Donnerstag, 19. Juli 2012

FINAL MAJOR PROJECT

BRIEF
YOUNG ONLINE
ART GALLERY

The creation of a concept, name and design for an online gallery that exhibits and sells work of young fine artists, aiming at a young audience.

Introduction

The context
A younger age group has access to more money than ever, young people travel due to globalization, get informed and educated on the internet, they connect via Facebook to people from all over the world.
With this trend comes a broader knowledge about nations and cultures, with more interest and a wider understanding within them and a more open-minded attitude towards cultural issues among young people.
As one result of this phenomena, art is booming everywhere, especially young art is more and more demanded. it is not one art movement that leads on the art world, instead, many different little streams arise from mainly younger artists.

The problem
Even though this younger age group around their 20s is going to museums and follows art blogs, it does not yet mean they invest their money in actually buying artwork. There is a good case to believe, that they would, especially since people are aware of the problems of young artists to sell their work, if it took place within a reasonable price range. This group, though, is not yet well advertised for art purchase.
Apart from that it is very hard to get access to art in a moderate price range, or at have a good choice there even though a lot of young, talented artists would like to sell their achivements, even for reasonable prices.


The intent
-promote art to young people so that they actually consider
buying it
-creating awareness of the fact that art can be affordable for young people as well

-encourage and support young artists
-combine art and media perfectly
-discover emerging trends in fine art
-creating awareness of the fact that art can be affordable for young people as well -enhancing the presentation of art through the power of design
-
develop a convincing, strategic and powerful communication strategy for the service brand and being playful, cool, fancy and creative to be close to the young and creative audience
- create vibrant visuals underlining the ideas but not competing with the artworks
-using branding as a basis, but involve a variety of media
-creating campaigning elements to promote this service



The approach

The focus of my major project is on branding, campaigning and a website proposal, incorporating elements of...as well, depending on the research outcomes.
The topic choice arises from former work in these areas and my interest in fine art, especially my notion that the borders of today´s art and design are blurred.
To achieve the above goals I have to ask myself:
-How to dig out the peoples wish to possess artworks and to take it further?
-Does it exist in many people or is it man-made?
-What are the reasons why young people don´t buy art?
-What kind of art do/would people buy? Why?
-Has their view on art on purchasing art changed in the last years?
-How can existing problems be approached?
-etc.


Target audience
The featured artists are young, so is the target audience that is supposed to buy their work. It can be people in their early 20s up to early 30s, students, young professionals and even artist themselves.
Furthermore, the persons targeted either have a decent income, not overly much, they should have spare money to spend for art, but they can´t afford to spend a fortune. Or they are even students saving up some money for something they really like instead of a festival or a handbag. The audience is also
educated and culturally receptive, maybe there is going to be an emphasis on people that actually work in creative industries, so the design outcomes can be daring and demanding.
Why a young target group
-they are shaping the future, setting the trends
-are still flexible and open, less conservative and very curious
-can identify more with the also young artists, maybe feel involved in a kind of movement

Research
I have to identify how the market is structured, evaluate the needs, find out what is already offered in this field and what new opportunities and what trends are arising in the scene. It is important to find out what is the real notion of the target group about the issue.It will not be possible to discover all trends, nor to offer a representative choice of artists because I cannot discover everything and everyone. Still a structured research will help to gather critical material that is the basis for the future design of my service.
Classing and positioning

-Classify the competitors and think about where my service is supposed to be located among them in terms of price, style etc.
-decide on what do I want to achieve on the basis of the needs that I have investigated
-Define what do I need to do to obtain this
-where it should be established, how does it communicate visually, content wise, language wise?
-Which channels does it use?

