OUGD502: PPP- Taking care of business: Final Presentation

OUGD502: PPP- Taking care of business

We spent quite a while trying to figure out the costs which we would need to take into account when setting up the business:

Rebecca has previously done business and economics so this was incredibly helpful as she could explain quite a few different aspects that I didn't previously understand. 

I helped put together what needed to be bought in terms of a shopping list and prices but then Rebecca put together an organised table which makes the lists easier to understand:

We worked out how much we would need to charge for each item based on the profit we needed to make and also how we could cover the basic costs of making:

To be able to cover these costs we would need a start up loan to be able to set up our business and begin to sell products:

As the yearly profit would be £676.72 this would go towards paying for the loan over a longer length of time and also allowing us to create more artwork and sell more products based on the demands of customers. We found that when looking at the costs we would run this business as a smaller sideline company alongside what would be our regular job as this is something we wouldn't want to put all of our money into just in case it didn't work out. As we previously discussed with John a high percentage of smaller businesses fail in the first year but we hope we would not be one of them. But it is definitely the most sensible option to start small with a view to future plans and expanding slowly when we will eventually have a higher profit and then in turn be able to pay ourselves full wages instead of 30hrs each a month. 

Our business as stated previously is a Partnership agreement. This means as stated before we have agreed to have a 50/50 split on the business. However the items purchased individually would be taken into account such as a printer/ scanner as they are individual items instead of being purchased together. As a printer would be bought individually the other person must contribute money towards printing designs to be ready to be screen printed at West Yorkshire Print Workshop. 

OUGD502: PPP- Taking care of business

We discussed what style our logo should be to suit our business and decided that it should follow some form of hand rendered style.

We liked the informality and quirky nature of how hand rendered type forms instead of looking completely clean cut and computerised. This would fit our business Printaholics because we are using traditional screen printing methods and the imperfect and handcrafted feel/aura to the artwork would compliment the manifesto/ aims within the logo.

I began doing a couple of initial sketches for ideas for the logo but these are not what we went through with in the end:

Although we discussed that we wanted more of a hand rendered/ less perfect feel so I did a few more sketches:

I then fine lined in the ones which I felt worked best:

We then discussed that the different weights within PRINT and aholics works quite well because it balances out how the word should be read. Although the fine liner makes the type appear too busy so therefore I did a simplistic version below: 

This looks much cleaner and therefore more legible, however this would only work for a larger version of the logo. For the smaller logo we were thinking about using just the singular P. 

To push this idea of making PRINT the first part of the word read Rebecca worked on some of her own sketches for type including different ideas on how the drop shadow could be used. We decided on the dots because this is less harsh and also representative of the half tone dots in screen printing. 

(Rebecca's drawing)

We then merged our two ideas together into a logo:

We also created this smaller version of the logo which would be perfect for use on social media to promote our business. The larger logo simply wouldn't be legible in such a small square space. The smaller version of this logo would also work well in our presentation as it is more minimal and would fit perfectly in the corner. 

Which we then transferred into a mock up for the website which Rebecca worked on the grid for. The website is simply to sell the products and we therefore wanted to keep it as simple as possible. The column on the left hand side would remain in place whereas the rest of the page would allow for a scrolling movement. The tags on the left also allow the user to be able to choose the products they would like to view. We used examples of wrapping paper and gift bags that we found on paper chase: http://www.paperchase.co.uk. However with a longer time frame we would of been able to create our own designs for the website. The small amount of pink in the smaller version of the logo allows for a delicate amount of colour as we chose this pink because it is similar to a skin colour which therefore matches with black and white. We actually spent quite a length of time searching for colours which would compliment our logo and vast amounts of changes in colour palette of designs however I feel we have been able to succeed with this pale pink tone. 

Website mock up:

OUGD502: Taking care of business: Future plans

We initially want to start with selling our work online as this would be the cheapest and quickest way of being able to sell products. However in the future as our smaller business will hopefully grow it will be possible to open our own shop. 

I found when researching into property for retail within Leeds that the Corn Exchange seems to be the cheapest option within the town centre. 

The Corn Exchange within Leeds located directly in the centre contains many different smaller businesses and independent shops which would make it an ideal location. 

