Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Processes of Information Design


A goal that I have in the future would be opening my own country bar.  Along the way I will be implementing information design for every step. 

First I need to firmly decide how I want my bar to look and who I want my bar to serve and then I have to design every single detail. 

In order to borrow money, I will need to write a full business plan.  Whether I build a building or remodel an existing building, there will be construction and I will need blueprints.  I will also need a marketing plan and an exit plan.  All of these things will entail a lot of research and a lot compromising. 

The business plan includes my vision of my bar, and it also includes all the financial, timeline, all my suppliers, all my codes and licenses, employees, insurance and all the other details that I haven’t thought of yet. 

According to the SBA.gov website there are 9 parts to a business plan:

Executive Summary: My vision of my business

Market Analysis: Will be a SWOT analysis

Company Description: Country Bar

Organization & Management: The business will most likely be a LLC

Marketing & Sales: I will need the details on how I will present myself

Service or Product Line: Alcohol and non-alcohol beverages and food and live bands and DJ

Funding Request: I will propose a financial statement for five years

Financial Projections: I will explain how I will make enough money to payback a loan if I were to get a business loan

Appendix: I will create an appendix that includes the licensing, permits and regulations and laws

How to Make Your Business Plan Stand Out: The business plan needs to sell the bar and to find a way to make it very special to the bank

While I’m still in college there is no chance I have time to write a business plan, but I could after graduation. 
SBA.gov. (2012). How to write a business plan. Retrieved from

http://www.sba.gov/category/navigation-structure/starting-managing-business/starting-business/how-write-business-plan
 

Saturday, October 6, 2012

Designing Maps

When I think of Information Design I think of road maps.  In order to organize the layout of my state, somebody has to go from point A to point B and relate it to all the other locations around it.  By using location as the organizer, a road map explains to me where I am and I can use it to direct me where to go. Should I turn right or left?  Am I in the country or city?  Will there be parking available?  These are a few questions that need to be answered when you’re traveling to a new location.  Maps also tell us the name of the roads, towns, and the distance between specific areas, they tell us the type of road, and it points out locations of interest. 

Information involves time or numbers or continuum, and by organizing information by location, maps are created (Jacobson, 2000, p. 275, 276). 
Jacobson, R. (2000). Information design. (p. 2765& 276). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press