Overview

The Christmas Market is a project that puts us in charge of creating our own business. Our aim is to make profit for the Salvation Army by making and selling our very own product. This product had to be one that we think others would buy, focusing on the target audience. Many of our subjects were used to complete this project. This includes Innovated (time do the work), Humanities (the economic side of the business), English (making our advertisements) and Digital ICT (making a financial spread sheet) The ending result was on the 20^th December we set up our stalls and tried to make as much profit as possible by selling our products to the staff and students at school.

Our Business

My group (consisting of Ella, Jazmia and me), decided to make shell candles. We thought that this was an idea that many people (especially those who like the beach) would like and was unique. Although shell candles were a final idea, we did have setbacks. At one point I decided that I did not want to do then as we were told that lots of groups were wishing to do candles. We decided to keep with the idea though as we thought it was innovative enough that people will still buy it. From my experience I found that many people did buy the candles, due to the uniqueness of the idea and how it was targeting our audience. We also decided to name our business ‘Coastline Candles’, as it was easy to remember and connected with our product. Our advertisement we made was trying to show the beach side to our candles connecting to our audience and drawing their attention. Another factor that affected the number of customers we got was our stall design. It was very beach themed and out there, attracting Impulsive customers. Many of our customers came purely because of the design, not even knowing the product. During the market we decided to raise our prices as our product was in high demand, people still bought it, so we made a lot more profit as a result. In the end we made $138 in profit.

College Capabilities

During the span of this project we used many of the college capabilities. One of which is Organisation. This was one of the vital parts of our Project, being essential to complete it in the best of our abilities. As a group we decided to create a team to discuss ideas and what had to be done, contributing to the completion of many parts of this project like the print advertisement. We also made sure we used our time in class wisely, always bringing what we needed to complete different part of the project. I also found our group used collaboration. It was another major part of this project, being vital for the creation of the product. We all had to work together to get the shell candles done efficiently, all taking on a different role to help the group out. We also used creativity. This was used in the advertising part of the Christmas Market, to find the most effective way to draw in the target audience.

Design Thinking Process

The design thinking process was one of the most important parts in effectively completing this project. The first stage, Empathise, was used in the first activities we did in concerns of the Christmas Market. We had to interview other students our age as well as other members of our community. This was to interpret what others would buy at the Christmas Market and why they would want it. In the define stage we had to share our interview results with the members of our groups, collaborating to find trends. We thought about how we could make a product that people would want to buy. We then moved on to the ideate stage, sharing our ideas and brainstorming new ones, trying to look at every angle to find the perfect product to make. We had a lot of ideas we thought of but in the end the clear one to go for was the shell candles. In the prototype stage we made a few samples of the candles, as well as ideas for a base. This was to ensure that the product works and would still connect with the target audience. We then moved on to the test stage, getting feedback on our prototype. We first went to our tutor teacher, aiming for our product to be approved. We also decided to go around the class, finding their thoughts and opinions on the product. One part of the project that did set us back though was stands. We knew we needed them as otherwise the was could leak out of the shell, but after testing our ideas, none of them passed the testing stage. They were all either to expensive, did not match the theme or did not look good. Then, after some ideas from a teacher, we decided to use wooden offcuts, a free but still aesthetic idea.