Life's A Pitch - Manifesto pt II.

Today we discussed our manifesto, our current draft is 

"Matchbox" 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. 

We looked at the Snask manifesto and the architect Frank Lloyd Wright's manifesto afterwards to see how wording can bring across a tone and attract a certain clientele to your work. Responses to our manifesto were mostly that we were friendly and approachable which is what we were hoping for. 

We made a list in the session of things that we need to start thinking about, possibly for next session. 

• Yankee candle/competitor prices 
• What can you paint candles with? Can you paint candles? 
• Amazons best sellers candles, what are they and how can we differ from that?
• What burns the slowest - beeswax, paraffin, soya or gel 
• Out of those, which are the most environmentally friendly, which are easiest to customise?
• Vessels candles are carried in, how our packaging can be environmentally friendly too
• How can we get ourselves out there? Look into different kinds of social media
• What is the best forum to be on? If we are on etsy will we get lost, will we loose some potential earnings from having to be on a site like etsy or Big Cartel? 
• What websites are the easiest to build upon? 
• Can we create moulds within the college? 
• If Not where else can we make them? 
• Can we emboss the candles? 

From these questions we started to think about the brand itself. We liked the idea of beeswax candles and contributing back to the care of bee's. 

We decided to create three main streams to focus on, nicknamed the three B's: 

 "basics" range, creating illustrated candles that are a basic shape with customised smell. 

  "save the bees" range, where we focus on being environmentally friendly and giving back. 

"black magic" range where we can experiment with moulds and colours around a theme. 

We also spoke about the website and the inclusion of the "meet your maker" section where we can each introduce what we do for the company and how we make the candles. 

We also wanted to include a "outside the matchbox" section where we could show how we contribute to other communities (such as the bee's). 

Life's A Pitch - Manifesto

CORE BUSINESS CONCEPT 

• A Company of people.
• A candle selling business with a sense of involvement 
• There for any occasion or treat. 
• Highly crafted, something to keep. 

CORE BUSINESS VALUES 

• Getting people involved in the making 
• Face to face interaction 
• Creating a positive atmosphere for everyone involved
• Knowing your maker "meet your maker" section on website where you can see who designs what and what we do. 
• Thinking "outside the matchbox", showing that we are more than just a candle company. We are interested in getting involved with the community and giving back to a positive atmosphere. 

CORE BUSINESS GOALS 

• Having a well known brand in our region (leeds) then expanding throughout the UK. 
• Moderate growth, growing but still retaining the hand crafted and personal experience with our customer base as we do so. 
• Taking the innovative when we see it
• Keeping sustainable and creative
• Keeping it made in the UK 

CORE FINANCIAL GOALS 

• Moderate growth
• Enough to branch out to try new things in the business 
• Profitable, eventually charitable and giving back to the community 

CORPORATE CULTURE 

• Trusted
• Conscientious towards customers, product service and clients
• Geniune 
• Accommodating 

Life's A Pitch - Business Concept

Life's A Pitch: Business Concept 

WHAT IS YOUR BUSINESS IDEA?

Matchbox- a candle selling business essentially but with a sense on involvement. Customisable candles, candle workshops. A company of people. Sustainable.

HOW DID YOU COME UP WITH IT?

We wanteed a project that would involve our personal interests. Some of us liked the idea of creating something to do with inhibiting a space and creating an atmosphere, thats where the idea of candle making came from. Others liked the idea of learning a new process and being able to incorporate illustration into that.

WHAT EXCITES YOU ABOUT IT?

Learning a new process, the possibilities for the project and room for expansion. Creating something that is creative, marketable and useful too.

WHAT INDUSTRY DOES IT BELONG TOO?

Service - Because there will be an element of fire safety awareness in there.
Mostly manufacturing - selling the candles and making the candles for the public to buy.

WHAT IMPROVED FEATURES/ SERVICES DO YOU PROVIDE? SOMETHING NEW? BETTER? 

