Project Three

Subject, Audience & Purpose – Describe the Live Design Brief and include general background research about your chosen subject, audience and purpose (500 words plus visuals with captions)

eDecks, which was established in 1986, has a reputation for high quality craftsmanship. This part of the brand offers a time-tested service that clients can trust. It is focused heavily on tradition and heritage as it’s website states “With 35 years under our work belts, we stand proud as a testament to enduring British enterprise“.

eDecks business model is considered “Business to business” this means that they predominantly deal with builder merchants, with a high focus on trade, but also pride themselves on offering trade prices for the general customer too. The eDecks stores are located at Hook Road, Gilberdyke & Seavy Road in Goole. This shows their priority target area is Goole however they extend outside of Goole for higher delivery fees.

The current target market for eDecks is 25 – 65 years old who are primarily tradespeople. Professionals in construction and landscaping looking for high quality timber and building materials.

I proceeded to gather information onto a single slide in preparation for the meeting with the marketing students. This slide has an overview of the the eDecks subject and purpose alongside it’s audience. This slide is created to help me gain an understanding and rough idea of eDecks’ mission and possible broad design ideas before the meeting with eDecks.

2.) Relevant Design History- Include at least three examples related to your Live Design Brief and analyse them. How have they influenced your final presentation? (500 words plus visuals with captions)

Here is the second slide I created. This slide shows two examples of eDecks competitor websites. I have added arrows as annotations on the slide to showcase the positives of each website. On the left side is the website for Jewson, one of the positive traits inside of the Jewson website is the use of colour, the colour blue is known to represent trust therefore bringing a trustworthy feel to their brand and website. This encourages users to trust Jewson to provide high quality products and services which will make me evaluate the the colour usage inside of my future designs in this project.

Another positive trait of the competitor website is the minimalist design and user friendly interface. The website features clear blocks of sections such as Categories and promotional images. This helps the user easily find what they are looking for on the website whilst having time to glance at advertisements and offers which may further sales if a promotion catches their eye, this is something eDecks struggles with on their website as the website they have is overwhelming and outdated which will discourage users from browsing around their site.

On the right side of the slide is the Wickes site which is another competitor of eDecks. This website also has a good use of colour, as they use red to being attention onto important labels such as deals and items inside the basket. This again reinforces the important of colour in my future designs.

On the right side of the slide is the Wickes site which is another competitor of eDecks. This website also has a good use of colour, as they use red to being attention onto important labels such as deals and items inside the basket. This again reinforces the important of colour in my future designs.

I next proceeded to look at competitor social media as this would be the main focus of the campaign to promote to customers, old and new, about the new campaign to increase winter sales.

One of the social media posts from the competitor Wickes stood out to me. This was a promotional Christmas giveaway. This would attract attention of existing and new customers which would encourage interaction with the company during winter time. The winner of the giveaway would be rewarded with a Wickes product, the satisfaction of the winner will be spready online through reviews or comments and in person through word of mouth which would further boost sales and interactions in Wickes. This is a strategy I would like to suggest to eDecks as it is one way to boost winter sales even by a small amount by creating loyal customers which may also end up buying products all year round. Even though this is not the focus of the campaign it is still a positive as more all year round sales could increase the budget for winter promotion in the future.

Another way the Wickes Instagram has caught my attention is through it’s “Snow and Ice Warning” post. This post promotes safety towards it’s customers and other viewers who are browsing through the chosen hashtags in the post. This promotes a company image that cares about it’s customers which will encourage word of mouth. The warning proceeds to show various products available at Wickes to help with the snow and ice which will encourage use of decking during the winter / encourage new customers to purchase decking during the winter when it may be slightly cheaper now that they are educated on how easy it is maintain even during snowy periods. This is another campaign idea for eDecks where it can promote items such as anti-slip decking combined with outdoor heaters for customers.

3.) Project Development- Document your group’s developing design work and what you contributed (500 words plus visuals with captions)

The group created a variety of work after a meeting with eDecks and a separate meeting with the marketing students themselves where they suggested and discussed various approaches to the campaign. The first piece of work that I have created to contribute to the group is.

This eDecks title intro is created as a bonus to add onto eDecks content, I have created a verticle and horizontal version for varied use such as YouTube or TikTok. This creates and reinforces brand recognition with new and old viewers, catching their attention whenever a video plays either on tv advertisements on or on mobile apps such as TikToks. These will help remind existing and potential customers that the business is available and exists even during the winter time. These can then be further remixed to have variants for special occasions such as a company anniversary or Christmas.

Another task I was given was to create Instagram posts. I created this first post to promote anti-slip decking towards customers. This addresses a fear of slipping on decking during winter times that customers have which prevents them from getting decking, especially in the winter. This promotion will encourage customers to buy decking early instead of fitting into the “wait until summer” mindset that is common. This being an online post it can easily be shared between customers which will increase the amount of views the post gets therefore increasing winter sales.

This instagram post advertising the Modblock Winter Pergola again boosts winter sales. This is again due to shifting the mindset that the garden is mainly for summer use however the advertisement shows a high quality pergola over a hot tub, which encourages non-summer outdoor use. This again is an online post therefore can be shared easily amongst customers further boosting sales. This can be combined with other products sold by eDecks such as outside heaters which encourages winter use.

4.) Teamworking- Include Rob’s Psychometric Test results, and explain your role and experiences while working within your groups. (500 words plus visuals with captions)

At the beginning of the project the class started by taking part in Rob’s Psychometric Test where we watched a video and observed an orchestra whilst analysing each key role inside of the orchestra. We then had to tick boxes afterward to show how much we personally resonated within each role and how that role may reflect us inside of the group work. This will then be compared towards the end of the assignment. Here are my initial results:

The two roles that resonated with me the most were The Conductor and The Chorus. This is because I can take charge in a group working environment but also work well within a team if I am not in charge, which is a positive as it means there is less arguing over potential job roles if someone else would want to take charge within the group. A lesser role I resonated with was the Soprano, Oboe and Whistler. This is because I can be independent and use my initiative inside of group working scenarios once a task has been assigned to me.

The experience of the group working project was stressful at first as it was a lot of unknowns and I much prefer structure but I understood that that is sometimes how projects can move in the real word and tried my best adapt according. The first meeting with the group which was pretty late didn’t go to well as I felt like they weren’t taking the assignment seriously. This is due to a reoccurring suggestion to include Jesus Christ into the campaign, it was also frustrating as Kate provided ideas and solutions it felt like they weren’t truly hearing them. Later on after agreeing on what items the team wants for the project I got to work on them which wasn’t difficult however they weren’t winter focused at all, this is why later on I decided to add in some of my own winter based Instagram posts that you can see above. However the day before the first presentation the group decided not to use any of our work. The second group was quiet as they said they will reach out when I am needed and requested some work late into the project.

In conclusion, I was not the conductor role in this project but more the chorus as I was in touch with my team and worked on what was agreed on with Kate whilst attending meetings.

5.) Live Design Brief Portfolio Video (5 minutes)