leahwatkinsonunit16-blog

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Evaluation

For this assignment, the brief required me to design and create a logo for my professional Facebook,Instagram and Behance accounts in which if we didn’t already have we had to then sign up for these accounts in order to promote ourselves as well. Learning how to promote our photographic work and create an online presence was the purpose. 

The process of this assignment involved firstly learning about social media and the tools that you can use to advertise and promote a business, specifically our photography. Then we moved on to make our portfolio’s for our Behance account that we made in class, this portfolio was created in class so that we could give each other feedback and also receive feedback from our tutors. The portfolio in the end had to consist of 25- 30 images which eventually if needed for University would have to be broken down again to around 20. After we had finished this we uploaded it to our Behance profiles and I shared this project onto my professional photography page on Facebook to promote it.

Lastly, I had to brainstorm ideas for a logo which involved drawing up rough sketches and designs and eventually once this was also finalised I went onto Adobe Illustrator to create the final logo. This was then exported to enable me to use it on my professional pages, for me I set this as the profile picture of my Facebook, Instagram and Behance profiles. Altogether this allows people to see what I do straight away. I also in my own time created a professional banner for my Facebook page as this is also a key factor of drawing an audience in. 

Behance profile link - 

https://www.behance.net/leahjwatki14df

On my Behance profile I have so dar uploaded 3 projects which consist of my portfolio and 2 other photoshoots. 

The first project that is on my profile is my portfolio which includes the photographs that I have yet to finalise to use for my University interviews if selected. The photographs I have put in are my best pieces of work as of 2017, these could yet be updated this year as I consistently like to challenge myself and push my photographic abilities.

Next is a Pointe Ballet shoot that I did with a friend in 2017, it contains photographs of a dancer at Rufford Abbey in different costumes and locations within the area. This is an example of what I photograph outside of college and I have included it to show that I also conduct my own independent work in my own time. This was a new style of photography for me as well as I hadn’t photographed a dancer before and I was very happy with the results for my first attempt.

Finally is a project containing photographs that I produced for a client of her 4 Daschund Dogs. This is also personal work outside of college that I decided to include as this was my first photoshoot working with dogs and again was a new experience for me, it also expresses different skills I now have as a photographer. 

When promoting my work I used the sites Facebook, Instagram and Behance. i used these accounts as we learnt that Facebook and instagram are the strongest advertising platforms and I used Behance because it is good for finding collaborations with other people and good for placing your portfolio on. Above is  a photograph of my final logo design which I have also used on these accounts.  I wanted a simple design for my logo but also wanted something relevant to me in the design so I added the colour purple which is my favourite colour. 

To ensure that my social media was optimised for my promotional campaign, I made sure to include my logo, banner and I also created a boosted post which I paid for that has allowed more people to view my work compared to how many organic viewers I would usually get.  I also tried to post as much as I could, however I had a lack of photographs which was a mistake on my behalf. 

Above I have included screenshots from the insights section of my professional Facebook page. This is from the 8th December to the 4th of January. The demographics show that I have gained 3 more likes, 1 page preview,38 page views, 1,791 post reach, 223 post engagements and 3 page follows. 

For this assignment I also boosted one of my posts on my Facebook and Instagram accounts to help the demographics more and to promote myself altogether, I have included a screenshot of how well the boosted post is doing at the moment (5th January) I set this boost up for 7 days and it will end on Monday 8th January. (This is the photograph of the puppy)

Overall, I learnt from this that paying to promote yourself can really help to get more people to see what you do and ask for work. I also learnt that I need to post more regularly to gain more feedback and engagement.

The screenshot of the boosted post (photo of the puppy) also contains an example of the comments I get on my work, I don’t always get a lot of comments compared to likes. The comments as you can see consist of people telling me that they like the work that I have posted and these 2 people in fact are regular visitors of my page. 

Overall, I’d say that my promotional campaign has been successful as I have gained more likes and overall there was a massive increase in the demographics of my posts.This was difficult for me as I already had my page set up before this assignment so it was a challenge to get people to interact more which is why I decided to put some funds into advertising to see if that would help. To improve my accounts and the results I get, I do need to post more regularly and learn to take photos every day so that I can post new content for people to interact with. 

