Taking Care of Business: Manifestio

Helen has designed a Manifesto. The design has been created using the style of our presentation as well as incorporating the look portrayed by our logo. 

OUGD502: Masters Degree

Recently I have been thinking a lot about life after college, which is only one year away! It's a scary thought. I've been thinking a lot about doing a Masters... but not in Graphic Design but in strategic marketing/business marketing. I feel after another year on a BA course my design skills will only improve and I will hopefully gain a lot of valuable work experience, I feel I wouldn't be necessary to do a masters in graphic design, because hopefully by the end of next year I will be confident in myself and my design work and more importantly see myself as a designer and have a strong portfolio of work that I am proud of. Me doing a masters degree is only just an idea at the moment, I just want to have the opportunity to have different career paths, I think its very important to invest in your education. I also don't want to regret not doing it. 

What is a masters degree? 

A master's degree is the first level of graduate study. To apply for a master's degree you usually must already hold an undergraduate degree (a bachelor's degree). A master's degree typically requires a year and one-half to two years of full-time study.

What is marketing? 

The action or business of promoting and selling products or services, including market research and advertising. A master's degree program in marketing typically covers advanced sales and advertising strategies and management

Courses I have been looking at: 

Kingston University London

London School of Business & Finance

Entry Requirements 

UK undergraduate degree or equivalent – any subject area • English levels 5.5 IELTS (5.5 in all bands) or equivalent
• Relevant work experience is an asset, but no work experience is required

Taking Care of Business: Presentation Notes

Who we are?
We are the Print Cellar. A screen-printing company which aims to promote more hands on printing methods and creativity.

What we do?
Our company would both design and produce work for local companies as well as offering the general public lessons in how to screen-print as well as membership.

Why we do it?
In this technology era we think it is important to value and practice the traditional methods as well as the digital ones. Here at the Print Cellar we work closely with our clients creating work that both the clients and their audience will love. We take time over projects so that our principle of quality over quantity shines through.

Where we are based? 

Arches 84-86

Railway Street
off Marsh Lane,
Leeds,
LS9 8HB

We have three huge Railway Arches in a good location with parking available. It is suitable for a workshop office space and it is a large enough space to hold all the equipment.

The structure of our studio, The studio space would have to be divided into separate areas including screen printing space, with a small kitchen space, workshop preparation area (printers and computers) as well as space for the work to dry.

Taking Care of Business: Final Logo

Above is the final logo design, which I designed. The use of an arch illustrates the space that we will be using (railway arches). I think this is an important element to keep in the design. The font is Abraham Lincoln, a tall narrow serif font. This is perfect for our business as a serif font is traditional and implicitly suggests an older traditional printing method. A use of serif to compliment gives it a modern twist and shows that it is a company which moves with the times.

The logo is compact, it fits neatly into a square which makes it ideal as it can be placed on letterheads and other documents without taking up too much room. It keeps the viewers eye in one place.

The logo also works well because it is just in black, this allows it to be reproduced in whatever colour. This is especially useful when it comes to screenprinting because it means we can use the inks in the design to also print the logo. It also allows us to mass produce tote bags with the logo on as it won't need two coats.

Taking Care of Business: Meeting with John

This morning we had our first crit with John. I was slightly confused as I was ready to present our groups work and efforts and receive feedback involving our logo, name, studio space, pricing, manifesto etc. However, he didn't seem want to discuss it, and kind of left us to it. However, he did say our idea was 'different'. Katie had a brilliant idea of screen-printing our logo onto cotton aprons and presenting wearing them. 

Taking Care of Business: Developing the Logo

I've spent some time designing logos for The Print Cellar 

Below is my favourite out of the lot .  

Taking Care of Business: Logo

Molly showed me some of her thumbnail sketches she had as ideas for the Print Room logo so I quickly mocked up some of her ideas as well as my own. By no means are any of these final logos but simply ideas. We still need to discuss as a group and decide on a font and an overall look. I think a serif font would work best to reflect a traditional method of printing. 

