Proposed position statement

1) I regard my positioning in the industry as someone who intends to work more towards design for print in the music industry (particularly in the rock genre), although I would not limit myself solely to this market.

2) I have design interest in other markets such as retail and magazine work. I could see myself working in a variety of ways and this is why I believe freelancing would suit me.
3) I enjoy creating layout based work as well corporate identities geared towards print as an outcome regardless of the market.

4) I consider myself as an ideas generator as well someone who can develop ideas using the appropriate software.

5) My understanding of software such as Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign are strong, and I have the ability to pick up new knowledge quickly when working with software for the first time such as After Effects.

6) I want to work with a range of local, national and European based clients. I do not feel I am limited to local customers as I would use modern technologies, such as email, to communicate across borders. These clients would be both independent record labels as well as major ones.

7) I think my method of working would allow me to be more personal, so not to alienate smaller businesses but also professional enough to attract larger clients. In terms of the music industry, I could see myself designing for local bands (by designing album artwork) but then also designing for established acts for a larger audience.

8) Promoting my business online would be the most cost effective and best visual format to host a portfolio. It is vitally important to generate web traffic for my type of business as the market is saturated with easily accessible, web based design agencies.

9) I have a big interest in typographic work so I would like to collaborate with illustrators to offset any typography work I did. A lot of album covers do use a significant amount of illustrative work particularly in the rock genre, which I prefer to work for.

10) My competitors would be based both nationally and transnationally and would work for similar industries. Examples of these competitors would be ‘Tappin Gofton’ and American based agencies such as ‘Morning Breath’. Both competitors are focussed on the music industry but in different genres.

Morning Breath – Pop punk, Rock (Thursday, Queens of The Stone Age)

Tappin Gofton – Pop (Coldplay, The Feeling, Travis)

My skills
Print
Layout (magazine, poster, flyer, letterheads)
Typography
Idea generation
Corporate Identity
Packaging

Comparing my skills to that of my competitors, both cover a certain amount of these skills in one area or another. My clients (record companies) would require all of these skills in one way or another. My skills in layout design and packaging would be useful to them for CD artwork, and my skills in layout design for posters, etc would benefit them in terms of promotional material. I could also create identities for artists signed to them.