Design Research

Design research starts properly next week but I'll be looking at the books below over the weekend to make a start.

The two main sources of inspiration I'll be taking from are construction and haulage companies as well as guitar and amp manufacturers. I'll be looking at design predominantly from the 60's and 70's.

I'll also be looking at tractor manufacturers, poster art and sign writing. A lot of East London still has sign written shop advertising and signage so I'll be going for a little walk around with my camera.

I came across a printing company last week who use Risograph printers. Riso is a technique which gives an affect similar to screen printing but can do finer detail and is much cheaper. It only works for printing onto paper but is an option for the flyers I will be getting printed for launching the brand.

Find out more about Ditto Press here.



A selection of books I'll be looking at for inspiration

Business Gas

When you start a business you get to enjoy everyday activities and objects with a fresh new perspective, like Business Breakfast and Business Shoes.

You are also entitled to Business Gas & Business Electricity!

Sammy over at The Underdog Art Co. let me know about Business Gas and how much cheaper it is. I assume it's Government subsidised as it is a lot cheaper, pretty much half the price of what I was paying with normal residential gas and electricity.

You can even get business gas if you work at home.

I now have a direct land line, perfect if you get free calls to land lines with your mobile contract, to Nick at British Gas. So no more talking to a computer for five minutes just so I can talk to a person who may or may not be able to help me.

Find out more here: www.businessgas.co.uk

Late Introductions

I probably should have done this first but better late than never.

Hi, my name's Chris Hewitt, I also go by the name Chris Airplays. I originally come from Watford but now live in Hackney. I studied Graphic Design in Leeds and since then have worked for a friend's fashion label and sold curry on a market.

I DJ a whole range of different music and have an on-line radio show broadcasting from brap.fm and hosted on pfradio.com and itunes.

I paint and draw when I get the time and sell arts-and-crafty bits-and-pieces from my on-line shop http://airplays.bigcartel.com/.

You can see my artwork and download my radio show @ www.airplaysemporium.co.uk

I have a cat called LC (Little Cat) and a girlfriend who I live with called Ruby 'Poo Shoes' Wilgrove.

Myself and Ruby went to Aldeburgh over the weekend for a little getaway. We left early on Friday morning and came back Sunday afternoon so we could go to the Roundhouse to see trentemøller.

Back to work today. Posts on business planning, starting design research and which illustrators I'm hoping to work with coming up this week.



Walking Monty in Sainsbury's car park Ipswich on the way to Aldeburgh.



A sign in a shed next to Ruby's grand parents cottage. Great type!



Possibly the smallest seaside house ever.



Trentemøller LIVE.

Financial Projections

I knew the numbers side of the business wasn't going to be fun but I never realised it would be quite so boring.

I attended my first Hackney Enterprise Network seminar on Friday. I overslept and ended up 10 minutes late but still managed to get most of the info I need for filling out a financial projection. From what I can tell this is how you prove to the bank that they'll get their money back; despite the fact that the most important part, sales, can't be worked out beforehand.

Sales are worked out on assumptions. The assumption I'm working to is that 30 shops will take the collection twice (each t-shirt in each size) or 60 shops will take it once. I'm hoping this is a conservative estimate!

To back up this assumption I have to show that I'll be promoting the range properly, that I'll be approaching a lot more stockists than I require and that the amount I hope to sell is a relatively small share of the market (I need financial reports on other company's to show this, which are available from companies house for a price or free from the British library).

As well as proving to the bank that I should be able to pay back their loan it will enable me to budget for the business as well as my personal life.

Things seem to take longer than I'd hoped, plus I took the last two weeks easy. The real work starts NOW!

Tax

The end of last week was taken up with finding business advise and looking into how my tax will work.

I currently work one day a week PAYE (the English employment tax system) but will also be looking to find freelance work as a DJ and take on the odd piece of design work alongside running ‘The Diggers’.

After speaking to the Inland Revenue (the English tax authority) I was advised to become self-employed. This will mean that the tax on my earnings will be the same even though my income will be coming from different sources. When you have more than one job this can be a problem as you get taxed differently depending which is classed as your first job (which is generally the one you do the most hours at).

This means that the one day a week I do PAYE will become freelance. I will have to fill out a self-assessment every year, which you receive at the beginning of the tax year (April) and has to be returned by January.

You can find out all you need to know about tax from: www.hmrc.gov.uk/ and the relevant phone help lines associated with the different forms of tax.

I’ve also looked into business advise offered by both Business Link and The Hackney Enterprise Network.

Business Link is a government organisation that can help with all aspects of business support from writing a business plan to finding finance. They offer free advise which I was hoping for today but their representative never got back to me. I’m still waiting a week later.

The Hackney Enterprise Network is membership based organisation (£25 a year for your first year of trading £50 then on). They offer one-on-one business advise (I’ve already had a one hour session), grants and seminars. I’m signed up for ‘How to create professional financial projections’ and ‘How to structure a finance ready business proposal’. Fun stuff!

LC the office cat taken on the new office phone

Day 1

Today is the first day of my new venture 'The Diggers': a t-shirt brand with a musical theme with designs inspired by street art and skate graphics.

I'll be using this blog to document the process of building a company from day one until the launch of the first collection some time early next year.

In the first two weeks I'll be writing a business plan & a detailed plan & time scale for the next four months, setting up internet banking to keep track of my finances, talking to a business advisor, contacting printers to arrange meetings, working out which illustrators I'd like to work with as well as contacting them to see if they're available and how much they charge.

Below is my work space which will be transformed in a few weeks by a new work bench which is being built by a friend.

Keep track of what's going on by following The Diggers on Twitter https://twitter.com/chris_digger