A designable candle to suit an individuals wants (size, colour, scent), involving the customer to create our own community for the product. As well as raising awareness for different issues (fire safety, earth sustainability.. bee's). Postable with birthday cards as well so they could arrive as a ready made present.

WHAT IS YOUR MARKET? WHO ARE YOUR POTENTIAL CUSTOMERS?

Our primary audience is 18-29 year olds who are on social media and more likely to see us than a higher age group.  Our audience is the people that are more likely to buy something handcrafted/something out of the mainstream. More likely to spend for a birthday, wedding, anniversary present.

Our secondary audience is 40 - 60. These people are not so reachable by social media and may not get on so well with the internet format. They are just as likely to want a candle it's just reaching them will not be as easy as the primary audience.

WHAT COMPANIES/ TYPES DO YOU THINK ARE POTENTIAL COMPETITION?

Yankee Candle is our main competitor as they are well established with the general public.
Fred Aldous/other craft companies are also competition as they offer kits to make candles and these are customisable also.
Clintons (selling candles, their own brand and others).
Internet companies.

Colours May Vary Visit (ft. Joan Cornella show)

(Two colour screen print, thought this was nice and took a picture as reference for my author work). 

Today we visited Colours May Vary ahead of our exhibition (in february) for a talk with the curators. 

They both said that quality was very important to selling a good piece and that if something has a good finish to it, it will sell more than something that is just as nice but been printed on a lower grade of paper. They explained that people are often buying to keep and that print is making a comeback in the illustrative/graphic design world. 

When asked about pricing they said to consider:

How many hours did it take to make? How much did it cost to make?

What would you pay for your own work? Under pricing and overpricing is big in the industry and its important to consider where you are selling and who you are selling too. Presentation is key to selling work, something that sells in M+S for £12 could be sold in John Lewis for £80 with the only major difference being the way it's presented. 

They explained that knowing your seller/curators was really important, Don't Presume and be coherent. How you present yourself is important, being presumptuous is not good. Always visit the space if you can and don't just think that anywhere will want to stock your work. Contact people accordingly. Collaboration is important for survival. 

Whilst at colours may vary we also saw the Joan Cornella Exhibition. I enjoyed the pieces and thought that the colours were vibrant and also that the paper he used was suited to the medium. 

Thoughtbubble + Zine

This year I participated in thought bubble as well as actually visiting the festival. 

I really enjoyed the festival itself, I attended on Saturday. It was good being able to talk to people that were out in the field and actually making work. I came away with lots of motivation and with the hope that by next thought bubble I might be halfway to having my own table at least. I learnt that you need to engage with the people on your stall, the people that I spoke to I (mostly) brought stuff off because I learnt things about the way their items were made that made me want to invest (such as two plymouth students that had created most their zines from using a risograph and had used a laser cutter to create their badges). 

For our summer brief we were asked to keep a sketchbook of what we did, I struggled with this exercise because I worked over most of summer and felt like I didn't really do much that was worth drawing about. 

This really slowed down my zine development, I finally picked up on a concept from one sketch (from watching period dramas) and pulled from that. 

As a result I started working on a small western comic named "way out west". I really enjoyed making it and spent a lot of time converting it to digital (as the scans were not coming through strong enough). 

Soon I realised that a lot of my colleagues had finished and with the deadline being so near, it seemed unlikely that I would finish the zine in time for thought bubble. I kept all the images and plan to finish it as a zine for myself at a later date. 

There was nothing else in my book that was worth scanning in, so in a last minute decision I decided to  do it all digitally about nostalgia (something that always happens when I go home at summer). 

I was actually very pleased with the final product, there were numerous problems with printing. Mainly this was me creating the images as RGB rather than Greyscale images so when they printed out they were coming out the wrong colour (and also size). With some help from the technician and other illustrators I finally got it to print at the right size and colour. These went on to be sold at thought bubble. 

If I had had more time, I think I would have probably stuck with "way out west" because I really enjoyed changing my artwork from basic ink to digital drawings. 

