#Creative practice

[femmefatalevibe]

any tips for getting into copywriting?

Learn the basics of copywriting & writing fundamentals/ marketing skills

Study the different types of copywriting (web/banners, email, social, ads, direct mail, sales letters, etc.)

Decide on your niche(s). Study everything you can about the industry, trends, latest news, customer demographics/psychographics, customer behavior, types of lifestyles/preferences they have, how they speak, where they spend the most time (IRL or digitally)

Craft an inspiration folder full of compelling copywriting examples you find when browsing on the web, going through your email, scrolling on social media, billboards, magazines, direct mail, etc.

Practice rewriting these examples with your own flair. Evaluate it, and keep practicing until you're proud of your copy.

Be as concise, clever, and convincing as possible. Keep your tone conversational (write like how you would speak), catchy, simple, and witty. Take out any extraneous or fluff words. Pepper in cultural references, puns, and relatable anecdotes understood by your target audience when relevant to your messaging/CTA

Create a portfolio with these mock-ups or projects done for family/friends (state they're spec work, not client-commissioned samples) or clips from an internship, school work, etc.

Craft a USP for yourself (including your niche, copywriting specialties, and the specific expertise you offer within your broader niche/service offerings that makes you unique)

Create an Upwork profile and share your services on LinkedIn (optimize both of these profiles)

Research local clients and small businesses within your niche. Also, take time to create a list of dream clients. Study their copy, brand voice, and keep tabs on updates regarding these companies' happenings

Learn the art of a cold email/LinkedIn pitch/Upwork proposal. Introduce yourself and your services to your prospect and share with them how you can fulfill a specific need they're seeking out (For local and smaller companies, feel free to offer suggestions. With more established companies, connect the dots as to why your experience/expertise is a great fit for their brand/target audience), and attach your work/link to your LinkedIn profile, website, and any other relevant hub for your professional services & content

Ask for referrals from friends/family to get started. If they're not a relative, get a testimonial to include in your portfolio

Follow up once if you haven't heard back from a prospective client after an initial pitch after a few days

Search for potential gigs on sites like Upwork/ProBlogger/People Per Hour

Once you land a gig, execute to the best of your ability and hand in your work by the deadline (strategies surrounding best business practices is a whole other post, lol)

Gather testimonials from all clients of successful projects. Confirm with clients whether you can use their work in your portfolio if you're unsure

Continue studying copywriting from books, courses, and everyday reading & living

Stay knowledgeable about advancements/updates in your field, keep updated on current events, and culture/social trends, and read a lot in general. Have interesting, multi-faceted conversations with others. Observe what makes people tick & remain engaged in a verbal dialogue or content

[spencersk]

Collage in progress.

[sailemo]

hey magia record fans any thoughts on this

[veronicapock]

Stories from the weave studio: early autumn

An update of happenings in my weaving studio. It's been a slow return to work after the summer break, but here are some of the pieces I've been working on along with some inspirations, and musing on the changing of the season.

[lucybellwood]

[nmjackson]

𝐎𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐦𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐲 𝐅𝐞𝐚𝐫 (•᷄- •᷅ ;) | "Failure is part of my process"

We're gonna tear a page out of the wonderful Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott for today's exercise. If you haven't read it yet, I highly recommend it.

I've done quite a few posts on how fear can cause writer's block. Done, the flow chart and everything. Now, let's do something about it.

Engagement Activity:

Create a one-inch frame. Decorate it however you like. Then put it somewhere you can see it when you come to write. Deviating a little from Lamott's original exercise, I'd like you to write one very important message in the middle.

Ready?

"Failure is part of my process."

I'm not gonna get all church-y about this, but failure is a natural part of process. So, own it.

Hope this helps! Happy writing! ✌︎︎♡⃛

Extra credit:

Take a picture and post it in your reblog! I'd love to see how everyone's frames come out. <3 (Mine will be in a reblog post.)

