When I first started this project, I never thought I would have been able to create a fully fleshed out fake company. After creating my timeline, I looked at it and got anxious and thought I would definitely have to cut some extras. At the end of this project, I have completely exceeded my expectations for the amount of different collateral and I have been able to expand the required collateral.

The idea I settled with was a Tattoo Parlour that also sells donuts. You can tell I really wanted to be as original as possible. I felt ill at the idea of having to create a cafe. I wanted to push myself and try my hardest to do something no one else has done. I knew that if I chose a cafe then it would have been so easy because the majority of previous students has chosen that so there would be a lot of examples.

My biggest obstacle was creating the Ink and Icing logo. I created about 30 different sketches of logos with names like "Cupcakes Inkorporated" and "Sugar Stamps". I had a very clear vision of what I wanted exactly and pushed it to its limit. What I ended up with was exactly what I wanted but I absolutely hated it. This drove me crazy. I knew I had to push away previous conceptions of what I wanted and take a completely different angle. I decided to try 30 different fonts and 5 different splats. I narrowed them down slowly and asked the opinion of everyone around me. What I ended up with was perfect and suited the company better than I could have imagined.

I am lucky that this company was my idea and wasn't for a client. I had the luxury to redo the logo. When it comes to professional clients you have a very strict time frame and need to hit the mark as fast as you can. In the future I think I will explore all my options first and not fully create the first idea I think is the best.

One of the most important lessons I have learnt from this project is never underestimate the time it takes to try something new. For this project I wanted to try two new things, foiling and complex packaging design. Both of these have taken up the majority of my time because I needed to use the cutting machine that also required registration marks.

I have only made one project with packaging in the past but it was pretty simple box. I thought this experience would allow me to create something a lot more complex and not run into too many difficulties. After many trial and errors of printing and cutting, I managed to get a very well created product. I learnt that I need to set aside more time for experimentation and always start things as early as you can because there is literally no disadvantages, you just gain more time to make it perfect.

Overall this project went really well and I was able to create a very professional product. I am really happy with how my project went. If you would like to read and see more, click the links below:

Ink and Icing Commercial

This trimester I have completely stepped up my project Management abilities. I have learnt a bunch of new tools and have been able to manage a group of eleven people using these new skills.

For my own personal projects I decided to use Trello (a list based management) and Teamweek (a Gantt Chart/Timeline).

These both worked very well for me because I could visualise my time and understand what needed to be completed when in relation to other projects. They both kept me on track very well. At time I felt like I was falling behind but I knew that if I just relied on the timeline that I would get to the last week with completely everything and I have done exactly that.

For my group project that is carrying on for next trimester, I am the project manager. I am completely and solely in charge of managing the group as a whole and each individual person. For this I have learnt different add ons for Trello, games asset lists and a web program called Hack n Plan.

Ink and Icing Style Guide is one of the most in depth logo based Style Guides I have ever done. The reason for this is because my company has a very large selection of logos for different layouts and situations. Style Guides can be as big or as small as you want but you need to know that people are heavily relying on them.

5 C’s of Marketing

5 C’s of Marketing are used to analyze the five key areas that are involved in marketing decisions for a company. They are a good guideline to make the right decisions, and construct a well-defined marketing plan and strategy.

Customer:

Link to Marketing Personas

Company:

Competition:

Our biggest competition would be Westside Tattoo because they are in the same location and have been around since 1998. They are most likely more experienced and have a very good reputation.

Second biggest competition would be largely commercialised donut companies like Krispy Kreme and Donut Time. They have the budget to afford a lot of advertising and have a very good reputation.

Collaborators:

My company does not have any third party help for distribution or supply. The only thing would be a good social media presence and hopefully the community would increase our notoriety.

Context:

At this point in time a PEST analysis couldnt be properly formed because we are not a real company.

Porter's Five Forces

The Porter's Five Forces is a simple but powerful tool for understanding where power lies in your company. This is useful, because it helps you understand both the strength of your current competitive position, and the strength of a position you're considering moving into. With a clear understanding of where the power lies, you can take advantage of your situation and avoid taking wrong steps. Conventionally, it is used for identifying id new products, services or businesses have the potential to be profitable. 

Budget

I have created a budget for my fake company based on my current skill set and the price of printing and advertisement.

It makes a lot of sense that printing would cost the most but my estimates are for bulk buying for the long term and should hopefully not be a very regular occurrence. I think the most expensive item would be the Video Advertisement because I only estimated my time spent on it and didn't include how much it would cost to film it with a professional crew instead of a free team of students. In 2009, the Kauffmann Foundation estimated that the average start-up cost for businesses was approximately $30,000. Therefore, I think that $25,055 is a quite reasonable price for a professionally established company that includes advertising and merchandise.

