Design Companies
Local- love, pixel8, wolfclub,
National-mother,toast,firedog, bandlondon
European- Design Bolaget, studio360, graphixpol
Transnational- iA
Possible clients
Retail- high street chains, stationary shops, supermarkets, clothing companies
Magazines/newspapers- editorial layouts typographic compositions etc
Small companies whom may be in need of a 'brand'
Large multinationals
Music industry- CD and vinyl packaging promotional materials.
Cosmetics Industry- packaging and design
Computer gaming Industry- gaming design
Clients in need of web design- including flash
I am going to look at the retail industry as it is an area that I would like to see myself designing for. To specify a little more in-depth I am going to look at the high street fashion industry. As a Graphic designer, I don't want to design the actual clothes, however I would like to be involved with signage, window displays, swing tag design and promotional materials
Examples of High Street fashion chains
Local- Blue Rinse vintage-Leeds
National- Topshop
European- Zara
Transnational- American Apparel
Now I want to look into the factors that will effect the High Street fashions chains use of design. Blue rinse are based in Leeds and Manchester city centre selling vintage and customised clothes.
"Established in Leeds in the summer of 1997, we’ve grown from a little clothes shop run by just a few staff into a well known brand, we’re proud of how we’ve paved the way in Leeds for
vintage fashion and we continue to grow from strength to strength."
http://www.bluerinseleeds.co.uk
The politics that will effect such a small company may include any increases in tax on small businesses, this may mean that such a small company is unable to afford a graphic designer so choose to publicise themselves other political issues may include the Blur rinses ability to apply for a regional grant as they are a relatively young business. Blue Rinse would have to consider trading restrictions within the clothing industry as they use second hand clothes that come from the UK and Europe. This would also mean that they would have to consider tax implications of importing clothing from overseas and they would need to be aware of European trading agreements also as on their website they state that they have a wholesale company importing and exporting used vintage clothes and also trade from ebay.
The economic factors that may effect a small company include unpredictable currency exchange rates if Blue Rinse were to import oversea clothes to customise and sell within their store. This would mean awareness of when is a financially good time to buy/sell. Blue Rinse would need to be fairly aware of the economic profile of the consumers in Leeds.
http://www.statistics.gov.uk/census2001/profiles/00da.aspAbove shows some incite into the economic profile of Leeds taken by a census in 2001. It tells us that there are over 18 thousand economically active students which shows Blue Rinse that their student friendly relatively low priced clothes may be high in demand. The census also shows how over 103 thousand household are without a car in Leeds which confirms that Blue Rinse being in the city centre is good for business as they are easily accessible.
The social factors that will effect a business like Blue Rinse are firstly lifestyle trends. If young consumers who blue rinse are targeting (between the ages of 18 to 25) fall out of love for their quirky "vintage" fashions, the business may suffer. Secondly, sustainability issues need to be considered within Blue Rinses' importing and exporting, yes they are recycling used items however what is their carbon footprint like with multiple types of transport bringing their goods from overseas? If I was to work alongside Blue Rinse to produce signage or promotional materials for the shop, I would have to be aware of lifestyle and social trends of consumers in order for a campaign to target the target market successfully.
Finally how will technology effect Blue Rinses business? Better clothing machines will improve business productivity and make it easier and cheaper to produce clothes. Outsourcing would also create the same effect by subcontracting to another third party and may achieve a lower production cost. Within Graphic Design technology plays a huge part. Blue Rinse now have a website and examples of promotion materials for the company. Software such as Dreamweaver and potentially all of the Adobe suite would need to be accessible for any designer who was to develop their promotional design. Blue Rinse would need to be aware of technology abroad in order to evaluate what their competition and potenially they could have acess to. As the company imports and exports good telecommunications is important may this be via emails or on Skype.