Monday 26th September, 2016
Introduction to Business Lectures
Starting off the years Theory as Practice lectures, new lecturer Pete Norris walked us through a few basic fundamentals of industry, what people expect from us as designers and many other topics. It started with a few points about what industry wants from us, these few things being; independence, self-thinking, and analysis ability.
After issuing these examples of expectation from agencies and design firms alike, Norris went on to discuss placements and the best places to get them if we students wanted good contacts and experience. Places mentioned were along the lines of IPA, BBC and ITV as students should prefer such places for the more recognised placements. With this we were given tips to do certain things as to get more attention from the said firm a student is interested in, and through these methods we must create a pool of industry influences. The competition work that was mentioned as something to do for portfolios is something that I will definitely be investing my time in through second year, between this year and the last and throughout third,
Moving forward in the lecture Norris introduced a diagram showing a scale of what should be interpreted from a complex brief; non-interpretive, technical and problem solving, to a open brief; creative, low-technicality. This diagram is shown below;
This scale is basically showing us that there are many different factors that will come into account when dealing with any kind if brief for a client. An example given was if you were to be working with a vehicle company, like Porsche for instance, and you were to brand something for a new vehicle, you could be with a more complex brief. This is only a factor because some briefs require you to look into engineering aspects and such to create a proper response.
With briefs from clientele you must look past what the brief dictates and find out as much information from the client as to make a proper response to their requirements. Taking in factors such as who the client needs you to effect, the ability to satisfy the client and their end user, where has their design idea's inspiration come from? One of a few things you must consider when tackling a brief. All of which have been added as a side-note as to make sure that I include the proper details and break down a brief as per the requirements.
Much of this lecture would go on to discuss the different orientations that followed either the markets or products dependant on what is registered as one of your concerns. Asking yourself questions such as; I've made this product, where is my market? or I have these assets, what do you want me to do with them? These orientations can also fall under the two characteristics you're likely to find in industry, these being a management character/perspective and that of a designer.
Lots of information has a surprising effect on the design industry and are all things that should be considered when working on anything. Norris emphasised that it is actually rather important to stay with the times, for example it should start to become a habit to read the news and keep up with economy to see what is going to affect other things. Something like the recent vote to leave the E.U., "Brexit" will effect things in the national economy down the line, but that is yet to be seen whether or not it will have a positive or negative effect on the said economy. The following diagram was shown to formulate his argument for the importance to keep your eye on such areas;
As you can see on the scale of economies, each section has its own string of altercations of which it is involved with. The global economy is something that will be altered depending on what is going on with the world at the time, i.e. conflicts, wars, natural disasters... all of which can effect a brief depending on what level it is on. The scale serves as a reference to this. Having touched on what should be considered when looking at a brief, designers should dig around the company as a whole, looking past the brief. These details are key in some cases, and is a tip that will be carried through any work I personally get involved in.
After this we'd touch on the marketing side to design, topics such as the "4 P's";
Price
Product
Promotion
Place
all of which are susceptible to change and most likely already have. However these four are the only real concern to Graphic Designers and those alike. Markup topics were also brought up, mentioning that brief requirements should start with an initial markup as to cover the "Price" factor from the designers point of view. With all things considered, when you finally have the product of which you have created in response to the brief, you must always have a reason as to why you have done everything involved in the piece. The other P's were also broken down, all of which have been added as notes for reference as-well.
The above images are very important and are here for reference when working on briefs.
