magazine mock up

heydays

I'm really interested in Heydays graphic design agency's work & identity. They're based in Norway and I particularly like their print-based design for the following fashion label 'bert & berg'.

examples of work:

"We work across a variety of media and fields, ranging from identity design to art directing photographies. We offer both design and design consultancy, and may be hired for complete deliveries or as part of a external team"

Graphic design

Visual identity, concept development, campaign material, packaging, posters, motion graphics

Web & interactive

Design, programming: HTML, Flash, application & interface design, analysis

Print & editorial

Books, brochures, annual reports, magazines, editorial illustration

Consultancy

Design strategy, naming, text & copy, photography, print production

designs

I was put in charge of designing the magazine mock-up, which included selecting the appropriate images & illustrators, working with type & layout for the interview, choosing stock and generally bringing together the look for IF magazine. 

imacs

2 imacs for around £800, again using google shopping to find the most reasonable price

we'd probably be purchasing these after the first year as it would be a lot more easy to fund

adobe design preimium

I looked into software for our studio space and found a decently priced package through google shopping:

cheap A3 flatbed scanner prices

print costings

i emailed team-impression and this quote turned out to be our cheapest for print costings with £2,959.00 for 1000 copies, printed & binded

task 4

Who am I competing against?

What do they offer?

What makes me better?

What makes me different? 


Strengths
/links into the industry will already have been made making it easier to meet the clients requirements
/the agencies/designers will be known due to experience bringing them more business
/being settled in a big city will mean that their connections and accessibility will be strong
/general experience means they've had the opertunity to learn from their mistakes


Weaknesses
/being a multidisciplinary design agency means that they may lose business if someone is looking for a more specialised designer.
/having a bigger company may effect employee relationships in the sense that it's not so personal/intimate


Opportunities
/links into the industry will create opportunities for companies like this where they can work with a range of different clients


Threats
/with every business like this there's the threat of competition with other multidisciplinary graphic design agencies
/every graphic design agency needs to ensure that they're producing fresh/innovative designs and so they must make sure they take the necessary decisions to stay on top

SWOT analysis

STRENGTHS
/in terms of location, being based in a big city such as leeds will definitely work to our advantage for business and transportation
/being a specialist collaboration allows us to have a more in depth knowledge off illustration rather then spending money and time looking into a range of areas
WEAKNESSES
/seeing as we're students we won't have as much money and so making/aquiring it may give us a disadvantage
/as with any new businesses you have to create a reputation and so we'll have the challenge of promotion and communication in order to stand out
/there's already magazines out there that deal with illustration so we need to be clear about what makes us different in order to excel
OPERTUNITIES
/being students on a design course means we're surrounded by new and upcoming illustrators which gives us the upper hand in terms of the industry links and issue content
THREATS
/there are other illustration magazines about such as Ammo, Nobrow & Popshot
/as we're not printing to A-sizes we're not being as eco-friendly as we'd like to be so green people may not support what we're doing
/we've got a set amount of income we're aiming for and so achieveing this is going to be a challenge

task 3

How will i promote myself?
Being a print-based designer I'd definitely have to get my name out there using the print process. It should show off my knowledge and hopefully communicate me as a designer. Before sending them off I'd need a list of potential employees to which I'd like to promote my work to. After deciding which area I'd like to specialise in, I could really focus on exactly what it is that they would want to hear and exactly what skills i should be promoting in order to meet their demands.


