Summary/ Unit Evaluation

Initially, as a group we struggled for ideas. All students within the group had to come up with plans for a viable, business venture that could ultimately turn over a profit.

After much deliberation the group agreed on a concept for a portfolio website for students at Ravensbourne to make it easier for students to display their work in a digital online environment.

Our thinking behind this service was that the college, at present, was not supplying the students with an easy and accessible platform to demonstrate their skills and express themselves. This website would provide an opportunity for students to display their work for other students to see, to critique and for perhaps professionals outside the college to view the students’ work. We believed this would be a good way of promoting the college, and ourselves by showing others what we do.

This website would act as a means of critiquing other students’ work, informing students of what goes on in the other courses, raising awareness and promoting working practices between the different disciplines. This would inevitably lead to a website used not only to display one’s work but also for networking, contact building and communication. Students could also leave their contact details on their portfolio page so that they could be contacted if needed by other individuals on the same or different courses at the college. Students could keep a gallery of their work as well as a library of favourites from other students. They could also keep a friend’s list, much like that available on Facebook or Deviantart.

The outcome of the project was not entirely successful due primarily to time constraints. We were unable to get a finished, up and running portfolio website and we did not achieve all our aims. However we did manage to make a profit. However, we were able to set up a demo/ prototype of the intended website. It sufficiently shows what we intended to produce. Importantly, though the website is still work in progress, we have managed to make a profit that has covered our expenses.

I learnt a great deal from this exercise and built upon my understanding of the importance of branding, logo design and marketing, which I touched upon last year. I have as a consequence grasped a better understanding of setting up a business. Considering that we had very little time to prepare and setup a business, I think generally we made good progress. We certainly performed well with communication despite the size of our group. It was fun to do produce various designs for the logo design and seeing how the design evolved and developed. I particularly enjoyed designing the proposed website templates, creating designs for t-shirts and interacting with the other students within the group.

When dealing with branding I had to make sure it was practical and logistically possible to make that transition from concept to reality otherwise it would be a waste of time and money. Whether I was designing the logos, posters and t-shirt motifs I always had one thing in mind, keep it simple to keep costs down. I wanted to create simple designs but also maintaining professional quality. This did not mean I did not put in the hours or the effort. Even making something that looks simple can require a lot of work and refinement. Mindful of keeping costs down and maximizing profit in as far as printing etc. I only used three colours. This included the tones black and white. Using tonal colours saves money in the printing process. Consciously, when designing the logos I didn’t use multitudes of colours as this would have consequently cost more to reproduce. Also when creating the t-shirts, I made sure that the motifs/ designs were easily reproduced and that the actual designs were not too elaborate or dense in order to keep expenses down. I learnt that when designing you must always consider whether something is possible to create and that it must adhere to a fixed budget. There is no point designing something that is far too expensive to reproduce and blows the budget. Through my research into branding I discovered the importance of brand awareness and that a logo to be successful must have an emotional impact on its target audience. I understand that a logo must look professional as well as in keeping up with the times and reflecting the services of the business and the demographic that are being targeted.

We were convinced however, that we could establish a solid business that could be used for the future. We did conduct small surveys in order to assess interest in our idea. Generally, there were positive comments and there did seem to be a real interest among fellow students around the college, even across different courses. This is what we suspected in our own predictions. We asked whether they thought it was something that would interest them and whether they thought that a portfolio website would help in their studies and they indicated that they thought it would as it would serve as a place where they could exhibit their work and communicate with other students. As it stands, the enterprise has made a small profit by selling Ravensbourne t-shirts.

I found that working in such a large group and using Facebook as the primary means of communication was the key to success during this unit. We all used Facebook to exchange ideas, research and work. We all communicated rather well considering the size of our group. We communicated on a daily basis and this was a great way to make sure everyone was carrying out their allocated responsibilities and tasks. In addition, we had regular face-to-face meetings at college to discuss ideas, allocate responsibilities and discuss the way forward.

Overall, our plan in my opinion was a partial successful, however it is a shame that we were unable to finish the entire enterprise and make that transition from concept to a fully functioning company making a profit. However, the idea remains and we all believe it is a solid business model that would benefit the students and the college. We did achieve our aims in coming up with an interesting concept and the idea of a portfolio website to provide a platform for students to display their work and a forum for discussion. However, we did not manage to get the enterprise entirely off the ground. Maybe with a bit more time, we would have been able to achieve our goal. Having said this we did manage to make a small profit selling t-shirts.

I would have liked to have conducted more research into similar enterprise concepts that were taking place within the college. It came to our attention that both the college and some students were currently attempting to create some form of social network within the college.

