The idea of having a plan already is a little daunting, but I need some loose structure so I know where the hell I am going with this.

I already have a rough idea on what I want to achieve through this case study. I want to analyse the roles within a small business set up such as an Etsy so I can make an informed decision in the future whether to set one up myself.

The approach to the case study is where I get a little hazy. There is so much that I could do, and not all of it could be relevant to the case study at the end. I have a few ideas which I really need to start on or actually research some more:

• Questionnaire on Instagram

This could be quite enlightening as I follow quite a few small print design businesses on there. This could give a broader approach to what setting up a small business is like as well as giving me numerical, quantitive data (depending on questions I ask). I feel like this is a good starting point for me, just to get an idea of an overall picture at the start of my case study.

• Interview a small business owner

As I said before, I have quite a few peers on Instagram who have Etsy shops, so securing an interview shouldn’t be too difficult.

• Interview someone setting up a small business

Alongside the previous point, I think it would be helpful talking to someone who is setting up an Etsy shop too. This would be helpful as I could compare the differences in someone setting up a small business and someone who has established one already.

• Compare the differences between a small business and a larger business

I think this can be useful as it can show the differences between the values of each company and how they approach things differently too. I can also see how small businesses could scale up their ideas by using large business approaches.

• Interviews with print designers

I just did a little Google search and realised that lots of designers have given interviews over time and perhaps give some insight into how they grew their businesses.

As for the service design/thinking tools I want to use, I am thinking that timelines will be so useful to show the range of growth in a certain time frame. Alongside this, I think that the Business Model Canvas will also be helpful too, of which I talk about here. And of course, gathering personas will be crucial in this project too!

I feel like the output of these results will be mostly illustrated in bar charts or something quite basic like that. However, I am still researching this area, so I not so concerned about this part at the moment.

There you have it, my almost plan of action. At least it gives me a rough structure on how to approach this project.