Based on the principles that have been introduced in the PPP2 sessions so far and your responses to the previous tasks, evaluate the Strengths and Weaknesses of three practitioners or design agencies as objectively as you can. You should aim to identify a large, medium and small company from a sector or service that reflects your interests within the creative industries.
What opportunities for your own practice have revealed themselves to you as a result of this research,analysis and evaluation?
Do not use subjective language or make unfounded comments about other people’s businesses.It is essential that you make references to SWOT and PEST analysis and evaluate their usefulness as an analysis or evaluation tool.
SWOT
Strengths: characteristics of the business, or project team that give it an advantage over others
Weaknesses: are characteristics that place the team at a disadvantage relative to others
Opportunities: external chances to improve performance (e.g. make greater profits) in the environment
Threats: external elements in the environment that could cause trouble for the business or project
PEST
Political factors
Economic factors
Social factors
Technological factors
In responding to this task you will need to consider the following questions:
Who am I competing against?
What do they offer?
What makes me better?
What makes me different?
Small Company : Catalogue
Catalogue is an independent graphic design studio founded in 2010 based in the North of England. They specialise in design for print, branding, identity, books, exhibition and web. We work for both commercial clients and on self initiated projects. Extended self initiated projects include an independent publishing platrom Catalogue Library and a bi-annual magazine Library paper, both of which are stocked in shops all over the world. They are ex-graduates of Leeds College of Art.
Strengths
In responding to this task you will need to consider the following questions:
Who am I competing against?
What do they offer?
What makes me better?
What makes me different?
Small Company : Catalogue
Who Are They?
Strengths
They offer a range of services such as branding, identity, books, exhibition and web as well as hosting their own risograph printing services and screen printing services.
I feel that they are successful in many areas. They have held and been part of many exhibitions in Leeds and all over the world, and are making a name for themselves in there own right.
They are young with fresh ideas and doing some new and exciting things on the scene of the design which isn't really popular.
Weaknesses
I don't really see them as dealing with branding and identity which is what they say is their main area of interest. Throughout their projects they focus mainly on publishing and editorial with a couple of briefs that look to be dealing with branding and identity.
They don't really seem to be capitalising on new media and across a range of channels so there is not much web design in their portfolio, even though they say they specialise in web and this could make an impact of future work they may not recieve. Web is a growing media so it would be worth capitalising on this.
They are quite specialist and contemporary and this is only appreciated by a small market of the creatives and not really larger scale companies and clients who are not really familiar with or interested in these fields of design.
Opportunities
I feel that there are many opportunities that the business is missing out on. One of them being new medias which I have already mentioned. Designing more for web, apps, etc.
They could also be more versatile with their design in order to reach a broader spectrum of clients instead of clients inside the contemporary world of design. I feel that involving themselves with briefs from more corporate businesses, this can be a way to generate larger sums of money through certain briefs.
Threats
I think personally that Catalogue are running a fine line with certain trends in design and the fact that these might not be enough for them to get solid jobs in the future that will give them larger sums of turnover. I feel that with the style of the business being so specialist, I can't see income increasing or even lasting with the current condition of the clients in this recession.
This could possibly have dramatic effects on Catalogue as a business over the next few years, which will lead them to broadening their client base with more commercial design that will sell.
What Makes me different?
Personally, I appreciate Catalogues design style but I feel that I could work better at spotting gaps in the market as well as keeping up to date with current trends that are guaranteed to sell at the moment. It's important to follow trends to an extent because you know that these will do well at the particular moment in time, but there is times when you have to design out of your comfort zone and become a little bit more versatile, try new things and work in different areas with different creatives from different backgrounds in order to be the most successful designer you want to be.
They are young with fresh ideas and doing some new and exciting things on the scene of the design which isn't really popular.
Weaknesses
I don't really see them as dealing with branding and identity which is what they say is their main area of interest. Throughout their projects they focus mainly on publishing and editorial with a couple of briefs that look to be dealing with branding and identity.
They don't really seem to be capitalising on new media and across a range of channels so there is not much web design in their portfolio, even though they say they specialise in web and this could make an impact of future work they may not recieve. Web is a growing media so it would be worth capitalising on this.