Shops which already exist within the building:

http://www.leedscornexchange.co.uk/about-us

The building/photographs/location:

(good location in the city centre)

The prices are also incredibly reasonable for a city centre location so this is something we would consider in the future. Another option would be to continue with our online shop and have our own screen printing facilities, or perhaps have our own studio with facilities that could in fact work also as a small shop too. 

I began looking at what different screen printing products would be needed and came across a website which supply equipment called natgraph (see below). It is difficult to find the exact prices online for this equipment even through looking at different websites. So therefore I have emailed natgraph in the hope for a response with prices. 

We would need:

- A screen print bed (or multiple): 

- An exposure unit: £3,000-£5,000- can be up to 15,000

- Drying racks: 30 shelves- £150

- A room to dry frames and vertical frame to dry screens

- A washout booth: Approx £1000

- Jet wash and chemicals/ cleaning products

- screens & inks: £24-60 per screen. Inks would be different but around £12 per pot.

- Emulsion and screen filler: £20

- Squeegees £20 each, brown tape 10 rolls £20, troughs for coating: pack for £66 (different sizes), palette knives and mixing sticks: Plastic mixing sticks £3.

- Pots for mixing colours (plastic pots, extremely cheap)

Website found to help with these prices (see below). They have reasonably priced products and packs aimed at small businesses. 

http://www.wickedprintingstuff.com

This equipment is rather large and is not something which can be placed easily into an office or studio space. So therefore I have has a little research into what kinds of property would be suitable:

SPRINGWELL POINT- Around £12,000 to rent for the year

http://bulkloader.prd.pl.artirix.com.s3.amazonaws.com/25f36875-6926-4850-b931-e1c81e78f2f9_SpringwellPointLeeds.pdf

Taverners Walk Industrial Estate, Sheepscar Grove, Leeds, LS7 1AH- Around £10,000 for the years rent. 

http://bulkloader.prd.pl.artirix.com.s3.amazonaws.com/be38921e-45a3-4182-a2a5-f1f80b0012e7_TavernersWalk.pdf

http://propertylink.estatesgazette.com/property-details/5890715-armley-link-trading-estate

Other warehouse options:

http://property.networkrail.co.uk/findaproperty.aspx?propsearch=true&town=Leeds&postcode=&station=&sizefrom=0&sizeto=1000000&rentfrom=0&rentto=1000000&proptype=10

These are all quite expensive and are of course future plans if we had enough money and customers to invest in such a large building. But in the meantime creating an online shop of products and working together from home with the view of also opening a small shop or stall with a studio to screen print seems to have the most potential as a gradual business plan.

OUGD502: Taking care of business- Manifesto

Printaholics Manifesto

Wrapping paper and gift packaging is often mundane and tedious. We feel a necessity to change the outlook of gift wrap. We believe it should be appreciated as artwork itself instead of simply torn through and disposable. 

We aspire to consistently create unique and interesting artwork.

Beautifully crafted printed products are always our priority.

We wish for print to be everlastingly celebrated within art and design. 

We believe in the charm of handmade products. 

We strive to create intriguing gift wrap which will both excite and inspire the receiver of your gift. 

OUGD502: Taking care of business- screen printing

As previously discussed it is possible for graduates to use the facilities within college for one year, however we felt it was necessary to look further afield and I did some research into screen printing facilities. One which I cam across was West Yorkshire Print Workshop:

http://www.wypw.org/print-rooms/

It isn't based in Leeds city centre but only half an hour away so I thought it was worth contacting them:

This is a good option as the price isn't too expensive and definitely an initial option to use for our own business with plans to buy our own equipment in the future.

OUGD502: Taking Care Of Business

The company we will be creating as a partnership is not named as of yet, but this is a detail we will decide when thinking about branding. Based on our love for creating artwork which is individual and different we thought about using screen printing as a tool to print. 

We spoke at length about what sort of work we would want to create and came to the conclusion that it would be interesting to create gift wrap/ tags/ furnishes and in general bespoke individual designs to sell. At first we would need to rent the equipment to be able to screen print as it would be quite costly but as John suggested in the crit, once we leave college we would have some access to screen printing for one year which could significantly reduce costs. As both myself and Rebecca live quite close to Leeds it would be ideal to use this location as a meeting point for work and therefore we need to research into print workshops in the area. 