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This is a link to my Professional Photography Facebook Page 

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My Own Behance Profile

I have chosen the profile picture because it is my logo and is relevant to what will be shown on my profile. In the about me section I have included where I study, where I am based and what i like to photograph as well as the fact that I will try anything with my photography. This is relevant as it informs people where I am based, that I am studying and what I cover professionally.  In my focuses I have put photography, editing and digital photography. The reason that I chose to put these is to show my skills. On the web links I have included my Facebook photography page and my Instagram photography account, I put these in because they are the platforms that I use to advertise my work.

On my portfolio project, I have included a range of photographs that show of my skills as a photographer but I also think that they express what I like to produce and my style overall.

I haven’t included much description as the portfolio and title I think are self explanatory. This could also be considered as too little information as people may want to know about each photograph individually. The images differ from being in a book as in a book there is more description and there is usually one consistent theme.

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This is a link to the Behance profile I have created. 

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Logo Development

This is the process of my logo development consisting of different colours and typefaces. The one that ended up selecting was the middle tone purple towards the right hand side. I chose this because it was the most legible and overall the one that I liked the most.

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Behance Research Task - Sergey Prokopchuk

Next is an artist called Sergey Prokopchuk involved in the work of the previous researched artist Looma Creative. The profile picture is of what looks like a self portrait. It’s not relevant to the work as in his focuses he has put : Art Direction,Advertising and Illustration. This artist actually also runs Looma Creative which could be his business profile on Behance used for clients. 

In the ‘about me’ section he has included skills that he has and that he is working worldwide, this time he has used a different contact email address. This suggests that he produces work for his business but also does separate commissions for his own benefit. 

On the web he has included Facebook but not a LinkedIn profile. Again this states that he uses that purely to gain work for his business as this appears to be his main focus. 

The artist has included the same projects he has posted on Looma Creative’s Behance profile. 

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Social Media Optimization

Social media optimization is getting the most out of social media professionally.

The ten rules of social media optimization are :

Link your accounts- this is important to do because it saves you time posting as you don’t have to post on all your accounts separately.

Use hashtags to stay on trend- this is important as it gets people to look at your work and it means you stay on trend and make relevant content

Schedule your posts- You need to find the best time to post to reach your target audience and if you are busy you can choose this option.

Drip feed your content- Don’t post all of your photographs all at once as you will run out of content to share and this also keeps people interested.

Be active and responsive- Use the platforms you have created, comment, like and share other work..Respond to messages quickly and if you are busy set up an automated response to let your clients know you will get back to them as soon as possible.

Include a call to action- trying to get people to respond to your posts, ask them to share, do giveaways,polls, ask people to post their favourite pictures.

Share the love- Follow people,photographers and clients.

Brand Consistency- Logo (needs to be consistent and easily recognizable) profile pictures need to be set as your logo and the banner has to be good as this is where people judge your work.You also need to ensure you use a easy and legible typeface.

Know your audience- you need to know who you are trying to reach 

Target your audience- use insights to see who and what gender are reacting to your work.

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Behance Research Task- Looma Creative

This artist is again part of a group that I am researching on Behance. The name of this artist is Loome Creative. Their profile picture consists of an illustration of the name of the company, this is relevant to their brand identity as it could be the artists logo when producing work. 

The information that artist shares in the ‘about me section’ states what the artist does and an email in which to contact if you have inquiries into the work.Again this is relevant as it says what the artist can do and leaves contact information for potential clients. 

In the focus part the artist has included Art Direction, Advertising and Illustration. The artist is including more than one focus because the majority of the work expresses the skills listed and it also can be more appealing to potential clients as they will be able to view the quality of work and different types produced.

For other web links the artist has included Facebook and LinkedIn. I think the artist has done this to help promote and advertise the work they produce as well as try to gain clients, Facebook is a strong advertising platform for creative work and is a popular and growing social media site. LinkedIn is a site used for trying to get a job/work or is used for advertising a job you want to offer. Overall, I think that the artist has used this site to look for potential work or let people know where they can contact him elsewhere.

A project I chose to view has the title ‘KLO:Dogs’. This is a short title, it can be eye catching to dog lovers/animal lovers as you want to know what it is about. It is relevant to the images as it is about a petrol company advertising an offer during the year of the dog and so the artist has chosen to represent the fuel companies customers as dogs to gain interest from the public. This is also a creative and unique way of advertising fuel and intrigues the viewer. 

