Week 13 Blog Entry: w/c 14th December 2020 - Creative Enterprise

This week, I have evaluated the success of the project.

The Proposal

In my proposal, I stated that I would be creating 75 cards using three designs. I would be using abstract techniques to creating my outcomes and I’ll be experimenting with different abstract techniques to create my three designs. I had looked into techniques I could use, including light trails, bokeh and macro/close-up shots.

After some initial research, I had discovered that there weren’t many cards out there that were photographic, let alone abstract. I had searched on many websites which included larger businesses and smaller, more independent sellers, but both seemed to have similar product ranges - this being photographic cards, but not an abundance of them and certainly none that utilised any abstract techniques. It was here that I realised that I could use my abstract as a USP and create a product range completely different to what was already out there. I thought my designs would be a good addition to the market and give it a more contemporary take on a very traditional holiday. I think that this is important to create interest and perhaps even make more sales.

One of the main things I wanted to do was create some designs that were very abstract and then have at least one of the images less abstract than the others. This way, I could see which card sold better - the ones with the abstract imagery or the ones with a simpler and easier design. This would give me a clear idea for the future as to what I could sell in my own business. I had hoped that my abstract would be something that people would like and actually want, as I feel this is my strongest area in photography and it's something that I can do quite well. I looked into trends for colour schemes for Christmas 2020, to see what colour schemes I should be using in my outcomes. I have concluded that I need to do something like this every year, so that I can keep up-to-date with colour schemes and objects/items that people might be more inclined to buy if they’re considered trendy.

Abstract Techniques

I tried a number of different abstract techniques, including light trails, bokeh and macro/up-close shots. Through my research, I’d seen a number of these techniques used, but not in the way I wanted to use them to create my imagery. I was advised to create images that were similar in colour scheme, so that if they were being sold as a pack it would make sense to have the colour scheme being the same across all of the designs.

My test shoot that I did during week five showed me that creating light trails using an app on my phone looked nice, but not professional enough. From this, I learnt that if I’m going to create light trails, I need to be more in control of the light source or my camera, to ensure that the final image was symmetrical and obvious as to what it was. This way, the photos would look professional, more appealing to the audience and worth the money. Doing this made me think about how I could use light trails for my future shoots when I actually come to creating my outcomes. I realise now that I need to create something a bit ‘neater’ and more professional looking.

In week six, I did the first shoot for my final images. For this shoot, I tried a number of different techniques that I had researched, including bokeh, light trails and close-ups. The first technique was light trials. For this, I used tinsel and one softbox. To get the effect, I had the light reflecting off of the tinsel, which created a light source in itself. I had used two different coloured pieces of tinsel and moved them into the shape of the Christmas tree. The most difficult part of this was trying to get each piece of tinsel symmetrical so that it looked like a full Christmas tree. From this, I was able to move my camera around in lots of different ways to create a number of different abstract effects. The next technique I tried was the use of Christmas lights to create a bokeh effect. I took a number of different bokeh shots that included bokeh where the circular shapes were bigger and then some that were smaller. With the smaller bokeh, I was able to use more of the Christmas lights and create more bokeh. I did this by zooming out and then adjusting the focus so that the lights were blurry. This created the bokeh. By zooming in I created bigger circles but less bokeh. I ultimately decided that the bigger circles were better, because they overlapped which created some interesting colours. The last set of photos I took was of a light up, Christmas tree decoration I had. This was a very simple shoot, just taking photos of the colours as they changed.

My second shoot was a continuation of the techniques I had been attempting in the first shoot, but this time I used different coloured tinsel and some other effect for the bokeh. It was the images from the second shoot that I ended up using, so it was a good thing that I did this shoot. I took some more photos using different coloured tinsel for the first image and I ended up liking the photo that used the green and pink tinsel. When it came to changing the hue of the image, these colours together produced the best colours when changing the hue. For the bokeh shot, I tried zooming in closer to the lights to create some bigger circles for the bokeh. I really liked the outcomes here, because the circles overlapped which created some more interesting colours besides the obvious red, blue, green and yellow. I did try taking some more photos of the light up Christmas tree decoration, but I still wasn’t happy about this one. I decided I need to do another shoot that included an image that wasn’t as abstract, so that I could see if people were more interested in the abstract imagery or the more ‘normal’ imagery.

