I first booked a portfolio Visit weeks ago, I'd gone in to try catch the owner after ringing the outlet but being unable to get through and luckily she was there. I explained who I was and if she was available for a portfolio visit within the next few weeks. She said it was a really business month as it was the run up to Christmas but booked me in for 11am Dec 10th. We swapped contact details, but she later emailed me a few days later to say she couldn't do the Portfolio Visit because it was her sons nativity play and would we like to re-schedule, so I emailed her back and said I was available up until the 21st Dec but she never replied!
Really disappointed I missed the opportunity to have a Portfolio Visit with Thunder Egg, but I'll try again at a later date.
Monday, 10 January 2011
Portfolio Visit with Junk
Junk was the first drop in Portfolio Visit I went on on Friday and they were really positive. The owner wasn't in but I showed the sales assistant Alisha, who was really impressed with the designs and said they were the types of designs they sell in Junk. She called up the manager who was also enthusiastic about the designs and they both agreed to book me in for a formal Portfolio Visit with the owner Charlotte.
It was written in the diary for a Portfolio Visit to be booked before the 10th Jan, but this hasn't happened. I'm a bit disappointed, but the oppotunity to sell was only really an added bonus and it was the feedback which was the most important thing.
Both Alisha and the management went through my portfolio and they had some interesting opinions. They said they could visualise the Winged Creature cards as wall art or printed on t-shirts or jumpers. They found the majority of the Victorian Era cards humorous, particularly the Disney cards, and said the Symbolic Cards were cool and modern.
I had added a few other bits of work, from previous projects which they said would make good notebooks and magnets which is something to consider.
Overall they said they were cool cards and thought they would sell well in the area.
It was written in the diary for a Portfolio Visit to be booked before the 10th Jan, but this hasn't happened. I'm a bit disappointed, but the oppotunity to sell was only really an added bonus and it was the feedback which was the most important thing.
Both Alisha and the management went through my portfolio and they had some interesting opinions. They said they could visualise the Winged Creature cards as wall art or printed on t-shirts or jumpers. They found the majority of the Victorian Era cards humorous, particularly the Disney cards, and said the Symbolic Cards were cool and modern.
I had added a few other bits of work, from previous projects which they said would make good notebooks and magnets which is something to consider.
Overall they said they were cool cards and thought they would sell well in the area.
End of project Report
I started this project with a market already in mind, that being the Alternative market as it has influenced me for years already and I feel I'm part of it and understand how it shifts. After researching what established outlets were out there already I discovered Thunder Egg, they sell work of other companies so this created a good network of research for me to look into, sourcing out which cards were part of a publishing company or as independent outlets. This enabled to gather information on their styles and identify and analysis what is was that companies were doing in their card production and website design to get a successful company. One outlet I felt were relatable were Lazy Oaf. Lazy Oaf sell there work on their online shop as well as in other retailers, they have done very well in getting their work in Thunder Egg as this create mass promotion. Its a strategy I had already thought of doing, but it was reasurring to see other business taking the same approach.
I wanted to see just how popular this market was so I conducted a public survey and 70% were interested in Alternative music, while 60% said they felt how they dressed fitted into the alternative bracket.
With my market researched, I wanted to work out the profit and turnover figures. I researched dozens of printers across England. I have worked out that if I were to sell to a retailers, I could only sell a minimum of 25 cards per design at £1.50 per card (it is min of 25 as that is the min run for one design in most print houses) I would like to sell on average 12 card designs to each retailer, so a total of 300 cards. The total bill a retailer would pay me for the collection would be £450, resulting in a profit of around £350 - £380 depending on the Print Houses available for production. If the retailer sold all the cards at a retail price of £2.50 they would make a profit of £300. These figures seem fair.
