Notes:
- Marketing ideas, self promotion.
- www.designcouncil.org
- www.artscouncil.org
- Marketing/ advertising/ market research, not just about selling a product or just yourself, its about understanding what people want.
- Apple: people prefer their products because they love the style of his product so much they could lick them/ they have an emotional connection with Apple.
- Harley Davidson owners sometimes tattoo branding on them, emotional connection, part of their personality.
- All businesses try to develop relationships with their consumers.
- 6 functions:
- customer needs
- developing right prices
- promote products effectively
- identify best distribution
- add value to the products/ extra benefits
- monitor the performance of the product/ get feedback/ get the customer involved
- how do small businesses do all this?
- they build bridges/ networks with other companies for help and support
- Seth Godin
- Marketing basics: universally known, the four P's
- product: service, object, design service etc complete with personality/attention to detail/ politics etc value proposition, emotional attachments to a product which makes it stand out from the rest.
- price: get the price right/ make or break it, understand how much customers want to pay for your product, dont over or under price your product, understand the people you are selling to.
- place: not just about location/ where you are going to make it available, about population, atmosphere, enviroment, the kind of services you feel need to be attached to your services/ how you promote yourself and product/ websites, posters, leaflets, depends on where, you need to know what you will use to go where.
-promotion: how will you promote yourself/ 5000 different messages everyday/ overwhelmed by messages all day, you must be unique, dont do the same as everyone else. be resourceful, use all your personality and imagination
AIDA ATTENTION, INTEREST, DESIGN AND ACTION
promotion is never effective if its one off/ keep their attention until they desire to engage with you or your product, not until then will they buy/ invest/ colaborate/ raise awareness/ give them information, tell them your values, capture their desire.
- What are my values and special personality traits??
- 5 values:
- Equality, I dont like people who judge others because of how they look, what they do and where their from
- Im a vegetarian, I know that me not eating meat wont save the animals but it makes me feel better.
- Recycling is important to me, I think its always good to re use old things, I often pop into charity shops to buy things, one mans rubbish is another mans riches!
- Being friendly, a smile or hello can make someones day. I work in Argos and often have long conversations with customers. One lady made me cry as she said my mum must be proud to have a daughter like me and another man told me his life story. Its nice just to talk to people like people.
- Helping others, I want a job where I know I will be giving something worth while back, whether that means I teach as a career or help design promotion material for a charity.
- 5 personality traits:
- Great sense of humour, Im not a serious person but I am when I need to be
- Thoughtful, Im always thinking about others and how I can help someone
- Ive been told I can be quite motherly, in terms of being organised and organising others
- Optimistic, I have a very optimistic attitude, always look on the bright side of life!
- Perfectionist, I can be quite fussy about details. I used to have bad OCD, everything still has its place. I like to put time and effort into everything to make sure its the best that it can be.
Be honest, be yourself, be bold and use your unique qualities.
Year Three Personal and Professional Development work can be found under label OUPD301.
Thursday 29 September 2011
Thursday 22 September 2011
Why am I here- What do I want to learn?..
5 reasons why I chose to study on this programme:
- I heard so many great things about Leeds and the universities, that was when I started looking at courses within the city. I did look at Leeds Met but the course didnt seem to cover a lot.
- If im being honest I didnt come to an open day so I wasnt sure what the college was like in real life, I had only seen from the website and the prospectus. But after I had come for my interview I just knew that this was the uni for me, there was just something about it!
- My interview was different and more creative which made me even more excited about getting onto the course. The questionaire and chit chat with a tutor made me feel so relaxed, and the tutors were so passionate which is always a good sign.
- The course structure itself is so well thought out, everything that you need to know to become successful in a Graphic Design career is covered. Also simple things like having so much contact with your tutors was brilliant, I know some courses leave you to get on with it and you may not see your tutors more that once a fortnight!
- Once I had been to my interview I just had my heart set on this course, I had told my parents that if I didnt get in I would take a gap year and re apply! I cried when I got!
5 things that I want to learn during my time on the programme:
- The first thing that I really want to learn is who I am in terms of Graphic design, I want to learn what I love and what I hate. To find this out I know im going to have to try lots of new things and be open to new experiences.
