Wednesday 2 November 2011

Study Task 2

Where are they- How will they find me?

  • Where are my potential clients/employers located?
  • What media do my potential clients/employers use?
  • What do you need to communicate and how does it match what your clients/employer need?

As I want to work for a small creative studio or launch my own it is had to narrow my clients down to a particular group. I am also interested in branding and promotion, which can cover a range of different companies and clients. My PEST analysis will vary on where I end up being based, as for example the clients that I would find in Leeds would very much differ to the ones in London.

As I mentioned in the previous task, I want to work a lot with branding and promotion. This factor taken into consideration as well as the fact that I want to be working in a small studio made up of no more than four designers, my client base would more than likely be small businesses and companies who are willing to pay the price for good quality design as opposed to what they would get from a large corporate graphic design company.
I have decided that I would like to be based in Leeds, as it is a great place for creatives and I have already started to build up some contacts here. It would make no sense to uproot and go back to London, as there is a lot of competition and a small creative studio would get overshadowed by the many larger companies based there.

These things taken into consideration, my clients would be small businesses and companies based in Leeds, mainly one off stores or businesses that are just starting up or looking to expand.
Although it seems that in the digital age it would make more sense to be a digital designer, I feel that design for print is something I am good at and more of a specialist subject that clients would come direct to me for.

To promote myself and my fellow designers as a studio I prefer the idea getting out there and meeting people to build up a client base as opposed to advertising in magazines for example. I feel that this would give us personality and people would rather go to a studio they have a relationship with rather than one they have no idea about the people behind it. This would all be done by networking, making the most of the many creative events held in Leeds and perhaps having our own. We would also of course have a website and business cards to hand out.

I have decided to do my PEST analysis on Leeds College of Art. They use numerous different ways to promote themselves including the college prospectus. One of the past college prospectus' was designed by graphic design graduates that formed the design studio Catalogue. This is evidence that the college is more than willing to go to their graduates to design their promotional material, therefore it is both a practical and realistic aim.

I am going to use this table as an outline that I have found on google.


Political
The current government has made a massive difference to higher education. With tuition fees rising it is to be expected that the amount of applicants will drop. However the tuition fee change has only had a small effect on the graphic design course. Each year the number of applicants has been rising, but instead of dropping, this year it has been on par to last year.
In todays society it seems that higher education is always encouraged, but the government change favours the rich over the poor, giving them more opportunity for a good education.
If the government were to change, the likelihood would be that the tuition fees would go back to normal. They wouldn't be able to raise them further without their being an uproar following the recent student protests.

Economic
The college doesn't have much room for growth without buying more space. The current buildings are quite small and normally the course are over applied for. However their is not much need for the college to expand, as that is one of the qualities of a specialist college. The college would not go global, although it is with the open university which allows your degree to be recognised internationally. Labor  costs, disposable income etc most of which will probably be funded by the government as it is an educational business. The rest is covered by the students tuition fees, payed by the students and the government.

Social-Cultural
As the government changes more and more people are going straight into apprenticeships rather than going to university. This means that we could probably predict a drop in applicants, therefore less people paying tuition fees. This could also mean less demand for the individual courses, decreasing the quality and high standard of the students enrolled which in turn will lower the reputation of the courses and the college.

Technological
As technology progresses the college can only get better. In some universities it may mean that they need less staff. However being a creative college, staff will always be needed to teach creative thinking. Although this is good and increases the appeal of the college, it could also increase the cost of running it. However, the majority of the courses rely on technological progression, so using up to date equipment and keeping on top of this is key.







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