My third and fourth shoots were of the same thing. I decided I was going to do an up-close shoot of the baubles, so that I had something a bit less abstract in the collection. To do this initially, I placed some baubles on the table and attempted to use the lights in the living room to add a warm glow to the image. However, I realised that the lighting wasn’t right for the image and ended up making it look grainy and unprofessional. When I did it the second time, I set up a single softbox and this created a much more professional looking image. To edit this, I just changed the hue to match the colour scheme of the other two images. This then made them look much better in a pack. I was really happy with all of the outcomes and I think they looked very different to what I’ve seen before from other creators. This is important for me to create a USP in a market that is very difficult to get into and if I want to create my own business out of it, I need to be thinking differently to other creatives who have been doing this for years.

Techniques

I decided to have a look into some other techniques that didn’t relate to the camera (in-camera techniques). When I first proposed my ideas, I was told to look into other ways of adding something different to my cards.

One of the first things I looked into was adding gold foil to the cards. I thought something like this would not only add something new and different to my cards, but I would also be able to sell them for a little bit more as well. I decided I would use this finish on any text I added to the card, as that made more sense to me. I looked into printing companies that did gold foil printing and I found a number of companies that would do it, along with some who I have used before, however the one that was cheapest and I would have gone for only used this finish on flat cards, rather than folded. This was a shame, but got me thinking about how I could use this for something like ‘thank you’ cards instead, something that I think is particularly important considering the pandemic. I know some people prefer cards that they can stand up to put on display, but I think some cards can be given as a small token of appreciation by people. I think I will be looking into this as part of my next steps.

Something else I looked into was a technique where I could sew through the card. I had seen this before, but I had never attempted it, as I don’t consider myself a crafty person. I did a bit of research online to see how I could go about this and I found a website that created small images by sewing into the card. They had originally drawn the image out and then followed the lines with different coloured threads. I thought this might be a nice idea for text on my cards. I was a bit hesitant to create imagery with sewing, simply because the abstract that I was using in the already looked quite complex and I thought that adding something else that was complex would just make the card look messy. Once I had completed this experiment, I decided that my sewing technique was a bit too clumsy and it didn’t look neat enough to be put on the front of the card. I think I would definitely need to practice this technique some more. I also decided that if I was going to do something like this in the future, I would need to create some imagery that is more minimalistic, so that adding something more complex to it that wouldn’t make the card look too haphazard or messy.

The last thing I tried was gilding flakes. Unfortunately, even though I had looked how to properly use gilding flakes, I still couldn’t get the technique quite right and they just ended up looking a mess. I did place some glue on the stamp, press in onto the paper and then place the flakes down whilst the glue was still wet. I think my issue was that I was placing the flakes down in clumps and wasn’t allowing the flakes to settle properly, so they looked messier than what I had seen when I researched it. If I were to do this again, I would defieniyl take the time to sit down and really think about how the flakes are supposed to go down. I did try to buy gold paper from Hobbycraft so that I could try with flat paper instead, but I bought the wrong thing. I had accidently bought normal gold card. I did end up using it though, because I then had the idea to cut out a shape in the card and use the gold card to create a shiny element to the cards that would add something a bit different. Unfortunately, I didn’t have time to do this for the actual cards, but it is something that I would consider for the future when I can sit down and experiment with it more. I also needed a way to cut out a shape neatly on the card and I didn’t want to risk messing up the cards I had just bought. I have considered buying a hole punch that cuts out a certain shape, but I would need to find something that reaches across the whole card and doesn’t only goes around the edges.

Editing

The editing of my outcomes was very simple and for most of the designs, it was a simple case of changing the colour scheme to match the ones that I had researched. I had decided to go with the Pop Art trend, as I thought the bright, neon colours were really attractive and would draw people’s attention to my product, perhaps even before they’d seen the abstract technique. I think it I was to do any complex editing in the future, it would definitely have to be on outcomes that are more minimalistic or had a simpler design, just so the audience and customers aren’t overwhelmed and think the cards look too messy and get put off buying them.

