Business Plan
Another one of our three modules this semester was the Business Plan. Similar to how I felt about some of the other modules that formed part of my course (Social Media project, for example), I was originally somewhat dubious about the relevance of the module, at least to somebody like me who has no interest in starting a business of my own. I was, however, very excited when I found out that the business plan could be based around any form of enterprise we liked, whether that be a service or product-based company. Naturally, I was more inclined to design a product – the module seemed like a great opportunity for some innovative product design, which was exactly what I had been wanting to work on this year. This write-up will focus on the creative, product design side of the project, while the particulars of the business including finances can be found in my Business Plan submission. Some of my initial thoughts on the direction of the project can be seen in the mind map below.
Another one of our three modules this semester was the Business Plan. Similar to how I felt about some of the other modules that formed part of my course (Social Media project, for example), I was originally somewhat dubious about the relevance of the module, at least to somebody like me who has no interest in starting a business of my own. I was, however, very excited when I found out that the business plan could be based around any form of enterprise we liked, whether that be a service or product-based company. Naturally, I was more inclined to design a product – the module seemed like a great opportunity for some innovative product design, which was exactly what I had been wanting to work on this year. This write-up will focus on the creative, product design side of the project, while the particulars of the business including finances can be found in my Business Plan submission. Some of my initial thoughts on the direction of the project can be seen in the mind map below.
Of my initial thoughts, I was really drawn to the idea of a personal safety product. Personal safety in the UK is a controversial topic; as a nation, we do not have the culture of self-defense and personal responsibility for safety that some countries do, and it is illegal to carry any potentially dangerous item for that purpose. Cases like the murder of Sarah Everard in 2021 ignited conversation about the state of personal safety in the UK however, especially for women out alone or at night. Many people called for the ability to protect themselves more effectively, embodied in numerous petitions that were quickly rejected by the government. I began research into this topic.
It was clear to me that there was a market for an item that could help keep people safe while remaining legally-responsible citizens. The key would be to design something that could deter a criminal and help keep people as safe as possible without being a weapon. The research showed that people were most worried about safety when alone, and at night. The danger of being alone is that you are an easier target, and there is a chance that nobody else will know exactly where you are. For this reason, I considered designing something with GPS tracking, so friends and family can locate the victim in the event of an emergency. That isn’t a deterrent to the criminal, however, as they wouldn’t know the person is being tracked. It occurred to me that at night, where criminals are more likely to perform malicious acts undetected, light can be a great deterrent. Another proven deterrent is sound, which can startle an attacker and alert others to the emergency. The product started to take shape in my head. I decided that it should have a powerful torch, an alarm, and GPS functionality. I saw no reason why these features couldn’t be integrated into a single device, so I did some research into similar products to see if anybody was already marketing such an item.
It transpired that no such product existed, at least none that I could fine online. There were, however, a number of combination torch/alarms for sale, most of which clearly aimed at the budget end of the market. The online reviews were generally favourable, but these cheap items did not appear to be of such quality that I would want to bet my life on. I started designing my product, being careful to ensure that it wouldn’t look like a weapon. To ensure the product would be legal in the UK and accepted by the authorities, I decided that it should fit the form-factor of a regular handheld torch. My first detailed design can be seen below; it was annotated to help explain my idea to the design cohort in class.
My concept was well-received in class, so I started work on a detailed CAD model to further develop my idea. I should note that the purpose of this module was not to create a detailed model - actual CAD work wasn’t actually necessary at all to create a good business plan, but I took the opportunity to do this because I knew that otherwise I might lose interest in the project. I was careful not to get carried away, however, as it would have been easy to forget about the business side of things and spend all my time building in CAD. For this reason, I created a Gantt chart to plan the different stages of the project and better utilise the time I had.
This document was very important in keeping me focussed on the essential business elements of the project, and I managed to stick to it fairly closely. Something that I intend to improve on next semester is considering the implications of the other modules running alongside each other, such as the time that each one might demand which would take time away from another. For this reason, a larger, multi-module planner might be the best solution, but producing such a chart would be rather difficult, even more difficult to adhere to week on week. It’s definitely something worth considering though, since I began to feel a lot of pressure towards the end of term as the multiple deadlines got close. Anyway, back to the interesting part! Here’s an animation showing how I constructed my device, which by this point I had named the ‘Protectorch’.
The Protectorch has a number of unique design features that have never been combined into one device before. Despite this, it is simple to use and easy for anybody to operate. The Protectorch is designed to be non-threatening, which is why it would come in a variety of attractive colours.
For my Week 12 presentation, I created a series of renders using rendering software Keyshot10, and mock advertisements using Photoshop to show the concept off in the best possible light.
I was absolutely amazed by the positive feedback I received from my peers following my presentation. It was very encouraging to know that the product was something that people would actually be interested in, showing that the need I had identified at the start of the project was real. Full feedback from the presentation can be seen below - many thanks to all those who left comments!
In conclusion, this module ended up being quite satisfying, with the Protectorch being one of my proudest creations to date. Although I initially wrote it off as a module that probably wouldn’t interest me as a creative, its open-ended nature allowed a great deal of creativity, especially for those of us who decided to create a product-based business. I feel that the project would have been completely different if I had have opted to develop a service-based business or something else that lacked the design elements which kept me interested along the business development process. Although the CAD side of the business was enjoyable, and went according to plan, sadly I was not happy with my actual business plan submission. The pressures of trying to balance my time between the three demanding modules this semester meant that some elements of the plan unfortunately (but predictably) fell through the cracks, such as the finance information which I admit I struggled to get my head around. If I could do the project again, I would have prioritised the hard business elements of the project over the creative aspects, even though this would have made the project less enjoyable for me – it can be difficult to strike the right balance, and in this case it was slightly off.
