Enterprise task 2

WHO ARE THEY?

//NATIONAL//
ILOVEDUST
LONDON, ENGLAND

PEST ANAYLSIS
ilovedust are a 

multi-disciplinary design boutique based in Shoreditch and Hampshire in two contrasting studio spaces. They believe that 't

he blend of both environments provides us with a unique and inspiring perspective'. I love this perspective on design, as I too feel inspired by the calm countryside of my hometown as much as I do the busy city. 

They specialise in creative solutions from graphic design and illustration to animation and trend prediction. 

They collaborate both in-house and with global brands, working together to create fresh, innovative design which makes up their award-winning portfolio.

As part of the United Kingdom, the basic political system in England is a constitutional monarchy and parlimentary system. Earlier this year the conservative party won the UK general election, voting the head of the party David Cameron as prime minister.

London generates approximately 20% of the UK's GDP; while the economy of the London Metropolitan area (the largest in Europe) generates approximately 30% of the UK's GDP London is one of the pre-eminent financial centres of the world and vies with New York City as the most important location for international finance. This makes if a fantastic place for designers and other industries such as this.

London is a city becoming increasingly conscienscious about raising awareness about environmental sustainability. A notable example of this being the rental bike service being introduced to lower carbon emmisions.  From what I have learned, 'ilovedust' seem to be a company not dissinterested with sustainable and environmentally friendly design, but the main focus is making it exciting and innovative.

London is a fast moving city in terms of trends in fashion, music and technology. Although not a technological manufacturing epicentre, due to the wealth of the city, new technology will always arrive here, probably before a lot of other areas in the country.

/LOCAL//

TIGER PRINT

BRADFORD, ENGLAND

PEST ANALYSIS

Tiger Print was formed in 1996 to supply exclusive cards and wrapping to Marks and Spenser. I like their work becasue it is very much image and illustration driven which is at this point the area of design that I want to go into. Over time, Tiger Print have developed a unique partnership with Marks and Spencer becoming the sole supplier to the card shop and most recently, taking on full responsibility from design through to allocation and displays in store. They now design and manufacture over 1500 new products created every year. They have studios in both Bradford and London.

Politcally, the situation will be the same as my analysis for 'ilovedust' in London....

Economically,  Marks and Spencers were hit hard by the recession, having to close 27 stores and a shocking 40% drop in annual profits. This inevitably resulted in Tiger Print suffering along side them. Despite this, and thanks to the success of Tiger products, Marks and Spenser are now the forth biggest retailer of cards in the UK. Although they are very much back on their feet, the economic climate is ever unsteady. I think that Tiger Print would be interested in a designer who was aware of economic design. Socially, Marks and Spenser suffered for their previous fuddy duddy reputation and lack of innovation in terms of fashion and trends. With the introduction of some new brands, unforgettable new campaigns and a new image they clawed their way back to the top of their game. Tiger Print are constantly taking on new challenges and continuing to expand into new and growing areas like toys, games and stationery. In terms of environmental awareness, I found a FSC case study into M&S cards. I discovered that Tigerprint uses paper made from FSC certified Eucalyptus to make the greetings cards suggesting a conscious political and ecological awareness within the company. However most of the paper industries use FSC certified papers now. There is nothing else obviously environmentaly friendly about their company that I can find, so I think that as a designer, an awareness of sustainable would be good, but not something that they seem particularly concerend about at this stage in time. In terms of technology, all card companies have to compete with the constant improvements in social networking such as facebook, and worry that less and less people will  physically send a card when the internet allows us to be so lazy. I think that this means that Tiger Print would look for designers who are innovative in their designs, making people look differently at greetings cards making them want to buy one. The other recent technological advance is online personalized greetings cards from sites such as Moonpig where customers can design elements of their greetings cards online at competative prices. This is something that M&S now offer.