Outcomes

I ended up creating the 75 cards with three designs that I said I was going to in my proposal. There is a possibility that I could have done a few more designs, but there were a number of reasons why I didn’t and only kept the number of designs minimal:

• When I started actually making the designs for the cards, it was already the middle of October. Christmas cards had already been on sale since August. I knew at this point, that when the time came to actually selling my own cards, most people will have already bought their cards and I will most likely be too late to sell them this year.

• As we are in the middle of a pandemic and we weren’t allowed to set up a pop-up shop, I had to sell my cards online, with virtually no online presence and being completely unknown. The likelihood that I would sell online to strangers was low. Etsy was too expensive to sell on and I wouldn’t have made any profit, because most of it would have gone to Etsy as a fee for selling on their website.

• The time scale between me coming up with some solid designs that I felt were good enough to put in front of an audience and try and sell and actually trying to sell them was very limited. Abstract photography is very difficult to get right and it takes many hours in the studio to get the perfect shot. Overall, I took around 4,000 photos just for three designs. I then had to edit them, send them off for print and get them back all before Christmas.

I was really proud of the designs I did, as I definitely think I created something very different to add to the market. When I did my initial research, I didn’t see anything abstract that had already been placed on cards before and I there really wasn’t much in the way of photographic cards anyway, even with the larger, more established companies. A long term goal of mine is to keep creating abstract imagery for all sorts of products including cards. Cards are something that a lot of people don’t really buy anymore, even though the market for them is still strong. I’m hoping that with my designs and photography, I could bring a more contemporary look and feel to all cards in general that would reignite the interest in buying cards for different occasions, not just Christmas. I do feel that cards are an important part to a lot of occasions, as it’s sometimes the only way we can communicate something to someone we care about. If I keep creating abstract cards and continue to make cards for different occasions, I can hopefully create a large number of products that I can sell.

Marketing

When marketing my products, I knew I was going to have some difficultly in the sense that I wasn’t a brand and I had little to no online presence. I have a fair amount of Instagram followers, all of whom I could class as my target market, but coupled with the fact that I was selling them so late, I knew I was going to struggle. However, I have made four sales out of it, so I’m actually very pleased with that considering I didn’t think I was going to make that much. The only place I have tried selling them is Instagram, as it’s the only place I could think to get my products out to a large audience. Once I start my business next year, I will look into getting other forms of Social Media, such as Facebook and Twitter. I also want to work on setting up my website into an online shop. To do this, I want to set up methods of payment including PayPal and credit/debit cards and turn my website into an ecommerce site. I’ve always had plans to start my business online, where I’m not incurring a lot of costs and I can see what sort of product sells without the financial implications.

I took some photos of the actual products, which included three separate shots of each card and then a shot of both the inside and outside of the cards together, using two separate cards. Each card had a different prop added to it, such as a Christmas tree for the bauble one, tinsel for the abstract Christmas tree and baubles for the bokeh card. I wanted to keep my styling for the marketing very simple, because the abstract techniques already looked very complex and I didn’t want to complicate the marketing images so people were confused, or couldn’t see the card from the background. I then put these images on Instagram. I put the images in a specific order – shot of the outside of the card first and then the shot of the inside of the cards. I put them all in one post so that people knew they could buy them as a pack.

I did put some initial photos up on Instagram a couple of days before I marketed my cards properly. This seemed to gain some interest in my photography and I think it was a good idea to do to this, so that people could anticipate the launch of the collection. To improve on marketing for the future, I think I’m going set up more on Social Media and on my website. This will allow me to market my website and all of my work and products, whilst making it easier for people to access my products and contact me to buy them. I think this is a lot better than using Instagram to sell my products. Whilst Instagram is a good way to get my products out there and the majority of my followers are in my target market, a lot of them don’t live in the UK, which makes it difficult and expensive to send cards out, even if they wanted some. Once my website has been set up, I can use Social Media to promote my website rather than the actual product, as well as directing people to my other work. That way, I can promote a number of products at the same time and people can browse through my website to see what other work I do, as well as buy the product they had clicked on the link for. I think I would be able to build up more of a brand and client base that way, rather than just being someone who is unknown and untrustworthy (as people don’t know who I am and I haven’t got any sort of reputation to back me up). People would also think that doing a transaction through an actual website would be a lot safer than trying to get information to and fro through Direct Messaging. I feel like a lot of people would prefer buying something this way, as their sensitive data is better protected on a website, especially if it’s secured through https (Wix does this automatically when you create a website with them, whereas other web design sites only offer this to you if you pay for it and then install it yourself). That could be another reason as to why I didn’t make many more sales on Instagram, because people don’t want their personal data being kept in a place where anything could happen to it. Obviously I wouldn’t do anything untoward with someone’s personal data, but the security of a protected site is much better.