This unit made me realise that a month is not a realistic amount of time to get a business up and running. If I were to do a unit like this again I would probably try and spend a little less time on the designing and preparation stage and focus on making the profit. However success only comes through thorough preparation and research. I am pleased that we managed to make a small amount of profit and get some interest in our Ravensbourne t-shirt designs. Our initial budget was £100. We bought and printed 20 t-shirts for £5 each for starters, and were able to sell twelve shirts for £10 each. Thus we made a £20 profit.

The unit taught me the value of carefully and diligently researching your market and target audience before putting together a well thought through business plan. It made me realize the importance of branding and logo design and that it is this, which helps your audience to associate the mark or symbol with the services you offer. It showed me the importance of being professional; the importance of constant communication and that hard work usually pays off.

I think it was unrealistic to think that we could get a fully functioning business up and running along with a completed website in the short amount of time that we had, bearing in mind we had other units to attend to as well as preparing show reels. If I was to do a unit like this again I would spend a little less time coming up with the initial business concept, branding designs and refining the company name.

Presentation & Feedback

Overall we received some positive feedback regarding our enterprise/ business idea. The tutor did suggest that we should have done more research in to similar internal enterprise concepts which were also in the works. It became clear that students in the first year and the college itself were planning to set up some form of social network. The tutor suggested that we should have perhaps left the portfolio website alone and instead focussed on selling the Ravensbourne t-shirts. She also suggested that we should have perhaps had a smaller group size and spent less time on design and focussed on making a profit sooner. She seemed more keen on the t-shirts as at the end of the day this was the element that was making money.

T-Shirt Profit

We have in the last week successfully printed some t-shirts with the final design. We have in the last week managed to get people interested in the new t-shirt and we have made a small profit. Both tutors and students showed interest in the new design and we have managed to sell roughly 12 shirts. We printed 20 in bulk. The printing and shirts cost £5 and we sold them for £10.

Printing a T-Shirt

I gave a file to Ben of the new T-Shirt pattern/ motif. He said he would try and contact one of his friends to see if he can get a quote on the price of printing and then try and get a t-shirt printed. I sent him the file with the isolated design. The image does need to be increased in size in order to fit the t-shirt appropriately.

Preparing Powerpoint Presentation

Now we are all trying to get some material together in order to put together a comprehensive powerpoint presentation showing what our enterprise is and how our idea developed, whilst depicting who did what within the group.

Schedule

Ive been keeping a schedule that depicts my activities week by week. The image below is a schedule which depicts the tasks I was involved with on a weekly basis. I generally devoted Tuesday's, Friday evenings and Sundays to E&E. I was involved primarily with the branding side of things.

Budgeting

Whilst looking back I realised that I had not recorded how I was taking budgeting into account. I guess I was doing it subconsciously. At the time I didn't think that much of it but taking budgeting into account when creating designs is very important. It is all very well creating designs, however if they are not practical and logistically possible to make that transition from concept to reality then it is just a waste of time. Whether I was designing the logos, posters and t-shirt motifs I always had one thing in mind, keep it simple. I wanted to create simple designs but also maintaing professional quality. This did not mean I did not put in the hours or the effort. Even making something that looks simple can require a lot of work and refinement. In order to keep costs down in as far as printing etc I only used three colours maximum, this included the tones black and white and the colour orange. Using tonal colours saves money in as far as printing. When designing the logos I did not want to utilise multitudes of colours, this would have consequently cost ore to reproduce. Also when creating the t-shirts, I made sure that the motifs/ designs were easily reproduced and that the actual designs were not too elaborate or dense in order to keep expenses down.

New T-Shirt Design

Jill Hogan liked our designs especially the image below. However she stated that the penrose pattern was not quite true to the original design. She suggested we do one more t-shirt design to incorporate the tessellating pattern that is featured on the outside of the Ravensbourne college building.

Old Design

New Design

I wanted this new design to be in keeping with the Ravensbourne branding scheme. The following image is the basis for my inspiration. I wanted to include the penrose motif with additional pentagons appearing to break off.

I hope they like the new design and hopefully this shall be the last design.

Additional T-Shirt Designs

Basically I tried experimenting with the pen-rose design to come up with a dynamic and interesting t-shirt design, and at the same time staying true to Ravensbourne.

This one was popular but it was considered that the back should instead be left blank and the front should remain the same. I may have to change the Ravensbourne logo on the front as it was stated that they may not want the actual logo to be tampered or altered in any way.

Heres a design with the original Ravensbourne logo.
Just experimenting with different pattern combinations using the pen-rose pattern.

This one was popular among some team members, however I am not so fond of this design.

A design with a little colour to reflect the colours used for the actual tessellating pen-rose design.

E&E Meeting

During the meeting with Jill Hogan, we discussed the specifications of the logo and what we could do in as far as the t-shirt designs. We were told that we did indeed have to incorporate the Ravensbourne logo if we were promoting something affiliated with Ravensbourne.

We were told that we had to make sure we did not alter the existing Ravensboune Logo. We had to stick to the same logo design in as far as font and chevron design. The colours also needed to remain the same. Although we can have the logo as a mono design, either black on white or white on black.

