Major project : Design concept development

Here is example of feature content page. I used 16:10 Digital display dimensions (1440x900).

And here is 1st draft of my inspiration page. 

Major project : Interface

Here is 1st interface. I designed only top page. It looks like ordinary website. 

Here is 2nd interface that I designed. 

Here is 3rd interface.

I used speech bubble to be main design element in 2nd and 3rd interface. 

Major project : Final logo

Here is final draft of my logo design. I tried to put meaning into the logo and changed the typeface from Futura to be Helvetica Rounded.

These logos are designed before the final one.

Final logo

Next step, I'm going to create layout of website and thinking about how to promote the organisation. 

Major project : Logo design stage

Here is first sketch of my logo. I'm still working on TDT (Thai Designers Talk) logo. I'm trying to create a logo that relates with my design concept by using speech bubble and the colour.

And here is my first draft in digital format.

Here is second draft.

Here is third draft of my logo design.

Major project : Research

Research

What is happening internationally in design industry?

            There are several countries that are the leader in design industry including UK, US, and Australia. Each country has their unique style and trend. Firstly, UK design industry has become well known since 2005. We can see from the number of designers that has dramatically increased to 232,0001 designers. This is 29% higher than in 2005. Not only that, the domestic income has also increased by £3.4bn. The combined budget of in-house teams and fee income of freelancers and consultancies is £15bn.

 

Secondly, US design industry is the prediction of an increase in revenues for both graphic design agencies and freelancers by the end of the decade - with freelance designers, in particular, looking to benefit. The report predicts that freelancers gross revenues will increase from over $3.4 billion in 2004 to over $3.8 billion in 2009. Additionally, the number of graphic design freelancers is expected to grow from 74,000, to well over 86,000 by the end of the decade. Furthermore, there are few information about US design industry which are graphic design firms currently employ about 60,000 people, a level that is expected to reach nearly 68,000 employees by 2009,15% of the industry's graphic design firms are newly created each year and the 50 largest graphic design firms comprise less than 1% of the number of establishments, but account for over 16% ($1.3 billion) of the industry's total billings. Lastly, Australia design industry has grown by two designers to six designers with the average overall industrial design business weighing in at seven and a half staff. This reflects the buoyant times and the relatively high availability of consulting work. It also reflects low levels of new business formation in Industrial Design with the overall level remaining static for some years. So, in general, the available work is going to established businesses. Consequently, owners are making more out of their businesses. An industrial design business owner employing six designers is likely to be earning $100,000, up ten per cent from the December 2003 survey. And well above the average for all employer/self employed designers in Australia of $81,800.

Factors that undermine the creativity of Thai people

1.     Stress from financial problem and living cost 32.6%

2.     Thai society does not accept new or different ideas 23.5%

3.     The lack of public support or lack of political attention 14.7%

4.     A copy of lack of motivation for creation10.3%

5.     Family and education system do not teach people to be creative yet 7.9%

Reference: bangkokpoll.bu.ac.th

What are the trends?

The broadly positive picture for the design industry despite the recession
is reinforced by the reported demand for design services.61% of digital and multimedia design firms reported increased demand since 2005, followed by 41% of communications design businesses saying demand has increased.

Communications: Graphics, brand, print, information design, corporate identity

Digital and multimedia: Website, animation, film and television identity, digital design, interaction design

Interior and exhibition: Retail design, office planning/workplace design, lighting, display systems, exhibition design

Product and industrial: Consumer/household products, furniture, industrial design (including automotive design, engineering design, medical products)

Fashion and textiles: Fashion and textiles

Other: Those opting for the ‘other’ category were asked to specify what this covered.

Service design: Service design is an approach concerned with the design of services. Service design can be both tangible and intangible, and can involve communication, environment and behaviours.

Recently, online business or online marketing is becoming the most popular in the global business. Online marketing is trend of 2012. There are many investor that invest a huge money in online business which are a website and a social network. Additionally, an application for smart phone becomes more popular as well because increasing number of people who use smart phone. Smart phone’s application is alternative solution for people because it is easy to use and people always carry on with themselves.

