I decided in the research and the last task that my potential client group would be in ethical design/ design for ethical concern. In the last task I decided that I would probably begin my career in either Leeds or London as both would make good starting points and have a lot of potential for design work. This would mean that potential clients would be in either of these cities, however the client group could realistically be anywhere in the world. The need for ethically considered design is global so I could be asked to produce work for a client anywhere in the world.
In terms of media almost anything is viable. Web design, posters, clothing, typical campaign design and a-typical campaign design are all often used so I think I would need to try and specialise in a few specific areas of design to stand out.
Client group examples:
Local - Behind Closed Doors
National - Shelter
European -
Transnational - Amnesty International
PEST Analysis:
Behind Closed Doors - www.behind-closed-doors.org.uk
Behind Closed Doors is a Leeds based charitable organisation that offers support to women in the area who are suffering from or have suffered from domestic abuse. This is a really worthy organisation who do a lot with the little money available to them.
Political: BCD is a very small organisation who started in 1997. Politically the world was relatively normal and the country was not much different, but one aspect that may have affected the organisation is that support for the cause would have probably been much less than the present day and probably seen to be less important than many others.
Economic: The organisation continued to grow and gain support and have even managed to survive through the financial crisis, but it is important to note that the recession has not ended and it still affects and will continue to affect government funding which will ultimately change how much difference they can do. I don't think I'm wrong in saying the organisation doesn't get much money at the moment in terms of government grants and it can be seen in the fact that they can support only 2 full time staff and 2 part time staff, relying on these and a handful of volunteers to support the needs of a cause in one of the countries largest cities.
The same can be said in terms of design when visiting the website. It is unlikely that they can justify spending a lot of money of a professionally designed high quality website when they have enough trouble with staff. As a result, the website is quite low impact and doesn't do the organisation justice.
Social: There is probably little knowledge of BCD in or around Leeds which I am basing on the fact that I have never heard of or seen anything about them, although I am obviously not their target audience. As a city, Leeds is generally not particularly bad or good and crime rates fall just around the national average for most specific crimes so there is not an overwhelming need for the organisation in relation to other parts of the country, although on a subjective level there obviously is.
Technological: This category almost falls under the same as economic. With little money to go around, the organisation has weighed up the benefits of design over action and obviously decided to stick to actually helping people. Promotion across different types of media could turn out to be hugely expensive, especially so as the technology used will continue to evolve and develop and people will expect more as a result.
Shelter - www.shelter.org.uk
Shelter is a UK based charity that deals with anything to do with finding people a place to live. The ethos behind the charity is that once someone has a safe place to sleep and live then other steps can be taken to improving their life and their happiness.
Political: Like all charities and charitable organisations, Shelter is seen as basically being inherently good. This helps to improve their political stance and could definitely improve the amount of support, attention and donations that they receive. However, in 2008 Shelter employees began striking as a result of some difficult budgeting decisions which is an unusual action and could have resulted in homeless or badly housed people being affected physically.
Economic: Aside from the usual financial crisis affecting the charity, Shelter are a well known and well received organisation that have proven themselves worthy and gain a reasonable government grant. Their total revenue allows for them to spend 1/3 on campaigning. As a result they have had some really memorable and professional campaigns, most prominently for me the 'House of Cards' campaign, the identity of which was designed by Leo Burnett and Pentagram London.
Social: Shelter are a well known housing charity in the UK and receive a lot of support nationally. This means that any design they produce has the potential to be viewed by thousands of people. As a national organisation they have to consider the trends of the UK, but it does mean that they don't have to consider any different languages or specific political events of several countries.
Technological: Shelter span a range of media when it comes to campaigning including TV advertising design so there isn't really a limit to their technological capabilities. They have experience in a lot of different campaign design and have worked with a lot of designers in the past, all of which will have different approaches to working and will create different results.
Amnesty International - www.amnesty.org.uk
Amnesty is renowned as the worlds leader in human rights campaigning.
"To conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."
Political: Amnesty is globally renowned for the good that it has done in the past and continues to do into the future. It has received various awards and has a huge following of supporters and members of around 2.8 million. Because of this already strong following, Amnesty have the potential to reach millions with their design and campaigns. Amnesty is also well known for using some really great designers and pieces of design in their campaigns.
Economic: As one of the worlds most prominent charities, Amnesty receive a lot of donations as a result of hundreds of events and campaigns worldwide. The result of this is that Amnesty can afford to produce hundreds more which will help gain even more support and attention to their cause. Although Amnesty put a lot of money into their campaigns, they (like most charities) still can't afford to hire many employees that aren't volunteers.
Social: As a well known organisation for human rights, Amnesty must know that their campaigns will reach a lot of people and can design accordingly in terms of how big to make them and how much money is viable to spend. They must also be conscious of the fact that so many people will see any design that they endorse and must take responsibility accordingly. Amnesty often use shock tactics in campaign posters and design which are always striking and communicate the message well, but this could be considered inappropriate or offensive by many people.
Technological: As an international charity, Amnesty have the access to technology worldwide so there isn't too much limit to what they can produce. As with any charity they will always have to consider the cost of the design that they endorse or create and the ethics in the way that it is manufactured.
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