This week we were to look at possible progression routes when we finish our courses at university. I am currently studying a BA (Hons) in Graphic Communication. We are to look into the possibility of going into employment or going onto complete a post graduate course such as a PHD or MA.
First I am going to look into possible career paths that I could take from completing the course at CCAD. With careers I also need to take into consideration my likelihood to move further afield in my search for employment, rather than staying local. Where is best for employment? What are living costs like? There is many things that need to be considered on top of the career. I am more than likely to look at employment after the 3 year course, unless there is potential for advancing further through a post graduate course. In addition to being employed by someone, I could go self-employed. However this is highly unlikely as I do not believe it is suiting to the role I want in the design industry. I would prefer to be a part of a team and be given some slight direction. I would possibly consider looking at becoming self-employed if good opportunities came up after I have gained vital experience first off.
If I was to go into employment I would like to see myself working in Advertising and for a smaller agency where they have less restrictions in design and more creative freedom.
Moving onto the possibility of a post graduate course. I am also considering going on to complete my Masters Degree in Graphic Design once I complete the course I am currently studying. Possible employers could single you out for having more qualifications. However in addition to that I believe it is not really so much about the grades/qualifications you have anymore. Obviously they want you to know how to use certain programs/machines, they mainly look at your work and you over any grades. This is where I am questioning if I should complete a post graduate course.
In addition to this a Masters Degree will only be one year extra, so it is probably worth doing. I could also look at moving to a location which is thriving with design and more career possibilities are available, if I complete a Masters Degree.
On completion of my current course I really need to make sure that my portfolio is as best as I can possibly make it, to be ready for whatever I want to pursue afterwards.
Friday, 17 April 2015
Copyright
This week we were shown about copyright and how many designers are effected by people breaching it. The Intellectual Copyright Law is there to protect us designers from having work either stolen or passed off as someone else's. Some people do not understand that if you have an idea, this cannot be protected and you have no copyright for the idea, whereas if you actually create the idea and make it into something physical, whether it be something you can touch or something created digitally. If someone wants to use your work then you are allowed to either sell them the rights to use your work, or the ownership of the work. It is good to know that you are able to buy and sell Intellectual property. Just remember that copyright is an automatic right which you do not have to undergo any processes in applying for it. However you can apply to have your work further protected through registering it online. You can register your work to be protected through the gov.uk website.
It is only possible to take legal action up against somebody if your work has been further protected, which there will be a fee to do so. There is 5 different types of Intellectual Property Protection:
You would think that copyright of something lasts forever, even after your death. But this is untrue, as the copyright over your designs lasts a further 70 years, to which it is then able to be used by anyone for whatever they want, they can pass the work of as being their own. One way to get around this would be to sell the Intellectual Property Rights to someone else, then only they can say that it is their property. I would rather do that than have a stranger saying something they have copied or stolen of mine is their own.
I am going to look at a case where an artists work has passed the 70 year time frame after their death and people have began to copy the works for their own benefits. This case study is between an artist called John Tenniel and the company called Whittard's. John Tenniel was an illustrator who created illustrations of Alice In Wonderland. Below you can see the exact depiction of his illustrations whihc have been used in the creation of a tea set. There is nothing that anybody can do about it, other than watch Whittard's sell the tea set and make money from John Tenniel's design.
Above you can see how they have just stolen the exact illustrations and placed the design onto something.
If more information is required to do with copyright, look up the copyright sections of the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988.
References:
[1]https://www.gov.uk/intellectual-property-an-overview/protect-your-intellectual-property
[2]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/69/Alice_par_John_Tenniel_25.png/629px-Alice_par_John_Tenniel_25.png
[3]http://www.whittard.co.uk/tea/type/black-tea/english-breakfast-tea/alice-in-wonderland-drink-me-tea-selection.htm
It is only possible to take legal action up against somebody if your work has been further protected, which there will be a fee to do so. There is 5 different types of Intellectual Property Protection:
- Patents
Inventions and products, eg machines and machine parts, tools, medicines
- Trade Marks
Product names, Logos, Jingles
- Design Right (Automatic)
Shapes of objects
- Copyright (Automatic)
Literary works (including writing), art, photography, films, TV, music, web content, sound recordings
- Registered Designs
You would think that copyright of something lasts forever, even after your death. But this is untrue, as the copyright over your designs lasts a further 70 years, to which it is then able to be used by anyone for whatever they want, they can pass the work of as being their own. One way to get around this would be to sell the Intellectual Property Rights to someone else, then only they can say that it is their property. I would rather do that than have a stranger saying something they have copied or stolen of mine is their own.
