PROGRESS: My Personal Practice

As my COP3 module progresses I am beginning to realise some key elements and trends within my practice and the way I approach my creative work especially with regards to new briefs. 

RESEARCH
COP3 has highlighted how much value I gain from research in my creative process. This is something which hasn't really stood out to me before, however has become really obvious as I delve deeper into my subject matter and chosen direction for this module in my final year. What usually stems form a lack in my confidence and the desire to "get it right" pushes me to become an expert in my subject - and this can be applied when undertaking new briefs wether self directed, live competition or commission. Through research I can gain knowledge about other practitioners who have also explored similar directions in their creative approach, a better understanding of the context of where my work sits and what tone of voice is appropriate. Through research I build a relationship with my project as a whole, before making any key directional choices.

Research is key for me as at this stage in my practice - my approach to creativity is incredibly diverse. This can often lead to a "stunted" phase where I am unsure of the best way to get started. With so many avenues open to me with regards to media and skill set - Research = Knowing my project but also understanding and aligning myself and my key creative skills with the aim of producing unique outcomes and tone of voice.

notes to self
my practice and its development / realisation from COP3 research
research, investigation and methodology - experimentation - underpins my practice and it is through this that i gain a better understanding of my project as well as employing a visual method to better educate and convey a message / portrait / picture of someone for the audience.

instead of fighting my variety of approach to media in my practice - this celebrates it and combines lots of approaches which can then create collage pieces and collections themselves.
when considered  each can come together and form a bigger stronger picture of the subject depicted.

play on this in my self marketing
- variety of business cards - a different piece on each one / cut in the shape of something i've drawn
- showcases the variety of skill i have across the board

website
flashing tiles act as a cabinet of curiosities - my approaches and individual pieces showcased as "specimens" // examples of my practice.

Pastoral Meeting with John

Had a really lovely catch up with John regarding my time on the course and where i consider my practice to be. I went into the session determined to straighten my head out about the lingering issue I have regarding the diversity of my practice.

I came away with the following:

• My diverse skillset is gold dust
• Don't ask too many questions of yourself and enjoy the process of making and becoming OK with who I am
• Use my presence and website as a way to showcase my diversity and individualism
• If I am varied in my practice - show this and have an appropriate tone of voice
• Consider a website that suits - agency website showcase a variety of practitioners portfolios as tiles on one page which then navigate out to their specific portfolio. This layout could work for me and showcase my work as individual projects.
• My communication skills are great - use this to promote myself and begin the discussions regarding my work
• Its time to own who I am and stop fighting it
• Diversity is not a bad thing n industry and means you are well equipped for a variety of purposes primed and ready to go

Websites

Towards the end of PPP2 in level 5, I began to understand the importance of a website - an online representation of who I am creatively and a platform to advertise and point others towards, to help gain exposure, commissions and interest in my work. I was lucky enough to get my hands on some domain names for my future website which include:

Since buying the domain names and completing level 5, I have progressed with the representational name for myself "essca" and I subsequently go by this name or "essca.art" on my professional/portfolio instagram account and on tumblr.

https://www.instagram.com/essca.art


Despite choosing this name for myself before the summer, I didn't feel ready to commit to it fully. I am not sure if I like it or if it holds whatever a creative "name" should for a practitioner, therefore this is still in the works. The indecisiveness and uncertainty as to where my practice is best directed or how it is moving forward has also stopped me from going ahead with a website. This and the fact that I want my website to showcase my portfolio at its best and I am not feeling my work is at this stage just yet.

I may not feel ready for a website but I enjoy posting my work-in-progress and current pieces to visual blogs such as instagram. Keeping this up over the summer and into this first semester of 3rd year is slowly helping me to gain more confidence in showing my work and getting myself out there - which I have been really struggling with throughout my time at uni.

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 

What I need to do in order to feel ready to go live with my own website:

• Choose the best pieces of work I have created so far 
  - Filter out pieces in my ever growing portfolio that I no longer feel best represent me, my 
     practice and what I am interested in progressing further with in my career as a creative
  - Try and stick to more recent pieces as these are more likely to best showcase my 
     current skills 
• Photograph the pieces I have chosen
  - High quality photographs of my work in good even lighting are needed to help 
    professionalise my portfolio and best show what it is I am trying to promote - my 
    creativity
• Decide on a website layout with elements I feel are most important for promoting my work
• Decide and commit to a name - (or continue with "Jooos" until one better comes along?)
• Create a new brand aesthetic & logo
  - The branding I came up with towards the end of Level 5 is ok but I don't feel it best 
    represents the conceptual, playful, innovative and versatile aspects of my practice. The
    aesthetics are too floral and feminine/delicate almost so I would like to create brand 
    visuals which appear more fresh, unique, bold, interesting and simple so that it can be 
    easily transferable across promotional products (such as business cards, letter heads, 
    other online outlets and social media)
 • Have other online creative presence areas ready and complete so as to be linked to 
   directly via my website (behance, tumblr, professional facebook page)
 • Have a shop up and running ready to be linked to via the website (big cartel, etsy, etc) so 
   that people directed to my site have a quick and easy way of finding my work for sale.