Packaging

I wanted to keep my packaging fairly simple for my cards. As I was selling either singles or a pack of three, I didn’t want to use too much packaging. There is a lot of emphasis of protecting the environment and doing what we can to not add to the issues and waste. I was originally looking at getting a small cardboard box and I looked at places like Eco-Craft for this. Even though I would have been getting the boxes from a sustainable source, I couldn’t really justify buying a number of these boxes that were fairly expensive, just for three, very thin products. I think I would look into something like this once I’ve established myself as a company. Instead I decided to be even simpler – using some larger envelopes to package them in. Even though this was a really simple idea, I think it worked better because it meant that the packaging would be recyclable along with my actual cards. This also kept the costs down and I found some really nice envelopes from Hobbycraft that came in a variety of three different colours. Initially, I had bought some envelopes from Etsy that I thought would be the packaging I would use if anyone bought from me online, but when they arrived I realised they wouldn’t be big enough to fit all three cards and three envelopes in them. Instead, I decided to use the envelopes I had bought from Etsy as the ones to go with the cards and I would use the ones from Hobbycraft as my packaging. Even though it cost a little bit more than I was expecting, it ended up working out really well, as another issue I ran into was that the company that printed the cards didn’t include envelopes even though I’d specifically asked for them. Luckily at this point, I’d already bought my envelopes and was able to use those instead.

Something else I added to my packaging was some little stickers that said “thank you for your order”. As my packaging was already very simplistic, I thought it would be a nice touch to a customer’s order and maybe they would feel a bit more appreciated. As a customer, I know that whenever I receive an order from a small business and there are little added extras to it, I feel like my order was appreciated and they were happy I’d decided to buy from them. For example, when I got the stickers they came in a little mesh bag that was brightly coloured and it just added to the order and made it feel a bit more personal. It’s important for my customers to feel like they actually matter to my company and that their order was really beneficial to me. Hopefully it would mean that they would feel like they would want to come back and buy from me again in the future.

Finances

I spent a little bit more money than I was hoping to during this project, but only because I was spending it on things I hadn’t really considered at the very beginning of the project. Even though this is the case, I’m glad I did buy the things I did, because it means that I can experiment with them when the project is over and I’ve set up my own business and begun to experiment a little bit more with techniques so add something a bit different to my products that’ll create a USP.

Overall I had spent:

• £23 on the printing of the cards (this includes £8 for the delivery from the printers to me at home)

• £4 on a stamp

• £3.29 on ‘thank you’ stickers

• £4.50 on gold card

• £5 on C5 envelopes

• £6 on C6 envelopes for each individual card

• £5 for running my car

This gave me a grand total of £50.79. I decided to sell my cards at £2 for a single and at £5 for a pack of three. Based on the feedback from my questionnaire, it seemed as though the majority of people would spend between £1 and £5 on a single Christmas card. I thought these prices were fair for the money I spent on them.

I managed to sell four packs of my cards for £5 each. This gave me a total of £20 that I made. Unfortunately, this wasn’t enough to make a profit, but I’m actually really happy with the sales I did make, as I didn’t expect to make any because of the time of year I was selling them.

Audience Feedback

The first stage was when I set up a questionnaire on Instagram.