I am going to look at a case where an artists work has passed the 70 year time frame after their death and people have began to copy the works for their own benefits. This case study is between an artist called John Tenniel and the company called Whittard's. John Tenniel was an illustrator who created illustrations of Alice In Wonderland. Below you can see the exact depiction of his illustrations whihc have been used in the creation of a tea set. There is nothing that anybody can do about it, other than watch Whittard's sell the tea set and make money from John Tenniel's design.
 |
| Figure 2, John Tenniel Illustration |
 |
| Figure 3, Whittard Tea Collection |
If more information is required to do with copyright, look up the copyright sections of the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988.
References:
[1]https://www.gov.uk/intellectual-property-an-overview/protect-your-intellectual-property
[2]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/69/Alice_par_John_Tenniel_25.png/629px-Alice_par_John_Tenniel_25.png
[3]http://www.whittard.co.uk/tea/type/black-tea/english-breakfast-tea/alice-in-wonderland-drink-me-tea-selection.htm
Friday, 2 January 2015
The Consumer
The consumer is the final user of the end product. The definition for the consumer is, 'The one who pays, to consume the goods and services produced'. The consumer is getting harder and harder to provide for as they become more particular in their needs. Social media and the internet is a great way to convince the consumer into thinking they need something, rather than them just wanting it. As a designer I need to remember that my job is to create something that the consumer will 'need' rather than something that 'I want'. The idea is to make the consumer believe that they need whatever you create, which is where clever advertising and marketing comes into the picture. With the advancements of technology, has come the advancement of advertising and marketing, it's everywhere. Around 30% of total television viewing time is taken up by Advertising Commercials, rather than the program you intend to be watching.
In today's design world you need to be very up to date with consumer needs, or even better, a few steps ahead. You will need to understand what they are looking for in something so you can create what they are looking for. For example if you know the consumer is looking for a fun household appliance, you will look at your competition and think how can I make this appliance look more fun to the consumer. The consumer is looking for fun, so if you give them fun then they are going to buy and consume it. Target audiences are getting more and more diverse, there is many different target audiences now. It was just primarily gender and age ranges for target audience, but in today's world it is also based on different groups within society.
The consumer is basically the end part of a chain. For example if you were printing a poster to advertise a film there would be a particular chain to get to the end point (The Consumer). It would start with the client who commissions a design house to create the poster. The design house would then contact one of their designers/illustrators to create the work. The work would then be checked over and sent off for printing. Then finally the poster would be displayed for the consumer to digest. As a designer I am just one part of the chain, but without the designer, the chain would not be complete and the consumer would never be reached.
As a consumer myself I am part of the younger male student demographic. I will be targeted as a student through shops such as 'Topman', 'Footasylum' and 'Schuh' offering student discount. They are catering for my demographic by understanding the money constraints we face, therefore they offer further discounts on their products. I often use my student discount to purchase things, which has probably saved me hundreds of pounds.
In today's design world you need to be very up to date with consumer needs, or even better, a few steps ahead. You will need to understand what they are looking for in something so you can create what they are looking for. For example if you know the consumer is looking for a fun household appliance, you will look at your competition and think how can I make this appliance look more fun to the consumer. The consumer is looking for fun, so if you give them fun then they are going to buy and consume it. Target audiences are getting more and more diverse, there is many different target audiences now. It was just primarily gender and age ranges for target audience, but in today's world it is also based on different groups within society.
The consumer is basically the end part of a chain. For example if you were printing a poster to advertise a film there would be a particular chain to get to the end point (The Consumer). It would start with the client who commissions a design house to create the poster. The design house would then contact one of their designers/illustrators to create the work. The work would then be checked over and sent off for printing. Then finally the poster would be displayed for the consumer to digest. As a designer I am just one part of the chain, but without the designer, the chain would not be complete and the consumer would never be reached.
As a consumer myself I am part of the younger male student demographic. I will be targeted as a student through shops such as 'Topman', 'Footasylum' and 'Schuh' offering student discount. They are catering for my demographic by understanding the money constraints we face, therefore they offer further discounts on their products. I often use my student discount to purchase things, which has probably saved me hundreds of pounds.
Publishing
I am going to look into the Publishing Industry, which in the UK is worth a very surprising £4.5 billion. The UK book industries turnover from exports far exceeds that of TV, Music and even Film. This seems quite strange to me due to the fact that most books are now available to read online, on tablets or mobile phones as e-books. One area is the General/Consumer Groups which produces a mass market of paper books and covers around 60% of Industry sales in the UK. This area of the industry produce the best selling Fiction and Non-Fiction books.
