Evaluation

I believe the Enterprise module has been a great benefit this year with regards to learning about the industry and getting us to think about our future when we leave college and the possibilities of working for ourselves.
I feel I have gained so much useful knowledge that I can take away from this and put to use in the future. I think my strengths have been the ability to work well as a group, take lecture notes well and listen to the information given and apply it to our own group.
My weaknesses are more about leadershio, letting others take charge, maybe letting someone else deligate what I do rather than do it on my own iniative. Maybe at times also I found it hard to concentrate or engage within the group when we were struggling to come to a decision etc.

I believe that working together as a group benefitted me as I was able to learn from others and seek help rather than struggle on my own. I also think that the presentation task was very beneficial as it has taught us the structure and basics of setting up on our own and how it works in the real world.

I found some of the tasks quite challenging but they were all appropriate to the lectures and things we have learnt in the past year, I liked how everything linked together with regards to the lectures, the quizzes, the tasks and the presentation.

Presentation

Manchester

 

Manchester is an up and coming city with an exciting future for the design industry,it is the best location for our business we feel.

Our competitors and us

Competitors

Partnership agreement

Partnership Agreement Basics

In case it goes wrong

Partnership

A partnership allows two or more people to join forces and set up a business together.

The partners will share the risks and liabilities, the management and also the profits of the business.

Again, as a partner you will be personally liable for any debt of the partnership so you stand to lose not only what you have invested in the business but also any other property that you own.

You should only form a partnership with people that you trust, you will be able to work with and who will add something to your business venture. If you look for a partner merely as a source of finance, you might be better off with paying interest to a bank.

Although statutory provisions can provide you with a basic set of internal rules it is strongly recommend that you sign a partnership agreement before you start business. Some of the statutory default rules are frankly inadequate or impractical.

While legal documentation is bespoke to each SME, feedback from solicitors has identified the following areas as forming the basis for a partnership agreement:

1. Business of the partnership
2. Financing the business
3. Contribution of assets
4. Transfer of partnership interests
5. Rights to take a part in management
6. Rights of ‘sleeping’ partners
7. Administration
8. Profit distribution

Lloyds TSB- business plan

Logo ideas-just type

I've used type only because I want us to just be simplistic to represent how we work and what we do, 

I've also experimented with four and fore in front of head as were still not sure

 

Existing companies' mission statements

A lot of mission statements I've looked at seem to base their mission statement on the same kind of things and services. I think we need to focus on the fact that we want to create close relationships with our customers in order to ensure they return and also mention our unique selling point.

Analysing the environment- PEST

Political, Economical, Social, Technological

Political Factors.

The political arena has a huge influence upon the regulation of businesses, and the spending power of consumers and other businesses. You must consider issues such as:

1.How stable is the political environment?

2.Will government policy influence laws that regulate or tax your business?

3.What is the government's position on marketing ethics?

4. What is the government's policy on the economy?

5. Does the government have a view on culture and religion?

6. Is the government involved in trading agreements such as EU, NAFTA, ASEAN, or others?

Economic Factors.

Marketers need to consider the state of a trading economy in the short and long-terms. This is especially true when planning for international marketing. You need to look at:

1. Interest rates.

2. The level of inflation Employment level per capita.

3. Long-term prospects for the economy Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita, and so on.

Sociocultural Factors.

The social and cultural influences on business vary from country to country. It is very important that such factors are considered. Factors include:

1.What is the dominant religion?

2.What are attitudes to foreign products and services?

3.Does language impact upon the diffusion of products onto markets?

4.How much time do consumers have for leisure?

5.What are the roles of men and women within society?

6.How long are the population living? Are the older generations wealthy?

7.Do the population have a strong/weak opinion on green issues?

Technological Factors.

Technology is vital for competitive advantage, and is a major driver of globalization. Consider the following points:

1. Does technology allow for products and services to be made more cheaply and to a better standard of quality?

2.Do the technologies offer consumers and businesses more innovative products and services such as Internet banking, new generation mobile telephones, etc?

3.How is distribution changed by new technologies e.g. books via the Internet, flight tickets, auctions, etc?