I think the whole zine making process was really eye opening for me, I am more comfortable with photoshop and In Design than I thought I was and was able to produce a zine in just over a day (not something I would try again unless for a zine a day project).

What Does Illustration Mean To You

What does Illustration mean to you

Does illustration have to have a price tag?
Can ANYTHING be an illustration?
What can an illustration DO?
Illustration is a job. 
Illustration - communication - Problem solving (triangle)




Publishing and book design 

Product - Children's storybooks
Context - Print, Waterstones 
Function - to Entertain, to narrate 

Product - Primary school educational books
Context - Print, Waterstones, School, online
Function - To educate and engage, communicate a point

Product - Womens weekly magazine
Context - Print, News agents, public waiting rooms
Function - To entertain, amuse, communicate

Product - Mens Health
Context - Print, Gyms, news agents, waiting rooms, Internet/online
Function - To inform, to entertain, to educate, to communicate

Product - Comic novels 
Context - Print, Online/internet, waterstones, special events 
Function - To entertain, to narrate, to amuse. 

Product and packaging 

Product - Stationary 
Context - retail, shops, promotional events 
Function  - To sell, to work as a functional piece of stationary, to be aesthetically pleasing, to promote a place or event. 

Product - Cereal Box 
Context - Retail, food shops. 
Function - promotional, to sell, advertise the product or other similar, as a piece of packaging, to communicate (nutritional values). 

Product - Alcohol 
Context - Retail, bars, clubs, promotional events. 
Function - To Inform (of alcohol values), to advertise (the quality of the product), to promote (a new product from that range). 

Product - Nike Shoes 
Context - Nike stores, sports retail, gym. 
Function - To promote (the brand), status symbol (to show higher class), to work as a high quality shoe (long lasting gym wear). 


Product - Tote Bags 
Context - Shops, comic con fairs, promotional events.
Function - to carry items, to promote items inside, to promote something on the outside, to persuade someone to visit that shop. 


Character and Narrative 


Product  - Video Games 
Context - On screen, promotional events, E3 convention/gaming conventions. 
Function - To interact (with the player), to challenge (their game playing abilities), To Narrate (the game plot), to entertain (the player). 


Product - Toys 
Context - Toy shops, promotional events, on tv. 
Function - To advertise ( a movie or brand.. barbie..bratz), To entertain, to educate (about social values), to engage (the child to playing learn something from it). 

Product - Mascots 
Context - promotional events, shops, football games etc. 
Function - To Narrate (what ever is going on at the location), to entertain (the customers), To interact (with the customers or crowd), to promote the brand, to inform the customer of what the product is. 

Product - Television Ads 
Context - Tv, Online/internet
Function - To narrate, to inform (of the product), To educate (on what it is), to entertain (younger audiences), To advertise/ persuade (to older audiences). 


Product - Phones Apps 
Context - Mobile phones, Ipads, Ipods. 
Function- To entertain, to educate, to advertise (if its a game of a larger brand), to engage (you to carry on playing), To Narrate (a game story). 


Retail and merchandising 


Product - Starbucks coffee
Context - starbucks coffee shops, motorway services. 
Function - being a cup of coffee, To advertise (the brand), to promote (the higher class ideology), to enjoy (the taste). 

Product -  Sports Shoes (Nike, Addidas ect)
Context - gyms, television ads, billboards, sports shops, sports magazines. 
Function - To be a shoe, to advertise the brand, to engage the customer to buy the brand, to promote (the idea of branded shoes being better than unbranded), to entertain (the user). 

Product - University Apparel 
Context - University shops, uni sites/ 
Function - to be a piece of clothing, To promote the university, to inform to others that you attend that university, to interact with others (wearing on open days), to advertise that you are proud to belong to that uni. 

Product - Band Merchandise (shirts, wristbands, posters, badges etc) 
Context - Actual concert venues, Online, In selected shops. 
Function - To Enjoy (as a fan of that group), To promote the groups social status, to inform others of your music taste, to advertise the band to others that might not have heard of them. 