However, having said this Jill mentioned that we could be creative in terms of the logo and come up with a logo that reflected something about Ravensbourne. She suggested that perhaps we look into the tessellating tile design and incorporate that into our T-Shirt designs.

T-Shirt & Shirt Designs

There has been a slight change of plans regarding how we are going to generate some money. Rather than trying to encourage students to invest in a website which is not entirely finished we shall instead sell hoodies or t-shirts in order to make some money. They will either promote an exclusive accessory to Ravensbourne or they shall promote our website idea.

For us to get a website up and running by the deadline is unrealistic, however we have managed to prepare a template/ prototype of the intended website, which will demonstrate the intentions and usefulness of our idea.

Here are some of my T-shirt/ Hoodie designs. However we may be instructed by Ravensbourne to change our designs according to their specifications. We may even have to include the Ravensbourne logo within our designs or in conjunction with our website logo. We may even have to adopt the Ravensbourne logo all together and our logo may need to be removed.

Poster Design

Here are some poster designs to promote the third nexus. I wanted it to match the mood and feel of the website design as closely as possible so that we maintain continuity.

My favourite poster design, both simple yet professional.

Again this one above is both simple and professional.

I was not happy with the design above. It seems a bit dull and lacking in dynamism or aesthetic design.

The design above I was not happy with. There are too many texts which seem to conflict with one another and the composition in my opinion was not ideal.

The Web page prototype design template, designed and cerated by Kofi Ansah.

Assigned tasks & roles

If I have not sated earlier of my roles I apologize. I have been assigned the task of creating logo designs and I have been appointed to help Kofi in designing the website template.

New Website Designs

I designed a few more website templates/ designs in order to accommodate for the new logo. The team agreed that I should continue to have a simplistic approach and that tones of white and black would be best. People stated that black looked more sophisticated and professional whereas a white background would make text easily readable and clear. Kofi, an experienced web designer suggested that brighter websites feel less claustrophobic and more inviting, open and spacious.

Black

A few people liked this version and was regarded as sophisticated and professional. In my opinion this is my favourite.

Greyscale

With this mid tone design it was considered that the logo was too dark for the background. I have too agree with this statement.

White and Bright

With this design I was bearing Kofi's recommendations in mind. I wanted to keep it bright, spacious and simple yet still maintain a professional finish/ look.

Membership Card Design

Hayley came up with a good idea for a Membership Design. She came up with the original design and I embellished upon it.

New Logo Design

New Third Nexus Logo designed by Alex Caldow

2D Logo Design

3D Logo Design

E&E Group Meeting

We have decided to go with a new name "The Third Nexus" for our website. It is essentially the same meaning as The Third Network. Nexus meaning connection/ network. We were all concerned that we were running out of time and need a new idea quickly. Some of us were concerned that because "The Third Network" was already taken by another business and copyrighted this may have lead to legal issues if we had considered going ahead with the initial name. So we all unanimously came up with a decision to change the name to The Third Nexus and we also decided upon adopting a new logo design.

Two Key Factors

When setting up a business, the two most important factors that one should pay close attention to is knowing your market and knowing where the niches are in the market.

New Name and Design

The Third Nexus

Nexus meaning Connection/ Network

I thought that Orange, white and black would be a good combination in terms of colour and tone. Below is a logo design.

A new website design. Again I tried to keep things simple and adopted elements from the previous design, very happy with this template.

Name & Design

Thus far any developments in as far as designs have been posted. We are then instructed to have a majority vote to find out which designs are the most popular and are preferred by members of the team. This is an easy and quick way of progressing with any ideas. In addition these votes can be done online via facebook so we do not have to conduct votes only when we see each other on scheduled lessons in college. This would waste precious time.

Initially everyone was happy with the design and name, however since our formative assessment and further research it has come to our attention that the name "the third network" has already been taken by some form of mobile phone company. Thus we are reluctant to use this name incase of a legal issues. Therefore we have decided to come up with a different name and our designs may need to change in order to fit with the new name.

Communication

Thus far we have been very efficient in communicating as a group. We have been working well as a team and we have all been assigned different tasks. We have been conducting various meeting in college and our main means of communication has been on facebook. We have set up an online facebook group so that we can easily contact eachother if we have any problems, solutions and suggestions. Any new ideas are also posted on the group page. It is also a good means of posting our work so that we can see what is being done.

Audience

We have been instructed to bear our audience in mind. Our target audience are our fellow students. Our portfolio website shall be providing a platform where students can upload their work in order to build up a digital and internet based portfolio, to express themselves and exhibit their work and show off their artistic talent. If this website is linked to the college website it will have more weight and authority and a greater chance that potential employers would look at this website to see the work of students. It can be used as a means of communication and critiques can be given by fellow students. This website will be a good way of students informing one another of their talents and also informing students of the activities of the various college courses. This would be an excellent way of building contacts as well.

