OUGD502 | STUDIO BRIEF 1 | BAXTER AND BAILEY

After looking at a few different studios, I found Baxter and Bailey.

http://www.baxterandbailey.co.uk/

Their work really stood out to me, and represented a similar visual style to my own. Their design resolutions seem to be based around concept. Two projects that they worked on particularly caught my eye, the Sabre identity and the Little Green Pig identity.

The Little Green Pig is a space for young writers, and I really liked how they used the quotation marks to look like a pigs nose. 

The Sabre identity is particularly similar to the style I like to work in, colourful and vector.

I decided to contact Matt Baxter, who is the Creative Director at Baxter and Bailey. Matt has written for Design Week and The Drum and has judged design awards for D&AD and Design Week. With an interest in design education, he’s given talks at LCC, the University of Northumbria and Middlesex University and run portfolio surgeries for D&AD Newblood.

I emailed him these questions: 

• Our first project of the year was to create a leaflet explaining -the- design process, and it became apparent that everyone has their own unique process. Where do you start when receiving a new brief? What do you feel is the most important stage? 
• What made you want to become a designer? Was it an ambition from a young age?
• Looking on your website, the Sabre identity you produced really caught my eye. What was your inspiration behind it? 
• Do you think having a distinguishable style, or being a flexible designer has the advantage?
• What advice would you give your younger self as you were starting out in industry? 
• At the end of this interview, I must produce a creative report based on your answers (which could be done in any way I want). How would you go about this? 

OUGD502 | STUDY TASK 1 | BUSINESS TYPES

Moving forward with our business, we must first decide what type of business we're going to be. There are 4 main types of business that we think would be suitable for us, which are:

- Limited Company
- Limited Liability Company
- Ordinary Business Partnership
- Unincorporated Association

As we're working on this as a team, I will be looking into an Unincorporated Association business, and seeing if this will fit our ideas.

Unincorporated Association

The definition of an Unincorporated Association from http://www.netlawman.co.uk/ia/unincorporated-associations is:

"An unincorporated association is an organisation that arises when two or more people come together for a particular purpose but decide not to use a formal structure like a company."

Pros:

• Can be set up quickly and cheaply (no setting up fees unless you involve a solicitor) 
• Cheap and relatively easy to run - no need to notify changes in office bearers to any public register 
• Offers a democratic structure with reasonably flexible procedures 
• If your group’s aims and purposes are considered ‘charitable’ (as defined by law) you can apply to the Charity Commission to be registered as a charity

Cons: 

• The group cannot hold property or enter into contracts in its own name 
• Members may be held personally liable for the organisations debts

This structure is ideal for small groups with a membership, short-term goals, low incomes, and which do not intend to employ staff or acquire property. Unincorporated organisations can take different forms such as Charitable Trusts, Friendly societies, registered charities, which are not registered as companies, and unregistered voluntary and community.

OUGD502 | STUDY TASK 1 | PARTNERSHIP AGREEMENT

We must all sign a partnership agreement to ensure we take equal responsibility for the project. We will all own 25% of the company, which was a suitable amount if we're all doing the same amount of work. 

I feel this is a suitable way to ensure everyone does their fair share of work, and it makes the process seem much more realistic. 

OUGD502 | STUDY TASK 1 | COVET

Taking Care of Business is a large study task of the PPP 2 module. My group consists of 4 well rounded designers who all enjoy similar fields of graphic design. Me, Lo, Jack and Rhys are all good friends outside of university, so we thought we could work together on a project well.

For this task, we need to construct a business plan or proposal for a creative design studio and present our ideas to the rest of the group. We must consider what skills we have to offer, our general interests as a group, our target market, our competition, costs, structure of the studio, who is responsible for what and how we will promote our services.

Deliverables:

- 10 minute presentation
- Appropriate visual material to support the presentation
- Evidence of research and development of your presentation and visual material should be posted to the PPP blog.

To succeed in this brief, we all need to ensure we work effectively together and make sure everyone is happy with the decision making process. We need to split the work fairly and ensure we all stick to a schedule we're all happy with. I feel that this project is very useful and not many other people have a chance at coming up with a creative business proposal. Although I've never had this opportunity before, I think it will be a great way to learn about how a creative business is structured and how to work together with a team effectively.

Once we were given the brief and settled into our group, it was time to begin thinking of a name and a business idea. We found it difficult at the start, but through the power of random word generators and song names, we settled on the name Covet.

covet verb

yearn to possess (something, especially something belonging to another).

We thought this word was fitting to a design company, as clients may see work we've created and want some for themselves.