I have shown a large audience of people my outcomes and ideas at various stages throughout the undertaking of the project. When I did the first shoot, I showed my parents the outcomes and they really like the different techniques I had used. My Mum liked the bokeh shots I had taken and my Dad preferred the up-close shots of the baubles. I thought this was really interesting because I had initially thought there would be one type of photograph that everyone would like over the others, but at this point, there was a variety of opinions. I also showed the same images to my peers and they really liked the effects I had managed to create, especially with the tinsel. When I showed my lecturer, she said she particularly liked the light trails I had managed to create. I was advised to continue doing shoots to see if I could create anything else and choose a colour scheme that was on trend and was going to sell. The last audience I showed the designs to were my Instagram followers. I got some positive feedback initially from my followers and they seemed to like the abstract designs I had come up with, so this made me feel very positive towards uploading the actual images of the finished product.

Once I had actually made the cards, I showed them to a number of people. The first people were my peers and lecturers, all of whom liked the designs and how professional the images and the quality of the cards were. I really appreciated this feedback, as I was worried that when I bought the cards, because I had no indication of what the material was that they were going to use or what the images would look like on that material. I am pleased with the final result though. I showed the cards to my family members, who all really liked the images, particularly the bokeh and baubles.

I showed my imagery to one of friends outside the college and she really liked the baubles as well. I really appreciated her comments and she offered to ask around to see where else I could sell my products. I really appreciate this, because I don’t really know where I can sell and I think that the fact that I’ve only been able to sell on Instagram might have let me down with sales.

I also showed the images to my manager and supervisor at work. I get along really well with them and I decided to look for a professional opinion from the people in charge of buying the cards that we sell. The feedback here was really positive, with my supervisor being really impressed with the imagery and he said he particularly liked the abstract Christmas tree. He then went on to say that he thought I would definitely be able to sell something like that at Trentham because they were so different and unlike anything he’d ever seen. He thought they would sell out really quickly too. My manager really liked the baubles. I was really pleased with this feedback and I was left buzzing by it, but it’s made me think about the different places I could sell my products at and I think I would definitely be able to sell them at places like Trentham for a good price.

Things to Improve

One of the main things that went “wrong” was when I went to print the cards. I had contacted the printers I was going to use and they told me that they would be able to print all 75 cards and deliver them in one to two days. Once I had agreed to this, I sent the images to them. I didn’t hear back from them for quite a while, so I had to chase them and ask where they were up to. I did this by asking how long it would take for them to deliver. I got a response saying that they were going to send me proofs first without answering my initial question. I approved the proofs that were sent but didn’t hear anything back after that. The next day, I had to get in touch again asking the same question as the day prior. At this point, I was worried that I wasn’t going to get my cards in time to start selling them before it was too late. Fortunately, they came back to me and said that they would have them printed and sent that day and they would arrive the next day. From this, I have learnt that when things like this happen, I need to keep on top of it so that I don’t end up falling behind or losing out on something, particularly when I’m paying for it. I also learnt that I need to plan for these sorts of contingencies and have another printer as backup in case my printer of choice isn’t available or lets me down last minute. The printer I had chosen this time was Demon Print and it was because they were so cheap and now that I have actually received the cards, I can see that the quality is really good and they look really professional.

Something else I think I can improve on is my crafting skills. One of the techniques I attempted was sewing through card and although I liked the texture it produced, I wasn’t sure it fit in with the contemporary abstract I had going on with my imagery. I think if I had create imagery that was a lot simpler, more minimalistic or more traditional, something like this would have been better to do. I also tried using gold foil in two different ways to add something different to the cards – gold foil flakes and gold foil card (both are two very different things, which I only found out after I bought the card). For the flakes, I wanted to use a stamp bought from Etsy and the flakes to print text onto the front of the cards. I would have done this by putting some glue on the stamp, pressing it onto the paper,

When I went to buy my envelopes from Etsy, I didn’t realise what the size of them would be. When I did receive them, they were too small to fit the cards and envelopes in them. I did worry at this point, but I decided to look on Hobbycraft to see if they made any larger envelopes and if they had them in stock, so that I could drive down quickly that day and get some. Luckily, they had them in stock and the nearest Hobbycraft is only 15 minutes down the road, so I was able to do this very quickly and safely, as I went into the store once the restrictions were lifted.