Product - Computer / laptop 
Context - technology stores, schools, university, general public etc. 
Function - to work as a computer. To Advertise the brand (like macbook), to engage others, to inform others of your social economic status, to function towards your needs (notebooks for writers, travellers, PC's are for gamers or technologically advanced). 

PPP- Study Task One - "Who am i? Why am I here?"

identify 5 things you have learned so far on the programme

Making to do lists/ keeping a diary really helps improve my personal timekeeping. If I designate myself time slots to achieve things in I get more done in general. 

Blogging is a really good way of keeping all your thoughts in one place and sometimes by doing it you will discover something new or think about it in a different way. Also if you get behind on blogging it is hellish. 

Experimenting and researching at the beginning of the module is essential. If you stick with the first idea you get, its almost guaranteed to not be as great as if you had spent more time experimenting. 

You can make mistakes and it can be okay. 

Working digitally is not as hard as it looks but you shouldn't just immediately do everything straight digitally. 

Stamps/scamps? are important. 

Identify 5 things that you want to know more about

How to get into the character designing industry/ creative sector 

How to screen print onto fabrics 

How to set myself up online / online presence 

How to personalise sites such as wordpress (make headers/footers)

What studios are around in leeds that are available to work in?

How to send a letter to a potential employer (do you address them as sir madame? how to end the letter?) 

Identify 5 skills that you think are your strengths.

Being able to create a variety of ideas in a small space of time

Being able to make decisions fairly easily 

Being able to identify problems in my work and seek out a solution by myself (most times) 

Being able to grasp concepts (photoshop, adobe products) and how they work fairly quickly 

Being able to work faster if needed 

Identify 5 things that you want to improve.

Timekeeping (making sure that the research stage doesn't run too much into the experimentation stage etc) 

Being able to work on digital formats to a higher professional level (and understanding new tools) 

Being able to take my own personal work and develop it using college resources (being more brave and going to print studio and asking for help) 

Asking for help rather than panicking 

Making playlists to work too 

My organisation skills (making sure I use the folders we got at the start of the year to separate module works) 

Identify 5 practitioners that demonstrate your interest in illustration

Drew Struzan - an illustrator who has created many famous film posters such as indiana jones, back to the future, star wars. He has had a long and successful career from merging illustration with things he enjoyed doing (painting) and contributed to the defining of illustration. 

Pendleton Ward - An animator, screenwriter, producer and voice actor. He is the creator of Adventure time and The Bravest Warriors (internet series). He demonstrates my interest as he has explored lots of different parts of the industry rather than just sticking to one, but he also kept what he liked close to heart. 

He is essentially a storyteller but he took that skill and applied it to as many fields as he could including illustration. 

Walt Disney - Disney seems like a slightly obvious choice, but he too is a storyteller that used his creative skills of being able to draw (not sure if you would define him as an illustrator as such)to create a collective of creatives and in doing so, creating a whole legacy based on storytelling through animation. Although he is an animator, Disney was also a character designer - a cartoonist and it is that side of him that I am interested in rather than the actual animation side. He drew from the outside existing world to create his own fantasy world. 

@Hanecdote (on instagram, tumblr, big cartel) - Hannah demonstrates my interest in illustration because she takes it onto a different platform. Her embroidery creations are essentially just stitched illustrations. She spends a lot of time considering space, colours and the patterns. She put her stuff on instagram as a bit of fun but from that grew a mini business where she sold her creations on a bigger scale, even getting popular badges produced on a mass scale. 

Madeleine Flores - Is a illustrator who has worked as dream works and nickelodeon, but she also produces her own personal stuff as well. This demonstrates my interest because she often has Q+A's of how to get into the business (she did not attend university) and how to create an online presence. Although she may not be a massive illustrator yet in the business, she shows my interest in character design whilst also using time well enough to participate in comic cons and zine festivals. 

Jillian Tamaki -  A professional illustrator who creates a range of products for clients as well as producing books and mini comics for her own fans. She demonstrates my interest as she has gotten involved with a lot of different subjects but still makes time to do her own work and she has a successful online following which is something I aspire to have. She also has a really nice illustration style and I enjoy her work. 

