Category: Project Weekly

 

 

 

 

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Some basic elements of graphic design are:

symmetry: symetrical designs can vary in size and color, typography can still be engaging, is a strong choice despite the fact that symmetrical designs are traditional. Asymmetry is also possible in graphic design, it features designs that are balanced but irregular on opposing sides. It keeps the eyes intrigued, “energizes the page”. Either type of design should have movement and tension.

Scale: scale of objects or typography is relative to its context. It can surprise and create intrigue in the viewer if the scale is unexpeced. It can convey distance, differences, a message when contrasted…how do the elements of the page relate?

Framing: how do you direct the viewers eye using margins and borders? You can use a margin, bleed, partial bleed, or cropping. Cropping particularly can add intensity, drama, or change the way the viewer experiences the object – it could feel up close and personal or distant and mysterious. All framing tries to direct the viewer to concentrate on whats most important in the piece.

Visual hierarchy: this distinction of certain words or phrases by visual cues gives order to information. You establish the hierarchy in importance in phrases or words can be done by contrasting height and color, alignment, line space, indents, roman numerals or italics, horizontal or vertical, tone (shade of gray).

 

 

 

 

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WordPress Academy:
This class was very in-depth, I’d say the first few hours were relevant for my purposes but the later half was fairly advanced. It went over setup, dashboard, main menu, media library, templates and themes, setting up layout, submenus, text and dashboard options for posts, roles and capabilities, customizing profile options, adding videos and audio, controlling comments, adding users, adding pages, adding menus, using a logo, setting headers, using widgets and plugins, and then a lot of aspects using eCommerce, PHP and theme development, as well as using MAMP and other photo and theme websites for your wordpress.

Business Planning for Creatives: Write Your Business Plan
A business plan helps you define your business as well as your own goals, as well as secure a loan from a bank or investors. To make one, you start with answering some questions, like why does your business exist, what makes you different, whats your motivation/inspiration? Then, what your selling, figure out what your popular products or services are, what are the key things you will offer. You’ll need to figure out who your target market is (who are you trying to sell to in terms of age/budget/location/interests), how you will market on social media, through advertisements in magazines or online, promotional marketing? And what tags will you use on social media, when do you want to post and what kind of content? You’ll need to wrap up your business plan layout with some research and numbers – competitor research (how do you stand out, techniques similar companies use and what you can learn from that) and finances (initial costs of starting including materials and time, then ideal projections of your earnings in the short and long term).

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Brown, Faye. “Business Planning for Creatives: Write Your Business Plan and Elevator Pitch.” Skillshare. Skillshare, n.d. Web. 23 Apr. 2017. <https://www.skillshare.com/classes/Business-Planning-for-Creatives-Write-Your-Business-Plan-and-Elevator-Pitch/1141868303>.

“WordPress Academy: Master WordPress Step by Step.” Skillshare. Skillshare, n.d. Web. 15 Apr. 2017. <https://www.skillshare.com/classes/WordPress-Academy-Master-WordPress-step-by-step/175609084>.

The benefits of having a website through Squarespace are that you can build a website, have an online portfolio, sell products, without needing to know programming. It’s good for craft makers, artists, and small business owners and only takes 1-20 hours to set up (depending on the complexity). A good page is one that has a strong sense of brand, content thats updated often, and a nice design. Having a website in general is a great way to present yourself/your brand as it adds professionalism, helps keep customers up to date, and is something you can show to people on your phone when networking in person (especially if it is mobile friendly). You can make it a simple one page digital business card or complex. You want to have high quality photos and even behind-the-scenes videos. You can choose a theme that focuses on images, text, commerce, or a single page. Generally you have a few pages that you should have on your website. These are

About Me Page, where you have a summary of you/your company, important facts, imagery that gives a strong sense of you, your products, your space, a personal touch, kept simple!

Home Page: This is the first impression, where you have the best content because its imporant to draw people in on their first visit. You have a headline and description of what your website is representing. It’s clean, easy to navigate, has a logo.

Product Page: Show what you are offering through a gallery of high resolution phototographs with strong lighting, from various views and angles (multiple photos for each product!) Have your custom options and pricing clear.

Contact Page: Hours, map, email, phone number, address, all that someone would need to find you.

Latest Updates Page: Where you would have a blog, updates, stories, a calendar, events, your instagram or facebook feed, etc.

And finally you go through the site and make sure it is usable, easy to figure out, links work, and the menus arent confusing or overcrowded.