Altogether, there are 10 photographs and 1 video used to advertise this project. The images show sketches and the project advertised on different types of technology such as computers and screens in public. 

Alongside these images the description at the top is a brief talk about the purpose of the project and what it is for. The rest of the description throughout the project involves titles/names of the pictures that describe briefly what they are.It is relevant as it explains what everything shown is. I think that the artist has provided this amount of information as the images and video explain the majority of the project.

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Behance Research Task - Juliette Coulloudon

This artist is in collaboration with the previously researched artist Morgan Robialle.

The profile picture of Juliette’s profile is a picture of herself. It isn’t relevant to the work as her focuses are Art Direction, Web Design and UI/UX. I think that she has included more than one again to show off her skills and make herself more appealing to clients. 

The ‘about me’ area states that she is a digital art director based in Paris and has a contact email for freelance work. It is relevant as it states what she does and how you can contact her for work of her style. 

For the other social media links the artist has included: Dribble,LinkedIn,Instagram, Facebook,Twitter and Pinterest. Each can be used to show off her work in different ways and show where she gains inspiration from for her creative works. 

In the projects section I chose a title called ‘Michael Kors-Website- Redesign Concept’. It is a long title but again is relevant as it mentions the business name and the purpose of the project.It can be considered more eye catching because of the brand name being popular in itself.

Overall, there are 7 photographs within this project which show off the website that has been designed to show off Michael Kors products.  There is also no description included in the project which is alike her partner Morgan Robialle. 

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Behance Research Task - Morgan Robialle

Morgan Robialle’s profile picture is of a drawing which she could have possibly designed. It is relevant because her work is based on 3 focus points being Web Design, Graphic Design and Art Direction. So her work involves making sketches to develop ideas for projects. In the about me section of the profile, the artist has stated who they are, their location and an email address in which to use if you want to collaborate for work. This is a short about me section and is relevant to the work as it states what she does. The website the artist has linked is linkedIn which could be purely for gaining work and clients as this is a site used for that kind of purpose.

The project that I chose to talk about has the title ‘MySuelly Web Design- eCommerce’ which is a long title. However it is relevant as it states the name of the company in which the artist is designing a website for. It’s not very eye-catching compared to the photographs used. 

The number of photographs that the artist has included is 9, each photograph shows a different aspect of the website that has been designed. 

There is no description for this project which could be because the artist feels that the project is self explanatory. 

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Behance Research Task - Kevin Irwin

The profile picture that this artist uses is a picture of themselves from the look of it. It can be considered relevant to the photographic as it could be a self portrait that they took and he his a photographer.

For the bio section the artist has stated where they are based and what they believe about design. He has also put that he loves to collaborate with other people to produce work. This is relevant to the photographic practice with the collaboration side. 

Here the photographer has included 3 focus points which are Graphic Design,Photography and Motion graphics. Having more than one focus can get you more client work and in this artists case more collaboration work as well as having more than one skill to create with. 

The websites and social media links that the artist has included are Instagram and LinkedIn. On the instagram profile the artist has included mostly photographical work whereas on Behance there is a mix of all of his focuses. I think this is because Instagram is a better place to share photographical work and its easier to stick to one theme of posts.

From the projects I chose one called ‘HAPNING’ which is about an app that the artist is showing off throughout the project. It is relevant to the project because it is the name of the app.It’s not a very eye catching name. Altogether there are 11 photographs used to show both the development of the app and the app on different examples of technology such as phones. The photographs in themselves also describe the way that the app works/what it does. Throughout the project there is description which talks about how the app works and what it does/ whats good about it and how the artist created it. The description for this project is quite long compared to other previously researched Behance profiles. 

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Behance Research Task - Nicole LaFave

Nicole LaFave is the second Behance profile that I have researched.

Her profile picture consists of a portrait of herself. This isn’t particularly relevant to her work as she creates graphic design pieces. In the about me section, the artist includes information about the business she is involved in, when it started and what they do. It also states where there work is based across and what they as a company aim to produce for clients. This is relevant to the work but mainly about the business the artist is involved in and what they do.