Research approach

collecting data; facts, opinions, impact from:

Secondary research

look at and compare what is already existing:
-in museum exhibitions, galleries, fairs, in books and on the internet, especially social networks as many young people spend a huge amount of time there and share their ideas, recommend pages
-refer to galleries for inspiration and information, a general impression about the dealing with art, the industry, having an insight look

Primary research

-interviews with anyone who is relevant to the topic, apart from gallery staff and target group, for example people that encourage the art of young artists in a different context
-talk to people purposefully: gallery hosts, target audience, artists
-visual and content wise experiments
-survey via questionnaire for the target group


Further knowledge that I intend to gather during my project research is, apart from this rather content related information, are rules and inspiration about brand development, packaging design, web design and whatever media I use as such, by looking at trends,comparing and testing.
The evidence gained is used to design my service corresponding to the actual needs of the people and the existing offer and adjust the design outcomes accordingly.


(Final) Outcome
-Showing how the service works and is advertised, making evident its amenities and proving its raison d'être
-visual implementation

Content wise
-how the service works exactly: for example that everyone can upload their work but a jury decides on an appropriate selection
-how the website functions
-where the main focus lies
-side services provided like discussing space or job opportunities
-short branding guideline
-why this service differs
-how the artworks are distributed

The marketing/campaigning

Finding out how I will draw attention towards the service
-viral marketing
-classical media such as posters and flyers
-introduction events
-etc.

Visuals

-corporate design

-website proposal
-poster
-stationary
-packaging
-campaigning
>what exactly and how is also subject to further research and depending on the content wise outcome
(I'm yet not able to programme a full working website as I am still learning the software . But depending on how far I get with developing my skills until submission date, I will be able to at least submit some kind of interactive file that looks and works like the website wood, to provide a feel for the desired
outcome.)

Critical analysis

-testing the outcome by presenting it to the target audience and evaluate their reactions
-eliminate detected mistakes
-critically questioning the outcome in terms of its use for society, especially the chosen target group and its USP


For my future career
In previous projects I have worked on a variety of disciplines within the field of communication design, whereof the most recent ones where in branding/corporate design which I like to put an emphasis on for my future career. Nevertheless, incorporating a broad variety of graphic design areas will most probably help adding value to this particular subject and can takes resource from my rather multidisciplinary education.
While working on this project I will deal with both contents and technology that I'm not totally familiar with but practising the programmes and exploring the work field will provide me with valuable knowledge for future work.















MY JOURNEY AND OUTCOMES SO FAR
AND A SCHEDULE OF MORE DETAILED
ACTION TO BE TAKEN


FIRST STEPS OF RESEACH (MAINLY BEFORE BRIEF)
After, and partly while defining the brief for this project, I took steps to approach roughly the field of my topic. I started with rather general research of galleries, online and in real life to just get a feel for the matter and milieu that I am dealing with, its people, appeal and atmosphere.
First of all I looked up keywords like “online gallery”, “young art”, “young artist”, “affordable art” etc. on both google and Facebook. I collected internet addresses from whatever had some kind of helpful connection with my endeavour.


At the same time, I walked into fine art galleries in London whenever I came across one.


>further aim: to get an overall impression of what is already there and how galleries present themselves, as inspiration and a look at possible opponents.   
>outcome: mainly what I wanted to achieve, plus to find out that Facebook is a quite useful source of information for this particular project:

I came across a lot of sites via Facebook by liking pages that my friends liked and so got more and more recommendations for similar pages

>problem:
-too much, too extensive, partly  superfluous information
-drifting away from my focus
-too time consuming



THEN....
It was necessary to tidy up and group the findings and to continue the search more focussed:

Distinction between:
a)(mainly smaller) companies that provide services that  show some similarity to what my company does.
>>mainly check the content: are there similar services on the market already? What is done well, what can improved? In terms of design: how do they design for young people?


and



b)the big players; top design agencies that provide the graphic design for famous museums and established galleries
>>mainly check out the design work: design-wise inspiration, see what are the current designing-trends for the field of fine art

*a)
-a purposeful search: chosen museums and galleries, keywords, art clubs,

distinction between information, inspiration and competitors/competitive elements