Feedback

The feedback we received regarding our portfolio website was somewhat positive. However we were instructed to carry out more research and carry out a survey in order to find out if there would be interest in our idea. There were concerns however that this idea had been attempted before and failed to get off the ground. It was also mentioned that our idea was not really entrepreneurial and we may find it difficult to make a profit that would cover our costs. In my opinion our idea will cost very little and has potential. In my view it is entrepreneurial in the sense that the college has offered little opportunity for students to showcase their work. This website is designed to exhibit our work to fellow students and perhaps employers from outside the college already in the industry who are looking for talented individuals. Perhaps this idea may evolve to become a network between universities in Britain.

Survey

I have suggested that our team carries out a survey to assess how much interest there would be in our portfolio website idea.

This will generate sufficient data that can be analyzed to see whether there is a general interest and potential demand for such a website. We must ask what sort of price people would be willing to pay in order to subscribe to the website and show case their work.

A Successful Business

A successful business generates enough money so that it can cover its costs and still manage to make a profit.

A profit is the difference between sales and costs. Most businesses are not profitable as soon as they have been set up. Profit takes time, however a guideline as well as research must be brought together to acquire some sort of indication or projection of when the company will become profitable.

Finance

Research into business finance is a must, and is perhaps the most important aspects of a business. Without finance a business cannot function. Finance is a way of regulating and keeping track of how much money is being spent in contrast to how much is coming in.

One must think carefully about how they are going to finance their business. Preperations should be made into how the risks involved are to be managed especially regarding the issue of borrowing money. There is less financial risk when borrowing money from friends or family than acquiring loans from a commercial lenders.

The main finance options that are available are

• Loans
• Overdrafts
• Shares
• Grants
• Joint Ventures

Starting a business

Starting business usually begins with coming up with a business idea. It can be a unique or currently used concept. Once the business is set up it is wise to test your idea with small scale trial tests so that the outcome can be analyzed either in its success or its failures. This is a good way of finding out which aspects of the business need to be kept the same and areas that need changing. In some cases the idea is not strong enough and the idea may need to be adapted or a new idea needs to be explored.

A way of easily testing your business is comparing your idea to similar businesses. Research into similar business ideas can be invaluable. This way you are not "in the dark". If an idea is working then there is a greater chance that your idea will success, however there is no point in persisting with an idea that has been tried and tested and has failed. However a business that has failed does not mean that the idea can be tested elsewhere. This is a reason why research in supply and demand is a good idea. Surveys etc can be carried out to analyze interest in your product.

Setting up a business

Setting up a business and sustaining it and turning concept into a reality is a difficult task. However with careful planning, communication and support a business can succeed.

Attributes of a successful entrepreneur are as follows:

• persistence
• enthusiasm
• ambition
• creativity
• self-belief
• talent
• commitment
• willing to take risks

However there is no easy way or shortcuts to becoming a successful entrepreneur, and outcomes are always vary depending on the idea itself and different circumstances. Ultimately it is a good idea to start a business in a field which you are familiar with, having this knowledge could mean the difference between success and failure. Possessing knowledge about your product or service provides you with an advantage. You must always understand the consumer, and have a target audience, you must also think about short, medium and long term aims concerning your business. A business plan should be laid out and tasks/ roles should be assigned.

Website Design

Here is a quick format layout design I created. I Just wanted to experiment with ideas to inspire my fellow teammates and generate new ideas and suggestions. I used Photoshop in order to create this image. There had already been talk of the website being as simple as possible. Generally it was considered that a white background instead of a black background would be more appropriate and text could be easily read. Instead of pure white however, I decided to experiment with a stainless steel background which I felt may bring a little more dynamism to the website itself. I ensured that the general layout was simple yet professional. I did not want the page to be crowded and confusing.

2D & 3D Logo Designs

Below are some initial 2D logo designs. In my opinion these need a little work, I was not pleased with the outcome of these designs. Again I wanted them simple, and I believe the contrast between black and white is very eye-catching.

Here are some 3D logo concepts. Based on a logo I saw online and my own business card logo, I attempted to replicate dynamism and simplicity. I wanted to create something people will find appealing and interesting. A logo can have a massive impact on how successful a service or product is.

Logo Research/ Inspiration

I looked at various existing logos for websites similar in terms of function to our own idea of a portfolio website. Overall I discovered that most if not all were somewhat simple in terms of font, layout and design. Also I noted that no more that 2 or three colours are used so as not to confuse. The statement "Less is More" comes to mind when thinking about logo design.

Below are some examples I used as reference and inspiration.