The artist has 3 focuses within the focus section that involve Graphic Design, Packaging and Branding.I think that the artist has included more than one focus because all 3 are involved in what the business produces overall. 

In the ‘On the Web’ area of the profile, the artist has included : Instagram, Twitter,Pinterest,Facebook,Etsy,LinkedIn and Dribble. The artist may have included these social media profiles to link to the actual business accounts, to create a profile in which people can interact with the artist and for example on the Pinterest account the boards can show where the artist gets her inspiration from. 

From the profile, I chose a project called ‘Pantry House Original’ which is quite a short title however it is straight to the point as to what the work is about/for. It’s quite eye catching however I feel as if not many people would know the company at first glance and have to make assumptions from the title. 

In total there are 13 images for this project, some being the actual work for the project and other being advertisements of the work and the logo of the company. There are also what appears to be business cards included which in itself is another way of advertising. 

The description for this project is fairly short and contains information about the company, where they are based and what they produce. It also mentions how the company collaborates with  the company ‘DesignWomb’ who’s profile on Behance I previously researched.DesignWomb helped this company with the design of the logo, package design and eCommerce as well as other design help. The description is relevant to the artists work and project as it talks about the company. I feel like 

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Behance Research Task - Kyle Lambert Profile

The profile picture for Kyle Lambert’s profile is of 4 pieces of the work he has produced combined into one image with his name in the middle of the picture.This is relevant to Kyle’s brand identity as he produces a lot of this style work being illustration and digital art. From this you can instantly see what he produces and the style of his work. 

In the ‘About Me’ section, Kyle has included information about what he does and where he began to produce his work and the companies he has produced digital art for over the past 10 years. This is also relevant to the brand identity as it shows what he originally trained as and what it has lead him to do now, working for popular companies. 

This artist has included 3 focuses on his profile which consist of Illustration, Digital art and painting. I think that he has included more than one focus to show off the different skills he has and to inform people that may want to hire him that he can produce pieces of art in more than one way throughout his different focuses. He has also included these focuses as they are represented throughout the work he posts on his Behance profile. 

On his profile he has included multiple links to his other professional social media accounts which are : LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Google, YouTube, Pinterest and Flickr. I think that he has included these pages because he can further express his work in different ways, for instance on his YouTube channel he shows videos of him creating his work. 

Looking at the artists profile, I went to the ‘Projects’ section in which different pieces of work can be found and chose a title called ‘Stranger Things- Official Season 2 poster’.The title here isn’t too long and is relevant to the images as it states what the poster is telling people/what it means and overall is very eye catching. Altogether Kyle has uploaded 10 images, one of these being the bigger version of the final poster. The artist has included the development of the final poster from the drawing to them adding in the digital art effects and text. He has also added in photographs of places where his work is being advertised which emphasizes his success and the quality of his work.  

In the description of this project the artists has included information about who commissioned him to produce the work and when, also he talks about how he created the piece and the tools he used for it. Another aspect in the description that Kyle included was the amount of billboards the piece has been put onto and its overall popularity. Overall he hasn’t created a massive description, but it is to the point and simple. I think that this artist prefers to show his descriptions throughout his work rather than through words. 

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Humans of New York Case Study

Brandon Stanton’s aim was to take 10,000 photographs in 6 months within New York and all he took with him was 2 suitcases.

The brand identity of Humans of New York is capturing different people everyday.

Brandon Stanton’s unique selling point is that he spends time with the people he photographs to learn something about their story before he photographs them. For a street photographer, this is not very common due to the personal connection he has with his subjects.  For example he will ask his subjects a personal question to go along with the photograph. 

The narrative that Facebook promotes for Humans of New York is that Facebook is the best for advertising and sharing your work as it helps you to be seen and become popular. They want you to believe that the project grew because of the services they have. 

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Guerrilla Marketing

Guerrilla marketing is a way of advertising in creative ways on a low /limited budget. This is ultimately a DIY way of promoting yourself.

·         What ideas did you come up with for promoting a photography exhibition with a budget of £10k? Evaluate your ideas as you go along – how good do you think they are and why?

Bus advertisements- expensive and not really a thing that would be used to promote and ehxhibition

Create a hashtag- hashtags are popular in the social media world 

Create an online colour in version of the photos being shown in the gallery for children to do - gets interest from families looking for days out.