- I want to become a pro at the Adobe suite, im slowly getting there day by day. Sometimes I just lack the confidence or motivation to really try and not give up when things get tricky. One particular thing would be to master tracing or creating all shapes using Illustrator, at the moment if its curved its just not happening!
- I want to learn how to write a banging CV and covering letter and also how to write emails to studios and designers that I want to visit. My CV is rubbish and I dont even know what a covering letter is for. As for emails I always write them too informally and chatty!
- I would love to set up my own website, at this moment in time I wouldnt know where to start. Learning how to make a website and how it all works etc would be so useful.
- A list of 5 thinsg really isnt long enough, I want to learn everything and anything. You can never learn to much, im open to trying new things and learning new techniques and skills, I guess i'll have to see what the year brings!
5 skills that I think are my strengths:
- I think that my people skills have grown a lot since starting first year. I found it hard to explain my ideas to my peers and tutors during crits and I also found it hard to give feedback. I think it has grown because of the different ways we did crits and presentations, it has helped me loads!
- I am a fairly well organised person, although sometimes I do find myself leaving things till the last minute I always met deadlines and got things done. I have a part time job too which can sometimes leave me with less time to do things but this year im determind to work hard on the course and save some money too. Im also fairly good when it comes to time management, I always get to uni and work 20 minutes before im due to start!
- I have a basic knowledge of how to use the Adobe suite, although im not an expert yet I do feel that its one of my strengths to be able to use the programs independently.
- I am willing to try new things out rather than sticking in my comfort zone, last year I tried screen printing for one brief as I hadnt done much of it before, I also had a go at designing t-shirts, stickers and packaging. Something is always worth trying whether or not it works. I try not to limit myself with coming up with one final design or idea, I try to try a few things to then decide which would be the better and most appropriate option/ method.
- I am a big fan of hand crafting and I think I can say that is a strength. Some people I speak to about the course think that Graphic Design is all computer based, which its obviously not. Last year I hand crafted 100 pairs of card glasses for the collection 100 brief, a new flat mate of mine saw the montage of photos that I made into a poster and asked who bought it! I told him I made it and the glasses and he was astonished :) So I guess I can say its a good skill to have.
5 things that I want to improve:
- I want to improve my people skills and ability to work in a group. Its not that I dont like working in a group (although sometimes I do), I just lack confidence in my ideas when im working in a group. I always think that my ideas are silly, I often just go with the flow even when I dont agree. Maybe I just need to be brave and speak up!
- I want to on my critical studies, last year I found it really interesting but it often confused me. There are a lot of long words and information to take in. I need to ask for help when I need it and research something if im not entirely sure what it is or means. I also need to complete tasks when I get them.
- I would love to do a bit more of my own work this year, that isnt linked with uni. I know some people have Behance, Etsy and websites set up where they are selling work and putting themselves out there. I always think im not ready for doing that but I think its more down to me not having confidence in myself.
- It would be useful for me to improve on my overall knowledge. It does sound like a silly thing to want to improve, but I mean in terms of technical words and meanings and just basic knowledge of being a Graphic designer. I want to become a Graphic designer dictionary and know all the fancy words and meanings!
- It would be really useful for me to improve the way in which I annotate and evaluate pieces of work that I find that I like. I often find myself saying the same thing for several different pieces of work but just jumbling the words. I can find it hard to explain what it is that I like or think is good. I feel I need to be a bit more constructive for my own benefits and for the people that are looking at my blog.
5 ways in which I will evaluate my progress:
- I think that one of the best ways to evaluate my work is to ask my peers and tutors what they think. Feedback from other people gives you a better veiw than just giving yourself feedback. I could ask them how they think I am getting on or what they think of a particular piece of work.
- It would maybe be useful for me to look back once a month on what I have been doing and evaluate how I am doing, looking at things that are going well and things that arent. This way I will always have something to improve on.
- My parents often look at my blog at home, I think getting someone from home who doesnt know the course would be useful, it would give me a completely different kind of feedback. As they wouldnt know the brief I would have to make it so my work is clear and understandable for anyone, which I guess is something I should be doing anyway.