CG Society

Deviant Art

Concept Art.org

Font Experimentation

Here I was experimenting with potential font choices. I wanted the fonts to be interesting, modern and eye-catching as well as professional. It was commented that most of the fonts here were too ultra futuristic in design. I have to say I have to agree with this statement. However many people commented on the fact that the second and third fonts down were the best in terms of look. The second from the top in my opinion was also my favorite as it is simple yet professional.

Advertising

Advertising is used as a device and a method in order to communicate with the target audience, or the type of people a company is focusing its product upon. It is used to pursuade and encourage potential customers to purchase the company's goods or services. This way they are able to ultimately make a financial profit. Commercial advertisers will attempt to increase customer consumption of their products or services through "branding" which involves the heavy use of the product or company/ business name so that the activities and qualities of the said company are embedded within the minds of the consumers.

Additional Roles & Awareness

Project Manager :

A project manager is a professional in the field of project management. They have the responsibility of planning, execution, and closing of any project. They are in charge of team coordination and communication through project organisation. They are accountable for accomplishing the stated project objectives. Key project management responsibilities include creating clear and attainable project objectives, building the project requirements, and managing the triple constraint for projects, which are cost, time, and quality. (Scope)

A project manager is often a client representative and has to determine and implement the exact needs of the client, based on knowledge of the firm they are representing. The ability to adapt to various internal procedures of the contracting party, and to form close links with the nominated representatives, is essential in ensuring that the key issues of cost, time quality and above all, client satisfaction, can be realised.

Marketing Manager:

A Marketing Manager is an individual who is responsible for focusing on the practicle application of marketing techniques and the management of a firm's marketing resources activities. Marketing Managers are often responsible for influencing the level, timing, and composition of customer demand accepted definition of the term. The role of a marketing manager can vary significantly based on the size of the business, corporate culture, and industry context. Marketing managers must possess detailed. objective understanding of their own business and the market in which they operate. They should understand their customer base and the business's competitive position in the industry. This role occasionally overlaps with strategic planning/ market strategy.

Market Research Manager:

This role is responsible for carrying out research in order to collect the data required to perform accurate marketing analysis. This role can overlap with Marketing Management. Market research is conducted to acquire vital information. Collecting this research has several techniques and methods such as: -

• Qualitative Marketing Research, such as focus groups who provide information such as perceptions, opinions and attitudes toward a product. (Questionnaires & Surveys)
• Quantitative Marketing Research, such as facts and statistics.
• Experimental Techniques, such as test markets.
• Observational Techniques, such as ethnographic (on-site) observations.

Market Researchers may also design and oversee various environmental scanning and competitive intelligence processes to help identify trends and fads. This information will help to inform the company's marketing analysis.

Finance Manager:

A Finance Manager is responsible for managing the company's funds. Finance often includes saving money, lending money and borrowing money. A finance manager has to assess the concepts of time, money and risk and how they are interrelated. It also deals with how money is spent and budgeted. Financial managers oversee the preparation of financial reports, direct investment activities, and implement cash management strategies. This role can help to develop strategies and long-term goals of a business/ organisation. The position of a finance manager varies depending on the business. The various titles include, controller, treasurer or finance officer, credit manager, cash manager, and risk and insurance manager.

Research: Promotion/ Marketing

Marketing is the process which companies determine what products or services may be of interest to customers, and the strategy to use in sales, communications and business development. It is an integral process through which companies create value for customers and build strong customer relationships in order to capture value from customers in return.

Marketing is used to identify the customer, to keep the customer, and satisfy the customer. With the customer as the focus of its activities, it can be concluded that marketing management is one of the major components of business management. The evolution of marketing was caused due to mature markets and over-capacities in the last 2-3 centuries. Companies then shifted the focus from production to the costumer in order to stay profitable.

The term 'marketing concept' holds that achieving organisational goals depends on knowing the needs and wants of target markets and delivering the desired satisfactions. It proposes that in order to satisfy its organisational objectives, an organisation should anticipate the needs and wants of consumers and satisfy these more effectively than competitors.

Promotion encompasses the product itself, the price, exposure and advertising, and place.

Research: Brand Salience

Brand salience measures the awareness of the brand. "To what extent is the brand top-of-mind and easily recalled or recognised? What types of cues or reminders are necessary?"

The tendency of a brand to be thought of in a buying situation is known as "brand salience". Brand Salience is "the propensity for a brand to be noticed and/or thought of in buying situations" and the higher the brand salience the higher it's market penetration and therefore its market share. Salience refers not to what customers think about brands but which ones they think about.

Brands which come to mind on an unaided basis are likely to be the brands in a customer's consideration set and thus have a higher probability of being purchased. Advertising weight and brand salience are cues to customers indicating which brands are popular, and customers have a tendency to buy popular brands. Also, an increase in the salience of one brand can actually inhibit recall of other brands, including brands otherwise would be candidates for purchase.