I broke the card designs down into 3 collections, 16 cards titled Winged Creatures, 16 cards titled Victorian Era and 16 cards titled Symbolic Structure, they all were influenced by the same topic which was Gothic imagery. I wanted to source my inspiration to what I would classify as the most extreme genre that fits in the Alternative bracket and then adapt the imagery into designs that fit a more broader market to make it more commercial. Winged Creatures was a studying of primarily Magpies, though I did look into butterflies and moths and the structure of wings though I only looked at that for visuals. The saying 'one for sorrow, two for joy etc...' really struck with me on this project and I felt the concept was really contemporary and hadn't been used before in cards. After showing my work at Portfolio Visits though I later realised that birds don't sell well in the card industry the concept might be too bespoke, but in terms of visuals for a uni project I really like the composition and colour. In retrospect they would of made better wall art though.
Victorian Era collection was my most enjoyable to put together, I enjoyed thinking up the captions to go with the imagery and as a collection I think they run harmoniously together, the colours are fresh and bold and the illustration is modern and contemporary. It's this collection I've received the most positive feedback from as well.
Symbolic Structure collection has been my biggest surprise, I wasn't sure how I was going to create contemporary and variable cards when my visual imagery had been predominately gravestones, but after reflecting on my visit to Lymm Park I realised that I could use games as a visual. Playing Cards is an old game and I felt it tied in with the theme. I also found relation in gravestones with mathematical symbols such as the symbol '+' which after creating a few digitial experiments with I then likened with the historic art of cross stitch, I felt that by repeating the mathematical symbols it created a digital version of this art form.
I have really enjoyed this project and on reflection I feel I had come along very progressively. I have a clear focus on who my market is and what is achievable in the next year. I plan to progress by putting my designs on other products such as gift wrap, gift bags, tags and wall art.
At the beginning of the year my main worry was not understanding production costs but after researching into it I felt I have lifted that worry. I was also worried about how funding worked and where to go for it, but Debbie Lords presentation to us really clarified where to go. The main things were the possibility of getting a Princes Trust grant or if that wasn't successful attempting to get a loan, I was really relieved to hear that the council provide free lesson into writing a business plan, it is such a relief to hear this exists.
I have already put my future plans into setting up an online business into action by buying the domain name www.paperandfrock.com, it costs just £9.99 for the year, with an additional £11.99 for an email address and account, info@paperandfrock.com. I wanted a website that told the consumer in a quirky way what it is that I sell, cards and clothing. I originally thought of frockpaperscissors.com, but it wasn't available, so after considering more on my options I was elated to see paperandfrock was available to buy. My aim is to emphasise the word rock in frock and create a lifestyle section on the web page, to collaborate with students, to sell my own work and work of others. I already have a job lot of vintage clothing to sell on it and I'm really excited about the following year.
I've received good feedback from people I've shown my work to, with 3 people possibly interested in buying my cards, this is something I plan to chase up on after the exhibition comes down so I can take cards that were in the exhibition into any Portfolio Visits as the finish looks more professional then the print outs on A3 and I don't want to waste money on getting second copies as it was really expensive to print myself. I worked out I spent £63 in total on paper, ink, envelopes and cellophane, roughly £20 was wasted on mistakes, such as the designs being cropped when printed.
I had to print them myself as I got a printing quote of 250 cards of 10 sets = £86.
Which meant they could only do a print run for one design of min 25 cards. This is a realistic figure if I were to sell at a retailers because likelyhood is that they would only want to buy about 10 cards but as I had 48 cards designed, I couldn't afford the price.
To summerise my downfalls were wastage and cost of production and although my time management has improved, I know where it can be improved. To rectify this I plan to do day-by-day timeline plans instead of doing it weekly. If this was rectified at the beginning of this project then I could of probably discovered why I had so many technicalities when printing, but I didn't have enough time to find out why and hadn't forecasted it being a problem. Another downfall is the feedback that magpies don't sell well as cards, but I plan to transfer this design onto another type of product.
But overall I have enjoyed and learnt so much, which I have explained how above and I look forward to my final major project!
I wanted to see just how popular this market was so I conducted a public survey and 70% were interested in Alternative music, while 60% said they felt how they dressed fitted into the alternative bracket.
With my market researched, I wanted to work out the profit and turnover figures. I researched dozens of printers across England. I have worked out that if I were to sell to a retailers, I could only sell a minimum of 25 cards per design at £1.50 per card (it is min of 25 as that is the min run for one design in most print houses) I would like to sell on average 12 card designs to each retailer, so a total of 300 cards. The total bill a retailer would pay me for the collection would be £450, resulting in a profit of around £350 - £380 depending on the Print Houses available for production. If the retailer sold all the cards at a retail price of £2.50 they would make a profit of £300. These figures seem fair.