[nicosakaki]

I’ve been depressed, low-key

Wanting the world to end

And me with it

But the thing about nihilism

It gets boring really quickly

So I go through the motions

Pick up the stupid brush

And make a stupid painting that doesn’t mean

Anything and

Film a stupid video on my stupid phone

For this stupid post that will get lost in the stupid void of show-and-tell

But the thing about art

About creativity

About practice

It refuses to be contained

Depression is a shape-shifting bastard

But creativity is the trickster figure

Somehow always finding a way to bring things back

To make you see

The truth and the chaos and the natural order

And so I go through the motions

And let the practice hold me

I’m getting better at that

Let it draw me in

I am still depressed but I made something

I exist

Funny how easy it is to forget that

Art is medicine

Antidepressants

Anti-anxiety

Anti-psychotic

Anti-atrophy

Anti-being alive is a scam and I want out

The practice takes it all and makes it into something whole

And I wonder

How did i not realize how much I needed you

Follow along for more painting time lapses and long meandering sometimes emo captions

[thedaysofaj]

sketch vs watercolor

the inaugural sketch in my new sketchbook. relearning a lot of stuff right now and just learning how to draw a lot of different things. creativity is starting to feel like play again and i love that. this illustration got me thinking about kitchens and i made my first zine!! i’ll be sharing that somehow soon.

this year one of my goals is just to try a bunch of different mediums and see what i like to make ☺️

[konayeon-lasalle]

WK01 - Creative Practice and Critical Thinking

We have learned that critical thinking is an essential criterion for objectively and logically understanding and judging in order to analyze and evaluate a given situation or information objectively. We also realized that this influences many aspects of everyday life, including the practical side of a designer’s work.

However, relying solely on critical thinking can be a weakness, as it can leave individuals as inflexible and passive intermediaries.

In this week’s CTS B class, we learned how to newly understand the concept of creative practice and how to apply it alongside critical thinking by engaging in activities such as creating new narratives and making graphs about social issues.

Critical thinking is primarily associated with structured and analytical approaches. It involves systematically evaluating and analyzing information. In a structured approach, the problem is clearly defined, relevant information is gathered, and conclusions are drawn through logical reasoning. On the other hand, creative practice is primarily associated with unstructured and generative approaches. It involves generating new ideas and seeking innovative solutions. An unstructured approach thinks freely beyond existing frameworks, utilizing intuition and imagination.

I thought of Steve Jobs' Apple business as an efficient example of this.

The benefits of the interaction between critical thinking and creative practice are being applied in many areas. Recently, I realized that the fundamental values of UX design often stem from the interaction between critical thinking and creative practice.

As a growing designer, I believe that the interaction between these two approaches will be a powerful force against the rapid advancement of AI technology. To foster this, we must continuously study and balance both critical thinking and creative practice.

(~270words)

References:

Work CitedBoogaard, Kat. “Critical thinking skills: what they are and how to build them - Work Life by Atlassian.” Atlassian, Work Life, 19 January 2024, https://www.atlassian.com/blog/productivity/critical-thinking-skills. Accessed 24 September 2024.

GCF Global. “Critical Thinking and Decision-Making: What is Critical Thinking?” GCFGlobal, https://edu.gcfglobal.org/en/problem-solving-and-decision-making/what-is-critical-thinking/1/. Accessed 24 September 2024.

Kaipa, Prasad. “Steve Jobs and the Art of Mental Model Innovation.” Ivey Business Journal, May / June 2012, https://iveybusinessjournal.com/publication/steve-jobs-and-the-art-of-mental-model-innovation/. Accessed 24th Sept 2024.

Cardenas, Daniel. “Design Thinking: Benefits and Practical Guide.” UruIT, 2 June 2022, https://uruit.com/blog/design-thinking-benefits-experiences-and-practical-guide/. Accessed 24 September 2024.

[level3art]

Zine 2024 | Digital Edition

[inariedwards]

"...what i have learned over time is that DRIVING AHEAD with this much velocity at all times is not always good for me. it is not good for the art and it is not good for myself.

"so PRACTICE i have learned is two parts. first is that i try to keep my internal drive STEADY but not full on. instead of pushing throttle of my trot at one hundred percent the whole time just pulling it back to seventy five or eighty percent can be very helpful. find a CRUISING ALTITUDE that works for you and realize that if you really want to be productive in your way then you are going to get more done going 75 for keeps rather than 100 percent and hurting yourself."

Chuck Tingle in this Lithub interview

I think I have been moving towards this approach, but seeing it spelled out like that really helped shed the "I should be working on x" -guilt vibes.

[lunarvoyages]

hyena skull study

digital art practice, learning the ins and outs of the program

[spencersk]

Hummingbird season has arrived at the studio.

[reflective-leaf]

My favorite illustration from this comic/worksheet I made: https://reflective-leaf.tumblr.com/post/720790833445666816/a-worksheetcomic-i-made-to-ease-into-my-creative

[veronicapock]

Stories from the weave studio: April

A month of reflection and thinking time, always necessary in the creative process.