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.
