PEST

As well as SWOT we also looked at PEST evaluations of a business/practitioner and how these can effect their success.

Political- Government regulations and legal issues affecting companies
Economical- How outside/wider economic issues, such as a recession, can impact a companies success.
Social- How you can use analyses of different demographic and cultures to determine what consumers want.
Technological- How different technological developments impact how a company delivers a product/service to its customers/clients.

How this affects me:

With regards to political issues, I still need to look into what different laws and regulations may affect my personal success. The main issues relating to this that I am currently aware of are copy right issues. This is mainly in terms of how I protect my own intellectual property but also how I might infringe others when referencing imagery to create my images or directly taking bits of imagery when producing collage work.

Although it is rather pessimistic economical issues seem like they will have the most impact on my personal success. Given the current state of world affairs, particularly after Brexit, it is likely there could be another market slump which may mean there are less clients willing to pay for commissions.
However the creative sector is currently the fastest growing industry in the UK so it would seem that this would be positive when starting out as a professional. However this does also mean a rise in competition.

Social factors would mainly relate to who exactly is my target audience. This is something I ave struggled to tie down in first year and something I still need to clarify for myself. This is particularly blurred given my work in a design studio which has a completely different client base/work output to my own personal practice as an aspiring illustrator.

Technological developments have already had a huge impact on what direction I am taking my practice. This is because most of my potential clients will want work increasingly to be displayed on digital formats meaning understanding digital work and process, particularly moving imagery will put me at an advantage when starting out/trying to build up a client base. Given that more technological developments are likely to change how work is viewed/produced remaining as flexible as possible with my practice seems very advantageous.