4.Does technology offer companies a new way to communicate with consumers e.g. banners, Customer Relationship Management (CRM), etc?

Legal status- Partnerships and limited liability partnership

Sole Trader

This tends to be the most popular and easiest way for a small business owner to start-up.

Features

• only one person runs and is legally responsible for the business
• no formal registration process except to advise the Inland Revenue and DSS that you are self-employed
• you trade in your own name for example, John Smith or with a trading name such as John Smith trading as My Business
• you are taxed via the Self Assessment scheme. You pay tax twice a year in January and July based on business profits

Advantages

• book keeping is simple. You are only required to maintain a Profit and Loss and Balance Sheet
• quick and simple to get up and running
• you keep all the profit after tax

Disadvantages

• you are personally liable for all the debts incurred
• your personal assets are at risk and can be seized by creditors to settle debts
  
  
  Obviously this wouldn't be relevant to our company as there is four of us

Partnership

This is the next most popular way of running a small business.

Features

• a minimum of 2 partners
• a maximum of 20 partners
• the partnership can operate as �Smith and Jones� or under a trading name such as �Smith and Jones trading as Our Business�. Where trading names are used, partner�s names have to be shown on all correspondence
• no formal registration process but partners have to advise the Inland Revenue and DSS that they are self-employed. It is wise though to have a written partnership agreement which sets out the terms of the partnership, for example, split of profits, leave entitlement, notice period to dissolve, amount of capital put in by each partner. This can avoid painful disputes if things go wrong later on
• the partnership has to keep more detailed financial records which include sales and purchase records, cash book, creditor and debtor details, Profit and Loss and Balance Sheet

Advantages

• relatively quick and easy to start, even if you decide to complete a Partnership Agreement
• if you are organised book-keeping can be simple
• you share responsibility for business debts incurred with the other partners

Disadvantages

• you are personally liable for up to 100% of the partnership debts
• your personal assets are at risk and can be seized by creditors to settle debts
• if your partner(s) cannot met their liability you can be sued for the whole amount the partnership owes even if you only had 50% of the business. For example, just because there are 2 of you your liability is not limited to 50%. If your partner has no assets, creditors can pursue you for 100% of the debt
• being a partner you will have to split the profits in line with the proportion set out in the Partnership Agreement or as verbally agreed

Limited Liability Partnership

A new form of business structure

Features

• introduced in 2001 and designed to operate like a partnership with the benefits of a Limited Company
• set up via registration at Companies House and is seen as a corporate body

Advantages

• individual partner�s liability is limited to a figure agreed by each partner
• personal assets are protected
• taxed the same as a partnership i.e. each partner assessed individually

Disadvantages

• a fair amount of paperwork involved to set up
  
  

Notes from our group meetings

Enterprise presentation- research

Brand identity

Brand Identity

Isn't it just a logo?

A brand identity represents your company's values, services, ideas and personality. A consistent and well-positioned brand can do your advertising, it can generate loyalty from your customers, and make you the envy of your competitors.
Isn't it just a logo?  Maybe that's how it starts out but it goes way beyond being ‘just a logo'. Sure, there can be a logo, a distinctive font and colour scheme, but it's how you choose them and pull them all together that sets you apart.
"A brand is a symbolic embodiment of all the information connected to the product and serves to create associations and expectations around it." Powerful stuff. But then again, isn't that what you want from your brand?
Use the link on the right to view a selection of the identities we have designed, developed and delivered.

Why is brand identity so critical?
A strong brand identity can position a company above its competition all by itself. But having a brand that's strong takes time, money and effort to develop. It's not as simple as just redesigning a logo or rewriting a tagline. Brand identity is the reason you offer for your customer to choose you instead of your competition.

How to rework your brand identity

Successful re-branding involves "evolution," not "revolution." You must impress upon your existing customers that your new brand is just a new and improved version of the same you. It's important to not get too crazy with a re-branding effort because you could end up destroying fragile emotional ties and customer loyalty.

