Life's a Pitch; Presentation Prep 2

We met up again as a group and began organising the final practical elements in place to make our company visual.  Hana had taken on the role of branding and came up with a series of possible logos and headers for our company; I knew Hana would be successful in this as her work is analogue and well rendered, provided the perfect joining of personal and human aesthetic with a professional feel. We collectively chose the ones we felt would work best across a range of both printed and digital promotional.

This logo was then merged with various colour palettes that Jade had picked out for each range; combining colours that felt contemporary but reflected each range perfectly.

It was also decided in the previous meeting that we would each design an image for every range, and we would pick the best ones of those to mock up onto applied surfaces for our presentation. Katie knew how to use the website Graphic Burger which allowed us to place our illustration on possible packaging options for the candles themselves.

On the side of marketing and presentation, I made up a commercial mock website for our company. It was integral that the layout was clean, accessible and easy to navigate for all ages, young and old, whilst still retaining a contemporary fresh and high end professional finish Given that our target audience would range from younger students (basics and black magic) with more mature clients tapping into the bee range, our website had to be able to cater for all ages.

It is also worth mentioning at this point that we discussed the use of online social media in our company, when establishing our business it could be beneficial to send out small//sample candles to well known veggie // vegan bloggers and vloggers, this would target the younger target audience. A blog alongside our website would be important in retaining a 'human' element to our company; allowing people to see behind the scenes // how the company works // who works within the company. Sites like twitter and instagram would primarily target our student based audience whilst a facebook page would allow us to keep updated with an older (but still internet savy) audience.

Jade and Hana sat down and looked into pricing // manufacturing costs and implications. If this were to be launched, we would have to send out for a lot of quotes in regards to manufacturing, we had to recognise this on top of the essential costs that come with setting up any business. 

OUIL504 Evaluation

Summative Evaluation OUIL504

This project has definitely had it's ups and downs throughout the months I've worked on it, I feel as though I have been pushed, and pushed myself, further than I would have thought possible and for that reason I am proud to have finished it. 

Beginning this project I really enjoyed Murakami's work and the stories and tone of voice he used to tell them, however quickly found through summer work sketches and initial drawings once I had joined level 5, that the images I were creating felt overly repetitive and over done. They all felt very cliched, and I didn't want to create just another set of portraits about sad women, as I felt that was all anyone who tackled Murakami's work to come away with. Because of this ambition to push past the obvious, I feel as though I've grown a little conceptually. I've always had ambition in my ideas but feel as though my final pieces rarely manage to fully communicate them; they often become overly complicated or loose the spark and energy they started with. With these final pieces however, I feel proud to have successfully communicated a new side to Murakami, the best feeling is people getting excited about my work BECAUSE of it's concept and fresh viewpoint!

Practically I'm also quite pleased with my outcomes! Often my finals loose the energy they had in my sketchbook and this is something I've often wrestled with; trying to create pieces that look high finished and crafted without looking robotic or awkward in their execution. This project has shown me how PROCESS can effect and finalise a piece. Using images from my sketchbook that have that raw energy to them and taking those images through another process can allow for a replication of that same energetic, fluid image making with a higher level of detail and crafting. The combination of elements from different images to create a final piece is also something new I've discovered this project which came in helpful during the making of my final compositions and images.

The processes themselves have been a learning curve this module, trying to not merely understand but become GOOD at a process I've not done before in detail, or in the case of After Effects at all, is something that has continuously challenged me throughout this project. Though, at points, I felt as though the project was failing because I didn't feel comfortable and confident in the work I was making, I've learnt this can be a GOOD thing! Because I pushed my work but practically and conceptually in ways I didn't feel comfortable with I feel my work has grown immensely. Understanding how to adapt the process to meet my needs has been very important; while I didn't want my work to be dictated by the processes or programs I was using, I also had to find a balance between what I wanted my work to do and how I could use the processes//programs to help make it come to fruition. 

On a lesser positive note I feel something I have really struggled with throughout this project was time management. In the last couple of months 2015 especially I felt myself becoming very overwhelmed with workload both from this module and others. While I tried to pick myself up from this multiple times through vigorous time planning and organising myself, I still felt a little lacking in lustre. This leads to another struggle I've had within this project and that's keeping my momentum going. I feel I both started and ended this project on a high, but there were definitely dips throughout the middle part of this module. Largely I think this was down to my own personal mental attitude. I let the workload get on top of me a lot and rather than take the time out to really breathe and take a break from looking at this project so I was able to organise myself objectively, I pressured myself too much to get too much done. This has been one of the biggest things I've learnt throughout this entire project, it's just as important to know when to take a break from a project as it is to know when to pull up your boots and really tackle it!