Promotion:
/mail shots
/business cards
/website
/blog
/online portfolios

PEST analysis

Before beginning the marketing process we must have an awareness of our current environment which is where PEST analysis comes in (political, economic, socio-cultural and technological)

POLITICAL
/with the recent awareness of climate change, we will be supporting the green economy ensuring that we use and manage our natural resources in a sustainable way
/the present rate of corporation tax for a small business is 21% and the current governent plans to reduce this to 20% in the near future to support small businesses
/the ACE, between 2011 and 2015, will be investing in £1.4 billion of public money from the current government and an estimated £0.85 billion from the National Lottery which will help with funding
ECONOMIC
/currently, the economic climate isn't strong meaning banks would be more reluctant to distribute lones
/our income rate would therefore be effected so our issue pricing would have to be affordable
/the eurozone recession may effect trading within the EU
SOCIO-CULTURAL
/trends are showing that people are becoming more interested in upcoming design
/the fashion, music and branding industries in particular are showing an appreciation of illustration
/modern technology allow for greater advertising opportunities making it easier to get our complany out there and well-known
TECHNOLOGICAL
/communicating opertunities with clients are made a lot easier with new technology
/current technology will aid the promotion and sales of the magazine
/with a competitive design industry, we must purchase the appropriate software in order to achieve professional designs

advertsiement prices

I found some prices for advertisements to be placed in a magazine HOWEVER, we must take into account that we would be a new up-coming magazine and so companies may be less inclined to place their adds in our magazine compared to other more highly-purchased magazines.

Although it's in dollars it gives us a rough idea of pricing:

FULL-PAGE		1x	3x	6x	12x
Black & White		$2,450	$2,275	$2,105	$1,960
Two-Color		$2,840	$2,665	$2,495	$2,350
Four-Color		$3,340	$3,165	$2,995	$2,850
2/3 PAGE
Black & White		$1,855	$1,755	$1,595	$1,485
Two-Color		$2,220	$2,090	$1,960	$1,850
Four-Color		$2,690	$2,560	$2,430	$2,320
1/2 PAGE ISLAND
Black & White		$1,620	$1,505	$1,395	$1,295
Two-Color		$1,975	$1,860	$1,750	$1,650
Four-Color		$2,435	$2,320	$2,210	$2,110
1/2 PAGE HORIZONTAL
Black & White		$1,495	$1,390	$1,285	$1,195
Two-Color		$1,850	$1,745	$1,640	$1,550
Four-Color		$2,310	$2,205	$2,100	$2,010
1/3 PAGE 1/3 PAGE VERTICAL
Black & White		$1,220	$1,135	$1,050	$975
Two-Color		$1,575	$1,490	$1,405	$1,330
Four-Color		$2,035	$1,950	$1,865	$1,790
1/4 PAGE 1/4 PAGE VERTICAL 1/4 PAGE HORIZONTAL
Black & White		$1,025	$955	$880	$820
Two-Color		$1,380	$1,310	$1,235	$1,175
Four-Color		$1,840	$1,770	$1,695	$1,635
1/6 PAGE VERTICAL 1/6 PAGE HORIZONTAL
Black & White		$920	$855	$790	$735
Two-Color		$1,265	$1,200	$1,135	$1,080
Four-Color		$1,670	$1,605	$1,540	$1,485
1/8 PAGE
Black & White		$830	$770	$715	$665
Two-Color		$1,175	$1,115	$1,060	$1,010
Four-Color		$1,580	$1,520	$1,465	$1,415

evauluation

1/ what skills have you developed through this module and how effectively do you think you have applied them?

Storyboarding has really helped in terms of idea development. I found getting my ideas on paper helped with furthering designs for the sequences. It’s something that I’ve struggled with in past briefs and actually putting it into practise really aided my progress. Learning about a new software has been really interesting. Motion graphics is an area of graphic design that I’ve never experimented and to be honest I was quite apprehensive about it. However, now I know my way around the after effects programme I’m really pleased with how much more comfortable I am with this area of design. Obviously there’s a lot more I’m yet to learn and I’m keen to develop this. I found online tutorials were very helpful, such as cc particle, as I was then able to apply effects that aided my designs. Blogging has always been one of weak points, however, I feel that I’ve definitely progressed from previous modules. Rather then leaving it all to last minute, I’ve put a lot more effort into blogging my development throughout the briefs. It’s helped me to feel more organised which has therefore helped with my time management.

2/ what approaches to/methods of design production have you developed and how have they informed your design development process?

