IPartner HR Solutions Project Presentation

Today we finally presented our work to Kathleen from IPartner HR Solutions. Each member of your team presented a unique stationary design with a different techniques and styles. We gave her a detail explanation of why we decided to design her logo the way we did, how it would benefit her business and why it will help her stand out from all her competitors.

This presentation was very successful, our customer was

surprised and very happy with the kind of work we presented

and the way we were able to capture all her ideas in a logo.

Team Experience

One of the mayor projects this semester was to work in a team just like we would do in the real world………………teams could be challenging, but there is no doubt they’re a good learning experience. My team was formed by 4 members, Joan, Edgar, John and me each one with different perspectives, design techniques and PERSONALITIES (the hardest thing to deal with)!!! Luckily, we were able to work as a team, deal with due dates, meeting appointments, disagreements on concepts and PERSONALITIES!!!!
At the end of the project we were able to demonstrate our class that we’re professionals that could work together and overcome any challenges.

Adobe Connect Pro Team Conference

Joan, Edgar and me got together in a web conference at Adobe Connect Pro to show and critique our work. We all have improved our designs and are ready to start designing the stationary.

Adobe Connect Pro is for sure a very helpful program, it was great to be able to see everybody’s work and get feedback on our designs.

Logo Presentation

I presented my logo designs to my team and the whole class, it seams that we all are having problems putting a design together after so many changes in the company’s name. The good thing is that we are finally getting closer to the end of the project we all have a logo to work with and that will be used to design the stationary that will be presented to Kathleen on the day of our final.

Company's Name Changes

Guess what? Kathleen changed her company’s name AGAIN!!!! No more HR Segue Solutions, now her company’s name will be IPartner HR Solutions. Hopefully this will be the last change or we just won’t have time to finish her logo and stationary design by the end of the semester.

So, we have to start all over with the logo design. This is for sure a learning experience, we need to make sure to track our time so she knows how much time we have spent designing her different logos. She needs to realize that if she was working with an established agency she would have spent a lot of money do to her indecision.

BrainStorming

Today we presented our research to the team which includes printouts of Kathleen’s competitors’ websites, logos and colors to our team; we also had thumbnails of the logo design for her company. Unfortunately we had worked with the name of Goal HR Solutions, but Kathleen decided to change her company’s name to HR Segue Solutions. This is a completely different name; therefore we have to get started on the logo design with this new name.

Client changes

Our pen guy was never able to meet with our team and if we have no client to talk to we just can’t get started in our project, so we have decided to change client and instead we will be working with Kathleen form Goal HR Solutions.

We will be working during this week on research while Joan talks to Kathleen and gets as much information as possible. Hopefully she has a better idea of what she really wants to advertise.

Assigning Teams and Clients

Today we decided we want to work for Mamoca, ABroadcasting and The Pen Company. Dr. Brown divided the class in teams and my team is form by Joan, Noe, and John…………cool, I like my team!!!!
Our team has being assigned to work for the pen company, Joan as our team leader will set up an appointment with the owner of this company to get as much information as possible so we can get started with his website.……………

Susan Petralla Interview

Susan Petrella, one of our prospective clients came into our class for an interview today. She is an artist that designs chairs to be used only as a piece of art and not to sit on. She will like us to design a logo, stationary, postcard templates and a website to advertise and sell her pieces. She brought in one of her chairs for us to be able to get a better idea of the kind of work she does.

ThomasNet - Norma D'Antonio
Client Solutions Manager

Q: Could you tell us who you are, who do you work for and what does your company specializes on?
A: My name is Norma D’ Antonio and I’m a Client Solutions Manager for Thomas Net. ThomasNet is the internet search engine for the industrial companies. We are the Google for the industrial companies, we are the online version of newspaper to get your name out there, brand your services and company and drive traffic to your website.

Q: What’s your career path, how hard was it to get to where you are now?
A: I started in the Philippines with and Advertisement Degree. When I came to the US, coming from a different country I had to start working on whatever was available, but now I’m doing is something that I’m really enjoying and have a lot of passion for it because is related to what I studied for. I intend to stay in this industry especially because of the opportunities in the internet, pretty soon all companies are going to have to have presence in the internet to be able to move forward in their business.

Q: How is your company organized?
A: Well, basically the headquarters is in New York, which is where all the packaging comes from. Our office here in Orange County is a franchise; this is just a sells office, so our task is basically to generate new business. We have ten sales representatives and we can go pursue any account that we’ll like without having to worry about territories. So the office here is just a sales office with an office manager, my manager and our task is basically just to like I said to generate new business. If I sign a client what happens is that I have to take care of all the contracts and everything is submitted overnight to New York. At that point everything is done via conference call with our account partners in New York.


Q: What do you need to know about a client before you meet with him?
A: That is the interesting part of the job and is also the part that I like. Each company in the industrial market is different when it comes to the type of service and products that they sell. The interesting part is and in order to be successful you have to be naturally curious, you have to ask a lot of questions. We do what we call a discovery meeting where we discover what the company is all about, what their services are, how things run, how the orders come in, what type of questions does their clients ask them when they go into their website, and stuff like that will help me understand what’s going on in that company. We do not have obviously a 100% understanding of the company, but if I can get a tour of the facility that also helps me connect with that company that I’m trying to sell.