Completing the above will help me to feel a lot more prepared to start up my own website therefore over the next few weeks I plan on completing these as soon as possible. Not having a website is proving a lot more frustrating and stunting than I anticipated this year as I know I will feel so much more confident contacting other practitioners or agents or anyone interested in my work, if i can point them in the direction of my website which can do all the persuading for me. I need to let my work speak for itself and social media alone isn't enough.

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 

Website Key Tips
• Be yourself
• Let people know you are available
• Show your personality
• Be concise
• Keep it fresh
• Show off
• Show your pedigree
• Show your recommendations
• Show live examples (be careful of clients wishes)
• Get your creative message out there

• A website is like a living cv - a vehicle for demonstrating your professional talent, projects
  and skills.
• A website acts as a professional online shop "window" / market place. To add a personal 
  side - include a blog-diary extension / link.

Website generators and templates
• www.wix.com
• www.indexhibit.org
• www.cargocollective.com
• www.squarespace.com
• www.berta.me
• www.tumblr.com

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 

With this in mind I have been thinking about what kind of website I want to have once I am ready...

Do I need a website?
YES! A website will provide me with a strong platform to best represent myself as a practitioner, gain interest, sell pieces and promote my work for future agents and clients.

What do I want to include on my website? - Headings
• An area which clearly and simply showcases my creative work, projects and professional 
  portfolio
- This should be the default page/tab/heading for when people are first directed to my site 
  and the first thing they see
• An "about me" // "bio" section to give an insight into me and my profession / history
• A diary / "blog" section to help provide a personal insight into my daily life as a creative
• A "news" section - to inform visitors to the site of any new up and coming projects, things
  to watch out for, events, exhibitions, new product range on sale, media coverage, etc
• A link to my online shop
• Contact icons and links to other creative presence online pages / sites (email, Facebook, 
  tumblr, instagram, Linkedin, etc) - not to appear as "tabs" but as simple icons just below 
  my name / header on the main title page

Tone of voice
• Fun, playful and colourful
• Clear, simple, usable interface
• True to my personality and my creative nature
• Energetic - I want the experience of visiting my website to be one that is memorable - this
  could be achieved through interactive elements ,moving image, gifs, videos, sliding 
  visuals and possibly sound (a new track each week?)
• Professional - in areas such as my biography and the way I list details about my portfolio 
  pieces on show etc.
• Up to date - the content needs to be kept up to date regularly so as to keep the people 
  visiting it, coming back for more

Examples of practitioners websites:
Mark Conlan

http://markconlan.com

Peepshow Collective

http://www.peepshow.org.uk/

What works, what I like and why?
• Peepshows website opens with a clean spread of work examples which helps to give a
  visitor to the site an obvious overview of the type of work this collective produces
• The sizing of the thumbnails mean a lot of content and examples of work can fit on the
  page at one time, but there is enough visual information that each piece is clear
• A nice touch is that when you hover over a thumbnail before clicking it as a link to larger 
  version of the piece, information and the piece title appears frosted over the 
  thumbnail itself. Information is revealed when you want it to be which is helpful and stops 
  unnecessary info clogging up this main portfolio page
• A simple logo appears at the top of the page in the left hand corner no matter what page 
  you are on - which keeps the aesthetic of this site consistent and provides a "home 
  page" link for visitors to re-navigate too when visiting different areas of the site
• Contact link "icons" appear at the bottom of each page, frosted out so at so not take 
  away from the page content too much. This is how I envisage including my contact 
  details on my own website.
• 5 Simple headings make the content of the website clear and concise
• This website includes a tab/heading for a sign up "mailing list". This could be something 
  to consider in the future, when / if (*hopefully*) I become a successful practitioner and I 
  aim to send out info, news letters and mailouts to prospective clients and fans of my work
  who have signed up via my site

