PPP Session Notes

Creative presence and online presence. 
Tumblr, dribbble, etc... Put links to online connections on all online profiles. 

Great Art Deserves A Great Audience 

Self promotion is the key to successful freelancing. Online platforms are usually the first place people will see your work. 
Don't leave building a website until the end of the year. 
Your website is your shop window. 

Be yourself, make it clear that you're available, personality, be concise, be fresh, show off, etc. 
Why am I doing what I am doing and where have I come from?

People have a short attention span, the website landing page needs to maintain their attention. 
Always be thinking 'what else can I do?'
Blog - keeps the website up to date. 
Tell people about briefs I have worked on, who I have worked for, etc. 
Get recommended. 

Start with a free website. 
Maybe buy a domain name. 

Virgin Media Communication Box Success

Hooray my work got picked for something! 

As part of my extended practice module I completed a proposal for decorating a Virgin Media communication box in Headingley and I have received an email saying they want me to paint my design for real which is exciting! 

My submitted presentation board.

Beginning of email received

Although the process of designing this was for extended practice, I feel like it is most appropriate to blog about this for PPP from this point onwards as it is going to be more about my communication with people, logistics of getting this completed and getting my work out there.

Working as a Professional Notes

By now I am starting to see the areas of illustration I want to be a part of and I am making decisions about how I want to work. Most illustrators end up working as a freelancer and this is the route I intent to go down too. 

Working for yourself - keep it simple.

• What do I need?
• Record everything including spending and contact. 
• Plan and manage. 
• Copyright everything I do. 
• Don't take any crap from anybody. 

Clients - external sources of work, networking, linked, think closer to home too like family and friends. 

Where to work from? Choose a base or whether you even need one dependent on your practice. 

Connectivity - it is possible to use your home address but you might want a separate business address. Will you have a landline contact number or just a mobile. How can people contact you via the internet?

Recording - someone is bound to cause you problems so you will always need a record to refer back to. 

Never start anything until you have an agreement to go ahead with something!

Give an estimate rather than a quote. Consider your outcosts, travel time, working time and how much everything costs. Always keep the receipts!

Ask for an upfront payment or a deposit (30% - 50%) with the final payment on completion of project. 

Laying down your terms:

What was required or agreed. 

My intended plan. 

Total estimated costs. 

When the project will end. 

How will I be paid and when.

Extras will be agreed before I undertake them. 

Copyright terms.

Use a friendly tone in this email and make sure they agree. The email will be date and time stamped. 

PLAN - try to plan projects and allow room for emergencies or unexpected things cropping up. 

Everything is yours until you get paid! This must be made clear in agreement email that copyright will be assigned or licensed when payment is complete. 

Ask for a purchase order number from larger companies. 

Linkedin Task

These are the groups I have been approved onto so far but I am waiting for approval for at least another five groups relevant to me. 

This is the link to the post I wrote for my Linkedin profile:

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/authenticity-medium-morals-naomi-smith?trk=prof-post

AUTHENTICITY: MEDIUM OR MORALS?

Many would argue that imagery crafted by hand has a lot more personality, emotion and individuality embedded within it and the interference of technology and digital image making processes can often diminish the ‘human’ element of the creative process. There is something about analogue image making processes that feels more honest and genuine. Being able to recognise that another human being has put their time and effort into crafting something for a certain purpose creates a sense of trust towards the subject.

This concept is something that has definitely been latched on to in marketing and advertising for big name companies and it’s frustrating to think that these traditional creative processes are being used to con people to some extent into thinking that the connotations of their aesthetics has a relevance to the values and ethos of their brand. 

Just think, if the packaging for your fast food meal appears to have been crafted by hand, maybe a rustic design that has been imperfectly printed or stamped, maybe it has a matte texture to resemble a paper bag someone would put their lovingly made packed lunch inside, it would be fair to say that you would be far more likely to trust the contents than you would if it was presented to you in a clinical, glossy white box with a garish logo printed on it. It’s human nature. 

