We made invites!

Check out the video we made to contact the companies we’re interested in interviewing!

https://vimeo.com/118547889

Identity

In addition to the more academic lecture side of our Design and Enterprise module, we have recently began looking into some of the possible companies we could approach to interview.  Initially we split off, each trying to identify as many different design businesses as we could which we felt would tie in with our own discipline of ‘interiors.’  After cutting down our options by each picking out our three favourites, we then tried to work out which ones we felt managed to employ good business acumen whilst still remaining inspirational and producing industry leading work.

                 

Our initial shortlist consisted out of some London based companies with a few from our side of the border also making an appearance.  Loop.PH, I AM, Whitespace and Picaroon were all favourites we identified early on.

However despite cutting it down the list it began to grow again as we delved further into different Scottish based businesses, ones which managed to combine research based practices and the collaboration between people and designers.  This led us to the website of Nomad RDC, a Glasgow based multidisciplinary design business.

Collaboration was also the message which we identified as being a key component behind the final companies we identified which were prototyping firm MAKlab and Inch architecture which are both based in Glasgow.

But which of them, if any,  would be interested in chatting to us?  We thought that if we were to create some kind of group identity, a face to the name so to speak, it may give us a better chance of gaining some of their time.  We had agreed that ‘INsight,’ seemed like an appropriate choice of name and served as not only a nod towards both the researching aspect of our brief but to the initial letters of our discipline’s name.  Although at this point in time we are still trying to develop our brand, our own identity we now do have a logo to go with our name (see below.)

 To make ourselves appear a bit more personable and less anonymous we decided to go down the lines of a kind of hand drawn aesthetics – not just for our logo but also hopefully for our invite.  However for the interview invite we hope to also bring in a modern/ digital twist by creating some kind of mini video made up from the drawings.  When ready, we plan on sending the video/ drawings both digitally (via a an emailed youtube link) and physically (by post) to our 3/4 favourite companies.

Not an easy task ahead of us but we all realise, ‘big results require big ambitions.’

The Truth About Business

Hearing last year’s design enterprise students and their experiences of the module was very motivating and encouraging. They offered a lot of advice, including:

• Attend the events relevant to you
• Keep a visual diary
• Find a company that has the same interests as you
• Apply to as much internships as you can
• Pick a topic that you are passionate about for your dissertation and run with it
• Prototype – Try – Solve
• And most importantly, ENJOY the semester

A talk from an interactive design graduate also gave us an insight into the real world of successful businesses.

Joanna Montgomery graduated from DJCAD in 2010 and since then has been trying to bring her degree show concept, Pillow Talk, into reality with her business, Little Riot.  It has gone through a lot of ups and downs but she never gave up and now she is working together with companies such as Wayra and Wearable worlds to finally get Pillow Talk on the market.

During the years after graduating she has come to learn some things about the world of business:

1. People suck
2. Shit is expensive
3. Never ignore your gut instinct
4. Surround yourself with good people
5. You can still do something with nothing
6. Working for others will not kill you
7. Disasters are character building
8. The most powerful weapons are courage and persistence
9. The good will always outweigh the bad
10. “Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm” – Sir Winston Churchill

The truth is:

Desent 15

We are INsight, a team of 3 INterior + environmental design students at DJCAD! And we are excited to be starting our Design Enterprise module this semester and learn how to become inspired entrepreneurs. Over the next few weeks we are going to be getting an insight into the business world behind design and as a team going out and meeting some enterprising design companies that we admire.

So far we have some influential lectures, workshops and guest speakers that have sparked our interest in design enterprise.

Here are some of the key notes we took away:

• Being enterprising puts you in control of your life
• ‘Indie Capitalism’

Creative cultures are inspiring start-ups. The term ‘Indie Capitalism’ describes a new economy that reflects many similar values and social structures of the independent music scene. Indie Capitalism is a post-global, local economic phenom that feeds of the cultural and entrepreneurial energy of creative urban cities. This new way of thinking and doing has no clear boundaries between consumer and producer, investor and shopper, we are all involved in everything.

• There is a seismic economic and cultural shift towards enterprise
• ‘Make a job. Don’t take a job’

A report by Barbara Gunnel and Martin Bright

• There is a rise of creative industries and individuals
• Use social media to help you professionally (like this blog!)
• 4 tips for an enterprising future

1. Learn how to make something
2. Education is not the whole answer
3. Don’t listen to your parents! (the older generation might not understand the world today)
4. Don’t worry about network. Worry about your friends

• As students we have the freedom to take a risk and fail
• Helpful steps for our project

1. Select subject
2. Define issues
3. Approach
4. Background research
5. Interview
6. Analysis
7. Present

The Golden Circle by Simon Sinek