- Make a list of things I want to improve on and go back every so often and see if I have or not. Maybe something like a to do list format as theres no greater satisfaction than ticking off to do lists!
- One important thing that I need to learn is to be more critical with myself. If im not 100% sure on an idea than I need to be able to step back and really think about it. I dont want to take the easy way out, im not always brilliant at taking critisicm but now I just need to take it on the chin and work harder!
5 questions that I want to find the answers to:
- What do I want to do with my life career wise? I know that second year is all about finding ourselves and who we are as designers. To me this is so important, I know a few people who know exactly what they want to be/do, but I literally do not have a clue, so I guess finding the answer to this question will be very helpful.
- Will I be able to find some really cool studios to visit or work in. Again I know this is something that we will have to do, but I dont want to end up going to places that dont interest me. I want to go to places that are exciting and different and that I will gain something from.
- How many ideas can I think of in an hour? This would be a good challenge to set myself with every brief, I need to exhaust an idea to make sure that I give myself enough options to fulfill the brief to its full potential. I guess it doesnt matter if the ideas arent realistic, it will still help me to think out of the box!
- I really want to learn about stock and paper for printing. I dont really know much about ISO and paper qualities. It would be handy to find out what stock is best for what purpose etc.
- Will I do better this year than last? Obviously the answer should be yes, but I know for certain last year I didnt put 100% into everything and this year I know it all counts towards my final degree so I need to put 110% into every little thing I do!
- I heard so many great things about Leeds and the universities, that was when I started looking at courses within the city. I did look at Leeds Met but the course didnt seem to cover a lot.
- If im being honest I didnt come to an open day so I wasnt sure what the college was like in real life, I had only seen from the website and the prospectus. But after I had come for my interview I just knew that this was the uni for me, there was just something about it!
- My interview was different and more creative which made me even more excited about getting onto the course. The questionaire and chit chat with a tutor made me feel so relaxed, and the tutors were so passionate which is always a good sign.
- The course structure itself is so well thought out, everything that you need to know to become successful in a Graphic Design career is covered. Also simple things like having so much contact with your tutors was brilliant, I know some courses leave you to get on with it and you may not see your tutors more that once a fortnight!
- Once I had been to my interview I just had my heart set on this course, I had told my parents that if I didnt get in I would take a gap year and re apply! I cried when I got!
5 things that I want to learn during my time on the programme:
- The first thing that I really want to learn is who I am in terms of Graphic design, I want to learn what I love and what I hate. To find this out I know im going to have to try lots of new things and be open to new experiences.
- I want to become a pro at the Adobe suite, im slowly getting there day by day. Sometimes I just lack the confidence or motivation to really try and not give up when things get tricky. One particular thing would be to master tracing or creating all shapes using Illustrator, at the moment if its curved its just not happening!
- I want to learn how to write a banging CV and covering letter and also how to write emails to studios and designers that I want to visit. My CV is rubbish and I dont even know what a covering letter is for. As for emails I always write them too informally and chatty!
- I would love to set up my own website, at this moment in time I wouldnt know where to start. Learning how to make a website and how it all works etc would be so useful.
- A list of 5 thinsg really isnt long enough, I want to learn everything and anything. You can never learn to much, im open to trying new things and learning new techniques and skills, I guess i'll have to see what the year brings!
5 skills that I think are my strengths:
- I think that my people skills have grown a lot since starting first year. I found it hard to explain my ideas to my peers and tutors during crits and I also found it hard to give feedback. I think it has grown because of the different ways we did crits and presentations, it has helped me loads!
- I am a fairly well organised person, although sometimes I do find myself leaving things till the last minute I always met deadlines and got things done. I have a part time job too which can sometimes leave me with less time to do things but this year im determind to work hard on the course and save some money too. Im also fairly good when it comes to time management, I always get to uni and work 20 minutes before im due to start!
- I have a basic knowledge of how to use the Adobe suite, although im not an expert yet I do feel that its one of my strengths to be able to use the programs independently.
