Pop-up failure

OK, so we didn't sell anything at the pop-up shop. I'd be worried if I didn't know there were several factors tat made sales incredibly unlikely anyway: The location meant very little passing trade, plus it was tooked in a corner that hardly anyone was aware of. Most of the clientele were students and unwilling to spend much on anything in the shop. Only cheap items did well.

EXIT event

I went to the exit event this evening to see what it was about. It was difficult to apply any of the things that were there specifically on my case. It was mostly for people that were planning on staying Leeds, obviously I wasn't as I have to move home and ake on more responsibiltiy as a parent.

I did spend a lot of time with Jonathan Smith from Glue Marketing, who gave me a lot of sage advice and encouragement. He basically recommended that setting up my own business was a good thing. He recommended that I come up with a name for the business rather than just using my own name. This is something to take on board and perhaps something that I will take up as I start collaborating and working with friends form the North East.

One Nine Four

I visited One Nine Four in Gateshead yesterday which was very insightful. Colin, the owner of the business started One Nine Four on his own to try and create a more professional vibe to attract clients.

He applied for a space in 'the shed' a projects in gateshead that gives spaces to creatives for free. It was really advantageous to him and allowed him to build a business with relatively few overheads. His business is growing and he's looking for placements, so I said I'd send a pdf over in the next couple of weeks. I'm hopeful that this is a real opportunity to get a placement over summer, I really got on with him and his studio environment and vibe is really positive and relaxed whilst sill ebing really dedicated and hard-working. I think that the course here has drilled a mentality into me that means I'd work really well here, so I'm not sure if I'll get this sorted by the time it comes to PPD hand in, but I'll post what happens on here anyway!

Les Morts trial run

Myself and Daisy made the decision to trial the Ouija t-shirt and the brand at the pop-up shop. We've had a lot of compliments and interest in buying what we're selling on facebook.

Unfortunatley the pop-up shop is in a bad location and I'm not sure the clientele are likely to spend £20. (that's another point, looking at all the shops online and the quality of our t-shirts, we're going to sell them at £25 outside of the pop-up shop, but we've had to reduce the price for the shop).

Thankfully, if they don't do well, no one is going to know, it's not publicised, and therefore we can just go away and plan better.

Actual Pain

http://www.actualpain.org/

This company do a similar thing to what we do, but their t-shirts aren't handmade or uniquely designed like the ones Daisy produces, they're sold at £25 so I think thats a fair price to go with.

Other designer alternative t-shirts range from £20-£30, so this is a good median price to take:

Obey retail at a similar price

http://www.urbanindustry.co.uk/products/search.asp?key=obey

reel 8 are a bit more pricey, but you know a strong design at £25 isn't going to make them seem less classy than rebel 8 at all:

http://www.urbanindustry.co.uk/products/product.asp?func=show&id=15620

Aborted visit studio one nine four

So today I was supposed to go to one nine four, and I did, but they forgot and were out to a client meeting.

Colin rang me full fo apologies and was really lovely and we're going to do it in 2 weeks when I return to Newcastle again, so it should all be ok!

Visit to RAW

I visited raw yesterday in Manchester. They're a pretty big design agency with a still smallish staff (7). I spent about an hour and a half there with Tom who does most of the liaising with the students.

I got some really useful advice from him in terms of my own practice. I said that I was having trouble getting responses from studios and he told me the best thing you can do is send emails that show some character, rather than really formal emails, because they get thousands of those a month. I think this is something I need to bare in mind, because whilst my emails are individually tailored, they are quite formal and standardised to a point.

In terms of breaking into the industry, Tom said it was mostly luck. Raw's big break came when they were found using a google search by someone in the NHS. I think this is insane and really lucky. It really puts a human character to a huge organisation.

Anyway, it was a really useful visit with some stuff for my design practice too.

Letterhead an compliment slips

Compliments slip and letterheads.

Open publication - Free publishing

Open publication - Free publishing

Stationery

I decided to simplify my CV, still using the green lines to tie it in together with my brand, the content is also similarly to the point and character-filled, but it's just toned down a bit:

Open publication - Free publishing

I think this works much better as a CV. It's still functional and is nicely laid out but it still gets across the character that I want it to.