Brand identity is much more than marketingHaving a brand identity that resonates with your market is important, but not at the expense of the people within your company. They need to not only get it, but also be your brand's most fervent ambassadors. Do your employees believe in your company? Do they feel like they have a vested stake in its success? Companies with solid brand identities can say yes to these questions. Can yours? If not, here's some things you can do:

1.Get every aspect of your company on the same page: Easier said than done, right? Well, that doesn't mean it's not necessary. Get all your departments talking to each other and understanding each other.
2.Promote everyone to the position of brand ambassador: Give everyone a common understanding of the company, its mission and their part in it. They should feel like they have ownership-even if they don't.
3.Reinforce brand values and behaviors: To do this, use the tools you have, such as internal communications...and like a good basketball coach, consistently promote these fundamentals until they're second nature.

Your employees will ultimately determine your success or failure. That's why it's so important to have them buy into your company's brand identity. However, that's not something that can be forced. You, as leadership, must earn it. But once you do, you'll have a company that is full of happy, motivated successful brand ambassadors.

The visible elements of a brand (such as colors, design, logotype, name, symbol) that together identify and distinguish the brand in the consumers' mind.

Presentation plans

We mapped out the presentation and what was to go on each slide and who needs to say what from the research etc and how things link together and link into each other

Lecture 9- How not to fail

Lecture 8- Stahs your cash

Lecture 7- Don't get ripped off

Lecture 6- Don't just get a job

TASK 5- Proposed Position Statement

• One thing that has come to my attention that I am determined to keep into consideration is building up relatioinships with clients/customers. I believe that putting in this time and effort will pay off concluding in reoccurrig clients and a boost of reputation and contacts within the industry.

• I would like to work with others and gain experience and knowledge from those in the industry, therefore I believe I  would benefit greatly from working with a range of companies/ design agencies before I work for myself.

•  I believe that any experience within the industry would benefit me greatly whether it is in m area of interest or not however I can see myself currently working for magazines or publications with layout etc.

• Working nationally or internationally is something that appeals to me, I think this could only benefit me, broaden my knowledge and understanding of the industry.

•  Through my research it is evident that a website is essential for a designer/agency, but what's on it and how it is presented is also very important. Something that is essential is contact details for possible clients/jobs.

• I would like my portfolio to reflect the idea that I am diverse as a designer and can work across many fields, however I would also like it to show that I have grasped an expert outlook on the industry and have a strong preffered area of working.

• As it stands I have no preference to what size agency/ firm I work in, I think it would benefit me gaining expereince from both a small, tight knitagency and also a large compnay. I would like to make my ideas heard and known and not just fade into the background.

• I would like to inform myself more and more with editorial, and layout kind of work and this is something I am very keen to work towards. 

More to add

TASK 4- Who else is out there- how good are they?

Evaluate the Strengths and Weaknesses of three practitioners or design agencies as objectively as you can.

Keeping in mind
Who am I competing against?
What do they offer?
What makes me better?
What makes me different?

The three design agencies I am going to evaluate  are

Round

Boxhead

The Designers Rebulic

Round- research

"Studio Round is a Melbourne based design company. Our approach encompasses identities, print, the web, art direction and the built environment.

We build partnerships with our clients to understand their communication challenges. We apply our creative thinking and understanding of design to develop thought-provoking solutions to address commercial needs.

During the course of the project we spend time meticulously crafting the detail while keeping an eye on the bigger picture. Our approach is to combine the expression of original ideas that innovate, challenge and inform. Our response is always appropriate to the brief."

 Looking closely at their website and there work it is clear that a main strength of theres is that they are a very established design agency, they take pride in building relationships with their clients and focus on detail within there briefs. Round work across a broad range including prints, web, signage, art direction etc. They have a list of achievements,awards and clients they have worked for. The website shows a broad range of their work professionally and smartly.  The website is also very easy to navigate around and has a clear layout.

Round may benefit from having a desription of how they have produced each outcome to a brief to infrom viewers how they have come to achieve this. Maybe they could inform viewers also of the company came about, how it was set up.

Opportunities for Round are to grow, as they are an internationally company working world wide they have the opportunity to work worl wide. They have the opportunity to work in other fields orspecialise as they have established what they can already do very well. 