This analogy stemmed from an article I recently read by Silas Amos about authenticity and fast food pretenders. It’s an interesting read and offers a lot of thoughts on what design choices fast food chains are making in an effort to win the trust of the consumer through the aesthetics they present to them. He concludes by saying that within design, authenticity is most commonly used as a trick which I am sad to say I agree with. Not only is it sad because brands are betraying the trust of their audience (an occurrence that is all too common) but also because it sparks cynicism towards others. An issue then arises for creative practitioners who do offer 'genuine' products and put their soul into their creative process - what do we do to show that what we make is truly authentic?

In relation to my practice, my creative process always begins with a pen or pencil and I draw by hand before I go anywhere near a computer mouse or drawing tablet. I put all my thought and emotion towards the subject into the physical process of drawing and always try to ensure that the analogue processes I use in the development of my work are evident in the final outcome because to me, that’s what makes my imagery feel true to myself and my thoughts. I like to think of it in the same way as how speaking to someone face to face in contrast to sending a text where messages are filtered and there isn’t the same level of personal interaction for either party. However, the line between digital and analogue media is becoming increasingly undefinable and it is arguable that a handmade aesthetic is now reachable through digital image making processes. For these reasons, I am doubtful that authenticity can be solely pinned on the physical processes of how artwork is created. 

This leads me back to the idea of analogue media being used to show the ‘human’ element of the design process. The question is what really makes us human? It’s not what we physically use to communicate our thoughts and ideas with the rest of the world, but its where those thoughts and ideas stem from. It’s a personal thing, it’s who you are, how you conduct yourself, and its having your own concept of what is right and wrong. Personally, if I am putting my name to something, the purpose of it has to resonate with me and it must be something I believe in and trust. In contrast to the deceptive design for big name companies, I like to think that my intentions are for the good of others and not purely for the good of my bank balance. Maybe this is naïve of me to say at this early stage on my journey as an illustrator but my morals are integral to the work I produce and I think that strong personal and professional principles are what sets the truly authentic apart from the rest.

Start Up Wednesdays - Business, do you have what it takes?

Qualities and attributes of successful entrepreneus
Motivated, confident, or having the ability to appear confident, resilient, open minded, aware of surroundings and people, optimistic and positive.

When becoming a freelancer and combining my creative practice with business, ensure my work is not compromised. The quality of my work is still paramount and the driving force behind the business. 

Investment - start local but don't limit myself. Where would be the most appropriate for me to look for funding?

Look into NESTA, Welcome Trust and Social Finance. 

Critical behaviours for success:

• Values led - about me and how I like to be treated and how I treat other people. 
• Conceptual thinking - ability to have and play with an idea, be able to imagine and listen to new ideas. 
• Strategic thinking - planning, recognising external trends and opportunities, understand implications of actions. 
• Commercial aptitude - seek the best practice, seize opportunities not obvious to others. 
• Project management 
• Risk taking - hope for success, don't fear for failure. 
• Customer sensitivity - built long term relationships, exceed customer expectations. 
• Networking - start conversations, meet people and talk to them. 
• Leadership
• Innovation - be able to think of new ideas. 

In ten years time, where do I want to be?

I found this question hard because I do have goals for my life but I know that they will most likely change as life goes on. At the moment I am thinking that in ten years time I will be working as a freelancer in my own studio space. I will not have to work an unrelated part time job because I will be making enough money from what I enjoy doing to support myself. 

It is not uncommon to have to work part time to support a freelance career. Have a confident sense of what I want before freelancing full time and make sure I will be able to support myself. 

As a freelancer, working alone means you are selling you as well as your practice. It is a good idea to build your brand identity around your name to keep things personal and not give the false impression that you are a bigger organisation than you are. 

Finance -> Branding -> Customers

Trust your instincts, don't be afraid to ask questions, be confident and clear about what you want and need. 

Trusts and foundations are more likely to offer you funding if your intentions fit with their aims. 

Values that are relevant to me...

Honesty, open-mindedness, motivated, respectful, optimistic, hard working, positivity, helping society, reliability, joy.

Narrowed down to five values... Honesty, positivity, hard work, respect, motivated. 

Narrowed down to three values... Positivity, hard work, respect.

This task came easier to me than I thought it would which I suppose is a good thing because it means I have a good idea of what my values are and which ones are the most important to me. I feel like these three final values could be used to sum up my personality as well as my practice which is ideal really because I want my work to be a reflection of who I am. 

Creative industries are split into service providers, content providers, experience providers, original producer.

Where do I fit within this?