I found developing my design context earlier on in the brief really helped with my design production as it helped me narrow down exactly what I needed to be doing/looking for. I had a good knowledge of the content of my work which also allowed me to progress my design development. Within this module I’ve tried to experiment with effects and transitions within the software. Playing around actually led me to develop a lot of the ideas that appeared in my final title sequence. Taking the time to get a range of designs for one idea gave me a nice amount of ideas to work with in order to make the most of the design process.

3/ what strengths can you identify in your work and how have/will you capitalise on these?

I really like the idents that I re-visited after I became more comfortable with the software. In the past I haven’t re-visited work, however, by setting time aside to improve what I had done was enjoyable. I particularly like ident1, spin re-visited, and comparing the earlier sequences to the later ones show my development with after effects. My final title sequence has a certain sense of depth in it, which was done using 3D transitions. CC particle effect really helped with this, along with using the x, y and z axis with layers. Using a clipping mask on the sun, as apposed to a flat circular shape, added to the depth as it helped to make the video a bit more realistic. I think the song choice was really appropriate for the content and when this was synced with the sequences it really aided the videos. It was really satisfying syncing movements with the music as it really does make a difference when watching the video. It shows that when you actually take the time and effort to add those finishing touches and they come together nicely that it can massively difference to the appearance of the designs. Using the studio space that’s available to me definitely helped with this module. It’ something that I’ve taken for granted in the past but after apllying myself more for these briefs, I’ve learnt that it really does help with work rate and design production.

4/ what weaknesses can you identify in your work and how will you address these in the future?

Although I feel like my work rate has improved there’s always more that can be done. Committing myself to the briefs that are set and putting more time and effort in will most definitely aid me as a designer. It will improve my time management as well as design quality and quantity. I’d like to be more experimental with type in future modules as it’s not something I’ve paid enough attention to. It has a big impact on the work and so this is an area in which I aim to improve. If I spent more time browsing or even creating my own fonts it will help my designs to look more professional and well put together. Using the title/action safe button on after effects gave me an awareness of layout and composition. Again, this I an area that I’d like to become more confortable with. Design sheets and general experimentations would help me to do so.

5/ identify five things that you will do differently next time and what do you expect to gain from doing these? BACK UP MY WORK! It’s not something I’ve given much thought in the past and then I unfortunately lost some work close to the deadline which cost me my time that I could’ve been using to do finalise my work. Having my work backed up prevents any stress and time-wasting n the future. I plan to put more time and effort into finishing touches such as type and layout as I’m interested in making my work more professional and generally better put together. It really does make a difference with the appearance of designs. I’ll definitely use my time more wisely in the next module. Although I’d say I’ve improved with time management, it’s still a weak area for me. Getting on top of things early on really helped my designs and so if I put more effort into the designing process I’d be considerably more organised. Storyboarding helped with idea development and so next time if I begain design sheets earlier on I could get a wider range of ideas which help me have a larger body of work too. More blogging. Again, although I feel I’ve improved, it’s still something that I’m yet to fully grasp. Blogging as you go along, whether it’s in a session or just general development, massively aids organisation and allows me to see my development within the module. 5= excellent, 4 = very good, 3 = good, 2 = average, 1 = poor 1 2 3 4 5 Attendance x Punctuality x Motivation x Commitment x Quantity of work produced x Quality of work produced x Contribution to the group x

studio brief 2

Finally have a completed title sequence. I got really into syncing the music with the anaimation. The chosen song fits in really nicely with the content and helped in terms of creativity as the noises that played inspired me to create new effects. I tried to play with depth within this video using: a 3D-like sun, a detailed background, cc particle world, movement through the x, y & z axis etc and for the universe, it fitted in nicely, however, this could all be improved with time. I wanted to keep the type quite minimal and small as i felt it took the emphasis off the imagery which i wanted to keep clear and simple. The circular movements seem to compliment the sound which is nice. All in all it's been really interesting to learn a skill in a different area of graphic design and I feel pretty comfortable using the software.