Week 2 Blog Entry: w/c 28th September 2020 - Creative Enterprise

This week, I felt as though I had come up with a solid idea of what I wanted to do for my products, so I was now able to do some proper research on competitors and techniques. Throughout my research, I've have discovered now that instead of doing cards and jigsaws, I'm going to focus solely on Christmas cards and save jigsaws for when I have the money and business to make them.

I started writing my project proposal this week, so that I know exactly what it is I want to do when I create my final outcomes. The first thing I discussed were the aims and objectives. These will allow me to plan shoots and materials for when I need to look into actually getting them printed. It will also be good for me to be able to reach a conclusion on a definitive idea, rather than worrying about what I should do.

The first bit of research I did, was looking into inspiration for my final outcomes. I know that I wanted to focus on some abstract photography, as it is something you don't tend to see on the front of a Christmas card or jigsaw. When I spoke about my ideas with my lecturer, she said that she liked the the effects of the tinsel when camera shake was applied to create an abstract image. The colours and the shine in the image gives away the actual subject of the image, but still gives it a festive feel. To find these inspirational images, I used Google to search "Christmas abstract photography" to see what other techniques I could use for my own photographs. Some of the techniques I discovered included bokeh, macro and camera shake, all of which I have attempted before. My favourite technique I found was light painting and I think this would be a really good idea to attempt, as again, it's not something that you would see regularly on a Christmas card. Google is a good resource to use, as I can find my images and then click on them and they take me to the website that the image originates from. Sometimes with Pinterest, the uploader doesn't include a source so I don't know if the image they've uploaded is theirs or someone else's. The majority of websites that I looked at for my collection of inspirational images were from places very simialr to Shutterstock (Dreamstime and StockArch). Shutterstock is also another really good resource for inspiration, as they have a large collection of festive images that I can draw inspiration from. From this part of my research, I have learned some of the techniques I could use for my own outcomes, particularly light painting and bokeh. It has inspired me to take out my camera and start gathering together some images to experiment with and collate a gallery so that I can choose which images are the best to use for my final outcomes.

I wrote up my project overview based on the inspiration research I gathered, detailed above. I have broken it down into 3 seperate techniques that I would like to experiment with - light trails, bokeh and camera shake. Light trials and bokeh will definitely fit in with the festive theme of my images. From this, I realised that as want to own a business in the future, it would be a good idea to find out what sells and what doesn't or even if abstract sells at all. This is why initially I was going to do both cards and jigsaw puzzles, but my lecturer told me it might be best for me to focus on cards for now, which I agree with. From all of this, I was able to come up with my ideas. I think I still want at least one of my outcomes to be a more generic nature photograph, just so that I can make a comparison between all products and what sells and what doesn't.

My customer profile is a breakdown of the types of people I am aiming my products at. Mainly, I want people who shop at John Lewis, Next and Selfridges to buy my products, as well as those who have an appreciation for my work. I want it to be seen as something a bit different that most haven't seen before. Once I've taken my photos, I intend to ask a number of people which photos they prefer. I might do this through Instagram.

The next part of my research involved looking into trends for Christmas 2020. This is so I know what sort of things I can experiment with, especially when it comes the colour schemes and themes. When I searched this on Google, an article by John Lewis came up in the results. As my target market is those that shop at the likes of John Lewis, I thought this was a good start. The article goes into detail about the inspirations behind this year's trends and I think it's really interesting that a lot of them revolve around historic art movements.The trends included Renaissance, Post-Impressionism, Pop Art, Impressionism, Bloomsburg, Art of Japan and Art Nouveau. I'm really glad I found such a detailed piece on the trends, becuase not only do I get a visual representation of what these trends look like, but I can also visualise the time that these trends represent - particularly the pop-art and Bloomsburg. I feel like my abstract outcomes will fall under the pop art trend, with the use of bright, vibrant colours. Looking into these trends has been really useful, as I can now focus on the types of props, colours and themes I would need to look into for my own work. From this research, I now know that I want to photograph, what angles I should try with the camera, what colours I should try to combine together. It should also hopefully attract people to buy my products as they would tie in with a lot of what my competitors are selling.

My next bit of research was my competitors. I looked at small, independent creators on Etsy and notonthehighstreet.com and then some of my larger competitors, such as Clintons and Gibsons. Firstly, I looked at Etsy as there are a huge variety of products similar to what I want to sell on there and they are all independent creators, like me. This is probably going to be my biggest competitor, as there is some really amazing artwork on this site. I found a couple of people that make cards out of their photography, so these creators are closer producing what I want to. For jigsaw puzzles, LizsCreationsUS and PuzzlecrazyGB were the two that stood out to me. They both sell Christmas jigsaws and the both sell abstract artwork as well (PuzzlecrazyGB sells abstract jigsaws). What I did note was that neither of them sold any puzzles that had a photographic image on them - something that might be useful to me when I come to sell my work. It could also mean that people prefer artwork on their cards/jigsaws rather than photography. This might be worth finding out by doing a poll on Instagram and finding out if the majority of people would buy photography or art on the front of their cards/jigsaws.

I also looked into Christmas cards on Etsy as well. Again, I found two that stood out to me. ABGreavesphotography and MoonlakeDesignMugs both create a number of Christmas cards using nature and landscapes. MoonlakeDesignMugs has a large range of Christmas cards and has made a lot of sales (6,243). Whilst my specialisms include nature and landscape, I want to focus on abstract for these outcomes. A lot of the cards that I saw for Christmas were either artistic or graphically designed, with very little in the way of photography. Etsy could be a good place for me to sell something, as there could be an opportunity to sell something that isn't very common on this site. I feel as though a lot of the photographical cards I'm seeing on Etsy aren't at all as I would produce them. Last year, I had some Christmas cards printed for my family to send out to family, friends and neighbours. They really like them, but it made me realise that I didn't want to use the materials that I used next time. Instead I want to use a glittery card that reminds people more of the festive season. I can do this using Instantprint.