Q: How hard is it to work directly with customer and sell somebody else’s work and how challenging is it to communicate your customer needs to your design group?
A: It could be hard if they are not sharing information, but for the most part the New York office is pretty good at including me and copying me in everything that is going on. When I get the proofs is when I see if we are in the same page, when we share and see if that is what we think the customer wants based on the meetings we had and what has been submitted. For me is interesting and can also be challenging because I have the relationship with the client and they don’t, they are pretty much depending on the information I have provided to them. That could be struggling at times, but you learn each time and that’s when you know that asking questions could get you to what you want. There will always be misunderstanding about something, an unhappy client, but is just a matter of me being there because I am the link between the client and my people in New York and if there is anything that needs to be clarified I need to make sure that gets taken care of.

Q: Are you involved in the hiring process at your company? What kind of tools does your company looks for in a sales person when hiring?

A: I don’t really have the say of hiring a certain person, but I’m one of the two people that my boss wants a new person to ride with to kind of get a feel of whether that person is going to make it or not make it. Because of my work ethics he wants us to make sure that the new person will do what I have being doing. The types of people that would work out for ThomasNet is someone who is not afraid to call and ask for the business, someone who would pursue to become sales people here are the ones who are aggressive and who are wanting to generate new business at whatever cost there is.

Adobe Connect Pro Conference & Goal HR Solutions Interview

Today we had a prospective client postpone his interview for next week, but that does not mean we didn’t have any interviews. Dr. Brown stepped out of the class for a moment and while she was walking to her office she ran into Kathleen MacNeil the Principal Advisor of Goal HR Solutions. Kathleen works for True Games a company working in the DMC Job Incubator. She is a HR Consultant whom will like to develop her business brand identity. While she tried to explain us what her business is all about she discovered that she doesn’t really know how to describe her business. She had problems explaining what she does and what she wants to advertise. It seems that she needs to develop her company business plan before she can jump into the brand identity design.

Today we had our first Adobe Connect Pro meeting a program that will give us the opportunity to communicate virtually with our customers or team mates if needed. It was a great experience, I’m sure we will make a good use of this new program.

Client Interviews (Mamoca & ABroadcasting)

Today we interview our first two client candidates. Mamoca a company working in a Markerless Motion Capture software. A year ago we worked with Dr. Alexander, when he had just moved into the DMC Job Incubator. The DMC Designs team was responsible of designing his company’s brand identity.

Our second client candidate was Art Pharn the Chief Executive Officer of ABroadcasting a web cast company that will bring television from various countries to the US audience. If we decide to work with ABroadcasting we will be redesigning its website which needs to be updated and make more attractive to its viewers.

First Company Interview

Unbelievable………we were lucky enough set up an appointment with AlPunto Advertising (a Hispanic Advertising Company). Edgar, Noe and me interviewed Cesar Sanchez, the Creative Director of AlPunto, he was the most helpful and friendly person we could imagine. Cesar has years of experience in the field and definitely had so many things to share that his interview lasted almost an hour.

Thank you Cesar for sharing your experience with us!

AlPunto Advertising

"Thinking is for everyone. We think different.
Thinking different isn't just what we do, it's who we are."
al Punto Advertising - Cesar Sanchez
Creative Director
730 El Camino Way, Suite 200
Tustin, CA. 92780
714-544-0888
csanchez@alpunto.com
www.alpunto.com

Q: Could you tell us whou you are, who you work for, and your position?
A: My name is Cesar Sanchez, I'm with al Punto Advertising, and I'm the Creative Director.

Q: How hard was it for you to be a Creative Director?
A: It has always been something that I wanted to do, so I went to school in Spain for Graphic Design and Advertising. I also took Masters, I spent a year in an Art Center in Madrid for Advertising and Art Direction.

Q: Was the transaction difficult from a free lancer to an agency?
A: Yes, specifically with the budgets, the meetings, and the people you are hanging out with everyday.

Q: As a Creative Director do you do the hiring?
A: When it comes to hiring, it depends sometimes we go with some headhunters that specialize in the market.

Q: What do you look for in a designer?
A: What we are looking for is for someone that has something a little bit different. Always looking for someone that has a different perspective on the same issue.

Q: How is your company organized?
A: Pretty much in our agency we have three different sites. We have media, accounting, and creative.

Q: Do you recommend any magazines to complete a project?
A: Well, all the magazines for advertisement and design, Communication Arts, Print, How, Archive, those are the main ones that I always buy and subscribe to.

Q: How do you prepare a proposal for a new client?
A: Everything starts with a meeting with the account team and the client, then they come to use with the problem. Once they tell us the problem we start here planning, doing some research, look at trends, and design alternatives. Then some comps and presentations to the client.

Q: What are the biggest mistakes a designer makes in their career?
A: Biggest mistakes, I think is overusing computers sometimes. I have seen alot of designers that the first thing that they do when they get a project, they go into the computer and start designing right there. Instead of just thinking about it a bit or sketching something with a pencil and a paper.

First Day of Class

Here we are back to the DMC………. we have new classmates joining our group whom have no idea what they’re getting into; hopefully they will all make it to the end.
Dr. Brown has come up with a few new ideas for the class that I’m sure will keep us as busy as usual and will definitely help us learn something new and practical.

Today our first day of class we have being assigned what I think will be the hardest project of the whole semester. We have to set up an appointment with a company related with the design industry. We will have to record it, edit it and post it in our blog to share with our group. Good luck to every one………..this is not going to be easy!!!