Egypt. The Chinese ambassador had to make a public apology and designer never seen in the industry again. This was a design error and this is something that us as designers should never do. Every time you talk to client, make a note of whats said. Keep record of requirements and conversations you have.

It is important to ask questions before undertaking a design. How do you ask the right questions before you undertake the design? You need to know the direction that you are going in is correct.

Client is the boss.... or at least let them think that! Leave bits out. This makes the client add things and it makes them have ownership of the design. They have contributed to the design, therefore it is less likely for them to say its rubbish. Always try and allow them to have an input that you leave room for without changing the key concept of the design.

The information that you get given from the client is more than likely not the whole amount of information you need. Always ask them questions and access the situation in order to figure out exactly what the client needs.

Product Positioning

This is an axis in relation to the quality of the product and the price of the product. 

The 20-25 age group is very important as this is the age group that people want to be in. Younger people want to be older, older people want to be younger. We place our selves in different social groups and this may effect where, and who we sell products to. 

Dependent on what place in the market you are in (you may be in competition with ford and vauxhall for example) you need to be designing to that standard in order to compete. 

Boston consulting group matrix (BCG)

This is an axis in relation to relative growth rate and relative market share. I have already looked at this matrix in Business A-Level. It is made up of Dogs, Cash Cows, Stars and question marks. You should never want a dog as the market share and growth rate would both be low, therefore it falls out the market. Cash cows are what companies want. This is because the growth rate is low, however the market share is high, therefore you can milk a cash cow for as much money as possible. A star is where it has both high market share as well as high growth rate. Stars are products that will make a profit and are on the up. Eventually stars usually turn into cash cows, which is what the business would want. A question mark is a product that is new, and it is a bit of a risk. You can;t be sure how this product will do, and it could end up turning into any of the other three. 

PEST Analysis

Political

Economic 

Social

Technological

Now.... - 5 Years.... - 10 Years....

SWOT Analysis

Strengths 

                              Internal

Weaknesses 

Opportunities 

                             External

Threats

Product life cycle 

Introduction - Growth - Maturity - Decline. 

Can add an extension strategy in order to extend the product life cycle before the decline. This can be through marketing and advertising again. This may be a change in packaging, or targeting a new target market. 

Adoption Curve 

Innovators - 2.5%  Early Adopters - 13.5%  Early Majority - 34%  Late majority - 34%  Laggards - 16%

After a certain amount of time for different products, products become obsolete. This is something to think about when designing a product. Thinking about the future, and how long it will take for the product to become obsolete. Computers for example usually have an obsolescence of 3 years.

Design Audits 

These are more difficult to assess, often occurring after an event... useless then?! Its best to get it right the first time round! Look at the rate of change, where will the design be shown. Whats the strength of what i'm printing on. As a designer, its important to find out the technical requirements before the final product/ design is printed/ made. 

- Right talents 

- Right team structures  - or recognise where the problem areas are

- Involve all parties 

- Ensure management of information 

- Encourage collaboration 

- Resolve problems quickly 

- Ensure effective communication

Overall I took out a lot from this lecture, as it made me realise how the knowledge i gained at A-Level Business studies can be used in the real world of the creative industry. It was good to recap on the theories such as SWOT analysis, PEST analysis, Boston matrix and the product life cycle, and i think that thinking about these different things when talking to a client, or even completing a brief will be a massive help in the nurturing and improvement of my work.