I broke the card designs down into 3 collections, 16 cards titled Winged Creatures, 16 cards titled Victorian Era and 16 cards titled Symbolic Structure, they all were influenced by the same topic which was Gothic imagery. I wanted to source my inspiration to what I would classify as the most extreme genre that fits in the Alternative bracket and then adapt the imagery into designs that fit a more broader market to make it more commercial. Winged Creatures was a studying of primarily Magpies, though I did look into butterflies and moths and the structure of wings though I only looked at that for visuals. The saying 'one for sorrow, two for joy etc...' really struck with me on this project and I felt the concept was really contemporary and hadn't been used before in cards. After showing my work at Portfolio Visits though I later realised that birds don't sell well in the card industry the concept might be too bespoke, but in terms of visuals for a uni project I really like the composition and colour. In retrospect they would of made better wall art though.
Victorian Era collection was my most enjoyable to put together, I enjoyed thinking up the captions to go with the imagery and as a collection I think they run harmoniously together, the colours are fresh and bold and the illustration is modern and contemporary. It's this collection I've received the most positive feedback from as well.
Symbolic Structure collection has been my biggest surprise, I wasn't sure how I was going to create contemporary and variable cards when my visual imagery had been predominately gravestones, but after reflecting on my visit to Lymm Park I realised that I could use games as a visual. Playing Cards is an old game and I felt it tied in with the theme. I also found relation in gravestones with mathematical symbols such as the symbol '+' which after creating a few digitial experiments with I then likened with the historic art of cross stitch, I felt that by repeating the mathematical symbols it created a digital version of this art form.
I have really enjoyed this project and on reflection I feel I had come along very progressively. I have a clear focus on who my market is and what is achievable in the next year. I plan to progress by putting my designs on other products such as gift wrap, gift bags, tags and wall art.
At the beginning of the year my main worry was not understanding production costs but after researching into it I felt I have lifted that worry. I was also worried about how funding worked and where to go for it, but Debbie Lords presentation to us really clarified where to go. The main things were the possibility of getting a Princes Trust grant or if that wasn't successful attempting to get a loan, I was really relieved to hear that the council provide free lesson into writing a business plan, it is such a relief to hear this exists.
I have already put my future plans into setting up an online business into action by buying the domain name www.paperandfrock.com, it costs just £9.99 for the year, with an additional £11.99 for an email address and account, info@paperandfrock.com. I wanted a website that told the consumer in a quirky way what it is that I sell, cards and clothing. I originally thought of frockpaperscissors.com, but it wasn't available, so after considering more on my options I was elated to see paperandfrock was available to buy. My aim is to emphasise the word rock in frock and create a lifestyle section on the web page, to collaborate with students, to sell my own work and work of others. I already have a job lot of vintage clothing to sell on it and I'm really excited about the following year.
I've received good feedback from people I've shown my work to, with 3 people possibly interested in buying my cards, this is something I plan to chase up on after the exhibition comes down so I can take cards that were in the exhibition into any Portfolio Visits as the finish looks more professional then the print outs on A3 and I don't want to waste money on getting second copies as it was really expensive to print myself. I worked out I spent £63 in total on paper, ink, envelopes and cellophane, roughly £20 was wasted on mistakes, such as the designs being cropped when printed.
I had to print them myself as I got a printing quote of 250 cards of 10 sets = £86.
Which meant they could only do a print run for one design of min 25 cards. This is a realistic figure if I were to sell at a retailers because likelyhood is that they would only want to buy about 10 cards but as I had 48 cards designed, I couldn't afford the price.
To summerise my downfalls were wastage and cost of production and although my time management has improved, I know where it can be improved. To rectify this I plan to do day-by-day timeline plans instead of doing it weekly. If this was rectified at the beginning of this project then I could of probably discovered why I had so many technicalities when printing, but I didn't have enough time to find out why and hadn't forecasted it being a problem. Another downfall is the feedback that magpies don't sell well as cards, but I plan to transfer this design onto another type of product.