Overall, though at times it may have got me down, this project has resulted in work I feel extremely proud of. I have pushed myself a lot in terms of demanding more from my work and I'd like to think that has paid off. I've learnt so much in so many different areas throughout this brief and feel I am leaving it a stronger illustrator and a happy person. 

Life's a Pitch; Presentation Prep 1

At this stage we began planning for our final presentation. The best way to go about this, we felt, was to organise and plan out the slides, assigning jobs to each of us so we all had something to bring to the presentation. Given that I'd done a lot of market research through this project, it made sense that I tackled marketing and PR. This would include how the products would be represented and advertised to the appropriate audiences. 

With a breakdown of each slide and the information we would include, we decided to each go away and develop what we needed before coming back together again to practically put the presentation together. Our main talking points had been noted on each slide and I felt confident about presenting it as a group; we felt it would be important that we didn't rely too much on a 'script'. Within the group we all know what we're talking about and have an in depth knowledge of the company; this will help with the confidence and competence of our presentation!

Life’s a Pitch; S.W.O.T. Strategies

I was absent during this session which was unfortunate as I felt my market research could have really helped with locking the companies visual aesthetic down even more than it already was. However I made sure to keep in contact with my group throughout this session and sent them links to all the websites I’d looked at in terms of current companies and competitors. When I next met up with my group I was a little worried that the company was starting to become over complex again, with including initial ideas such as wedding candles or gift packs, so we sat down and agreed to just stick to our three ranges, Basics, Black Magic and Bees. Hana has been very interested in packaging throughout this project and I feel her skill set would work perfectly in giving the company that ‘handmade human’ touch.

Looking over the S.W.O.T. sheet however it was very helpful in breaking down which parts of the company were working and which parts we’d need to look into more; I feel one of the main weaknesses in this company at the minute is manufacturing and production, as none of us are particularly sure which way would be the best to go about setting up a candle business.

Life's a Pitch; Market Research

After nailing down our business manifesto, I took it upon myself to do some market research. While initially we'd identified Yankee Candles and Clintons as possible competitors, our business had evolved a lot since then. I started with two companies I already knew, the first previously mentioned Pyro Pets, and Vice and Velvet.

VICE AND VELVET

http://www.viceandvelvet.com.au/

I found this company through instragram, highlighting the importance of social media // web presence. We'd always said as a company we wanted to engage with our customers and I good way of doing this would be through social medias; as well as a website // etsy it would be vital we also maintained a blog // instragram // facebook ect so customers felt they could get involved with a more personal side of the company and not just the commercial side of it. Of course overarching all of these platforms, we would have to maintain a consistent branding to ensure synergy and professionalism with our company.   

Vice and Velvet specialise in soaps "Handmade vegan soap, bath & body. Unique scent blends." While our company is based on candles rather than soaps ect I thought they were similar to our concept in their presentation, ethics and promotion // distribution. Being sustainable was something we'd always said we wanted to explore, but looking at Vice and Velvet made me think about the materials we would be using to create our candles as well as just the packaging.

Upon further research I found that most high street candles are made from paraffin wax, which is highly toxic for the environment, whereas alternatives from beeswax and soy are considerably better! This was double great news as we already had a beeswax range in place, but the notion that our basics and black magic range could be made of soy, so not only would they be more eco friendly, but we could target the ever growning veggie // vegan market for our candles! Soy can also be coloured and scented so it wouldn't provide a practical problem in terms of manufacturing what we wanted.

Vice and Velvet also made me think about our online presence in a website VS etsy way, if our company was based purely on etsy there is a worry of our company being lost among the thousands of others on that site, our own website would help combat that.

VIOLET & LARK

http://www.violetandlark.com/

Once I'd read about soy candles I decided to look and see if there were any companies that specialised solely on producing them, I found Violet & Lark which not only provided soy candles, but beeswax candles too. There seemed to be a market then for luxury candles with an environmental conscience online. Like the previous two companies their website was simple and easy to navigate, this would be useful if targeting a larger spectrum of possible clients; something easy to use for older people, while still maintaining a professional and contemporary outlook to appeal to younger audiences.

P.F. CANDLE CO.

http://www.pfcandleco.com/shop/

P.F. Candle Co. was another company specialising in soy candles, it was also around this point I found out that soy not only releases considerably less toxic fumes into the environment, but also burns at a lower temperature, meaning the candle burns for longer; another great reason to use them in our business! Both Violet & Lark and P.F. Candle Co. sold candles made of materials that we would be interested in using within our business, however with the handmade and human quality of Vice and Velvet soaps, and Pyro Pets 3D illustrative and treasureabilty. 