Theory (media)

            “The advance of technology means that the range of media available. Particularly, digital-media continues to increase. New media present new possibilities and challenges for design thinking.”

            “The digital age sees steam of emerging media for designers and their clients to embrace, which goes beyond merely creating a web page. Facebook, Twitter, blogs and smart phone require designs to be presented in different ways. The functionally of different media provides the opportunity for designers to extend the functionality of their design beyond the traditional to include interactive relationships between a design and a user.”

DESIGN TH!NK, G.AMBROSE and P.HARRIS

Dan Formosa, co-founder, Smart Design

“Media used to be controlled by governments and corporations. Mass messaging came from the top down. Our messages now come from the bottom up. We all have potential to communicate, globally, in an instant.

It’s easy to say that technology prompted this, but really it is people’s innate desire to communicate that has driven the development of the technology. An underlying theme, I believe, is the ability to unite people who care, from Tunisia to Occupy Wall Street gatherings. People act differently in groups, and the fact that we can band together on virtually every topic under the sun will continue to have tremendous impact in 2012.

Our new, rapid pace of social communication also continues to affect how we shop, how we manage our personal health, our energy consumption, our cooking proficiency, and a zillion other things.

Design is synonymous with communication, and communication affects behaviour. The growing realization that design can have a powerful affect on global behaviour will drive many of our innovations in the coming year.” This article showed technology is becoming important in design industry.

Website trend

            “ When was the last time you held an actual newspaper or novel in your hand to read on the way to or from work? In just decade, the worldwide web has come dominate our lives. We now spend countless hours soaking up all sorts of information by mean of the web, as well as maintaining our social life through it.”

            “ Nearly everyone under the age of 40 appears to have their own website, personal blog, online shop, fans/friends page, motion and / or photo showcase, or to have set up a secret site for sharing private stuff with intimate friends. The Internet is thus becoming more personal and less corporate. But the basic rules still apply. Whether you are trying to sell something to a mass market or simply attract a small following, your website needs to be attractive enough to hold the attention of first time visitors and persuade them to return. Given the amount of data we are bombarded with daily, nobody has the time to bother with something that is difficult to navigate and poorly presented.”

Idn magazine

The factor of good website design

“ Great visual, good rhythm, good user flow and great motion” Media Arc

“ Maintaining enough navigational conventions to help people use the site while being creative with everything else” Isobel Knowles

“ The idea and the execution “ Kinetic

What do Thai designers think about your proposition (do some interviews, photograph and document them)?

Target audience research

Top 20 lists for Thai university and faculty 2012 on www.cuas.or.th/ Association of University Presidents for Thailand website, shows that Art and design major has become popular due to the growth of global media these days.

Firstly, the faculty of art major in information and communications technology, Silpakorn University has reach its highest rank (4^th rank) since the faculty has been formed. This presents that young generation are interested in art and design despite they are not very extensive for the old generation but economic, finance, and medicine major.

Consequently, the faculty of journalism and communication, Thammasat University is also on the 6^th list. More people are courage to learn new things through media yet it has become part of their life. These are why all kinds of careers involved with the media are now getting more and more widespread. 

Admission 2012, candidates were 122,169 people to access education 90 institutions and 723 faculty / Department.

Thais with Internet

Innovation Center for Internet Thailand. The overall statistical behavior of the Thai people uses the Internet in 2011. They found the average of Internet user increase was about 6 million from a year earlier.

Mr. Piya Tuntavichain Chief Technical Officer of Innovation Center for Internet Thailand said that the overall statistics of visiting Internet Thailand in 2011. Internet users in Thailand increased around 26.77 percent compared with 2010. The average of Internet population growth was about 6 million people. In August 2011 was an online Internet population up to 25 million people in Thailand.

From the behavior of Internet users in Thailand found that the entertainment was the most popular section of the site, followed by the group's online diary blog, forum shopping, news media, the group's health and Thai organization sites were the lowest.

The search engine of the Thai people is the most commonly used by Google accounted for 99.06 percent.

