Today we came back after a night to think over our ideas. As a collective, we were unsure if we were happy with our idea and decided to analyse it, alongside also thinking of other proposals which would prove to be better plans. Other than saying the word “Bacon” a considerable amount of times, I couldn’t really think of any considerable contingencies and my group was equally as stuck.
After discussing our ideas with Richard Morris – our tutor for this module, we felt slightly more confident with our direction. Richard’s confidence in our original idea gave me a sense of determination for our project, I felt that there were many more directions than I original feared and so the fact that we weren’t limiting ourselves made me a lot happier…
We briefly discussed some of the areas we would like to explore as a creative collective, mainly including Cakes, Chocolates, Cards and small gift boxes or cups. Whether this proves to be a successful mix of products is debatable, but I feel that the range essentially sums up what our aim is – to appeal to the student market who wants small cheap snacks and gifts. We of course intend to put a satirical spin on the mix, with amusingly shaped chocolates and satirically decorated cakes, etc.
After our brief discussion, we were treated to guest lecture by a local entrepreneur – Neil Cocker.
Neil’s talk was inspiring and incredibly informative. His experiences were similar in essence to Lydia Meehan’s in that he searched for opportunities wherever he could and through going through the good and the bad, he was better off both through experience and through contacts he made. I especially liked the idea that he was currently running a web company which he barely even needed to run, just because he had set it up well and just left it running. His experiences once again showed me that I should probably take more opportunities that I currently do and that I could actually really benefit from such experiences, even if I feel that I wouldn’t… Finally, Neil’s talk also was very informative about where I could find opportunities, such as TedEx Cardiff, Ignite, Arklab and Cardiff Start. Knowing that these opportunities are out there for the taking is a definite motivator to take them up, though whether I find the time to is again debatable…
During our lunch hour, our group discussed our ideas again, feeling confident about our new direction and thinking about the actual logistics, we decided upon what work we would try to get done by next week. This I find re-assuring as I like to have things planned and sorted…
After lunch, we had another guest lecture, by a graduate student called Nicole Miles. Nicole’s talk about her experiences as a student and then a graduate were inspiring, yet I felt that her work as an illustrator maybe wasn’t as relevant to myself as it might have been to the graphics students…Her determination to get work and be happy with what she was doing was definitely motivating and inspirational however.
After Nicole’s talk, it was time to present our enterprise idea to the rest of the groups. Seeing how other groups had approached the task was interesting, especially seeing the variety of the work that had been done. I was surprised to see that our group seemed to have gone in a slightly different direction other groups, whilst it also brought me some confidence in our idea seeing how the other groups were actually still at the same level as us as this was something I have been concerned about… Our group was met with a fairly decent reception and I was happy answering the questions that were asked of me, after all I enjoy talking about my ideas and I find it makes me happier about them if I can justify them to an audience.
At the the end of today, we now have a better understanding of our target market, market position and products that we hope to market.