They are quite specialist and contemporary and this is only appreciated by a small market of the creatives and not really larger scale companies and clients who are not really familiar with or interested in these fields of design.
Opportunities
I feel that there are many opportunities that the business is missing out on. One of them being new medias which I have already mentioned. Designing more for web, apps, etc.
They could also be more versatile with their design in order to reach a broader spectrum of clients instead of clients inside the contemporary world of design. I feel that involving themselves with briefs from more corporate businesses, this can be a way to generate larger sums of money through certain briefs.
Threats
I think personally that Catalogue are running a fine line with certain trends in design and the fact that these might not be enough for them to get solid jobs in the future that will give them larger sums of turnover. I feel that with the style of the business being so specialist, I can't see income increasing or even lasting with the current condition of the clients in this recession.
This could possibly have dramatic effects on Catalogue as a business over the next few years, which will lead them to broadening their client base with more commercial design that will sell.
What Makes me different?
Personally, I appreciate Catalogues design style but I feel that I could work better at spotting gaps in the market as well as keeping up to date with current trends that are guaranteed to sell at the moment. It's important to follow trends to an extent because you know that these will do well at the particular moment in time, but there is times when you have to design out of your comfort zone and become a little bit more versatile, try new things and work in different areas with different creatives from different backgrounds in order to be the most successful designer you want to be.
Middle Company : Bezier
Who Are They?
I recently interned with the Leeds Bezier Team.
Bezier are retail POP and print specialist for brands and retailers. From design to manufacture we deliver value, quality and client service excellence. Whether you want a one-off tactical promotion or a global campaign, we've got the right solution for you. When our clients talk, we listen, we act. They deal with branding and identify across different channels, specifically in retail.
Strengths
They are specialists in an area of branding an identity which isn't as popular meaning that they are broadening the target audience and people who would want to work with them but at the same time this could also hinder them. They are the leading specialist of Retail POP and Print which is something that will make businesses want to work with them more.
They have a large client base already including some massive corporate companies including Unilever, Boots and Morphy Richards.
Weaknesses
They are so specialist that this may deter other businesses from using them for different reasons. They
specialise in one specific area that they might be missing out on other areas of the market without knowing. They could branch out into different areas of branding.
Opportunities
They seem to be missing out on certain areas of the market within branding and communications by focussing primarily on POP. As they also deal with advertising, they could focus more on new media technologies such as designing for Apps, using new networks such as Blippar, which will broaden their target audience and help increase sales for their clients.
Threats
Because they are set in their ways a little, there could be other businesses that will undercut them on price as well as be delivering fresh new ideas across a whole range of channels and medias instead of focussing primarily on print.
What Makes me Different?
I would try and do something different in the point of display sales that hasn't been done before. I feel that this would engage with the target audience in a new way and therefore generate more interest and in turn more sales for the clients. I would focus heavily on new media technologies across a number of different channels, not just print.
Sagmeister & Walsh are a NYC based design firm that creates identities, commercials, films, books and objects for clients, audiences and themselves. Stefan Sagmeister is one of the most well known designers in the world.
Big Company : Sagmeister & Walsh
Who Are They?
Strengths
Versatile, Unique and Popular. Sagmeister has a huge client base that is classed in high culture so has worked with some of the most popular celebrities and companies in the world and has a lot of people who want to work with him. He can pick and choose who he works with. His work is unique and ventures deep into other art forms, not just design, making him different from a lot of designers and companies.
Weaknesses
He relies on his name a lot of the time which is never a good thing. He can pick and choose who he works for and in turn usually designs for himself, not a client. The clients generally will accept anything that he has designed because it has been specifically designed by him, the name, not the actual work.
I think that a lot of his work is a little but too out there and this doesn't really work, in my opinion, a lot of the time. Form follows function, but in his case, function follows form.
Opportunities
In my opinion, he seems to be missing out on certain areas of graphic design fundamentals. Sometimes the client might just need a brand or a logo and he fails to see this as graphic design functioning in the real world.
Threats
I don't think he has any threat, sorely because he has built such a name for himself.
What Makes me Different?
Finding the balance between being experimental and delivering goods to clients that is functional in the real world. Not being too cocky and staying true to fundamentals of graphic design whilst also injecting my own personality into work, in order to make it unique.
Leave your comment