For larger corporations, I looked at Gibsons, The Works, The Card Factory and Clintons. For jigsaws Gibsons is someone I've known about for a long time. They are one of the main producers of jigsaw and I've seen them where I work. They sell out very quickly. The Works only sell around 11 types of jigsaw, but they are one of the only highstreet stores who do. Like most other products I've seen, they only seem to include artistic images. This is exactly the same with their range of Christmas cards. This is the same with The Card Factory (who no longer have their Christmas collection online) and Clintons. There is a very limited range on the cards with photographic imagery. I honestly think a lot of these companies are missing a trick by not expanding their range, but they could also be playing off people's emotions when it comes to the festive season. People like the nolstalgic, cute and familiar tone the art sets in the image, whereas photography seems more generic and simple. I'm hoping that with my photography there'll be something very differnet on the market.

From all of my competitior research, I have discovered that for both jigsaw puzzles and cards there is very little in the way of photography as the main image. I was quite surprised by this, as I feel that photography is probably most common things to produce. However, I understand that sometimes it can get a little bit too generic and the same sorts of photographs start appearing every year. I think this is possibly the reason why some people won't use photography. I'm hoping my photos can add something a bit different to the market, something that hasn't been seen around Christmas time before and isn't generic and boring. It's given me more confidence to create something really exciting and different and to experiment with techniques, combining some and trying out others.

Next, I looked into suppliers who would be able to offer the printing requirements I need to produce what I want. For jigsaws, I found Printerpix, Puzzlesprint, Photobox, Ravensburger and Fabulousphotogifts. I looked into these particular companies because they had either been recommended to me by peers or I feel like they provided good quality products and had good customer reviews. As soon as I started this research, I realised that creating jigsaws was a bit too ambitious with the cost of creating a single jigsaw puzzle being very expensive, nevermind between 20-30 of them. The cheapest I could get here was from Fabulousphotogifts at £19.99, but this was an offer, down from £29.99. I think that when I come to make the puzzles, that offer won't be there. The most expensive was Puzzlesprint at £27.99. For 500 pieces, this was too much and I wouldn't be able to sell a 500 piece puzzle for over £30.00 when there are so many others out there for much, much cheaper. It's a shame, because I want to sell these in the future and it would have been a good indicator as to whether or not this was a viable product, but it's something I will save for later when I have the funds and credibility to do so.

I also looked into suppliers for cards. The companies I found were Instantprint, Vistaprint, Moo.com and Photobox. I have always been set on Instantprint because they offer exactly what I want (glittery gold card) at a reasonable price - £45.00 for 50 cards. This means each card costs around 90p. I could sell a single card for £3.00 or a pack of 5 for £10.00. I think this is fair considering my time, equipment and the cost of making the card. Instantprint provide high quality products and I have ordered from them many times before so I trust them. None of the other suppliers offered various materials unlike Instantprint. Photobox was the most expensive, offering 50 cards for £74.95. This is way too expensive and they don't offer as much as Instantprint do. I think I'm definitely going to stick with Instantprint for this project.

I looked into costs to consider and how I was going to market my products. One of the things that fits into both of these catagories is business cards. I will get these printed through Instantprint as well, just as I have done before. I will add these to any sale I make, just so people know who I am and will hopefully remember me. Most of the costs are going to include any props and production costs. I also looked into Moo.com for business cards, as they have quite a wide selection on materials. However, they were a little bit too expensive for this project. As for marketing, I will be making use of Instagram, Facebook and my own website to promote my products. I may also try selling on Etsy, but I would rather this be a last resort. I want to try selling physically before I resort online. The pandemic might make this very difficult, but we will have to see how things go further towards the end of the year.

The last bit of research I did was into packaging, especially if I'm going to be selling packs of 5. I had the idea to tie a bit of ribbon around them, keeping the packaging simple and cheap. For puzzles, I really liked the idea of quirky boxes, but I know this would be an impossibility at this time, but it's something to consider for the future. As for cards, I quite liked the cardboard envelope as it was simple and was something to keep the cards protected. It would also be something to put a business card in as well. I think "please do not bend" envelopes would be quite useful, again, as it adds an extra level of security that the cards won't be damaged or bent. For single cards, this might not be too much of an issue, as whenever I have gone into a card shop myself, you get the card and envelope and that's it. I wonder if it's worth looking into getting some paper bags to put products in as well, or at least have them there to offer to people. If they they were being shipped out to people, I think I would definitely go with the "please do not bend" envelopes.

Overall, I'm happy with the research I have done as it's given me a good idea of what's already out there and what I might be able to put out there myself and actually get some interest in my products. I've considered some things that might be an issue, such as health and safety in the studio when working in the dark around cables, disclaimers for ethics and ensuring I'm not breaching any copyright. I've looked into the next 5 years for my plan of what I want to do. In the first year, I want to start selling a bigger product range, seeing what sells and what doesn't. In the second year, I want start building a brand, expanding my range. In the third year, I want to look into selling internationally. In the fourth year, I want my business to be my full time job and by year 5, have my own premises. It is important I build a saleable range before buying premises. All of this research is something I will need to continue in order to build skills such as marketing to a large audience, ideas generation and some of the more creative skills, such as screen-printing.