I think these categories are really broad and there are a lot of crossovers to the point that I think my current practice could fit within all of these categories to some extent. I suppose the strongest connection would be to content providers because I am making visual content to be applied onto things. However, I would also like to create original pieces of work and as soon as any of these products come into contact with a consumer, they will hopefully evoke some sort of emotive experience which I suppose makes me an experience provider too. I think it's impossible to categorise people's practices into one specific box. 

Risk - managing and assessing risk is all about knowledge. Inform yourself before making decisions.

Reflection

This is the first life after college session I have been to so I didn't really know what to expect but it has been really useful. A lot of the topics mentioned are apparently being covered in more depth in other sessions, some of which I did not get onto but am on the waiting list for. I now know where to find relevant resources on estudio though to find the content of other sessions which is helpful. I am definitely feeling more informed about what it is like to be a freelancer and have your own business and I still feel like this is the route I want to take with my practice. Since we have been selecting briefs for our extended practice module, it is becoming clearer to me that I want to make work in more of a self directed way rather than changing my work to fit commercial briefs written by others. 

My dad is self employed and it seems silly that I have never really spoken to him about what it entails because I didn't really appreciate that although what we both do is very different, the fundamentals of the business set-up will be similar. This session has made me realise that I could get a lot of useful information from him by talking to him about this and it also made me understand that I know more about the self-employed lifestyle than I thought I did because I have grown up living with it. 

Inspiring Students

I received an email from one of my high school art teachers to go back to my old school and talk to the current students about choosing a career in the creative industries. I'm starting to think now that maybe I am actually an adult...

I really think this is such a good idea and although I feel a bit apprehensive about talking in front of a group of teenagers I think it is actually really important that I do it. Through my school life, my art and design teachers were really encouraging and inspiring, however the school system in general was very much focussed on more academic career paths. The fact that I have received this email suggests that things might be changing, and I really hope they are! 

I feel like at the point where students are choosing their options for GCSEs and even A Levels, they are not fully informed about the potential job opportunities that would be available to them if they chose a creative route for their studies. I did choose the creative route because I knew it was what I wanted to do, although I must admit I wasn't too sure exactly what my job would be and my teachers still encouraged me to continue with my maths and science studies to the point where I was taking subjects at A level that I knew deep down I didn't want to pursue. So much more is done in schools to encourage students to concentrate on stem subjects like maths and sciences and I personally think it is wrong that every child seems to be pushed through the same production line that is our education system. Being creative is a real job and not just a hobby! 

I briefly spoke to John about this and he agreed that this would be a great thing to do. He also said about being the one to inspire someone else and this really resonated with me because I can't really imagine what that would feel like, I don't think its happened yet! Education is something I don't really want to get into as I have no desire to be a teacher. However, I do feel strongly about giving the arts the credit they should have within the education system so doing this talk/workshop will be the ideal way for me to do my bit for that. Who knows what might come out of it. 

Obviously I replied to the email saying yes and I am now trying to arrange a day around Christmas time for this to take place. 

Notes from PPP Session

NETWORKING

• Get in touch with people I find interesting. 
• Think about commonalities in creative process, industry and careers. 
• Email, twitter, Facebook, letter, telephone, snapchat, meet in person. 
• Look at creative blogs. 
• It's never too early to talk to professionals! 
• My opinions are as valid as anyone else's. 
• designnetworknorth, designrelated, design21sdn, coroflot, freelanceuk, aiga.org, cannycreative

LINKED IN

• Linked in is not like Facebook. 
• Avoid mentioning student status. 
• Join relevant groups. 
• Think carefully about sharing client lists, do I want other people to know these contacts?
• Don't always speak to illustrators, what other areas would be of interest to me?
• Write down my goals. 
• What areas to I want to be involved in. 

I stayed behind after the session to talk to John. I just wanted to ask a quick question about an illustrator I am going to contact. On her website she states that she gets a lot of emails from students asking for advice and she provides an email address as a contact point for this and she says that she won't have time to reply to everyone. I really don't want my work to get lost in the many many emails she must be getting all the time. John said that some rules are meant to be broken and it would be best to take another route to contact her which I totally agree with. I am going to take the time to write her a letter instead, although I need to trawl the internet first to find an address to send it to! 

PPP Task