 ·         What ideas did you come up with for promoting a photography exhibition with a budget of £100? Evaluate your ideas as you go along – how good do you think they are and why?

The ideas that we came up with include :

Instagram advertisements- Instagram adverts are good for advertising, however people tend to not always look at these

Facebook advertisements- Facebook is a strong platform for advertising and promoting work

Posters around the local area - Everyone will see these when walking around so this would benefit the exhibition and also because it is local people will know the area

Charity - Donating the cause to charity will gain more interest 

Reverse Graffiti - a creative and eye catching way of gaining interest

Magazines with examples of the work inside and short description.- dependent on the target audience this will be good to talk about the work that is being shown

QR codes 

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Logo Research

A good logo consists of a simple design and a minimal amount of text.Some have colour, however most of them are usually black and white. 

A good photography logo usually has some sort of photography related symbol/picture or something related to the business name along with the business name or initials of the business. For this you want to relate what you put into the logo to your business, for instance if you do wedding photography you could put a top hat and veil in the logo but it is important not to put too much into the logo to keep it simple and professional. 

Above I have included 5 examples of photography logos that I found online. 

Sweet Rose Photography-

This logo is unique because of the use of colour within the design, however this compliments the name of the rose. It uses a customized typeface for the name and then a more simple typeface for the photography part.  This looks more professional as if the last part had the same font I think it would look unprofessional and childish. I personally do not like the use of the colour with this logo but this is only because I think that logos of this style look more professional in black and white. 

Le Photography-

The next logo I feel is better than the first because of the simplistic design and the use of shape. Here, initials have been used instead of a prolonged name spelt out which can make this easier to remember and overall looks a lot better.

Black Sheep Photography-

With this logo it hasn’t been made clear what the purpose of the sheep in the logo is for other than the name. However with this it makes you question what the business photographs because of the name ‘Black Sheep Photography’. However I like the use of the camera lens in the sheep. This logo has also included the use of colour at the bottom which you don’t really notice properly at first. 

Perfect Day Wedding Photography- 

I included this logo as an example because of the inclusion of the bride and groom design which again matches the purpose of the business.I like the simplistic use of shapes around this design and how the font colour matches in with the background colour. 

Jennie Photography- 

Whats good about this logo is the use of the camera icon and the way that the typeface is laid out amongst the icon.What I don’t like is the use of the initial in the cameras lens as this just isn’t really relevant due to the photographers name already being shown on the logo. 

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Social Media Platform Further Research

Facebook

Facebook is one of the most popular social media platforms in the industry.It is used for posting photos, playing games and interacting with other uses through chats or posts. For Photographers there is an aspect of Facebook that is very useful, this is the Create Page section. You can create a Facebook page for your photography business and here you can post photos, albums, view how many people like your posts and where they are from in the world. You can also see what gender is viewing your work more and the age group. There is also an advertisement option in which you have to pay for that can help to promote your work. This can also be a disadvantage to those who cannot afford to pay for advertisements as they may struggle to reach large audiences. Another disadvantage is that when you upload work the quality is very poor and there is a lot of competition from other photographers on Facebook as it is very popular for multiple types of businesses such as photography. Facebook has 2.07 billion active users and is growing immensely.  For a photographer to get the most out of this platform I would recommend using the advertisements to gain more viewers and clients. 

Behance

Behance is a platform used for uploading portfolios of work, many different types of people use this platform and it is very useful for photographers. The useful aspect for photographers is that with Behance you can upload your work direct from any Adobe editing software which is efficient and easy to do. It is used mainly for networking, collaborating and inspirational purposes. Behance has over 1.5 million users. For a photographer this platform is very useful as it can help find work. 

Instagram

Instagram is a social media platform designed for posting photographs and videos.With Instagram you can create a business account as well as a personal account.It has an ‘insights’ option where you can view how your account is doing, when is best to post for your target audience . You can also use hashtags to gain likes/followers and see the latest trends. Another aspect is you can pay for advertisements to reach more people, however another disadvantage is that when posting Instagram has a cropped format so you might not be able to post all of the image. Instagram has 800 million monthly users and again is a growing platform within the social media world.