In addition, the survey also found that the structure of the Internet population is 55 percent male, 45 percent female, mainly students.

Bangkok (capital city of Thailand) has the highest Internet population. The East has the lowest Internet population.

Thais with Social network

            There are 14,618,340 Facebook users in Thailand, which makes it #16 in the rank. Facebook penetration in Thailand is22.01% compared to the country's population and 83.60% in relation to number of Internet users. The total number of FB users in Thailand is reaching 14,618,340 and grew by more than 1,342,140 in the last 6 months. Comparing these nearest countries by penetration of Facebook users shows that Thailand has 0.11% higher FB penetration than Poland and 0.32% lower FB penetration than Belize.

            Thailand Facebook age, the largest group is currently 18-24 with 4,824,052 users, followed by users in age of 25-34.

How does Thailand fit in to the international design community?

Nowadays, Thai design industry is going to be better than the past. Evidently, The number of designer income is increasing and increasing number of Thai young generation approach to University about art and design. Additionally, there are many Thai designers who graduated from European country and US. International designer acknowledged many of Thai artworks. Furthermore, Most of Thai designer usually combine Thai distinct with international design basis. If Thailand have a space for Thai design to show their works. It is going to great solution and also present to the international design community.

Viral Marketing

Marketing techniques that use pre-existing social networks to self-propagate a marketing message. Viral marketing sees the target audience pass a communication to friends and family. Perhaps by email, Facebook or Twitter and typically gives the consumer something for free so that they market other products to create brand name awareness

Web

       Web advertising offers extraordinary opportunities for creating fuller brand experiences. The most effective come from combining the web with another medium or the product itself to drive views in a happy circle from web to store to product and back to web for follow-up that may include customer care or a better way to use the product.

Website reference
http://www.designcouncil.org.uk/our-work/insight/2012-design-forum/
http://www.socialbakers.com/
http://www.smartplanet.com/blog/design-architecture/four-experts-predict-2012s-innovation-and-design-trends/2944
http://www.smartplanet.com/blog/design-architecture/trends-in-us-design-services-social-responsibility/984
http://www.dandad.org/learning/talks/driving-digital-laura-jordan-bambach
http://thaigraphicdesigner.wordpress.com/
http://www.dia.org.au/index.cfm?id=247
http://australia.gov.au/about-australia/australian-story/austn-design
http://observatory.designobserver.com/entry.html?entry=2507

Major project brief

Major Project Brief

        

Introduction

Many of the Thais are interested in art and design. However, there is one typical problem that is the lack of strong community, and a social network that we can show and share. These are the very important factors for sharing and discussing artworks. I believe that if Thai people have chance to get themselves exposed to the different kinds of artworks, they will be encouraged to learn new things, yet their ideas will surely be improved. I also have strong belief that Thai artwork is beautiful, combined with our cultural distinct. They are valuable enough to be shown to the world. Furthermore, I want to be a part of this idea that enhances the ability of Thai artist, and the design industry of my country. Therefore, my idea comes up with website design and the use of social networks, to communicate with the audience. Personally, website and social networks are the best way to influence and to attract people. Consequently, events and exhibitions for Thai designers are efficient too. Theses are where they share and discuss their work. We all know that the Internet is a very efficient communication tool in the 21th century.  In summary, I will create website that make use of social networks. It will also be a place that designers and artists promote their events at.

Proposition

What we do

I plan to create educational website and service for Thai artists/designers. We all know that we don’t have a strong community for the designers. This place will allow them to share and discuss their work, and also to exchange thoughts and compliment each other’s works. I will collect as many kinds of Thai artworks, allocate them in the website. After that, all the artworks will be presented globally. I believe that Thai artwork can compete with those from the other countries. Moreover, this website will be the place for artists and designers who are looking for a job. Not only that, if this website becomes successful in the future, I am going to set up a contest for the designers and artists, allowing them to compete against each other with their distinct works.