It is widely acknowledged that buyer's do not see their brand as being any different from other brands that are available. They buy a particular brand because they are more aware of it, not because it is more distinctive, or has a point of difference.

Research: Brand Awareness

Brand awareness refers to a customers' ability to recall and recognise the brand under different conditions and link to the brand name, logo, jingles etc to certain associations in memory. It helps the customers to understand to which product or service category the particular brand belongs to and what products and services are sold under the brand name. It also ensures that customers know which of their needs are satisfied by the brand through its products. A new term that has emerged in recent years known as "brand love" is a measurement of the level at which society regards a company or product.

Research: Brand Manager/ Management

Brand management is the application of marketing techniques to a specific product, product line, or brand. It seeks to increase the product's perceived value to the customer and thereby increase

brand franchise and brand equity. Marketers see a brand as an implied promise that the level of quality people have come to expect from a brand will continue with future purchases of the same product. This may increase sales by making a comparison with competing products more favorable. It may also enable the manufacturer to charge more for the product. The value of the brand is determined by the amount of profit it generates for the manufacturer. This can result from combination of increased sales and increased price, and/ or reduced cost of goods sold, and/ or reduced or more efficient marketing investment. All of these enhancements may improve the profitability of a brand, and thus, "Brand Managers" often carry line-management accountability for a brand's P&L (Profit & Loss) profitability, in contrast to marketing staff manager roles, which are allocated budgets from above, to manage and execute. In this regard, Brand Management is often viewed in orginisations as a broader and more strategic role than Marketing alone.

• First impressions count. The face of every company, a brand will be seen before anything else, therefor it is the Brand Manager's responsibility to make sure it says all the right things.
• Using clear brand guidelines, a Brand Manager must make sure everything the company produces is right for its audience.
• Research is a key part of the role, especially to keep the brand up to date. This can involve anything from looking into how effective a piece of marketing is, to monitoring the current market trends.
• Social interaction and frequent communication is required.

Research: Logo Designer

The job of a logo designer is to provide a new and innovative way to express the key message of a company through an image. Logo designers take the information given to them by a client and work, using their own creativity along with marketing strategy to find an appropriate image that their client can use to represent what they are trying to encourage, sell, or what they are.

Research: Brand

A brand is a name, sign, symbol, slogan or anything that is used to identify and distinguish a specific product, service, or business. A legally protected brand name is called a proprietary name.

Brand is the image of the product in the market. Some people distinguish the psychological aspect of a brand from the experiential aspect. The experiential aspect consists of the sum of all points of contact with the brand and is known as the "brand experience." The psychological aspect, sometimes referred to as the "brand image" is a symbolic construct created within the minds of people and consist of all the information and expectations associated with a product or service.

People engaged in branding seek to develop or align the expectations behind the brand experience, creating the impression that a brand associated with a product or service has certain qualities or characteristics that make it special or unique. A brand is therefore one of the most valuable elements in an advertising theme, as it demonstrates what the brand owner is able to offer in the marketplace. The art of creating and maintaining a brand is called brand management. Orientation of the whole organisation towards its brand is called brand orientation.

Careful brand management seeks to make the product or services relevant to the target audience. Therefore cleverly crafted advertising campaigns can be highly successful in convincing consumers to pay remarkably high prices for products which are inherently extremely cheap to make. This concept, known as creating value, essentially consists of manipulating the projected image of the product so that a consumer sees the product as being worth the amount that the advertiser wants him/ her to see, rather than a more logical valuation that comprises an aggregate of the cost of raw materials, plus the cost of manufacture, plus the cost of distribution. Modern value-creation branding-and-advertising campaigns are highly successful at inducing consumers to pay, for example, £25 which cost 50p to make, or £3 for a breakfast cereal that contains a few pennies worth of wheat.

Brands should be seen as more than the difference between the actual cost of a product and its selling price - they represent the sum of all valuable qualities of a product to the consumer. There are many intangibles involved in business, intangibles left wholly from the income statement and balance sheet which determine how a business is perceived. The learned skill of a knowledge worker, the type of metal working, the type of stitch: all may be without an 'accounting cost' but for those who truly know the product, for it is these people the company should wish to find and keep, the difference is incomparable. Failing to recognise these assets, will set an enterprise at a serious disadvantage.

A brand which is widely known in the marketplace acquires "brand recognition." When brand recognition builds up to a point where a brand enjoys a critical mass of positive sentiment in the marketplace, it is said to have achieved "brand franchise." One goal in brand recognition is the identification of a brand without the name of the company present. For example, Disney has been successful at branding with their particular script font (originally created for Walt Disney's "signature" logo).

Consumers may look on branding as an important value added aspect of products or services, as it often serves to denote a certain attractive quality or characteristic, which is known as "brand promise." From the perspective of brand owners, branded products or services also command higher prices. Where two products resemble each other, but one of the products has no associated branding (such as a generic, store-branded product), people may often select the more expensive branded product on the basis of the quality of the product. Sometimes however consumers purchase a product either for its reputation and status or because it is simply what is familiar to them.

