OUGD502 Studio Brief 3 - Life's A Pitch

Brief

Working in groups of four you will construct a business plan or business proposal for a creative design studio and present it to your peers and tutors in an formatively assessed, oral presentation. Your plan/proposal and presentation should be based on the analysis and content that you have been introduced to throughout the module.

Background / Considerations

Four heads are better than one as long as they communicate. You will now have the luxury of four pairs of hands. How will you use them effectively? You will need to consider the following: What skills and services do you have to offer? Who is your target market? Who is your competition and how will you compete? What are your costs, charges and financial considerations? How will you structure your studio? Who will be responsible for what? How will you promote your services? To who? Using what media?

The group that I will be working with for this brief is:

• Beth Dalzell
• Danielle Muntyan
• Amy Hill
• Melissa Hardcastle

After brainstorming some initial ideas for a concept and business proposal, it was decided that we would make our business a design studio that focuses more specifically on fashion branding. Before going further we were each assigned a research topic chosen between us that would give us a better insight into the plausibility and reality of creating such a business.

I chose to look into our target market, and the sort of clients we would expect to be working with.

After looking at some examples and websites of some popular branding agencies that specialise in the fashion design field, I concluded that a strong working relationship directly with the client produces the most effective results. In light of this, it became apparent that, at least as a starting business, it may be more effective to work with smaller fashion brands, before climbing towards working with bigger and more international brands.

Working with less high profile designers and brands ensures that we would be able to get far more face time with the clients than if it were a bigger business. Most clients will be very specific about how their brand is received, especially in the fashion retail market, where the name means as much as whether or not the clothes look good. By working closely with them and developing a strong bond and relationship, we can develop an understanding of what our clients want, enabling us to utilise that skill more and more as we progress up the fashion retail ladder.