But overall I have enjoyed and learnt so much, which I have explained how above and I look forward to my final major project!
Lymm Park
I went to Lymm park in October to gather primary and secondary research for my Negioated project Dark Nouveau. One of the card collections titled Victorian Era, focuses n Victorian artefacts, history, imagery, games, sayings, songs, fashions, furniture etc, so I went to Lymm Park in Disley. I found the architecture really interesting. The buildings front is symmetrical, with limited detail on the outer sides of the building, then heavily detailed towards the centre of the building. It reminded me of a butterfly pattern, which is something I've been focusing on in my sketchbook.
I found just being in Lymm Park sparked loads of ideas for my card designs. I thought that by adding captions to single Victorian artefacts would create modern designs. The moose head, grandfather clock and chandelier are all cards sparked from this. The children's toy room in the house sparked ways I could be clever with the designs which is where the playing cards came into it and I found it really inspiring just being in there because of the colours and games.
I only wanted to take imagery away with me from this visit as I wanted the rest of the design to be influenced by who my market are, such as colour, wording, font and style.
I found just being in Lymm Park sparked loads of ideas for my card designs. I thought that by adding captions to single Victorian artefacts would create modern designs. The moose head, grandfather clock and chandelier are all cards sparked from this. The children's toy room in the house sparked ways I could be clever with the designs which is where the playing cards came into it and I found it really inspiring just being in there because of the colours and games.
I only wanted to take imagery away with me from this visit as I wanted the rest of the design to be influenced by who my market are, such as colour, wording, font and style.
Saturday, 8 January 2011
Portfolio Visit with Rockers
I don't regard this as a successful Portfolio Visit but I went to Rockers situated on Oldham Street on the off chance I might catch the owner (which I did) for some feedback.
Rockers is an outlet who's market is aimed at Rockabillys, Metalheads and Rockers so I already had an incline not all my cards were going to be appealing.
Cath the owner said that she thought the cards were cool but weren't for her market. I asked what it was about them that seperated themselves from their market and she said it was because they were too bold and bright and too anime. She also like Dodo suggested Thunder Egg.
This portfolio visit helped in a way that it made me see that there was a clear cut for where my cards are aimed at.
Rockers is an outlet who's market is aimed at Rockabillys, Metalheads and Rockers so I already had an incline not all my cards were going to be appealing.
Cath the owner said that she thought the cards were cool but weren't for her market. I asked what it was about them that seperated themselves from their market and she said it was because they were too bold and bright and too anime. She also like Dodo suggested Thunder Egg.
This portfolio visit helped in a way that it made me see that there was a clear cut for where my cards are aimed at.
Portfolio Visit with Dodo (Affleck Palace)
I had a portfolio visit with Lynn owner of Dodo in Affleck Palace. She has been selling Japanese anime inspired gifts and trinkets on the top floor of Afflecks for 6 months and she had some interesting and helpful advice.
She gave feedback on my portfolio saying it definitely had a place in the market and suggested I take my cards to Thunder Egg who predominately sell cards. I found it interesting she would mention them as they have been one of my focuses but I was unable to re-book a portfolio visit with them due to December being a busy month for them. She found them humorous and liked the Disney cards and Playing Card cards the most saying they were the strongest designs.
Lynn told me she only sells her own work in her shop but the space is small already and work of other designers takes up space and she doesn't make a bigger profit return than if she were to sell her own work, which made sense. She said although she thought buying in Afflecks Palace would be ideal for what she sells, she said she has been struggling to make money as the top floor is very quiet due to a recent refurbishment but that the middle floor of Afflecks always sells well as stores like Thunder Egg and Cafe Pop which also have outlets on Oldham Road are situated there and have had a long established network.
She added though that most stores in Afflecks would work commission based around January as it is a quiet month.
I found Lynns feedback really helpful on a more marketable side and helped me to piece together thoughts for future marketing strategies. I find it really interesting to hear the shops around establish outlets such as Thunder Egg and Cafe Pop do well, and it is something to consider for promotion purposes.
