Week 10: Shop
Your personal research tasks are for deeper critical reflection and demonstration of your thinking and working processes.
These are the research tasks for this week, please share your findings on the ideas wall and on your blog:
Research examples of designers as authors and makers.
Research how designers as makers publicise their activities and the most effective platforms that they use to share their work.
Week 10 - My own research
The ideas wall was incredibly busy this week with great examples from students and tutors to help with our research. These are the examples that caught my eye…
Sarah Boris
Creative Boom - Sarah Boris's Rainbow book - a playful ode to colour and shape
London-based artist and MA course regular contributor, Sarah Borris always has great examples of colourful work and these examples of her Rainbow books are no exception. Rainbow 1 features bright colours as they appear in nature. Rainbow 2, on the other hand, contains neon hues and pastel colours. These books’ origins came about in lockdown 2020 from paper samples lying about in her studio.
"The rainbow theme was recurrent in my work at the time. The rainbow was everywhere in the UK during the lockdown too. It became a symbol of hope and was pasted on people's windows, drawn in chalk on sidewalks and included on Thank You signage for the NHS staff.”
She ran a limited printed run with GF Smith papers before settling for a vibrant range of Japanese papers by Takeo.
Rainbow books by Sarah Boris, photo by Alexandre Chaize
A Life in Letterpress by Alan Kitching
Alan Kitching
A Life in Letterpress
Alan Kitching is one of the world’s foremost practitioners of letterpress typographic design and printmaking. He is renowned for his expressive use of wood and metal letterforms in creating visuals for commissions and limited-edition prints. He lives and works at The Typography Workshop in Kennington, south London and has a distinctive style from his mix of inks and fons.
How graphic designers as makers publicise their activities and the most effective platforms that they use to share their work
I looked into various ways designers can get their message across, not just locally but globally.
Networking locally: Attend local design events, meetups, and conferences to network with fellow designers and potential clients. Building connections in your local community and nearest city can lead to valuable referrals to like minded creatives and collaborations.
Portfolio website: The easiest way for a global reach is to have a professional and visually appealing portfolio website showcasing their work. If it is showing off their latest project is always good to have professional photography of it. If you can’t afford professional photography, the iphone does some great portrait shots!
Social Media Marketing: Choose from the most popular platforms like Instagram, Facebook, Twitter or X, and LinkedIn to share your work and engage with your audience. Instagram, in particular, is widely used by designers to showcase visual content and research your hashtags beforehand especially if its linked to an event.
Behance is a leading platform for creatives to showcase their work as it has a large global audience of potential clients and peers.
Specialist design blogs and magazines: Submit your work to reputable design blogs and online magazines. Getting featured on well-known platforms can give you valuable exposure and credibility. Examples such as Design Week, Creative Review, It’s nice that.
Guest speaking and workshops: Offer to speak at design-related events or host workshops to share your expertise. This positions you as an authority in your field and helps you connect with an audience interested in design. (But is totally out of my comfort zone).
Email Marketing: This can be collected from a sign-up on your website (Thanks to strict GDPR rules). Collect email addresses from interested parties, clients, and website visitors. Use email marketing to send out newsletters, updates, and exclusive offers. A powerful tool for staying in touch with your audience of reminding your crowd of work for sale on your webiste.
Local Business Partnerships: Collaborate with local businesses and organisations to provide design services for their marketing materials or events. This can lead to word-of-mouth referrals and exposure within your community.
References:
Rock, M.(1996) ‘The designer as author’ [online], Eye Magazine, Spring.
Available at: http://www.eyemagazine.com/feature/article/the-designer-as-authorLinks to an external site.. [Accessed 02 August 2023]