INSPIRATION and INFORMATION
http://www.artsthread.com/
-about: site for graduates in creative businesses (>no competitor)
-positive:-negative: still to much information squeezed in space
-the use it has to me: design and feel, grit; how they address their target group

http://www.artists-register.com/
-why it drew my attention: describes what it does (subject related)
-what use it had for me:
.they link you to the artist´s websites
.design: strong colour scheme, not really a logo
-what we have in common: a strong emphasis on both the artists and the potential shoppers, supported by a good structure
-where we differ:
.the website itself is not for purchase, it just gives you the opportunity to get in contact with the artist.
.not specifically young artists listed
.artists are not selected by a jury, they can upload themselves

http://www.etsy.com/?ref=so_home
-about: a platform where you can post thinks you want to sell, vintage, handmade items and artworks and artistic material
-what we have in common:
.low prices
.artist upload work themselves
-where we differ:
.based in New York, USA
.no emphasis on fine art, you can purchase almost everything
.no jury selecting the work > a lot of low quality “artworks” can be found
.you are charged for uploading items and have to pay 3,5% of the income of your sales to “Etsy”
-inspiration: the way the artist communicates with the customer and give a statement about their work

www.islingtonexhibits.com
-why it drew my attention: nicely done flyer, content was
gallery-related
-what use it had for me:
.drawing my attention on number of events in the gallery-and art sector (for example: it made me go to “John Jones” framers open day and got informed about what additional services they offer like photography of artworks, printing etc., what made me think about additional services for my company as well)
.gave me access to galleries and tours that I wouldn't have discovered otherwise
.taking flyers/brochures for further inspiration and information


REAL” COMPETTITORS/COMPETITIVE ELEMENTS
www.printclublondon.com
-about: a shop for screen art prints, they offer bespoke service and do workshops
-positive: good look, young and modern feel to the design: clean(black on white) but still playful(handwritten type), a very contemporary illustrative style
-negative: too much information at once. You need some time to navigate and to find out what it is actually about, no real description, yet I can only guess what it' actually for
-what we have in common: affordable art
-where I differ: they offer only prints, mine will be fine art in all techniques, more clearness in word and looks and white space in my design

http://www.beachlondon.co.uk
-why it drew my attention: the name
-about: a shop that sells artwork and other related things, online and on the spot
.The design itself is quite clean. Simple typeface, black on white.
-positive:
.description to every artist
.very creative presentation of the items that can be purchased
-negative:
.despite of the clear look and feel, you still have to search for a while until you found out what they actually do
.still a bit too much information at a time, but ok
.there seems to be no constant structure or grid
.they don't say when the artists are born (but many of them have recently graduated, so it is likely that they are young)
-where I differ: they also offer coffee, books and mostly prints, I want to concentrate on all techniques in fine art
-what we have in common:
.they also offer originals of art that are also affordable
.they clearly want to address a young target group
(abstract name, photos with young people in them on their website, colloquial and humorous language like “pop in”, “hang out”, “celebrate existing for one whole year – not bad for a recession!”..., Shoreditch as location, the artworks themselves are young and contemporary: colourful, edgy)


-how I found out about it: Facebook...
-why it drew my attention:says what it does with including a medical metaphor that is associated with very young and breakable life
-about: an organisation helping young artists to start their career by supporting them with many challenges in artistic life
-positive: hip page: colourful and jazzy, but structured and easy to handle because of its functionality and structure.
-what we have in common: they seem to address a very young audience
-where we differ: they don't sell, they just try to get young artists into the business, not to address a young target group


http://www.art.co.uk/gallery/id--a55710/russell-young-prints.htm?RFID=814175&domain=co_uk&keyword=Young+Art&KWID=938364294&CTID=1662280260
-about: an online art shop
-where we differ: you can browse by subject (like landscape, sports, or animals), or by style or artist >very commercial, not very artistically valuable>>emphasis on the sale, not on the artist or the artistic value of the artwork; very consuming oriented>>art is seen as decoration only
.mass production, seems like prints only
.looks like an online shop, not like presenting art (as something precious)

http://www.artistsforum.org/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=2105739
-about: people can upload artwork, up to 15 pieces. If they want to be listed for buyers and upload more work, they have to pay
-what we have in common: people can upload their artwork themselves
-where we differ: emphasis on attracting artists to upload their work, no effort to attract the clients that are meant to buy art, even though they can purchase artworks on there
.you have to pay as an artist if you want to go beyond basic services, such as uploading a certain amount of artworks and to sell work. My service provides these services for free, but also a jury selects the best artists and their best artwork.
-Design: not very sophisticated design, looks more like a blog.