This is a far cry from the first idea I had to create a clean minimal logo (like the one below) Wot. 

Taking Care of Business: Logo Research

Aimee showed us 'Canals of England' a project by Olly Sorbsy, as inspiration for our logo. 

"The notion behind this project was reinvention. To design a logo for every canal in England, by taking influence from their past, to create something new. In terms of celebrating the heritage of the canals, I wanted to take something relevant from each one, to create simple yet relevant designs. Creating a glossy, abstract logo would not work due to the age of canals, the logos use old style layouts and plenty of texture.

The influence for this project was taken from my love for old design. A lot of inspiration came from the style of designs painted onto old narrow boats. Not necessarily the hand painted type, but from the general layout and styling of the typography."

As the Print Room is a studio/workshop that practices traditional methods of printing we want a logo that reflects this. I think it will also be quite different. We also discussed having the logo with a slight curve to also reflect our workshop space which is the railway arches. 

The Print Room: Manifesto

Helen and I were assigned the job of writing The Print Rooms Manifesto:

In this technology era we think it is important to value and practice the traditional methods as well as the digital ones. Here at print cellar we work closely with our clients creating work that both the clients and their audience will love. We take time over projects so that our principle of quality over quantity shines through.

We believe collaboration is essential to create unique and essential design.

We strive to create personal design

We design everything to the highest standard

We form a happy relationship with our clients 

We are a community

We believe everyone should have the facilities available to be creative

We strive in teaching our methods

We do not idolise money

We love to print

This evening meeting has been really successful in that we have written our manifesto which we will expand on later. We now have a name (The Print Room) as well as a property to work with. We will now all go away and work on some rough designs and re-meet on Tuesday to begin designing. We also have a plan of screen printing our manifesto and putting it on display.

Taking Care of Business: Studio Property

I managed to find good property (three railway arches) in a good location with parking available. It is suitable for a workshop and it is a large enough space to hold all the equipment. The photos available on the website aren't fantastic, it would also need to be renovated. I plan to ring up and ask for a floor plan and more information, which will allow us to plan out the design of the studio and progress further.

Property Information 

Arches 84-86 Railway Street, off Marsh Lane, Leeds, LS9 8HB 

Property Reference: LDS25310 

Town / City: Leeds 

Type: Light Industrial, Warehousing, Storage, Office 

Local Authority: Leeds City Council Size: 3,156 sq ft (293 sq m) 

Rent: £9,950 Per Annum + VAT (£830 per month) 

Available from: January 2015 Deposit: £2487.50

Location: 

The premises can be found at the top end of Railway Street, which is off Marsh Lane and Close to Quarry House (the large DSS building). Easy access can be obtained from the both the M1 &M621 Motorways and the Leeds Ring Road.

Description: 

The premises comprise of three, interconnecting and secure Arch units. Access is via Arch 85 through an electrically operated, steel roller shutter door, with integral pedestrian door. There are also three rhino posts in the pavement for added security. Arches 84 and 86 can be entered through two respective side arches leading from Arch 85. All three arches have a solid concrete floor, roof lining sheets, fluorescent lighting and ample power sockets. There is a three phase incoming electricity supply and also a toilet with wash hand basin and a small kitchenette unit within Arch 86. 

Key Details: 

● Secure Unit 

● Roller Shutter Door 

● 3 phase electric 

● Solutions Agreement 

● Flexible Terms Property Agreement

This is a three year tenancy agreement, where both the Landlord and tenant are able to serve six months notice to end the tenancy and where there is no automatic right to renew it on expiry. (This means that it is contracted-out of the security of tenure provisions of Sections 24-28 of the Landlord &Tenant Act 1954 Part ll). 

Insurance: 

The tenant is to pay the sum of £849 per annum in respect of a contribution to insurance.