Proposed Position Statement

1. At this stage idea generation, photography and typography from the editorial and layout side are what drive me, so hopefully my current skills and all those that I am yet to learn will match the customers needs and wants. It is obviously going to be better to have skills that people are looking for, than trying to find people that want your skills.

2. My understandings of design software, print processes and digital design are vastly improving as I feel I can pick up new skills and listen to how technology works quickly and productively, so I am constantly broadening what I can offer my clients.

3. I hope to be northern based but work on a national scale as well as local. Clients expect face to face contact to show them that you professionally care and give them that 'try before you buy' meeting to seal the deal so I aim to be willing and available to travel to discuss work in person.

4. Customers want to get value for their money, but for it to be reassuringly expensive to know you are better than competition in your field. With that in mind I will not sell myself short just to attract more sales, but think about other approaches, such as advertising to get my name out there, and using direct selling and marketing techniques.

5. Direct selling approaches will help me build a relationship with the client and make me more memorable. It is no good just sending design firms emails, no matter how personalised you make them. People like to think they're special so face to face contact is where I can add value and having a strong contact list is vital for future work.

6. Direct marketing could be costly and involve time, effort and research on my part to know what they need and to come prepared, but simple things such as designing the perfect business card, having a strong and well selected portfolio of work or tailored promotional packages to hand to clients in person is an option that is of great importance to how I wish to work.

7. I definitely aim to create a well designed website to attract online clients to view my portfolio, and for those who may be internationally based to see how I work.

8. As well as keeping my online portfolio up-to-date, it needs to be easily accessible. Potential clients looking for a reliable designer shouldn't see my competition before seeing me. Including key words in the website increases my chances of it being found in general searches. Advertising on popular sites, such as social networking sites, in the form of banner links down the side panel is another place and form of promotion within the Internet to target potential customers.

9. I could see myself designing work for a variety of markets but I have strong design interests in magazine work, in magazines such as Creative Review, Grafik Magazine, Blueprint, creating layout based work for them.

10. Designing work like magazine layouts will more than likely mean working collaboratively with a group of other designers or for a company, which I definitely would choose to do over working for myself, as I would feel more structured, organised and enjoy inputting my skills into a group project, no matter how small a cog I represent in the wheel of the company. I would never rule out freelance, but would feel more comfortable working for a design business that's already set up and successful.

Overall services I can offer against my clients (magazine companies) needs:
My skills in layout design, software skills, such as Photoshop and InDesign to work digitally as well as initial hand drawn ideas showing skills quick idea generation. A great interest and growing knowledge in typography, general organisational skills and (soon to learn and create my own) website design could all make me stand out from my competitor. I will be readily available in terms of my services ie travel, to add a personal touch.