Threats come in the form of other design companies within Melbourne where they are situated, who focus on the same kind of work as Round.

We Are Boxhead- research

Strengths within We Are Boxhead include how visual there website is, they leave text to the minimal but where they do use it they allow it to be visual also with use of colour and suitable typeface. Their sight focuses centrally on their work that they have produced. Another strenght is that they have descriptions of some of their work in quite a lot of detail, what the project is and how they have gone about the brief. We Are Boxhead are another company which work across a range of disciplines including, print, moving image and online & interactive.

We Are Boxhead don't give much information about their company, they show a lot of work but don't inform you how big they are, what their focus is or how they came together. Also they only desribe some of there work and how they came to produce it.

Opportunities for the company  would be working nationally throughout the contry as they appear to work a lot within the North where they are located, they therefore hav ethe oppotunity to increase their client list and contacts. They have the oppotunity to inform viewers of the sight , more about themselves and who is involved.

As for threats, We Are Boxhead may be limited by just working within the North and therefore making there competition greater. They work across a range however and therefore can work in different fields instead of being limited to briefs.


The Designers Republic- research

A main strength of The Designers Rebulic is their prestigious list of clients that they own, working for the likes of Coca Cola and MTV. Their website is rather visual, again focusing on the work they have produced and who they have worked for.


Their website can be quite confusing to navigate through as when you visit their home page there is only a small link directing you to another sight. The links on the actual page change when you scroll over which means it can be hard to navigate. There isn't much information about the company and what they do and how they became The Designers Republic.


They have the opportunity to work for a lot of well known companies/ brands across the world really with MTV and Coca Cola etc within their list of clients.
It aslo says that The Designers Republic is in progress so I believe this means the website.


Summary 
From using a S.W.O.T analysis to look at the qualities of three exisiting design afencies I have come up with a list which may be opportunities for my own practice that have revealed themselves. 
Firstly I know a website will be of great importance and something I will rely on to get myself and my work known, however I think it needs to be more than this, The Designers Republic sight was something that stood out to me although it could be confusing the noises were a small touch which made it stand out. I think it will important for a website to have a stlye in order to stand out.


I think I need to make myself open to different disciplines and not narrow myself down to one specialism as it is a competitive market I need to be able to offer a variety of skills. And this is something that has become apparent to me whilst looking at design agencies, a lot of them offer a variety and it needs to be clear on your website.


Contact details need to be clear on a website, somewhere so people can immediately contact you, as it stands now I only have a blog which has a lot of stuff on and no way for people to get in contact, this is something to consider.


Something else that has ocured to me is that it is very important to give some information about the piece of work even if it is just short.

TASK 3 - How will I promote myself?

Based on the principles that have been introduced so far in the Enterprise module and your
findings in previous tasks, evaluate the most suitable marketing methodologies for your
own practice and the most effective methods to reach your potential customers.

Key things to consider:
What do they want to hear?
That you are there to improve their reputation/appearance
That you are the best
That you know what  you are doing
You are a professional

What should I say to them?

How will I communicate with them?
Not using technical graphics terms that they won't understand
Through visuals, work, drawings
One on one, email

 Summary

Looking at the marketing communication mix in terms of my own practice I am  to work through the options of advertising, direct marketing, personal selling, public relations and sales promotions, some obviously more suited to my practice than others.

Firstly I am going to evaluate direct marketing with regards to my practice. Marketing myself will need to take shape through a variety of self promotion methods, directly affecting the customer. This can be done through the use of mail shots, emails and online,  my website One negative of this is that it can be annoying to customers or generally anyone who perceives this as junk mail and may simply be annoyed.

The use of advertising myself may take the form of a website which later in the year I will set up to promote my work and my practice. This is possibly the most cost effective way of promoting yourself and makes use of least resources, can be done in the space of my own working are.
Personal selling would be an excellent way of getting to know customers and build up a reputation, working directly with clients/customers, the key being to engage, inform and persuade them. The benefits of this at the early stage of my career would be to build up connections and relationships to get my work known and recognised. I suppose the negative would be knowing how to act and work with customers initially and also how  to go about reaching these customers and having the time to visit them.