She gave feedback on my portfolio saying it definitely had a place in the market and suggested I take my cards to Thunder Egg who predominately sell cards. I found it interesting she would mention them as they have been one of my focuses but I was unable to re-book a portfolio visit with them due to December being a busy month for them. She found them humorous and liked the Disney cards and Playing Card cards the most saying they were the strongest designs.
Lynn told me she only sells her own work in her shop but the space is small already and work of other designers takes up space and she doesn't make a bigger profit return than if she were to sell her own work, which made sense. She said although she thought buying in Afflecks Palace would be ideal for what she sells, she said she has been struggling to make money as the top floor is very quiet due to a recent refurbishment but that the middle floor of Afflecks always sells well as stores like Thunder Egg and Cafe Pop which also have outlets on Oldham Road are situated there and have had a long established network.
She added though that most stores in Afflecks would work commission based around January as it is a quiet month.
I found Lynns feedback really helpful on a more marketable side and helped me to piece together thoughts for future marketing strategies. I find it really interesting to hear the shops around establish outlets such as Thunder Egg and Cafe Pop do well, and it is something to consider for promotion purposes.
Portfolio Visit with Abacus (Afflecks Palace)
Abacus is predominately a jewellers located in Afflecks and I wasn't going to stop to show my portfolio to them at first until I saw a small selection of cards, roughly about 6, from the same designer. I asked Daniel the co-owner if they were interested in viewing my portfolio as I had a selection of cards aimed at the Affleck Palace market and he booked me in for a portfolio viewing for half an hour later.
He seemed keen on the cards and gave an overview saying they were cool, that he was interested in buying and that they were suitable for their market but would need to speak to his co-owner. We swapped contacts and he said he would contact me after speaking to his co-owner, but I think I might chase it up and email him the costs etc.
I feel that as they don't prodominately sell cards they will probably be sold by commission which is risky or I would have extras printed for outlets that would only want to buy a small selection as this will lower production fees and the added bonus of having my cards in as many outlets big or small is good for promotion purposes.
This portfolio visit was helpful in that I got feedback from someone who is selling in my market and that they were interested, it gave me another contact and also experience in showcasing my designs and initiating sales.
He seemed keen on the cards and gave an overview saying they were cool, that he was interested in buying and that they were suitable for their market but would need to speak to his co-owner. We swapped contacts and he said he would contact me after speaking to his co-owner, but I think I might chase it up and email him the costs etc.
I feel that as they don't prodominately sell cards they will probably be sold by commission which is risky or I would have extras printed for outlets that would only want to buy a small selection as this will lower production fees and the added bonus of having my cards in as many outlets big or small is good for promotion purposes.
This portfolio visit was helpful in that I got feedback from someone who is selling in my market and that they were interested, it gave me another contact and also experience in showcasing my designs and initiating sales.
Portfolio Visit with Jensen Chadwick (American Graffiti)
I took my portfolio into American Graffiti in Affleck Palace and the off chance they might be interested in looking, and boy was Jensen!
She's setting up a shop in 2 weeks, after being a sales assistant for American Graffiti for 6 months and was looking for some stock.
I showed her my cards and she was really enthusiastic about all of them and was eager to exchange contacts.
She asked my how the rates would work and I told her I would sell the cards at £1.50 each with a minimum buy of 25 cards per design which would total in at £37.50, she said that she would take every card if it was commissioned based meaning I would only make a profit if a card sold. Commission rates of around 70%-30%. I told her I wouldn't possibly be able to take the risk of producing every single card based on commission, so I hope to sell about 12 designs to her at a fixed sell price of £450. (300 cards x £1.50) = (12 designs x 25 card). If she sold each card at £2.50 she would make a turnover of £750, totalling in £300 in profit.
She wasn't able to negotiate a price there and then because her business partner wasn't available, but she was eager to swap contact details so I will be contacting her Monday morning so discuss our options.
Overall it was a great portfolio visit and even if nothing materialises from it it's given me experience selling my work and given me an extra contact.
She's setting up a shop in 2 weeks, after being a sales assistant for American Graffiti for 6 months and was looking for some stock.