Project Plan

Project plan.

Name of Enterprise.

The Third Network.

Student names and roles.

Fahran Younas- promotion, marketing, design

Carlos Carrillo- team leader,

Andy Kinnear- legal structures.

Chris Caldow- general design

Alex Caldow- logo design

Ben Keswick- market research and target audience.

Kofi Ansah- web designer, host

Dean Pankhurst- Finance

Tara Dulake- market research

Keith Trodd- market research

Hayley Allen- promotion

Marios Economides- gantt chart.

Carlos Carrillo- Mission Statement.

Our aim is to introduce a social network within Ravensbourne. The network will allow students to communicate with other courses with ease.

Objectives

1. To develop a site where students can upload their work as an online portfolio within the college.

2. To establish a connection with in all courses at Ravensbourne; allowing easy of access to everyone's specific skills. E.g. sound and fashion.

3. To gain a substantial exposure.

4. Attract industry professionals to the college.

Tara Dulake- Summary of Enterprise.

Business opportunity.

At current, students produce their own websites and promotional materials. Ravensbourne college is in dire need to promote the work in which students do at the college and show the quality and standard that can come out of going to Ravensbourne. At current, the Ravensbourne website only shows a small percentage of work that is produced by Ravensbourne students.

USP

This is a way to link more within the industry. Ravensbourne students are more taken on by people in the industry because of the level of work that comes out from its students, if they could also see and link with students, it would be easier for students to get jobs.

The idea is also to get collaboration within the college and promote jobs that maybe needed to be done between projects at the college. For example if and animator needs a sound designer, the job can be posted. At current, emails are sent which do not always get received. The same as if someone from the industry wants a student to do a small bit of design work for them they can look at the profiles and get in contact with the students direct rather than going through lecturers.

This idea could even get expanded through set up for other universities and companies who want to offer creative field job opportunities.

We also intend to set up a stall where customers can purchase merchandise that promote the 3^rd year films.

Products on this stall will be: t-shirts and badges.

Measurable aims of Enterprise.

To connect the student network and gain a substantial exposure.

Experience of working as a team

Exclusive network.

There is a degree of exposure.

To be used as a form of communication.

To make a £10 contribution to the degree show.

Hayley Allen- Merchandise.

Popular merchandise for films includes t-shirts, mugs, figurines or soft toys, badges, posters, as well as art work and books for higher end budgets. Many shops now sell products as cheaply as a pound for merchandise, although the quality of these items is often not so good.

T-shirts can be made using transfer paper, which can be printed on at Ravensbourne and ironed onto the t-shirts. The paper can be found at £4.95 for ten sheets, making it around 50p per shirt, then plain t-shirts or vest tops can be bought very cheaply for around one or two pounds each.

As the stall will be based in Ravensbourne, artistic material like pencil cases, rulers etc will be more likely to sell as they are useful within college. Plain pencil cases can be bought online from around 1-2 pounds each (for example at http://www.cc-craft.co.uk/pencil-case-1-pc-light-natural.aspx) and could be sold for around £3-5 after being customised. Alternatively, pencil pots can be made using card by hand:

We could also sell sketchbooks or notebooks by buying paper in bulk and binding them with our design on the cover. We can also print our own art books in the University.

The stall will also market our website service via the logo and web address appearing on their carrier bags. Paper bags can be printed upon and made by hand easily (http://www.ehow.co.uk/how_6395369_make-paper-carrier-bag.html) and very cheaply, and are more environmentally friendly than plastic.

Ben Keswick- Target Market.

The target audience we are aiming for, to begin with is the Ravensbourne student. There are many benefits the students would have with the site it’s a better way of networking and collaborating with other students at Ravensbourne. Student can see other students work and decide if they could work together. It’s a creative on-site network. They also are a possible that if it is successful it could be expanded to other university. Its perfect for student due to the way it showcase there work and connect to different departments.

Market Research.

Research done by Tara Dulake and Keith Trodd.

Our Competitors in Portfolios and Networking:

We have researched into whats already out there and if its needed:

Behance Network (www.behance.net)

Carbonmade (www.carbonmade.com)

Shown'd (www.shownd.com)

Coroflot (www.coroflot.com)

Professional on the Web (www.professionalontheweb.com)

Deviantart (www.deviantart.com)

design:related (www.designrelated.com)

Portfolio's Friend (www.portfoliosfriend.com)

The Portfolio network (www.theportfolionetwork.com)

Sunoasis (www.sunoasis.com)

Creative Cin (www.creative-cin.co.uk)

Portfolio Workshop (www.portfolioworkshop.com)

Foliotek (www.foliotek.com)

Linkedin (linkedin.co.uk)

MY Hammer (myhammer.co.uk)

Big Black Bag (bigblackbag.com)

Basekit (Basekit.com)

Folio Focus (foliofocus.com)

With all of these websites and companies looked at providing very similar services, we have gathered information of their strengths and weaknesses to try and get the best out of our service. The following applies to the strengths.