Identify 5 websites/online resources that demonstrate your areas of interest within the creative industries.

Pinterest - although not aimed at illustration selectively, since getting pinterest I have found tutorials on how to draw muscles, human figures, as well as tutorials on how to use which colouring tools to create a certain affect. It is useful for when I am at home or during travelling when access to the library is unavailable. 

50Watts.com - This a site that i have only recently started looking at, it collects illustrators work and sorts them into sections (science fiction, book covers, children's book covers, ephemera etc). It demonstrates my interest because although I don't specifically want to be a book cover artist it can show me the latest trends in illustration which I can pick and choose whether to follow or to do something different from. 

TheAoi.com - This site is useful to look at when I want to see what is happening in the illustration world as well as offering the opportunity to look at how professionals have presented their online portfolios. It also advertises a lot of different exhibitions and shows which is useful to know if I have time to visit them. They also offer competitions from time to time (although I've never applied) i plan to enter in the future. 

Itsnicethat.com - This is another site which closely links into the illustration world, but rather than just being solidly illustrators work there are a range of creatives on there as well as interesting articles relating the

Self Evaluation OUIL402

1.  What learning have you inherited through this module and how has it impacted on your own understanding of professional practice? Consider yourself as a student at University as much as an illustrator
I’ve inherited the ability to step back and see the bigger picture. Rather just focusing on my own work and trying to improve it through trial and error, I have researched and learnt more about what illustration means in the art world at the moment. Through extending my understanding of the world illustration it has lead me to a variety of different artists and practitioners who have informed me of how to do the things I want to do but I can learn from their mistakes and improve my own work through their knowledge.
2. What approaches/ types of research have you found most valuable over this module? Why did they have such an impact?
I think taking out books from the library was a main point, It really helped to look at different techniques of drawing and in particular the anatomy and through looking at this helped me to develop my own practice. Also being introduced to websites such as It’snicethat.com and AOI.com has helped me see what is trending in the illustration world and take that into consideration as I create my own work. Getting pintrest is also something which really changed how my work progresses, it is now one of the first places I look for research. It’s really easy to use and there is a bredth of illustrators on there which I have then found their personal websites and bookmarked.
3. In what way has PPP informed the way your work in other modules and your illustration practice as a whole? I think through thinking about things in the bigger world help you extend your own practice, if it weren’t for ppp I would probably still be in my own bubble which is limited only to tumblr and instagram and not have found as many practicioners as I like. It also helped me understand that illustration isn’t just drawing, its product design and billboards and a whole range of things in the world and it isn’t limited to drawing and that Lens and actual products such as embroidery are illustration too.
4. What weaknesses can you identify in your PPP submission and how will you address this in the future? I think blogging was the real weakness, I think that if I had blogged every movie I saw – the night I saw it. Then the descriptions would be more indepth and I could really describe what it was that I liked in particular. I’ve also not really explored much further than leeds this year and next year I hope to arrange more visits to comic book shows and other exihibitions
5. What communities of practice and professional contexts do you intend to investigate further as you approach level 5? Why do they appeal to you? I definitely will continue to watch different media, Im planning on looking at more foreign culture films to see what there is there. I also think I will continue to take books from the library to look more into how things are done professionally. I will be going to big heads more next year also as I didn’t got to as many this year and I think that they might improve my work otherwise.
6.How would you grade yourself on the following areas: (please indicate using an ‘x’)  5= excellent, 4 = very good, 3 = good, 2 = average, 1 = poor
	1	2	3	4	5
Attendance			x
Punctuality			x
Motivation			x
Commitment			x
Quantity of work produced			x
Quality of work produced			x
Contribution to the group			x
The evaluation of your work is an important part of the assessment criteria and represents a percentage of the overall grade. It is essential that you give yourself enough time to complete your written evaluation fully and with appropriate depth and level of self-reflection. If you have any questions relating to the self-evaluation process speak to a member of staff as soon as possible.