To keep the costs to a minimum we firstly spoke about having our own online shop to sell artwork on demand (print for orders). This is because we researched into gift wrap and similar items online and came across a website called OH DEER. 

http://ohhdeer.com/us/

We want to create similar products however the artwork for this website is created by a vast amount of people (see the image above). So therefore our unique selling point would be that we screen print the artwork and that is our own smaller business. This would appeal to those who enjoy more luxurious and quirky graphic design materials. It was also suggested that we could have our smaller shop or perhaps pop up shop/stall in Leeds as it would be an ideal opportunity to create money and recognition for the business. 

The next stages are to research into rent for shops, prices for setting up a website, prices for printing and materials, start up finances as a whole and also branding in terms of a logo, name and manifesto. 

OUGD502: Taking Care Of Business

Instead of working in a larger group to create a design studio based upon for example; branding, logo's ect. Myself and Rebecca Kelly as working together to create our own smaller business. We have similar interests both in and outside of the graphic design discipline and therefore working together would be straight forward and rewarding for both parts. We initially started with researching together and gaining a further understanding of the legalities of setting up our own business. 

The initial questions that we looked at together were:

Rebecca already had some form of understanding these terms due to completing business related courses at college. However I also researched these myself to have my own understanding on the different ways to have a business. 

Partnership:

'A partnership is commonly formed where two or more people wish to come to together to form a business.'

http://blog.thecompanywarehouse.co.uk/2010/03/01/advantages-and-disadvantages-of-partnership/

Advantages of Partnership

• Capital – Due to the nature of the business, the partners will fund the business with start up capital. This means that the more partners there are, the more money they can put into the business, which will allow better flexibility and more potential for growth. It also means more potential profit, which will be equally shared between the partners.
• Flexibility – A partnership is generally easier to form, manage and run. They are less strictly regulated than companies, in terms of the laws governing the formation and because the partners have the only say in the way the business is run (without interference by shareholders) they are far more flexible in terms of management, as long as all the partners can agree.
• Shared Responsibility – Partners can share the responsibility of the running of the business. This will allow them to make the most of their abilities. Rather than splitting the management and taking an equal share of each business task, they might well split the work according to their skills. So if one partner is good with figures, they might deal with the book keeping and accounts, while the other partner might have a flare for sales and therefore be the main sales person for the business.
• Decision Making – Partners share the decision making and can help each other out when they need to. More partners means more brains that can be picked for business ideas and for the solving of problems that the business encounters.

Disadvantages of Partnership

• Disagreements – One of the most obvious disadvantages of partnership is the danger of disagreements between the partners. Obviously people are likely to have different ideas on how the business should be run, who should be doing what and what the best interests of the business are. This can lead to disagreements and disputes which might not only harm the business, but also the relationship of those involved. This is why it is always advisable to draft a deed of partnership during the formation period to ensure that everyone is aware of what procedures will be in place in case of disagreement and what will happen if the partnership is dissolved.
• Agreement – Because the partnership is jointly run, it is necessary that all the partners agree with things that are being done. This means that in some circumstances there are less freedoms with regards to the management of the business. Especially compared to sole traders. However, there is still more flexibility than with limited companies where the directors must bow to the will of the members (shareholders).
• Liability – Ordinary Partnerships are subject to unlimited liability, which means that each of the partners shares the liability and financial risks of the business. Which can be off putting for some people. This can be countered by the formation of a limited liability partnership, which benefits from the advantages of limited liability granted to limited companies, while still taking advantage of the flexibility of the partnership model.
• Taxation – One of the major disadvantages of partnership, taxation laws mean that partners must pay tax in the same way as sole traders, each submitting a Self Assessment tax return each year. They are also required to register as self employed with HM Revenue & Customs. The current laws mean that if the partnership (and the partners) bring in more than a certain level, then they are subject to greater levels of personal taxation than they would be in a limited company. This means that in most cases setting up a limited company would be more beneficial as the taxation laws are more favourable (see our article on the Advantages and Disadvantages of a Limited Company).
• Profit Sharing – Partners share the profits equally. This can lead to inconsistency where one or more partners aren’t putting a fair share of effort into the running or management of the business, but still reaping the rewards.