Non-disclosure Agreement

A non-disclosure agreement (NDA) is used to safeguard a business’s confidential information. This document is used when one or both parties in a relationship wish to disclose confidential information. It ensures that the person or organisation who has access, does not disclose it to any third party without the consent of the business. 

I have encountered agreements like this twice during my career as a graphic designer. During this current project I had my actors sign a Talent Release form so they couldn’t have their image removed from the final product. A few months ago I created a contact that mentioned a NDA in the favour of the client because I knew they wouldn’t want me telling their competitors what I could possibly learn by working on their project.

I believe non-disclosure agreements are very important so that both parties know their duties and privileges.

Getting advice and having your peers give their impression about your work is very important. I was able to get a decent amount of feedback through a gallery walk and through a survey.

The gallery walk wasn't very helpful because the only feedback I got was positive. This is awesome and definitely improves my overall confidence but I would have loved some critical deconstruction of my choices.

I got this result more in my survey because I asked specific questions to get people thinking and deconstruct what I wanted an impression of. I got 10 responses from people with different levels of exposure to my work. Here are each of the questions and the results:

Most people were surprised of my company combination but once they knew what it was the thought the branding fit it perfectly and the two ideas contrast well. The one thing it has helped me improve is my social media. I need to fill it out with fake photos so it provides context and looks like a real social media page. The only exception was one person who couldn't read the logo and got confused but they understood it once they saw more of the collateral. I am very excited to continue finishing up this project with all the positive feedback I have received.

As part of our Creative Advertising Project we were tasked to create an on brand commerical for our fake company. To do this we needed to create a story board pitch for film students to work with and understand. 

This is what I came up with:

Pitch:

Storyboards:

Lighting Asthetic:

Being a project manager is very stressful and takes up a lot of your time by just talking and organising things. If you don't do everything correctly then you won't end up with an amazing product. I am very happy with the end result of my commercial.

Making my commercial for Ink and Icing was probably the most overwhelming thing I have ever done. Working with a team of nine people came with a lot of dependencies and organisation. There were a lot of steps to get from an idea to the final product.

Here a list of the steps in order from start to end:

Come up with idea

Story board idea

Make pitch for film and audio students

Acquire film students

Choose where, when and how to film it

Book equipment

Organise actors

Organise props

Organise donuts

Film commercial

Make first edit of commercial

Give edit to composer for music

Complete video edit of commercial

Create animation

Implement animation

Send to composer for new timing

Send commercial and music to foley guy

Re edit video with new sound

Export

The hardest part was definitely communicating with that many team members and letting each group know what was going on and what I needed from others before they could do their job. It was very stressful even though it felt like I wasn’t doing very much.

Also at the end of the project it was up to me to finish editing the video because I needed to implement my animated logo. I had to completely learn two new software’s that I had never used before. It was very difficult and probably took me a lot longer than someone else who actually knew the software.

Overall working with this team was a really good experience. It has definitely taught me a lot which will prepare me for next trimester when I need to look after eleven people. It has also allowed me to use these connections in the future for my final product!

A marketing persona is a composite sketch of a key segment of your audience. For content marketing purposes, you need personas to help you deliver content that will be most relevant and useful to your audience.

The Target Audience for a Tattoo Parlor and Donut shop is pretty broad. There isn’t much of an age restriction and it isn’t gender specific.

I decided to chose three different groups of people with varying amounts of income and frequency to my company.

What is Sustainability?

Sustainability is a dynamic process which enables people to realise their potential and improve their quality of life in ways which simultaneously protect and enhance the earth's life support systems.

The graphic design industry draws on energy, water, paper, inks, solvents and packaging. Designers make decisions that 'lock-in' potential environmental impacts associated with the life cycle of their designs. Eco design is a way of minimising the impacts of graphic design on the environment.

subgreendesign

How I can implement sustainability into my projects:

Spend extra and use recycled materials

Go digital when possible

Only print the necessary amount

Smart design that uses most of the page

Chose local printing options to reduce transport footprint

Create a reason for it not to be throw out

Cast Iron Design

“Environmentally responsible design is an emerging discipline with many different labels, such as green design, sustainable design, and eco design. Our method encompasses rethinking how we approach the design of physical goods (including questioning their necessity) and thoroughly researching materials, processes, and emerging technologies in order to understand their environmental footprint. This accumulated knowledge and experience guides our decisions, resulting in a smaller environmental footprint without necessitating concessions in cost or quality. Furthermore, we aim to share what we’ve learned with our peers in the industry through documentation of our projects (as demonstrated in the sustainability segments), written articles, lectures, and physical goods.”

Huckle & Goose

My favourite project of theirs is Huckle & Goose. It is a company that is centered around enabling, educating, and inspiring people to cook and eat consciously. Cast Iron Design created a press kit made out of fully recyclable and eco friendly printing which also incorporates a design for second use.