The design objectives

This website will be a final solution for Thai designers. The proposition of my project is to bring all the Thai artists/designers into one place and give them a design knowledge, allowing them to inspire and improve their potential. Furthermore, I aim to develop a standard of Thai design industry to compete with the international industry. If my goal is achieved one day, it means that a strong Thai design community is built. This place will enhance the ability of the designers and make their works well known.

The Difference from competitors

            My website will be distinctive from the other Thai design website. From what I have seen, most of them share only one object or one purpose that is definitely not enough for the research. Mine will include all the essential needs for the Thai artists/designers such as, news, job hunting, event/exhibition, inspiration, learning centre, discussing space, and portfolios. Not only that, my goal is to create a bilingual website, Thai and English. Foreigners can also access in and understand the Thai artwork.

The target audience/market 

First target audience: Thai design students. These people are the young generation who spend most of the time online, thus the number is increasing everyday. They got the energy and ambition to accomplish what causes their curiosity. These young generation has become the key for my marketing plan. Online community is where they live in and do most of the activities at. Therefore, if I can really approach this generation, I will be part of their online community.

Second target audience:  Thai professional designers. This group is also the key. They are the people that have experience in this field, and create good artwork. The only thing they lack of is the place to present works and ideas. If I can get attention from the people in this group, my website is going to have experiential reference that will help develop the Thai design industry.

My target audiences are following by:

-        Generation Z 12 to 17

-        Generation Y 20 to 40

Consequently, I will set up the registration for anyone who is interested in the website. This will let me count the number of target audience who become our member, so it’s easy for us to connect with them in the future. Not only that, number of the people who join the contests, share and discuss their works are useful too. My goal is also to have Thai artists and designers communicated in the website efficiently.

My business plan

            My plan is to introduce the members of design community to producers and businesspersons through a variety of activities meant to stimulate exchanges between creative individuals, manufactures, and investors with the resources needed to build sustainable business to get through today’s tough economic situation. The project will prepare the way for the high- quality, unique, and Thai- made products and services. I will also focus on the potential of the designers despite the current economic slowdown. This also contributes to the overall strength and sustainability of the Thai economy. Another of my plans is the viral marketing. This is the coming marketing trend in the last 5 years that i am very certain it will bring along the popularity to my website.

Competitors

I separate the competitors into 2 groups that are the local and international competitors. Firstly, the local competitors are the Thai creative websites and social networks such as Portfoilos.com, thaigraphicdesigner.wordpress.com, tcdcconnect.com, and Thailand art exhibition on Facebook. These websites are unique in their own style. For example, designers can post up their work in Portfoilos.com but there is no news feed for the audiences. Secondly, the International competitors such as D&AD, Creative review and design week are great challengers. Their website is full potential. They have all the designer’s needs and sometimes, they offer new methods and knowledge for the audience. This is also the reason why I want to bring up the Thai standard to be equal to the international ones.

SWOT analysis, define strengths, weaknesses opportunities and threats.

Strengths

-        The founder’s ambition and personal skills will bring up the website, compete it with the competitors.

-        We have a lot of useful information that will help Thai artists/designers create their works.

Weaknesses­

-        This kind of website is very new to the Thai designers. Also we don’t have enough connection with potential partners.

-        The way to promote the website is not yet very clear.

-        The commitment between competitors and the clients is strong that we might hardly get in.

Opportunities

-        The growth of an online market is very dramatic these days.

-        Social network has played its significant role in marketing.

-        Thai artists/ designers need a place to be an online community that they can show and share.

-        People urge to develop educational standard for the Thai design students in which this website is a source of useful information. These students always want to see things inspirational.

Threats

-        This kind of website is new to target audience that they don’t get familiar with. They may end up not using it

Design element

1.     Name of brand and logo design

2.     Interface website

3.     Newsletter (Digital mail)

4.     Posters and Flyers for promote our website

5.     Event/Exhibition

The plan

The research and the design concept will be done during May and mid-July. After that, I will start up the designing part and develop my concept until mid- August. Lastly, the complement of my project and the critical reflection will be done from the end of August to the early September. My project will be submitted before the deadline.

My book design

Here is environmental book for kids.

Open publication - Free publishing - More eco friendly