I showed her my cards and she was really enthusiastic about all of them and was eager to exchange contacts.
She asked my how the rates would work and I told her I would sell the cards at £1.50 each with a minimum buy of 25 cards per design which would total in at £37.50, she said that she would take every card if it was commissioned based meaning I would only make a profit if a card sold. Commission rates of around 70%-30%. I told her I wouldn't possibly be able to take the risk of producing every single card based on commission, so I hope to sell about 12 designs to her at a fixed sell price of £450. (300 cards x £1.50) = (12 designs x 25 card). If she sold each card at £2.50 she would make a turnover of £750, totalling in £300 in profit.
She wasn't able to negotiate a price there and then because her business partner wasn't available, but she was eager to swap contact details so I will be contacting her Monday morning so discuss our options.
Overall it was a great portfolio visit and even if nothing materialises from it it's given me experience selling my work and given me an extra contact.
Portfolio Visit with Paper Salad
I visited Paper Salad for a Portfolio Visit as they are in a similar industry to me and have also studied at Stockport College so we have similar backgrounds. I presented my Negotiated Project to them via Powerpoint and my Portfolio separate with card mock ups made to show the size and colour. There studio space was interesting to visit, they are based in Romily, Stockport in an industional estate set up with small buildings for businesses. Their building had lots of character located in a picturesque part of Romily, which I thought would be ideal for my own studio space as it had nice surroundings. At the front of their studio they had set up a shop, displaying all their products, while in the back they had 4 computers and a huge shelf ordering their many card designs.
I showed my Winged Creatures collection first via Powerpoint and they seemed a bit disappointed by them, they said that birds don't sell well in the card industry particularly Magpies as they are scary and if they were to send them to their agent they would have to do something completely different. I understand now after further backup of this opinion (from Karen Little) that Magpies don't sell well, but I don't agree that birds don't sell well in cards, I just think they shouldn't be the main focal point in the card and should be perhaps be smaller and part of a more detailed design.
Contray to this though they said that the birds that didn't look like Magpies were more appealing and looked friendlier and they liked the quirky slogans that were written on them, they also added that in terms of a uni project they were good designs with a good concept 'one sorrow, etc' and that uni is the only time you get to doing something really elaborate and out there as in a marketable industry, elaborate designs don't get commissioned.
After I showed my Victorian Era cards and they were much more appreciated, they could identify a market with them and found them quirky, humorous and ready to sell, particularly the Disney cards and told me to produce more cards in that style as they are popular at the moment.
They also liked the Symbollic Structure cards adding that the 'Black cards' are a popular design as well and reminded them of the 'I love NY' design and that the 'Playing card cards' were clever and hadn't been seen before.
They summerised with although good and that the colour and concept is niche I should think about my imagery more, as birds are popular in the card industry, that it should be niche but still commercial and that the alternative market might seem niche but is very commercial, which I hadn't thought of like that.
They added that if I wanted to be more commercial I should focus on colour such as pink and blue which are signifiers for genders.
They also said that the colours looked better on screen than the printed out mock ups, which can be rectified by calibrating.
Overall I think Paper Salad had some very helpful points, it was interesting to hear their opinion about the 'Winged Creatures' cards, as this is something I am going to bare in mind for further card designs, although I do think the design would sell on another products. I was happy to hear their feedback about the 'Victorian Era' cards and the 'Symbolic Structure' cards as it was a relief to hear I'd got some direction towards my market right. They also likened my work to the work of Alice Palace and Polite Cards, which is something to bare in mind when thinking about marketing.
I showed my Winged Creatures collection first via Powerpoint and they seemed a bit disappointed by them, they said that birds don't sell well in the card industry particularly Magpies as they are scary and if they were to send them to their agent they would have to do something completely different. I understand now after further backup of this opinion (from Karen Little) that Magpies don't sell well, but I don't agree that birds don't sell well in cards, I just think they shouldn't be the main focal point in the card and should be perhaps be smaller and part of a more detailed design.
