End of Year Report

This project has been inspired by Iconic imagery and Retro games. I'd researched into what sells in and around the Northern Quarter and it seemed a popular subject. I wanted to really push myself in terms of the number of designs so I went for 46 designs in total. 24 cards, 6 gift wraps, 6 gift bags, 6 gift tags and 4 t-shirts. I originally intended to produce 2 t-shirts and 2 sweatshirts but after sampling on the sweatshirts I found the designs didn't take to the fabric well aswell as the designs not sitting right on the bulk of the jumper. The designs concept worked much better on a smaller garment and on a stark white cotton as it made the design stand out more.

I enjoyed putting together the greeting cards as I did in the last project and feel I have kept a flow in the range of cards, something backed up in portfolio visits. I also enjoyed the gift wraps, I developed a concept for the gift wraps that they would be inspired by the patterned fashion garments worn by women in the alternative market. In a questionnaire I'd sent out to 30+ people the majority of guys said they prefer a gift bag to a gift wrap, while the girls preferred to gift wrap.
The gift bags hold a much more masculine style than the wraps but I think I've designed the gift bags to suit both genders, while the gift wrap does look more predominately feminine.

I found the gift bags a struggle to design, despite again liking the concept. The concept for the gift bags were that they had enough purpose other than to just carry presents. They could be dismantled and play with, while two of them had geometric shapes within the designs, inspired by kaleidoscopes and board games. A problem I didn't oversee was how the design would look once made into a gift bag and so I'm not entirely happy with the finished product. I also had to work out the maths in producing a gift bag net, not necessarily my strong put and it was very time consuming and frustrating, but I managed to come up with a net I felt happy with that had a a front as wide as I could get it so that I could get as much design on show as possible. I chose black ribbon because I felt that the colour black brought the designs together coherently, while breaking up the masculine qualities making it hopefully more broader the market.

The gift tags were an assortment of all the motifs I'd used in all of my designs. This was because a gift tag is never bought alone, it is to compliment either a gift bag or gift wrap. I layered all the motifs on an A2 sheet and cut into selected areas to create the tags, the colours and pattern hopefully have an obvious link between the bags and wraps.

For market research for this project as I mentioned before I conducted a public survey, I wanted to see if there was any surprising data I hadn't realised before and there actually was. One of the questions asked was 'What is the most amount of money you'd spend on a card' surprisingly to me the average amount of money the public would spend was 4 pound if the style and design of the card was strong enough. I thought this amount would of been much lower and with an average buy of 1 card a month per person this have been pleasing figures.

For this project I'd devised a day-to-day time plan, but I found it really hard to stick to and some of the days would get mixed up, I found myself getting behind in the schedule and it became a worry, but I got back on track until the last week. Each job I'd planned to do in the last week took much longer than anticipated, despite allocating time for any mishaps. Printing contact sheets and visualisations took a whole day longer because of the enormous queues and it stalled 3 times for various reasons such as ink changes. I didn't have time to print out one of my visualisations because of this, but I have put it on my digital portfolio. I also regrettably ran out of time to print out the questionnaire results, though I do have them on my computer so I can always refer to them in new projects.

For this project I feel I have strong concepts in my designs and feel I have done well with creativity and technicalities as I've done a lot of research and been to my portfolio visits, but I'm disappointed in the professionalism in my work, particularly the gift bags and secondary research sheets. Though I do like the professional finish on the cards, wraps and tags. I'm considering having the gift bags re-made by a professional printers as I don't like the alinement on the ones I created.

I have learnt so much from my time on the Surface Design pathway, my creative ability and enjoyment of concepts have soared and I see a direction in career I wish to take. I've enjoyed learning about the industry and making contacts and I feel excited and ready to take on new challenges. I plan to attend a workshop in business advice, I'm hoping this will give me answers to issues I have with trading and copyright and then I plan to fully go into trading.
I'm currently talking to Ceri-Ann Brown, co-owner of Livid Thorn, in collaborating with her in a new business and I plan to work with her as well as pushing Paperandfrock.
I also have the project with The Peoples History Museum to look forward to and I'm excited about the year ahead.

Portfolio Viewing - The Retro Games Shop

I contacted the Retro Games Shop in Manchester for feedback on my retro game inspired cards. They seemed pretty interested to look at them even though they weren't already selling any, and told me to email them small res files. I've decided to just email for feedback instead of selling my work because I want to complete a workshop with information on business and trading before a pursue this.

The response I got was generally positive and it has encouraged me to want to pursue contact with other subject related stores.
Carla Brown, owner said:

- Retro computer game theme cards were strong and linked the subject

- Colours worked coherently with the subject and era

- Humorous and bold

- I'd created a flowing range

- Enjoyed the visuals and creative style

- Currently not in the position to buy

It was reasurring to know from someone that is so passionate about retro products that she liked them. Positive feedback like this pushes me to aim for bigger retro stores around the country, but I will need this business workshop under my belt so I've more understanding about what it is like to be in the position of trade. I thanked Carla Brown for my feedback as it has given me confidence in my card range.

Portfolio Viewing - MADE Afflecks Palace

I visited MADE in Afflecks Palace as I'd heard it was a new boutique. Yenna sells revived vintage clothing, handmade bags, accessories, greeting cards and postcards, under the label Yenna (also her name). The shop itself markets itself into the gift industry and I thought this combined with it being newly opened was ideal for a portfolio viewing as Yenna would have a lot of interest in looking at new designers work, but the opportunity to collaborate with.


Yenna was really approachable and eager to look at my designs. She was really enthusiastic looking through the range and like previous portfolio visits commented on how they were humorous. She said the styling was eye catching because the colours are bold, which she said was a good characteristic to have because it would keep a consumers interest in the shop which I thought was an interesting theory. She liked the styling of my bird cards (above) but I'm still considering putting these cards into a different product and we discussed how they'd make cute cushions or purses without the typing "one for sorrow" etc, see above with no text. I think this would work well and would have some qualities about them which would sell better as cushions and purses are a much more personal purchase.


I didn't show my unsuccessful cards, such as the cross cards (above), as I think they pull my portfolio down and I wouldn't want to knock any confidence a retailer would have in my work, so the feedback was generally positive.
We talked about figures and costs the breakdown of these costs are: to buy 12 designs with a minimum buy of 25 cards per design totalling in 300 cards would cost her £450 if I sold them to her at £1.50 each. If she then sold them on for £2.50, she'd make a turnover profit of £750 and a net profit of £300.

I can't reduce these figures as it currently costs me too much to print them, but I'm hoping with the help from Janneke Geene, I'll be able to establish contact and a print run from a company with more reasonable print prices.

I think these figures seems a little off putting for Yenna as she told me she'd think about it, but we swapped contact details and I'll contact her again soon. At the moment making a sale isn't my mine priority as I want to attend a workshop funded by Blue Orchid to get information on how to write up a written contract, copyright issues and general business knowledge so that I don't end up in any trouble. After I've attended that I'll feel much more comfortable in making sales, in the mean time I just really appreciate any positive feedback I receive as it makes me feel as if my designs are pursuing the market they are intended for. It was a good experience as always and I've gained another contact who may be interested in collaborating or trading business.