//EUROPEAN//
BUNCH
ZAGREB, CROATIA 

PEST ANALYSIS
Bunch was established in 2002 by Denis Kovac and Paulo Silva. It has since spread to London and Singapore. Talented friends joined, and they formed the multi-disciplinary design agency that is the Bunch of today. Bunch's focus is on the creation of intelligent and consistent brands for a diverse range of international clients. One of their cool side projects was inviting 100 graphic designers to re-invent and mess with their logo in a side-site called Made in Bunch.

The politics of Croatia takes place in a framework of a parlimentary repreesntative democratic republic, whereby the Prime Minister of Croatia is the head of government, and of a multi-party system.

One of the more recent trends in Croatian politics is deep alienation of Croatian public from Croatian political establishment. It manifested itself on the latest presidential and local elections through record low turnouts and support for candidates and options that represented alternative to Croatian political mainstream.

The alienation from Croatian political mainstream has also manifested itself in the dramatic rise of Euroscepticism among general public. 

Croatian economy suffered as result of de-industrialization, war destruction as well as losing the markets of Yugoslavia and the SEV. Persistent economic problems still remain: a rather elevated unemployement of 9.6% in 2007, as well as slow progress of economic reforms. The country has since experienced faster ecomomic growth and has been preparing for membership in the European Union, its most important trading partner. Bunch is a relatively young company which is presumably a result of this growth. The country expects serious positive economic impulses and high growth rates in the coming years which is good for the graphic design industries. In Bunch's company ethos they mention the importance of money. They state that they are not materialisitc in essance, but Bunch is a buisness. This leads me to believe that despite Croatia being a fairly environmentally conscious country in terms of protecting their oceans, Bunch is not a company concernec by sustainable or environmentally friendly design. In terms of technology, like the economy, it's on the rise. Most people are now able to afford internet as a result of new lower cost internet providers. 

//TRANSNATIONAL//
MOPA
BRASILLIA, BRAZIL

PEST ANALYSIS
Mopa is a relatively new illustration and graphic design studio from Brasilia, Brazil, Mopa has a great flair for color, illustration, print and graphic design. I especially love their collage work right now, and taking that concept one step further... I really feel like the collective work of the artists in this studio; working on everything from t-shirts to posters, cd sleeves and magazines. 

In the politics of Brazil, 'The Brazilian Federation' is the "indissoluble union" of three distinct political entities: the States, the Municipalities and the Federal District. The Union, the states and the Federal District, and the municipalities, are the "spheres of government". The form of government is that of a democratic republic, with a presidential system The president is both head of state and head of government  of the Union and is elected for a four-year term, with the possibility of re-election for a second successive term. The current president is Luiz Inacio Lula da Silver  who was elected on October 27, 2002 and re-elected on October 29, 2006. The President appoints the Ministers of state, who assist the government.

The Brazillian economy is the world's eighth largest economy by nominal GDP and the ninth largest by purchasing power parity. Brazil is one of the world's fastest growing major economies. Economic reforms have given the country new international recognition. 'Mopa' is a relatively new company which probably arrose as a result of economic improveent.

The natural heritage of Brazil is severely threatened. In many areas of the country, the natural environment is threatened by development. Unfortunately not a lot is being put into place in Brazil to help with these issues.

//HOW WILL THEY FIND ME?//


The example I have chosen to focus on after this anaysis is 'Bunch'. Although this company is base in Croatia, it has since spread to London making it not so far from home. Even though they are not looking for any interns at the moment, nor do they have any vacant job positions, they are happy to look at any designers work for future reference and for some formative feedback. They request the a covering letter, a CV and a PDF portfolio no larger than 5mb and/or a link to your website/showreel. This would be the most obvious method of communicaiton with the company. However, they do not have someone dedicated to just answering emails so this could take time or even be overlooked.  I think seeing as they are such an interesting and exciting company, I probably need to make more of an effort to grab their attention. Perhaps designing a postcard, business card or even mailshot might be a more innovative idea. Rather than throw a load of work at them and demand a response, I could just select my best work, maybe even one piece at a time, include my blog address and request feedback? Or even include a handwritten feedback section on the mailshot and design it stamped and addressed so that it sould easilly be mailed back to me. I could even send them monthly, a different design each month untill they saw something that caught their eye.