OUGD502 STUDY TASK ONE - STUDIO SHOP RESEARCH

My topic to research for preparation for the next session was studio shops, as a shop is a main way of selling work and getting an income from the public rather than just clients.

Jessica Hische

Jessica Hische's studio "shop" is very organised, with sections listed down the left hand side, such as prints and fonts, then leading down to collaborative projects, crediting the contributors. There is a feed of photographs of her work for sale on the right, as would any ordinary shop, however this gives a much clearer presentation of the work, and is more visual as well.

Once you click on a product to buy or have a closer look, a much larger photograph of the product is shown on the right, and with the same menu on the left as was with the shop home page. This allows you to take a much closer look at the product. 

As you scroll down more photographs of the product are shown, this could be in colour variations as shown here or different angles of the product, to get a better over view before buying.

At the bottom is the price of the product with a description of it as well, to give a bit of background information and to persuade the viewer this is what you should buy. This is an effective idea, as sometimes it isn't always clear at first what the product is about or for, and is an opportunity for the designer to sell their product to the potential buyer, giving examples of how it could be used.

Sagmeister & Walsh

When you open up Sagmeister & Walsh's "store", it has more of a Tumblr page appearance, with all of their work in thumbnail format, and the more you scroll down the more you see. There is also a small black tab with a arrow on it to the right which when you cover over it says next page, so you can view more of their products without scrolling down endlessly. Unlike Jessica Hische's shop, there are so categories down the left hand side to divide the products, you are left to your own devices to search for what you're looking for, which is clever really as it means you have to scroll through all their products to find what you're looking for, potentially resulting in you seeing something else you'd like to buy, and increasing the amount you spend in their store. All of their information and navigation bar is at the top in a strip, always in the same place so you can easily find it. This allows the products to stand out for themselves, with nothing to distract you. The simple black and white colour scheme also makes the photographs of the products have much more impact, as they are the main focus.

As you scroll down you see more of their products, and the navigation strip at the top remains in place, only the white background has a lessened opacity to it, so you can kind of see the photographs below it, easing their transition off the page.

When you hover your mouse over one of the products, it changes to a black square, with information about the name of the product, a short description, and the different prices for variations and whether they have to be bought from external websites such as iTunes or Amazon. 

When you click on a product it takes you to the website it is being sold on, in this case "society6", and all of Sagmeister & Walsh's products are sold from external websites, nothing can be bought directly from their website. This could be to save them the issue or having to actually package up and post their products, letting a retailer do it for them, so they have more time to do the actual designing and producing aspect. On Society6 they have the same strip of information and links acorss the top, with the photograph of the product on the left, and information about it on the right, as is most shop layouts.

There is a more detailed description about the product, as well as a passage about the artwork itself, which describes how it came about and what the influences for it were, rather than what medium is used and what scale it is at like is in the description. This makes the potential buyer have a more personal connection with the product, making them understand it better hopefully so they are more likely to buy it.

At the bottom there are more photographs and even a video of the product, again all trying to give the viewer the best possible knowledge and look at the product to persuade them to buy it. There are also other options to buy this particular print in, such as framed or in a different size, if you want more options. There is also a space for comments, if you wish to share your thoughts about the print, and the ability to 'like' the product on Facebook as well, to share it with your friends and family, which is an effective method to get the brand and product out there to not only your creative friends, but the non creatives as well, broadening their audience.