- I am willing to try new things out rather than sticking in my comfort zone, last year I tried screen printing for one brief as I hadnt done much of it before, I also had a go at designing t-shirts, stickers and packaging. Something is always worth trying whether or not it works. I try not to limit myself with coming up with one final design or idea, I try to try a few things to then decide which would be the better and most appropriate option/ method.
- I am a big fan of hand crafting and I think I can say that is a strength. Some people I speak to about the course think that Graphic Design is all computer based, which its obviously not. Last year I hand crafted 100 pairs of card glasses for the collection 100 brief, a new flat mate of mine saw the montage of photos that I made into a poster and asked who bought it! I told him I made it and the glasses and he was astonished :) So I guess I can say its a good skill to have.
5 things that I want to improve:
- I want to improve my people skills and ability to work in a group. Its not that I dont like working in a group (although sometimes I do), I just lack confidence in my ideas when im working in a group. I always think that my ideas are silly, I often just go with the flow even when I dont agree. Maybe I just need to be brave and speak up!
- I want to on my critical studies, last year I found it really interesting but it often confused me. There are a lot of long words and information to take in. I need to ask for help when I need it and research something if im not entirely sure what it is or means. I also need to complete tasks when I get them.
- I would love to do a bit more of my own work this year, that isnt linked with uni. I know some people have Behance, Etsy and websites set up where they are selling work and putting themselves out there. I always think im not ready for doing that but I think its more down to me not having confidence in myself.
- It would be useful for me to improve on my overall knowledge. It does sound like a silly thing to want to improve, but I mean in terms of technical words and meanings and just basic knowledge of being a Graphic designer. I want to become a Graphic designer dictionary and know all the fancy words and meanings!
- It would be really useful for me to improve the way in which I annotate and evaluate pieces of work that I find that I like. I often find myself saying the same thing for several different pieces of work but just jumbling the words. I can find it hard to explain what it is that I like or think is good. I feel I need to be a bit more constructive for my own benefits and for the people that are looking at my blog.
5 ways in which I will evaluate my progress:
- I think that one of the best ways to evaluate my work is to ask my peers and tutors what they think. Feedback from other people gives you a better veiw than just giving yourself feedback. I could ask them how they think I am getting on or what they think of a particular piece of work.
- It would maybe be useful for me to look back once a month on what I have been doing and evaluate how I am doing, looking at things that are going well and things that arent. This way I will always have something to improve on.
- My parents often look at my blog at home, I think getting someone from home who doesnt know the course would be useful, it would give me a completely different kind of feedback. As they wouldnt know the brief I would have to make it so my work is clear and understandable for anyone, which I guess is something I should be doing anyway.
- Make a list of things I want to improve on and go back every so often and see if I have or not. Maybe something like a to do list format as theres no greater satisfaction than ticking off to do lists!
- One important thing that I need to learn is to be more critical with myself. If im not 100% sure on an idea than I need to be able to step back and really think about it. I dont want to take the easy way out, im not always brilliant at taking critisicm but now I just need to take it on the chin and work harder!
5 questions that I want to find the answers to:
- What do I want to do with my life career wise? I know that second year is all about finding ourselves and who we are as designers. To me this is so important, I know a few people who know exactly what they want to be/do, but I literally do not have a clue, so I guess finding the answer to this question will be very helpful.
- Will I be able to find some really cool studios to visit or work in. Again I know this is something that we will have to do, but I dont want to end up going to places that dont interest me. I want to go to places that are exciting and different and that I will gain something from.
- How many ideas can I think of in an hour? This would be a good challenge to set myself with every brief, I need to exhaust an idea to make sure that I give myself enough options to fulfill the brief to its full potential. I guess it doesnt matter if the ideas arent realistic, it will still help me to think out of the box!
- I really want to learn about stock and paper for printing. I dont really know much about ISO and paper qualities. It would be handy to find out what stock is best for what purpose etc.
- Will I do better this year than last? Obviously the answer should be yes, but I know for certain last year I didnt put 100% into everything and this year I know it all counts towards my final degree so I need to put 110% into every little thing I do!
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