 

 

 

 

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This class had a lot of content, some of which was geared more towards people starting a tech corporation than anything else but it tied in well with the previous marketing and creative planning classes.
Vision: Great businesses don’t start with a grand vision. They begin with “therefore, what?”: asking questions like “how could something be better?” or “What if there was this new type of product?” start a company with innovative ideas. Then as time goes on, products get more complicated, new ideas and technologies come up, new needs, later the products are revised, and an empire is built slowly out of a question about what could or should be. Companies start better when its about more than just making money, they are more likely to spend their money with a company with meaning that they feel a connection to. The lecturer recommends that mission statements do not work, but mantras do: a few words to explain the company and the “why” about the company’s purpose for existing. This isn’t just for the external world but also for employees to understand what their company is about to its core. Planning: Don’t worry about your prototype being exactly perfect, get it out into the market and see what the consumer response is, don’t just do market research and wait it out. Most entrepreneurs are too attached to their original design/product and hesitant to develop it and edit it later. Don’t spend months on end figuring out the market, use “the 24 hour business planning rule” – you have 24 hours to map out the plan, then you go talk to the consumer base.
Minimum Viable Product (ship, then test. Get it out there, then test, then improve)
If products are disliked, don’t waste all your time and energy trying to fix them. Focus on what consumers do like, and improve them.
What’s the planning process? “Weave a MATT: Milestones Assumptions Tasks and Tests”
Milestones: Critical priorities that have to be focused on: figure out the big milestones you need to survive! Product releases, what is the price point, raise capital, hiring a team. Assumptions: Layout your assumptions and gather realistic evidence and test the assumptions. You assume a lot about how your business will succeed, how consumers will respond, what works and what doesnt in your business model, how the product performs, how sales will work, the advertising budget, whats the international market, whatever. Tasks: Theres a lot of tasks needed to start a company. They need to be assigned to the right people. Taxes, renting the space, insurance, etc Tests: Test product, test employees, test market, test customers, continue to improve. Launching: People make decisions on emotion, not rationally. Buying is an emotional process. You need to have a story that reaches people, touches them. Your relationship with your customer is about how the products change people, “what makes your company loveable?” Find the middle ground between the statistics of your product and creating a sense of wonder, excitement, inspiration in your customer. When it comes to new technology, sectors, products, you have to plant seeds with a lot of different people across the market and then focus on who responds, and put your money and energy into those groups. Embrace small businesses or little known media people instead of waiting to be one in a long list of products or companies on a better known person or businesses’ website. Most people don’t learn from their mistakes until theyve reached failure, but instead you should try to understand how you could fail using a scenario (like, the new product was poorly received) and figure out what theoretically went wrong, and what the response should be. This could give new insight into the weaknesses in the company or launch or product, and get people to think proactively instead of idealistically. Lecturer refers to this as a “pre-mortem”.
Fundraising: “Is venture capital the right path for my company? Is my company venture fundable?” Venture capital is a unique form of funding with specific requirements: high-growth company, you have to be turning into into a very high-grossing company quickly. The best way to build a company is through revenues (ideally) Corporate partnerships, grants, personal money are alternatives to venture capital. If you have investors, your vision needs to align with theirs. You have to get the details right when you set up your company before getting funding. Have people know their roles. Protect your intellectual property and understand patent filings. Theres a difference between a visionary and a business-minded person, an investor is looking for someone business-minded. Hire a lawyer that understands business. Get your team together: you need to have a team that is “fundable”, you can’t just be an individual with an idea. Have a team with different perspectives and experience. Just like you need to emotionally connect with customers, you need to emotionally connect with investors as well. Its usually uncomfortable for entrepeanurs to ask for money and takes a very long time with a lot of meetings, so again you have to figure out if its right for you or your company.
Pitching to Investors: Set the stage by preparing, come to your meeting with all the supplies you can, look confident, have a one minute explanation of yourself and what your company does, not an entire life story! Lecturer says he looks for a 10/20/30 rule for a powerpoint: 10 slides, 20 minute presentation, 30 pt font. Keep it short and basic. Whats your business model, product plan, etc The large text is so that you don’t have a lot of text and you don’t read directly from the slides which is unprofessional and unfortunate, and so that everyone can read what your slide says! Take notes during your meeting then summarize it at the end to understand what happened in the meeting. Be quiet and listen, let the metting flow. Better yet give a great speech and have a working model and do it without a powerpoint!
Socializing: Build a social media platform for your company – free ad space. This is to promote. How do you post? Brief posts work best, find the best time of day to post, post fairly frequently. Have a good quality photo or video with each post to attract attention. Lecturer uses the example of NPR as a great media presence, that provides mostly great, interesting content and occasional promotional content.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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