Monday 13 June 2011

Result

So we ended up selling 12 out of the 20 t shirts we had. We bought each t shirt for £5 and sold them on for £10 a piece. This gave us a total profit of £20, which although is not the biggest amount in the world is good for a few days rush. The problem was getting Jill to approve our final design, this took longer than originally planned, so we never had much time to sell.

We have picked up more orders since then, which is good and means we do have the right product and have thought about this well. Even though we could not get our original idea off the ground (the portfolio website) we did learn the basics of business and what is needed to efficiently create a product and sell it. For such a big group we had a good plan of action, and strategy for us to work out what research was needed and how to implement our findings in our own product.

I personally see it takes a lot to get something out of nothing, theres so much to consider but when working in a group or with a partner, where two heads are better than one, things happen easier. It has been good to know I could rely on my group members to efficiently carry out the relevant and reliable research.

Thursday 9 June 2011

T shirt poster

Here is the quick poster I had to make for us to start selling. There was not much time for me to conceptualise the design, so this was more of a get it done asap job. I think the poster gets the point across, I thought it should be clear and easily able to sell our product. The group saw it and were happy so everything was ok.

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Friday 3 June 2011

Website and t shirts

So with time running out and a lot still to be done for the website, the group has come to the conclusion we will not be able to get the site fully finished, up and running before the deadline. We have decided it is a product for the future, which we first need to raise funds for. I personally think this is a wise choice. So after a few group meetings and a lot of back and forth on our facebook group, we have concluded the best way to raise money is through selling t-shirts. We have got some designs in progress, now its just a case of meeting with Jill Hogan and getting her approval.

*Update* Jill has said that the t-shirt needs a few tweaks in term of design, as we altered the Ravensbourne brand too much.

*Update Two* Second meeting with Jill who has now given the greenlight. We are going to start selling straight away. The plan is to get 20shirts for £5 each and sell them on for a profit.

More Poster Designs

Here are some more poster designs. I started using orange in my designs as it is a bold and intense colour, and contrasts well with black/white. My favourite of the lot is the bottom poster, as its very bold and the contrast is strong, working well.




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Poster Designs

For my poster designs I went with quite a simple approach. I wanted them to be bold and contrast well, so I used a minimum combination of colours and made sure they contrasted well in order to catch the eye of the passer bye. I was inspired by the bold, clean style of Ravensbourne, its all so clean cut and new, I thought this should somehow be incorporated into the posters.

I also thought they should not be very cluttered, just straight to the point. So I ended up using just the name for a number of them. I think they turned out well.




Name change

A lot has happened recently, we have had to change our name because apparently 'The Third Network' already exists. How this escaped our research team I am not sure but none the less, after much back and forth between the group members, we have all come to the conclusion that the best name out of the batch we have is 'The Third Nexus'. I think this name is ok, sounds like its defo something from the future, which works well. The next step is to get some poster designs made and see what the group thinks.

More logo concept designs

Here are some more designs I did where I experimented a little more with the 3D and futuristic look. I personally like the cuboid typefaces as they kind of promote that idea of working in 3dimensions and looking at things from all possible angles.

Logo concept designs

Here are some logo designs and different font types we could possibly use for our site. I tried to stick with simple, clean cut fonts as well as something a little different. I also tried out a few sci fi ish fonts as it gives off that feeling of being brand new and about the future.

Logo Designs

Here are some logo designs I did in 3D using Maya. They were made in Maya and then tweaked in Photoshop. I showed these to the group and they liked them a lot, which I am glad about. I went for a metallic, sleek look to promote that futuristic/modern look. Next up is to keep conceptualising some more designs.


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Branding Next up

Since having the meeting and pitching our idea to the tutors, I have now been asked to work on the branding side of things alongside other members of the group. I am to first come up with the designs for the website logo, and then move onto posters.

My role

My Role

Promotion & Partnerships

Seeing as the website is entirely digital, the best way of getting our website out there and known is to utilise the student network via online/social networking and a small promo team based inside of the university building to help establish a presence.

We can use the major social networking sites to easily and rapidly get the students at Ravensbourne hooked up together. Examples being:

· Facebook

· Twitter

· Linked in

Creating online groups on sites such as Facebook will easily bring the student body together as it is such a widely used networking site.

Getting our website connected and associated with the official Ravensbourne site is also key. Seeing as one of our unique selling points is the fact we are bringing together and exclusively showcasing the work of Ravensbourne students, it is essential that we get this point across when advertising the site. If we are able to get our website’s link up on moodle and possibly the main Ravensbourne website, then we are attracting the attention of both our target markets; the first being the students whom we need to sign up and showcase work (with moodle being a service every student uses on a daily basis, it is ideal for promoting our product) and the second being everyone else (whether its production companies, studios or anyone looking to see what Rave has to offer).

If we can utilise the universities’ name and facilities like this, we will be able to create an effective flow and influx of visitors and users. Of course getting the university to allow this might not be the easiest case, but speaking to the right people is essential. This kind of opportunity would benefit everyone as at the end of the day, it is all about the students and showcasing Rave talent.

With the online promotion easily bound to bring our site to the attention of students, it would also be best to have a small team of 2-3 who are based inside the university building, perhaps once a week in a set location or a team that scouts around inside the building handing out promotional material. The team could be armed with business cards, leaflets and flyers which advertised the website, speaking to students and raising awareness. Having banners and posters placed in key locations throughout the building will be extremely effective in catching people’s eye.

Having a stall at the end of year degree show promoting our site is also an ideal opportunity to branch out to potential employers and let them explore the wealth of student work that will be on the site. Having a few PC/Macs available to run the site throughout the event could be just as handy, providing all visitors with a quick way of accessing the website.

Once the site is up and running, getting potential employers to be aware of the site will be extremely important, so getting the right people at uni as well as ourselves to email studios and professionals will be detrimental to the success of the site in terms of helping the students who use our site a chance with kick starting their careers.

Friday 27 May 2011

E & E Begins

When the brief was first introduced to us, I did not have a clear idea of what to do. I was thinking of grouping up with a couple of friends and perhaps sell some cakes/cupcakes but I quickly realised this would involve a lot of time and being in our final year, working on short films, this was not an option.

Talking with classmates the other day we all started speaking about how there is no specialised portfolio/network for the final year students. We then all decided we should group together and create a site which is exclusively for final year Ravensbourne students, which would allow individuals to sign up and display their work. It would be a good platform for students to showcase their work to the rest of the uni as well as those outside, i.e potential employers.

In order for us to make a profit we would need to charge for this service, we decided there would be a joining fee, which once paid grants the user their own personal page on which they could display their work and have a brief summary about them. I mentioned that one of the biggest CG portfolio sites (www.cgsociety.org) has two models, a free version which lets everyone and anyone make a portfolio on the site, and then theres a premium version which you need to pay for but it does give access to customising the page and allows the user to host up more work. Our site would work similarly, except there would be no free version as we would not be able to make a profit, or keep the site maintained.