Life's a Pitch; Business Concept and Manifesto

I think this session was very helpful in locking down what our company was really about. At the core of all of our ideas up to date was the notion of high quality illustrated candles, with this in mind we worked though the business concept sheet and I felt as though we were getting a much stronger idea of the real values of our business. 

BUSINESS CONCEPT

Having a positive impact was something we all felt very strongly about, and having good communication and valuing the costumer service we provided was important to us, building on from this we started thinking about how one of our ranges could work with charities, and we came up with the 'bee' range of candles. Given the dwindling number of UK bees, making candles from beeswax in a sustainable way that could help the growth of the population was something that strung a cord with us. The candles could be in various shapes such as beehives, honey combs, bees themselves, to make them more desirable and appealing to audiences. 

From this we started thinking of other possible ranges we could have; starting the business with a few solid ranges that could then filter into more in the future felt like a good place to start. We tried thinking of stereotypes who use candles, we came up with the idea of a 'black magic' range as another idea; targeting those who are into something a bit more niche and out-there. We considered current retailers who specalised in crystals, Gothic aesthetic and memorabilia as competitors for this range. In regards to distribution however, we could work with these independent outlets to get some of our candles on the high street; towns such as Whitby would be a perfect place to push this range. Thinking about the 'look' of this range we thought about all the candles being made of black wax, as not many candles are available in this colour, and making them in a range of shapes to fight competitors eg skulls, bats ect. It was also suggested at this point we could include more novelty things in this range such as glitter or hidden objects in the center of candles once they burn away, to make them even more desirable. 

With these two ranges in place we thought it made sense to include a 'basics' range. These candles would all be sustainable, and would be centered more around variations in colour and scent when compared with the other two ranges. It was hoped this range would be accessible to all kinds of people, students especially, who make up a large percentage of candle consumers.  

With all this in place we also finally came up with a name! Matchboxx was something that felt simple and accessible while still relating to our products. Originally we played around with the idea of including small promo matchboxes as a type of promotion or to send with our candles containing safety information. Though we'd decided to step away from the fire safety element as such the word 'matchbox' still felt very applicable. After a quick google search we found the name 'matchbox' already belonged to a toy making company, so we changed our name with the additional x, I feel this also makes the company sound like more of a brand rather than just an object.

BUSINESS MANIFESTO

Once our concept was more concrete, I felt a lot more confident producing a manifesto. Our values were those of creating a positive impact while providing high craft and quality 3D illustrated candles. The term 'meet your maker' was coined as we were discussing our roles as designers for the business, this helps make our business feel more accessible and ultimately HUMAN. Being a business of PEOPLE rather than a corporation was very important for us to communicate. 

FINAL MANIFESTO

'Matchboxx' is a company of creatives based in Leeds, dedicated to making high quality candles with a sustainable positive impact whilst inspiring individuals to think outside the (match) box. We believe that knowing you is essential to that process, customising our products to meet your personals wants/needs and making you feel part of the Matchbox family.

Life's a Pitch; Haiku's and Development

Today's haiku task was very difficult but helpful in highlighting weaknesses in our businesses proposals so far. I feel due to the broadness of our company at the minute, it was hard to pin down our core values // aims. I also feel our tone of voice was slightly off; this was also probably due to our lack of focus within the company.

Our final haiku "The candles that wow, Handmade for all occasions, For your creative self" felt to me very vague and a little passive. The overall feedback was a little mixed as well and I feel people were unsure as to whether we were designing the candles ourselves or designing custom candles that other people wanted us to make. At the moment our idea is that we would design illustrated candles and sell those, with the customization coming through via colours // scents ect. We were also thinking about maybe involving other illustrators to design for us once the business had grown.

Personally I feel the range our business currently offers needs to be reduced. The fire safety element of it feels a bit of a stretch and over-complicating, as well as maybe the gift sets // additional cards and packaging at this point. It would perhaps be a stronger business if we were just to focus on one thing, high craft candles, then try and juggle all these various things.

PYRO PETS

One company I've looked at in regards to market research is Pyro Pets, they've set up a business that was originally started by just one art student, that focuses solely on high quality and crafted candles that people want to cherish and have a sense of personality and individuality about them. I feel rather than try doing all the things we're trying to do now, cutting it down to a stronger concrete idea would be beneficial to our businesses development.