Contray to this though they said that the birds that didn't look like Magpies were more appealing and looked friendlier and they liked the quirky slogans that were written on them, they also added that in terms of a uni project they were good designs with a good concept 'one sorrow, etc' and that uni is the only time you get to doing something really elaborate and out there as in a marketable industry, elaborate designs don't get commissioned.
After I showed my Victorian Era cards and they were much more appreciated, they could identify a market with them and found them quirky, humorous and ready to sell, particularly the Disney cards and told me to produce more cards in that style as they are popular at the moment.
They also liked the Symbollic Structure cards adding that the 'Black cards' are a popular design as well and reminded them of the 'I love NY' design and that the 'Playing card cards' were clever and hadn't been seen before.
They summerised with although good and that the colour and concept is niche I should think about my imagery more, as birds are popular in the card industry, that it should be niche but still commercial and that the alternative market might seem niche but is very commercial, which I hadn't thought of like that.
They added that if I wanted to be more commercial I should focus on colour such as pink and blue which are signifiers for genders.
They also said that the colours looked better on screen than the printed out mock ups, which can be rectified by calibrating.
Overall I think Paper Salad had some very helpful points, it was interesting to hear their opinion about the 'Winged Creatures' cards, as this is something I am going to bare in mind for further card designs, although I do think the design would sell on another products. I was happy to hear their feedback about the 'Victorian Era' cards and the 'Symbolic Structure' cards as it was a relief to hear I'd got some direction towards my market right. They also likened my work to the work of Alice Palace and Polite Cards, which is something to bare in mind when thinking about marketing.
Presentation to Karen Little
I presented my work to Karen Little, who works professionally in the interior design industry and has been quite successful. I was really looking forward to receiving feedback from someone who is currently in the industry and working freelance to see if she felt my work was marketable.
I explained who my work was intended for, why I was interested in that area, where my inspiration came from, how I researched, what I enjoyed about the project and what I thought were my own strengths and weakness about my project. I showed her my sketchbooks and themeboards to show how I got to the final products. I behaved enthusiasticly about my project as I feel really positive about it anyway but felt like it would be a good approach to keep Karen Little engaged with the presentation, which is an approach I'm considering using for my Critical Studies presentation as it seemed to go well.
Her feedback was really interesting, she told me that she liked the majority of the cards and could see herself buying some of the cards, which was reasurring. She said my market was quite clear and she said she could see them being marketable to the alternative market that I suggested. She pointed out that the magpie cards were very niche and that magpies don't sell well in the card industry but they would make good wall art which is something to consider. She also gave me her contact card and told me she has good contacts with Hallmark so I wanted to contact them she would forward on Hallmarks contacts. This is such a good contact to have, as there is no harm in booking a portfolio visit with their visual directors.
Further feedback said I held a very comprehensive and expressive presentation and explained my journey in 3 distinctive different areas that all worked well together as a collection.
I found the whole presentation really uplifting and positive as well as informative, with the added bonus of getting Hallmark as a contact. I'm extremely happy with my feedback.
I explained who my work was intended for, why I was interested in that area, where my inspiration came from, how I researched, what I enjoyed about the project and what I thought were my own strengths and weakness about my project. I showed her my sketchbooks and themeboards to show how I got to the final products. I behaved enthusiasticly about my project as I feel really positive about it anyway but felt like it would be a good approach to keep Karen Little engaged with the presentation, which is an approach I'm considering using for my Critical Studies presentation as it seemed to go well.
Her feedback was really interesting, she told me that she liked the majority of the cards and could see herself buying some of the cards, which was reasurring. She said my market was quite clear and she said she could see them being marketable to the alternative market that I suggested. She pointed out that the magpie cards were very niche and that magpies don't sell well in the card industry but they would make good wall art which is something to consider. She also gave me her contact card and told me she has good contacts with Hallmark so I wanted to contact them she would forward on Hallmarks contacts. This is such a good contact to have, as there is no harm in booking a portfolio visit with their visual directors.
Further feedback said I held a very comprehensive and expressive presentation and explained my journey in 3 distinctive different areas that all worked well together as a collection.
I found the whole presentation really uplifting and positive as well as informative, with the added bonus of getting Hallmark as a contact. I'm extremely happy with my feedback.
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