*b)
-How are the “big players designed” ?.


some key players (galleries and designers for this sector), first impression


affordable art fair (design by ?)
-about: a fair taking place in different cities all over the world for a few day each
-design: very simple general design and logo, well structured, nothing edgy. Few colours; strong pink. Typeface logo on pink square.
Same font for logo and readtext. Nonserif font for readtext.
friez  (design by graphic thought facility)
-about: a fair taking place in London and New York for a few day each, featuring work from international art galleries
-design: relatively simple and structured, conspicuous logo and cover photo that gives a contrast to it. Almost only typeface logo and modified letters: with gaps that make them look sharper, divides them in their geometrical components.
Different font for logo and readtext. Serif font for readtext.

Whitechapel Gallery (design by webstrars)

-about: established art gallery, presenting art from world-class artists.
-design: colourful and colourchanging design with an emphasis on photography, yet clear structure. Geometrical typeface. Typeface logo.  Different font for logo and readtext.
Nonserif font for readtext.
Serpentine (design by ?)
-about: established art museum, featuring modern and contemporary art work
-design: VERY clear structure, columns that stay in shape on every page. Simple typeface logo and same font (sans serif) for text and logo. Black on white. Highlighting colours: bright blue and red. >easy to navigate, but not very exciting look


 

One of the most successful design agencies in London
that also work for clients in the field of art
is browns.
Their style very often includes strong photography combined with simple, rather “rough” typography (geometrical, big letters and usually black or white to not overcrowd the artwork when used on top of photos, intensive colours like bright red on black and white imagery).
They produce work for cultural contexts, so have the photos an artistic tough, whereas the use of type is very contemporary: simple, small line spacing and they play around with the letter forms.





This can currently be seen in their design for the “Photographers Gallery” with their “Deutsche Börse Photography Prize 2012”. Everything on the website is really “big”; a huge type, large-scale photography but still a relatively tidy look, because it is not overcrowded. A photo works as background and information text is a movable layer on top which provides a little dynamic feel.
The letters of the logo are modified in a way that there seems to be a picture frame in between the text, just formed by letters or, if you rotate the text 90 degrees, a camera.
The logo of the prize itself is completely typographic, but little adjustments like removing the lower bar of the E in “Deutsche” and replace it by the Ö-dots of the word “Börse” which is right underneath, the design doesn't only enable a type-composition with very little spaces between letters but a more attractive, interacting, ornamental type-picture.
Typography here is not a rigid, untouchable disturbance, its an image with appeal.





A different approach is than that of “brown” is made by Nick Knight, even though they have their focus on the same medium.
Night makes very artistic fashion films and fashion photography and his work has been exhibited in famous museums in London.
 
His website is an almost empty page with only the most basic information in the top left corner in black and grey in a very simple sanserif typeface. You can hardly get lost on his website and it doesn't even need a proper grid because the information is kept to the very very necessary at a time: subject, picture, title.

When it comes to , a platform for fashion films, it gets slighly less tidy. The predominant colour is a bright to dark grey, depending on the subject you click on. It allows colour highlights in pictures to stand out clearly. There is yet a strict grid of a toparea and a few subareas underneath, the sides keep empty normally. In the toparea there are pieces of films constantly moving which might normally be annoying but the way the website is build it is rather exciting and not irritating.
The typography stays more in the background, here it's not that important member of the whole design work as it is with “browns”, it is inconspicuous and leaves the space to the imagery and motion pictures.