One example of a company within this area of the Industry is 'Penguin'. Penguin is known as being one of the biggest and most successful book publishers in the UK, and potentially even in the World. Penguin recently became part of a bigger network of publishers through joining together with 'Random House' in 2013 to create 'Penguin Random House', and it has much more publishers worldwide through this. Penguin work with many different agencies and authors to create their Fiction and Non-Fiction Books ready for publishing.
You should be familiar with the phrase, 'Don't judge a book by it's cover'. However as a designer you need to read the book and create the front cover based on what you have read. Therefore you should judge a book by it's cover. The front cover is very important on a book as its the first thing the consumer will see. They will instantly decide if they like or dislike the book purely on the look of the front cover. They have to have the right typography, colours and imagery to attract the right target audience. For example if you have a fictional book about flying elephants, you would realise that the target audience is likely to be for younger children, therefore you would use fun bright colours that would engage the younger children. A boring cover that is just black and white would not attract any attention from the target audience.
The Small Press. These are just what you think, small publishing companies. They are just like the big companies, but they are independent and have more daring ways of production and they have slightly more creative freedom. Their client lists won't be huge, but the small press is an ever growing part of the industry due to a high rise in demand for their publishing. The small press part of the industry sometimes use traditional printing techniques such as screen printing, which will obviously take quite a long time in comparison to the modern printing techniques such as risograph as it prints much faster and is completely digital.Due to the higher rise in demand for the small press companies to publish books, the larger companies often steal ideas that are successful for the small press. One example I can put down for a small press is 'Nobrow', which I looked at in my previous post.
Another area is 'Children's Books'. The Children's Book market is a growing market both digitally and printed. Children are becoming more familiar with technology, so interactive children's e-books are being created, however there is as much of a demand for printed books where the children can colour things in and interact. Children's books obviously change with age, so the younger a child, the more simple the book will be. For example a book for a child that is 0-4 years old could be something like, 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar: Touch and Feel Playbook'. An example of a book for a child that is 5-10 years old could be something like, 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory: Roald Dahl'.
There is different areas of children's books. These go from Picture Books, to Younger Fiction, to General Fiction, to Teenage Fiction, to Non-Fiction. It is recognised as well that older children's books are still just as popular, or they are even more popular than modern day children's books. This is probably due to parents wanting to read books to their children, which they had read to them when they were children. The two examples of books I have shown above both are fairly old, but are still very popular today. I myself remember these books from when I was younger.
Another area of the market is 'Journals'. A journal is 'A newspaper or magazine that deals with a particular subject or professional activity'. Journals can come in the forms of educational, academic, reference, scientific, technical, professional, medical, etc. You can experiment quite a bit with the front cover imagery, however the typefaces are usually quite boring. One example I have found is from a science journal where you can see the engaging imagery, yet boring typeface. However I do think that the typeface is suited to the journal.
There is also the editorial side of the market. This makes up for things like newspapers, periodical, magazines and zines. Editorial can be boring if you have to layout black and white text over a page in a newspaper, however if you are working on a zine, you will have much more freedom to work with the text and with colours. Newspapers are much more formal than that of magazines and zines. Below is an example of editorial design which I really like, although there is only the use of black, white and yellow. The text and imagery make it look different, fun and engaging. Also the negative space helps to make the text seem like very little due to the openness of the double page spread.
There are many different areas in Publishing that include Editorial, Design, Production, Marketing, Distribution, Legal and Administration. For the publishing side of the market to work, all of these different areas have to work together, like the fitting of a jigsaw puzzle.
We were given the task of finding and researching the publisher of a book/magazine that we liked. My choice was to go for a magazine called 'Men's Health'.
Men's Health is a magazine typically about Men's Health. It includes information on exercising, what foods to eat, what liquids to drink, your sex life, your mental state and many more. It is very informative but in a fun way. It's a lads magazine so it obviously has images of half naked women in. They also have punchy sub-titles on the cover to engage the reader, along with an image of a famous male character.
Men's Health magazine is originally an American magazine but made its way across the pond in 1995 when the first UK edition was published. The the company that published originally called the 'National Magazine Company', but later became known as 'Hearst Magazines', which is it's name today. Men's Health is the UK's best selling men's magazine, which is understandable in today's society where most men want to be fit, healthy and muscular. Hearst Magazines has many other popular magazines under it's belt, including 'Cosmopolitan', 'Best', 'Esquire', 'Elle', 'Reveal', 'Women's Health' and many more.
