Monday 28 February 2011

Top 10 (13) potential contacts

O.K. so this is my short list for people I wish to get in contact with, with a view to possible 'placements' further contacts etc:

  1.  Analogue
  2.  Kiosk
  3.   I Love Dust
  4.  Studio Output
  5.  Design By Day
  6.  Mark
  7.  Creative Spark
  8. The Found Collective
  9. Zip
  10. Crush
  11. Artillery
  12. Craig Ward (NYC)
  13. Graphic Therapy (NYC)

Enterprise task 4 - Kiosk (SWOT)

letskiosk.com
The Site Gallery
Brown Street
Sheffield S1 2BS, UK



Strengths: There doesn't appear to be a massive number of design studios in Sheffield especially those doing this level of creative (less corporate) work. Has experience through ex designers republic designer David Bailey. Broad range of clients from large companies to smaller clients.
Weaknesses: Appears to be mainly print based work - despite in my opinion this companies work been very creative - appealing more to my taste - there are many companies around at the moment who can offer web / screen design services as well as similar print pieces.
Opportunities: Global influence and will have many clients because of who David Bailey is - he has built up a reputation. They collaborate worldwide too so it broadens contacts even further.
Threats: Companies that can do both screen and print work - compete.

I love dust

www.ilovedust.com

Hampshire
graphic design and illustration to animation and trend prediction.



Analogue

www.madebyanalogue.co.uk
Based in Leeds -
Brand identity / Packaging / Art direction / Photography
Copywriting / Web development E-marketing




Crush

www.crushed.co.uk
11 Vine Street
Brighton

Art Direction
Graphic Design
Illustration
Web Design
Moving Image
and everything inbetween 







Studio Output

www.studio-output.com
Nottingham and London
Branding, Print, Digital etc


Enterpise Task 4 - Zip (SWOT)

www.zipdesign.co.uk
Unit 2A Queens Studios
121 Salusbury Road
London NW6 6RG
United Kingdom






Strengths: They work across a large range of media, offering both print and screen services from web to animations and phone apps. Have gained 15 years experience - so more hired? They showcase many self initiated projects as well as cliented work therefore showing enthusiasm and commitment.
Weaknesses: Although Zip design have a reasonably sized team of 5 designers, it states in their statement that they regularly hire freelancers such as photographers, illustrators etc. This to me suggests that their prices will be much higher when getting them to work on projects as there are more costs to cover. It could be a weakness that they tailor their prices to fit individuals needs - harder to plan finances and make a profit if you get lots of little, cheap jobs.
Opportunities: Global influences - having clients across the globe in various sectors.
Threats: New business doing similar/fresher work could easily undercut them.

Fridge

www.fridgecreative.co.uk
Branding and Print
Hoxton, London




Enterprise task 4 - Young (SWOT)

www.weareyoung.co.uk
Manchester



Strengths: Big list of clients - both big and small businesses despite only being a studio for 2 years.
Good breadth of briefs working across screen and print.
Weaknesses: Name suggests inexperience which is reinforced by the fact they have been running for 2 years. Don't appear to do any web based work - just animation (in terms of screen).
Opportunities: Global influences - they have international clients.
Threats: Market demand - they aren't a young group any more - it might appeal to some clients - looking for fresh work - perhaps thinking they will be cheap and newer businesses will be able to undercut.

Design by Day

www.designbyday.co.uk
Manchester


Mark Studio

www.markstudio.co.uk
Manchester

Creative Lynx

www.creativelynx.co.uk
 Manchester

Creative Spark

www.creativespark.co.uk
Manchester




Monday 14 February 2011

End of Module OUGD202 Evaluation

Well after an horrendous start to this module, I really feel that I've taken a new approach to how this module went and how I conduct myself on the course. Also I feel that I got pretty much everything I wanted to get done, done (although there are loads more ideas, variations etc that could have been done time permitting).

It's always rewarding to learn new skills and this has been such a big learning curve, but I feel that I've grasped the basics and could potentially take this up full time, get better at it - learn more about how to animate / make better storyboards etc, From starting way back with the silent movie brief I was ready to quit... I just couldn't do it and couldn't grasp the basics of keyframing or anything. I think this was down to the fact I didn't storyboard well at all and spent most of my time looking at a screen. However, I definitely learned from this in the Top Ten brief. As I missed the first week of the brief I was so behind, but I found that if I took the process of animating right back to the basics and storyboarded first, I would be able to do it... and I could! It was such a relief to get this done and it was such a help to have drawn ideas down before animating. This in turn with making full use of the studio and staying late each night really helped me to catch up on all the work - I really think I'm starting to progress now - I seem to be able to jot my ideas down much quicker than I could before and this in turn is getting me results quicker.
Despite needing to change my style and channel a few times, I felt it was really beneficial for me to do this as I've ended up with a title sequence I'm pretty pleased with for a first attempt. If I'd have stuck to my original ideas it could have taken me so much longer to create and I don't think in hind sight it would have turned out as well.

The silent movie brief really fed well into the top ten brief, I didn't spend enough time at all on this brief particularly due to the personal problems I've encountered and discussed prior to undertaking the top ten brief. The mistakes I made with colour considerations / storyboarding etc really made me want to create a good title sequence and capitalise and learn from what I did wrong in order to get organised for top ten and I feel my work flow has really improved because of this.

Wednesday 9 February 2011

TOP 10 - Final Crit

Visual Quality:
The font doesn't work that well with the MTV logo. The style of animation also doesn't really suit the MTV image - (wrong imagery looked at).
Typography - top ten - looks like sweet 16. Storyboards very detailed - need to make digital. 
Technical Quality:
Explore out of the frame to keep the viewer entertained.
Audio - Harry potter scene - does it match the music? (AGAIN LOOKED AT PREVIOUS ILLUSTRATIONS- these have now been changed).

Documentation and Presentation:
Loads of storyboards on blog.

Additional:
The style doesn't work with MTV.  (LOOKED AT PREVIOUS MARKER FULL COLOUR DRAWINGS OF HARRY POTTER)
Packaging?
Need to crack on to make things digital.

Progress Surgery