When you enter the website of Wolff Olins you feel chaos.
This is due to the fact that imagery in bright and different colours fills the whole screen. Furthermore there seems to be no grid, no order, but nevertheless you don't feel lost, the whole thing still looks very good. This is, among other aspects, due to the fact that the rectangles in the mosaic of this website a very well arranged, yet not in a mathematical order, but build a nice to look at composition. In comparison to classical chaos-websites that every bit is filled with subareas of information. It's all covered with a pattern of little articles to click on for further information.
Moreover, the whole thing looks exciting and vivid, and the way the little articles change in terms of colour or picture when you click on them makes the visitor want to play with it. It's very visual and very exciting.


 
>>>The trends
Contentwise:
-The institutions I researched tend to have either an emphasis on the artist or the sale of artworks.
What I try to achieve is to combine both harmonically and to give the client the feeling of buying a piece of an important artist, to receive something authentic and precious.
I aim to attract artists and clients equally.
-I will concentrate on originals since there are a lot of offers for prints already
-
some of the sources above link to the artist's website or give a good description on each artist that exhibits on their side. I will provide a lot of information about the artists because if you don't want to purchase art just as a piece of decoration but for the artistic quality, you normally want to know about the personality behind the artwork


designwise:
It seems that different types of designing in this area are predominant at the moment:
a very strict an classy one with emphasis on type or a quirky style with lots of colour and patterns, very tidy ones and very full but still navigatable ones.


 
Diagrammatic classification of the competitors
-....



SIMULTANEOUSLY...

Creating a questionnaire
What do I try to find out from the people I ask?
I want to come to know about their interests, especially in terms of arts. Would they buy if they could? Did they every think about purchasing art? Is it rather creatives  themselves that are willing to invest in artwork or does the profession of the client not matter in this case?…........


possible questions:
-Are you interested in fine art? (if possible, give reasons why, why not)
-what does art mean to you?
-are you working in a creative industry?
-are you doing fine art yourself?
-What are hindernisse for you to purchase artwork?
-What country are you from? What cultural background do you have?
-Do you prefer art style from the culture you are grown up in or others?
-Is your home decorated with artwork?
-What artistic style do you like?
-...


THE COMPANY RESULT

.How do I want my service to work(further details)?  What exactly does it provide?
-town-based (local)
-how do I differ?
-how do I distribute the wares?
.look online and go to a warehouse to make the final decision and pick up or get the artwork send home

-offer additional services like framing, printing and art photography, insurance, transport, art suppliers    
-incentives: special offers, parties, ...

Where to base the company
Cologne (Germany) vs London (GB)
London:

pro: .I am more involved in the scene right now, can go and see things happening here
.more people, many creative businesses, fine art Mecca

con:
Maybe not so familiar with the culture and so art-thinking of the people, more difficult to estimate their buying behaviour...
pro:
... but London is a very multicultural place and people are generally broader minded.
Con:
a very big and competitive market
pro:
...still something completely similar to my service is hard to find and there is a lot of demand
>base in London


The promotion
 working with flyers that people can collect from different places in town to have a quick look at to find out about the main point of my service and to see the web-address is going to be implemented. Moreover, since it is about an online service, further advertising is made online as well. This will be adapted to the young target audience and take place on social platforms and art-networks.

-viral marketing and guerilla
-classic online and flyer (postcard)
-online


>how is the tone of advertising?

-creative, funny, young...


.How do I imagine the final result of my project to look like? How do I present it? -....
-....


Naming brainstorming (subject to further research?)
-abstract or concrete, loud or quiet...

-aspects to consider: what is it about? What shall be communicated? What feelings do I want to evoke?
>youth, art, affordable, young clients, cool, fresh, creative, uncomplicated, stylish, originality, professional, trustworthy, friendly, attractive, contemporary, crazy(?>but no repulsive) ….



.Layout
-deciding on way of presentation: background colour for  3D-objects for example, grouping categories, how many pictures are displayed at once and how many artists, description of artworks and artists...
-....

-....












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