It actually worked out really well for the other envelopes I had bought, because something else that went wrong was the fact that I had requested envelopes from the company I had my cards printed at. When I got the cards, I noticed that they hadn’t included any. I had already bought the envelopes at this point and I hadn’t paid for the envelopes that I had requested from the printers, so to save time and not let the other envelopes go to waste, I decided to use them for the envelopes that went with each individual card. I realise that this was just pure luck that allowed me to do this and this probably wouldn’t happen when I set up my own business, but it has now made me think about contingency planning and that I’m probably going to need some sort of backup, just in case something like this happens again. I will always keep a backup of envelopes to ensure that customers get envelopes with their cards when they buy them.

One of the ideas I had for my cards was to add some gilding flakes to it. As I’ve said before, unfortunately, even though I had looked how to properly use gilding flakes, I still couldn’t get the technique quite right and they just ended up looking a mess. I thought this was a shame, as I thought it would have been a really nice addition to my cards. I concluded that I need more practice with this technique and I should probably buy a bigger stamp so that the flakes have more surface area to stick to. This would have filled out the letters a lot more and given it a more professional looking design and finish. I really want to continue practicing and experimenting with these techniques as I think they are really interesting and I think it would create a USP for my brand and give the cards a bit more of a personal, crafty touch.

What I Learnt

I enjoyed creating my own products, as it’s something that I’m seriously starting to consider for my career. I enjoyed taking the abstract photos and the feedback was really positive throughout. I think I ended up creating some really strong imagery that is very different to what is already out there on the market.

One of the main things I learnt from this experience is that if I’m going to sell Christmas cards, I need to start marketing them much earlier than the beginning of December. I noticed a lot of retail shops had already started selling theirs at the end of August and they seemed to be selling through even then. When I uploaded my cards to Instagram, someone even said that he wished he’d known about them sooner, because he’d already bought some. I think I need to take the photos as of January and have them ready to be sold by August. This will give me a lot of time to come up with a large range of different imagery to add to the collection.

Another thing I learnt is how important it is to keep up with trends. Next year, the cards I made this year won’t be as appealing to my audience, because they don’t follow a trend. It is useful to me to keep tabs on trends all throughout the year when I have my own business, so that when I have my own business and I’m selling my abstract photography, I can use colour schemes that relate to the trends of the year. This way, I would hopefully sell more products and actually make a profit from them.

I learnt that if I want to make my cards successful, I need to add something to them to give them a bit more of a personal touch. I could do this by carrying on experimenting with the techniques I’ve described above and possibly even buying some machinery that would allow me to create some really different outcomes that people might not have seen before. I did look into buying something like a Cricut from Hobbycraft, but I was advised that they are difficult to use and they were quite expensive for a shoe-string budget. I think once I have my business set up, it’ll be something that I would look at investing in and experimenting with, especially for card designs and any other paper craft I decided to look into.

What I Would Do Next Time

One of the things I would do if I were to do this project again, I would look into possibly creating some more designs to sell. With the pandemic this year, I felt that my options were limited when it came to everything – the buying of props, the lack of places to go out and take shots, the lack of places that I have been able to sell my products. I would want to go out and take more images of the landscape and of the nature in winter. This would mean I would have more options to create Christmas cards with and they can appeal to a much wider audience.

I would also look into how I can use more crafty techniques to add something different to my cards. I did try some techniques that I thought would be good for a beginner to try, but unfortunately I didn’t really have the time to properly experiment with these techniques. I would look more into them, research on how to do the technique properly and then continue to practice until I knew how to do it properly, I could then use these techniques to add something unique to my cards. I think cards are difficult to sell at any time of the year, particularly as there are a lot of people nowadays who think sending cards is more of a chore than an actual want to send one. It’s important I continue to think about these things once I set up my own business and thinking of ways to persuade people to buy them, even if it is through something more crafty.

Next Steps

Now that I’ve seen the interest in my cards and my photography, it’s really inspired me to start looking into a product range that I can start selling as of next year. I won’t just be looking into Christmas cards, but a whole range of other greetings cards, as well as other products that I could try to sell using abstract techniques. This would enable me to see what sorts of products sell and what wouldn’t sell, as well as starting with a fairly large product range. I think would be important to get myself known, as I would be able to show off a range of products all at the same time. I would be able to reach a lot more people this way and hopefully start making some sales.