Hello
I'm new to these forums and thought this may be a good place to get some advice and feedback on something me and a friend are potentially going to start.
I don't need to tell any of you, finding design work is difficult at the moment - we are both recent graduates who achieved good grades in Graphic Design. Having been told a few years back we'd have been guaranteed decent Design jobs based on what we achieved, we have now been told that the best we can hope for is 2-4 week placements in London - not a terribly sustainable way to live.:icon_thumbdown:
Well, anyway, I had always been thinking of starting up a business since I was about 16. I'm 25 now, always been a bit of the eternal student having only really worked as a temp or in short term positions (I have literally been out of education for one year my whole life... I have studied GCSE, AS level, A Level and 2 degrees - one in ICT and one in Graphic Design - graduating in both) - the other chap is the same but younger - having graduated in Graphic Design at the same time as me.
Our intention is to start our own Graphic Design business in Norfolk. We want to eventually be competitive with businesses in London but know this is a long way off - small steps first!:icon_wink: We will be starting off cheaply - offering cheap Design but not any less in terms of quality. One thing you notice not being in one of the main cities is that other Design businesses offer fairly poor, under-developed design - we want to buck this and keep our quality top notch - whatever the client. We believe reputation is hugely important and will treat all clients equally, regardless of stature. We want to grow slowly but surely and want to aim to set up in offices as soon as possible - presence is an important thing to us and we want to seem like a business not a bedroom operation - as that is not what we want to be or are about.
Anyway, some advice, feedback would be great if anyone has any to offer...
Some handy info would be some info about rates - what we should be looking to charge, etc..., good ways of building up clients, well, anything that will help really...
We believe our biggest hurdle is that neither of us have had 'industry' experience - an obvious disadvantage in the eyes of many - however, we both believe in our abilities and are highly motivated so feel that as long as we get the opportunity we'll grasp it with both hands...
We have already started investigating business advice, funding, etc, as well as a plan as to how to build a portfolio and hopefully a reputation as quickly as possible - now we need to start turning plans into reality...
Thanks guys!
I'm new to these forums and thought this may be a good place to get some advice and feedback on something me and a friend are potentially going to start.
I don't need to tell any of you, finding design work is difficult at the moment - we are both recent graduates who achieved good grades in Graphic Design. Having been told a few years back we'd have been guaranteed decent Design jobs based on what we achieved, we have now been told that the best we can hope for is 2-4 week placements in London - not a terribly sustainable way to live.:icon_thumbdown:
Well, anyway, I had always been thinking of starting up a business since I was about 16. I'm 25 now, always been a bit of the eternal student having only really worked as a temp or in short term positions (I have literally been out of education for one year my whole life... I have studied GCSE, AS level, A Level and 2 degrees - one in ICT and one in Graphic Design - graduating in both) - the other chap is the same but younger - having graduated in Graphic Design at the same time as me.
Our intention is to start our own Graphic Design business in Norfolk. We want to eventually be competitive with businesses in London but know this is a long way off - small steps first!:icon_wink: We will be starting off cheaply - offering cheap Design but not any less in terms of quality. One thing you notice not being in one of the main cities is that other Design businesses offer fairly poor, under-developed design - we want to buck this and keep our quality top notch - whatever the client. We believe reputation is hugely important and will treat all clients equally, regardless of stature. We want to grow slowly but surely and want to aim to set up in offices as soon as possible - presence is an important thing to us and we want to seem like a business not a bedroom operation - as that is not what we want to be or are about.
Anyway, some advice, feedback would be great if anyone has any to offer...
Some handy info would be some info about rates - what we should be looking to charge, etc..., good ways of building up clients, well, anything that will help really...
We believe our biggest hurdle is that neither of us have had 'industry' experience - an obvious disadvantage in the eyes of many - however, we both believe in our abilities and are highly motivated so feel that as long as we get the opportunity we'll grasp it with both hands...
We have already started investigating business advice, funding, etc, as well as a plan as to how to build a portfolio and hopefully a reputation as quickly as possible - now we need to start turning plans into reality...
Thanks guys!
Once we have had some success, a web page will swiftly follow displaying what we have achieved to give potential customers a taste of what we do and hopefully some word of mouth will start to form...