Mr Gauky
https://www.mrgauky.com/

What works, what I like and why:
• The colour scheme of the whole site reflects the practitioners aesthetic in their work 
  which is a cleaver thing to consider when thinking about how I want my website to look
• Again a similar feature to the peepshow website - when hovering over a thumbnail, 
  information about the piece comes into view but in this example the information turns a
  neon green which helps it stand out
• I like how drop-down menus are neatly included on the left hand side of each page for 
  clear and easy access to all areas of the site.
• The artists logo remains in the top left hand corner of the site no matter where you 
  navigate to which helps keep a constant feel to the aesthetic and reminder of who's work
  you are looking at
• The tiled aesthetic of the portfolio page is another thing to consider in my own site. This 
  doesn't necessarily reflect the "simple & uncluttered" look I am going for, however these 
  tiles add interest to the page and a large overview of this practitioners work can be seen 
  at any one time which is helpful and intriguing.

Loish
http://loish.net/

What works, what I like and why:
• This website is great and so clean. It opens with just the left hand side navigation bar overlaid on top of 1 piece of her work - which is simple and inviting for visitors to the site. Not too much information given off on the home page can stop someone being bombarded with too much information and intrigued to find out more by clicking on the menus.
• Directly underneath this artists name in the top left hand corner is all her contact icon links. I think this is a cleaver place to keep these links so that a visitor can find them at all times.
• Again this artists keeps the navigation menu pane on the left hand side as drop down menus. This is helpful because you can see where you are in the site and where else you can visit.
• I am not a fan of the inconsistent font once the drop down menu has been revealed, such as the font used for the various works uploaded to the portfolio part of the site. If I was to use a similar format & layout for my website - I think what would be more successful would be the links within the drop down menus featured with the same font throughout - just in a different font / highlight colour to distinguish the link from others.
• The main part of this website that I love and I think really works well with this artists practice is the portfolio sections. Once a work has been clicked on - the work loads as a scrollable set of pieces including original roughs and digital sketches before the final complete piece. I think this is great and really shows an artists potential as a problem solver and their workings, as well as the piece available for purchase through her shop. This is a nice interactive and different touch to feature on a site - would this be something relevant for my own?

Start Up Wednesday: Building A Blog

Below are notes from from a recent Start Up Wednesday Session Re. Building a Blog.

Sarah Bates
Sarah Bates Design

good sites

smart blogger.com
link: 
half a page of a really good image
makes you scroll down
image is engaging and we want to see more of whats going on in blog
type isn't huge text together - nicely spaced out. Called "chunking" - white space around text makes us think its easy and less time consuming to read.
Easy font to read
headings separate information - helps us scan the information and specify what part we want to read
links embedded in text where relevant
plan content, how your going to say it and how you are going to set your blog out

Note: "download The Rebels Manifesto" what is this?

news.microsoft.com
link:
lots of images - mini stories and might make you want to click to find out more. using visual information instead of text
in my blog i may use image instead of wanting to tell everything to someone straight away.

Tate.com
Link:
consider excerpts / snippets of information attached to an image clickable tile.

Yorkshire sculpture Park
link:
no blog just instagram account
this instagram site is different to website
when linking social media to blog or website - think about if it appropriate
differentiate between social and business platforms and what information is where and who it is aimed at / who can access / see it
Language and content needs to be appropriate

bad sites

Moma.org
Link:
looks messy
things don't look altogether
images aren't uniformed


look at sites now - what i like // don't like and utilise in my own blog
use high quality imagery
crop, levels, tidy aesthetic
think about how i'm presenting my work 
key things in home page that makes visitors want to search further / find out more
links to social media - if professional

Use wordpress! - work hard for security and has good links / transfers to websites well

domain: my name
host: i.e wordpress
host will put .xxxx into my domain / link name. 
paid domain names don't have this
plug in and widgets: extra bits added to the site: pages, search bar, links etc

Task: Make a blog

Name: esscaart
my domain name: esscaart.wordpress.com

(chose to use same name "essca" as my current instagram and creative professional name)

something to remember about domain names:



> "My Site" > themes "customise"
begin to configure the look
themes can be changed afterwards

-------

search engine optimisation
use key words
business pay to get on that first page
choose 6-8 key words and try and use a few of these in every post i make. google will then be more likely to direct people looking for me to my site

use key words on everything and everywhere - tag them everywhere. social media, websites, blogs, on work / at events....use hashtags / hashtags for new projects!

back - links: if a post doesn't make it onto my blog - post the content elsewhere and draw people into my blog


use max - 500 words a post. one or twice a week?