· Showcase online of peoples work

· Links everyone together

· Anyone can view the portfolios

· Jobs can be advertised

· Can be translated into a few languages

· Sign up for free.

· Can comment on services done by the person and put recommendations on.

· Jobs can be quoted for jobs.

· Can be linked and followed on Face book and twitter.

· Free e-newsletter for non members too

· Holds a clear creative directory for people to advertise jobs they want done

· Jobs can be searched through location and company and job type

· Hold special networking events

· User friendly set up.

· Accessible on the Iphone.

· When registering allows user to identify themselves as a person just looking for a job, just an employer and both.

· Very easy registering process

· The personal account page is very clearly laid out and easy on the eyes- nice light colours.

· There is a specialist section on the portfolio site, this is useful to employees as they can search by specialty with regards to software.

· Good layout and easy to navigate

Things to which we may want to avoid…

· Cluttered website – too much at once

· Have a big upload space as a limited upload space, may not be enough.

· Make clear who’s portfolio is being viewed and ensure that it cannot be changed from people on the outside.

· Not having the browsing easy to navigate, as getting to and from the homepage should be easy to use.

· Make sure the portfolios “look” are not all the same and unique.

Fahran Younas- Promotion strategy and 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.

Marios Economides- Action plan.

Mariluz Noto- Resource Management.

As part as the resource manager, i have discovered that the skills needed to create a home internet business are people who can use

· Basic web surfing and navigation using a web browser

· Use Search engines and proper search techniques

· Download programs, pictures, and other files

· Print web pages

· Upload html pages to the Internet using ftp

The location to where we want to set up our website is unknown yet as further research will be done later. The equipment and facility we need to have for this business to carry out is a domain name and server space which i looked into is from a website called go.daddy which Linked in used to set up their website and a computer.

Andrew Kinnear- Online Legalities.

This is a summary of legalities that we as a business need to be aware of.

Copyright – Do not steal from other peoples websites.

Create original material to avoid copyright

Fair use policy

If you use somebody's work then you must ask to use that work and then it must be credited within the website to avoid copyright

Domain names- have to make sure there is not a registered website that already has the name that you wish. It is also advisable to make sure there is not a company that already exists with the chosen domain name, as this would infringe upon copyright laws.

Defamation – creating false statements about people or companies that damage their companies, slander.

Disclaimers produced along with terms and conditions to secure the individuals work but also states that the company cannot be held accountable for an individual plagiarizing work as they are responsible for the legitimacy of their work.

We cannot be held responsible for any injuries obtained through use of this website.

We will need a formal contract that outlines payment methods and what people will receive from the service that we provide. The contract will also include the disclaimers and terms and conditions which prevent us as a company being sued for anything.

Dean Pankhurst- Budget.

Our financial plan, the way we are going to get the money by initially investing £10 each, towards funding and the setting up the website. With the money we are going to buy the domain name and server space for the duration of the degree show. That way we plan to earn our money back is by selling portfolio space for students with an initial £10 fee, for three months, promoting and selling merchandise for the degree show.

Budget

£120

Domain name

£8 godaddy.com for a year

Web hosting

£51 godaddy.com for a year

£14.52 for 3 months.

£4.24p a month

Budget for merchandise.

£98

Income Target- break even

Best case scenario- we make a profit

Worst case scenario- we make a loss or do not make any money.

Exit Strategy/Risk Management.

Risks.

Doesn't work- nobody is interested in the product,

Problems with the suppliers- risk of disappointed customers.

Not enough capital to set up the business and keeping costs low.

Being able to distinguish ourselves as a unique business when competing with larger competitors.

Exit strategy.

Refund customers money and shut down the website.

Blog links.

Fahran Younas- http://fahraneande.blogspot.com/

Carlos Carrillo- http://carloscarrilloeande.blogspot.com/

Andy Kinnear- http://thirdnetworkak.blogspot.com/

Chris Caldow- http://chrisceande.blogspot.com/

Ben Keswick- http://benkeswickeande.blogspot

Kofi Ansah- http://koansah.com/blog/?page_id=1160

Dean Pankhurst- http://dpankhurst3.blogspot.com/

Tara Dulake- http://taradulakeenterpriseentrepreneurship.blogspot.com

Keith Trodd- http://3rdyearenterpriseentrepreneurshipblog.blogspot.com/

Hayley Allen- http://hayleyallenee.blogspot.com/

Mariluz Noto- http://mariluzeande.blogspot.com/

Marios Economides- http://marioseconomides7.blogspot.com/

Alex Caldow- http://alexceande.blogspot.com/