STUDY TASK 6// What Do They Do?

Based on the principles that have been introduced inthe 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.

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?

 

Large:

Fantasy Interactive. 

 Strengths:
-Large company means they have a large number of resources and money.
-Large workforce can get behind project.
-Can take on huge clients without too much fuss.
-Have the money and technology to do what they like.

Weaknesses:
-Large companies are harder to run and finance.
-More staff to worry about and individual staff can feel cut off.
-Miss opportunities of finding jobs in niche markets.
-Have to stick to established design principles, cant design to risky which could but back on innovation.
-Job could be insignificant part to overall project, managed from the top down.

Opportunities:
-Large size means a large number of employees which means that jobs are more specific, designers design and accountants look after accounts.
-Attract large jobs and world leading clients in a range of disciplines and industries. 

Threats:
-Large size means that true innovation is harder to push through, often great ideas come from the small studios and larger ones then bring it into mass culture. Have to work hard to keep up with trendsetters.

 

 Medium:

Numiko.

Strengths:
-Mixed range of work.
-Flexible to work on large or small projects.
-Have the right size to lead with cutting edge ideas and the money and infrastructure to back them up.
-Can draw in big clients.
-Enough people to have a range of disciplines and skills.
-Have a more personal approach towards clients.

Weaknesses:
-Size allows them to focus on one discipline. (web design).
-May not be able to handle huge projects and long term contracts.
-Competition is more heavy at this level.

Opportunities:
-Team is just the right size to balance a friendly work environment with a good range of skills and knowledge.
-Draw in large and small clients with a wide range of jobs.

Threats:
-Need to remain ahead of the game to challenge competition.
-Could find it hard to sustain long client relationships with larger companies that requires more infrastructure.

 

Small:

Catalogue.

 Strengths:
-Strong focus on a well established style.
-Can afford to do experimental design without major repercussions.
-Small studio means that the work environment is friendly.
-Very low costs to run studio.

Weaknesses:
-Low costs does not mean low overheads.
-If niether designer knows how to do something they will have to train.
-Can to heavily effected by economy.
-May have to rely on close contacts and could loose out on larger clients.

Opportunities:
-Very close relationship with client. Talking is easy and contact is directly with designer.
-Local clients will be easy to find.
-Part of a community and culture that is hard to find in larger studios. 

Threats:
-Lots of competition from many other studios and graduates.
-May have to re-imagine the style they have built if it goes out of fashion.  

STUDY TASK 5// Who Are They?

Task

Based on the principles that have been introduced so far in the PPP2 module, investigate who you are as a creative in relation to who is out there looking for creative talent.

Write a list of all the possible client groups that use graphic design in the development, production, distribution, promotion and/or communication of their products or services. Identify one client group that reflects your current ambitions within the graphic design area (music industry, retail, publishing, education etc.) and focus on identifying:-

• What skills / interests you have and how they relate to the needs of your client group?
• What skills are needed and what skills do you want to develop?
• What are your professional/creative aims and how do they relate to the needs of the client group?

It is essential that you make references to the ʻ4 Psʼ from the PPP2 Presentation. This is an exercise in applying that theory – it is not appropriate to write about the theory itself. Demonstrate your understanding of it by actually using it.

There are a huge number of client groups that use graphic design, more-so in the tertiary and quaternary sectors than the primary and secondary, as these are the sectors that deal with public image and need a strong identity to get ahead. Client groups in these sectors include:
-Retail
-Telecomms
-Toursim
-Mass Media
-Television
-Games Industry
-Film Industry
-Music Industry
-Healthcare
-Banking
-Public information
-Educational
-Legal Services
-Science
-Space Exploration

A client group I am particularly interested falls within mass media, either film or the games industry. I am also interested in science and space exploration.

 What skills / interests do you have and how do they relate to the needs of your client group?
 I am an avid gamer, have an extensive general knowledge about computer gaming and the industry and I have also written for a gaming magazine in the past (although very briefly). Although it is common for people so say they are into computer games, I feel that I have a more in depth knowledge because I take the industry seriously, run a high-end gaming pc, and keep up to date with major releases as well as the development of very small indie titles. Another advantage I would have is a knowledge of terminology and the popular culture of the games industry which would be confusing and near-impossible to understand for an outsider. In terms of science and space I have developed a growing interest over the last few years, from reading science magazines like Focus and generally being awed by anything to do with space (and rockets). From reading and researching I have a good knowledge about why space is important and general developments in the world of science as a basic level that I believe puts me at an advantage over other designers when it comes to designing for the industry. What I am trying to say for both the games and science industries is that I understand the product better because of my personal interest and knowledge on the subjects, I understand how they market and retail themselves and have general ideas of how the industries work. For example I understand the development process for a games title, from a concept to development to release, partly from following games I am interested in through these stages and partly from being involved in alpha and beta testing a game itself. 

 What skills are needed and what skills do you want to develop?
 Skills that are needed are wide ranging and sometimes very unique to the industry. For example in the games industry it would be average to be skilled at photoshop, illustrator and indesign as a graphic designer however to really push yourself and stand out it would be beneficial to have a degree of knowledge in game specific software, perhaps even advanced coding. This is something a person would never really understand unless they had been working in industry for a long time, or had vast amounts of time to learn the software, which I don't have. Still it would be great to improve my HTML and CSS skills, these can never go wrong.
I will also need to develop skills in communicating with the groups discussed, obviously the tone of voice I use to approach the different studios would have to be thought about, although I can write a good letter, I have no idea how to gauge a level of professionalism.
A knowledge of the studios products, the value and quality of its products and how they promote and distribute said products is essential to understanding the needs of clients, so learning these things about the studios would be essential before heading out to contact them.

What are your professional/creative aims and how do they relate to the needs of the client group?
My professional and creative aim is to change the identity of the games industry in the world of mass media. It would be great to see indie games titles looked at with the same level of artistic merit as indie film titles, or small upcoming bands. The industry is underrepresented, and has been seen as a fringe culture for a long time. More recently parts of the games industry has changed its image massively and is accepted by more facets of popular culture, although it still lags behind in terms of cultural clout, I would like to be part of a movement of designers changing the way we see games, from a piece of repetitive mass media to a more important part of our culture. This specifies my client group down to smaller developers, creating more interesting and unique games, not large publishers like EA. Saying that, a large company like Rockstar, which has a great amount of artistic integrity is an organisation I would be very interested in being part of. I think my aim to change the way games are thought of as a part of culture would be beneficial to these sort of titles.