http://blog.thecompanywarehouse.co.uk/2010/03/01/advantages-and-disadvantages-of-partnership/

As we will be setting up a smaller business a partnership seems like the best option because it is easier to set up than a limited company or LLC. There disadvantages of running a partnership are based upon your relationship with the person and disagreements but also in the taxation as paperwork must be completed. However if in time we were to make a profit with a larger amount it could be possible to think about using a different acton plan such as a LLP. 

Limited liability partnerships (LLPs)

The partners in an LLP aren’t personally liable for debts the business can’t pay - their liability is limited to the amount of money they invest in the business.

Partners’ responsibilities and share of the profits are set out in an LLPagreement. ‘Designated members’ have extra responsibilities.

Every year, the partnership must send a partnership Self Assessment tax return to HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC).

All the partners must:

send a personal Self Assessment tax return every year

pay Income Tax on their share of the partnership’s profits

pay National Insurance

You must also register the partnership for VAT if you expect your business’s takings to be more than £81,000 a year.

https://www.gov.uk/business-legal-structures/limited-partnership-and-limited-liability-partnership

Limited company? or Limited Liability Company? 

Limited company

A limited company is an organisation that you can set up to run your business - it’s responsible in its own right for everything it does and its finances are separate to your personal finances.

Any profit it makes is owned by the company, after it pays Corporation Tax. The company can then share its profits.

https://www.gov.uk/business-legal-structures/limited-company

Limited Liability Company:

A corporate structure whereby the members of the company cannot be held personally liable for the company's debts or liabilities.

Although LLCs have some attractive features, they also have a number of disadvantages, especially in relation to the structure of a corporation. A LLC has to be dissolved upon the death or bankruptcy of a member, unlike a corporation, which can exist in perpetuity. Also, a LLC may not be a suitable option when the objective of the founder is to eventually become a publicly listed company.

http://www.investopedia.com/terms/l/llc.asp

A limited company has its advantages because it ensures that the company is completely separate to your own assets. This therefore means that any debt is not linked to yourself. However there are also disadvantages as this type of business plan states you must earn 25,000 per year. However as our business will be starting from nothing it would be more effective to initially start with a partnership as most businesses can fail in their first year. What is relevant with types of business plans is that it is costly to run and ensure and as we will be a small business this might not be the most effective plan. 

OUGD502: PPP- "Taking Care Of Business"

The 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.

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?

It is essential that you refer to a range of marketing models and recognise business ‘start-up’ principles in order to gain a pass. You must make reference to the course materials, books and web sites to demonstrate your understanding.

The presentation will be 10 mins long.

You should use appropriate visual aids and printed material to support your presentation.

Evidence of the research and development of your presentation and visual material should be posted to your PPD blog and labelled with the module code. You should also post pdf versons of your presentation, notes and handouts to your PPD blog.

OUGD502: PPP- College Exhibition

'Taking its title from Richard Doyle’s 'In Fairyland' (1870), this exhibition explores the medium of the fairy and, reciprocally, the fairy as medium. (Through representation) we invite you to re-question your belief in these magical beings.'

http://www.leeds-art.ac.uk/news-events/events-exhibitions/2015/01/30/in-fairyland-tessa-farmer/#.VP7iYjRuM2g.twitter

From the exhibition:

What interested me from the exhibition wasn't necessarily the fine artist's work (sculptures made out of insects). But in fact was Richard Doyle's book which was the inspiration for the exhibition. The old and traditional decorative type which has been crafted with a gold foiling showcases a large amount of different intricate and delicate illustrations. These books aren't necessarily graphic design as strictly suggested as they include illustration but from looking into older books and printing methods in my first year COP study I have found that I enjoy looking at older books and how they were made to influence my own design style and outcomes. 

https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4061/4420209344_f1f2837713.jpg

There was also a piece by Su Blackwell and I instantly recognised it was hers from seeing her work previously based on the book Wuthering Heights. (see below)