SPEAKING FROM EXPERIENCE - concept statement

Concept Statement

I intend to inform, and also promote to a group of first year Graphic Design students studying at Leeds college of art. As the majority of students have never had this sort of independence with money before, it can be quite tricky to budget your money, and decide how much you should be spending and on what. As they won't have previously gone through this experience, they will most likely be unaware of deals, discounts and how much student life will actually set you back financially. On average, a student will end up spending £11,000 a year, and in some cases more. With Graphic design students, a lot of money has to be invested into materials and printing, which all adds up. Therefore, I want to produce a product that, whilst giving financial advice, also displays what exactly you can get for your money. I want to show a comparison between spending money on unnecessary items with alternative, cost effective options. For example, students end up spending up to £3 a day on lunch from university or surrounding shops. Instead, this money could be used on a loaf of bread and a sandwich filler, which could last you the whole week. By getting up five minutes earlier, they could be saving up to £18. As well as this, through the product, I want to promote NUS and/or student cards that provide students with discounts on a large number of places and products. 

I have found a number of statistics that display the problems students face when it comes to money, from the 2012 Sodexo survey:

1. 50% of students have changed their eating habits because of financial pressures and over two thirds eat less healthy as a result.

2. One in four students said they wouldn't have gone to uni if they were going to have to pay he proposed increased fees.

3. 30% of students expect to graduate with over £20,000 of debt.

4. 57% pay upto £20 a week on travel alone, this could be cut down.

5. 64% of students spend between £11- 40 a week on food so the number of those living at home has increased to 18%.

In order to achieve this concept, I have a few ideas of what I could produce. 

Product: Informative booklet

Range: Booklets, little pack, online activities

Distribution/Context: Online, mail, fresher's fairs