Image References:
[1]http://www.penguin.co.uk/about-penguin/
[2]http://www.randomhouse.com/
[3]http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://www.underconsideration.com/brandnew/archives/penguin_random_house_2014_logo_detail_white.png&imgrefurl=http://www.underconsideration.com/brandnew/archives/new_logo_for_penguin_random_house_by_pentagram.php&h=165&w=306&tbnid=L5o22QdM28_EwM:&zoom=1&tbnh=81&tbnw=151&usg=__GrYP4PhID4elPOI30TqkdecuZNs=&docid=J5NQIC0AQBMboM&itg=1&ved=0CH8Qyjc&ei=WyikVJDUOoT2UoSOgdgF
[4]https://sawriters.org.au/2014/07/09/cant-judge-book-cover-can/
[5]http://www.educationumbrella.com/r2r/baby-bookshop/0/13/?gclid=Cj0KEQiA_ZOlBRD64c7-gOzvrP0BEiQAAYBnd00I-jcRWo9-vINH--g-eVrLGVIYNcl9A6HIQDsK06oaAojy8P8HAQ
[6]http://bookshop.theguardian.com/charlie-and-the-chocolate-factory-14.html
[7]http://riomasvos.com/
[8]http://abduzeedo.com/editorial-design-inspiration-david-lynch
[9]http://shavedoctor.co.uk/mens-health/
One example of a company within this area of the Industry is 'Penguin'. Penguin is known as being one of the biggest and most successful book publishers in the UK, and potentially even in the World. Penguin recently became part of a bigger network of publishers through joining together with 'Random House' in 2013 to create 'Penguin Random House', and it has much more publishers worldwide through this. Penguin work with many different agencies and authors to create their Fiction and Non-Fiction Books ready for publishing.
 |
| Penguin Logo [1] |
 |
| Random House Logo [2] |
 |
| Penguin Random House Logo [3] |
 |
| Do Judge A Book By It's Cover Design [4] |
Another area is 'Children's Books'. The Children's Book market is a growing market both digitally and printed. Children are becoming more familiar with technology, so interactive children's e-books are being created, however there is as much of a demand for printed books where the children can colour things in and interact. Children's books obviously change with age, so the younger a child, the more simple the book will be. For example a book for a child that is 0-4 years old could be something like, 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar: Touch and Feel Playbook'. An example of a book for a child that is 5-10 years old could be something like, 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory: Roald Dahl'.
 |
| The Very Hungry Caterpillar: Touch and Feel Playbook [5] |
 |
| Charlie and the Chocolate Factory: Roald Dahl [6] |
Another area of the market is 'Journals'. A journal is 'A newspaper or magazine that deals with a particular subject or professional activity'. Journals can come in the forms of educational, academic, reference, scientific, technical, professional, medical, etc. You can experiment quite a bit with the front cover imagery, however the typefaces are usually quite boring. One example I have found is from a science journal where you can see the engaging imagery, yet boring typeface. However I do think that the typeface is suited to the journal.
 |
| Science Journal [7] |
 |
| David Lynch Editorial Design [8] |
We were given the task of finding and researching the publisher of a book/magazine that we liked. My choice was to go for a magazine called 'Men's Health'.
 |
| Men's Health Magazine Cover [9] |
Men's Health magazine is originally an American magazine but made its way across the pond in 1995 when the first UK edition was published. The the company that published originally called the 'National Magazine Company', but later became known as 'Hearst Magazines', which is it's name today. Men's Health is the UK's best selling men's magazine, which is understandable in today's society where most men want to be fit, healthy and muscular. Hearst Magazines has many other popular magazines under it's belt, including 'Cosmopolitan', 'Best', 'Esquire', 'Elle', 'Reveal', 'Women's Health' and many more.
Image References:
[1]http://www.penguin.co.uk/about-penguin/
[2]http://www.randomhouse.com/
[3]http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://www.underconsideration.com/brandnew/archives/penguin_random_house_2014_logo_detail_white.png&imgrefurl=http://www.underconsideration.com/brandnew/archives/new_logo_for_penguin_random_house_by_pentagram.php&h=165&w=306&tbnid=L5o22QdM28_EwM:&zoom=1&tbnh=81&tbnw=151&usg=__GrYP4PhID4elPOI30TqkdecuZNs=&docid=J5NQIC0AQBMboM&itg=1&ved=0CH8Qyjc&ei=WyikVJDUOoT2UoSOgdgF
[4]https://sawriters.org.au/2014/07/09/cant-judge-book-cover-can/
[5]http://www.educationumbrella.com/r2r/baby-bookshop/0/13/?gclid=Cj0KEQiA_ZOlBRD64c7-gOzvrP0BEiQAAYBnd00I-jcRWo9-vINH--g-eVrLGVIYNcl9A6HIQDsK06oaAojy8P8HAQ
[6]http://bookshop.theguardian.com/charlie-and-the-chocolate-factory-14.html
[7]http://riomasvos.com/
[8]http://abduzeedo.com/editorial-design-inspiration-david-lynch
[9]http://shavedoctor.co.uk/mens-health/
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