Proffessional presence boards

SOCIAL MEDIA

Instagram recently introduced the ‘Stories’ feature which allows users to micro-vlog their lives. Stories can also be saved into collections, available on Instagram pages. I have been using this feature day to day as well as sharing the process of my Valencia Collection, and the response has been large. People have greatly enjoyed watching the project evolve, and it shows meaning and humanity behind the work. I have saved the Valencia process videos into a collection, and will do this for future projects. Stories add dimension to Instagram as a portfolio, where clients can get to know the way I work.

Instagram has changed since I grew my following organicly between 2013-2016. It’s now important to be active on hashtags so people can find you. Several useful hashtags are below: #inktober - ink drawings every day in October #MarchMeetTheMaker - a photo challenge in March for small business creatives #PrintSpotters - For traditional print makers #ShopSmall - For indie businesses Showcasing work that is relevant to events in the media is also a useful way of sharing your creative presence. For instance I posted the postcards I designed for International Women’s Day on Twitter which was shared over 100 times.

I am active on social media, utilising Twitter and Instagram as platforms to connect and build a network of not only industry contacts but customers. I prefer to integrate design into my personal accounts as it creates a true persona and one that fellow creatives can connect to. Personability has been the foundation of my success so far, and leads into my personality driven design work. I market myself as an indivisual as much as a designer.

I have a separate Instagram and Twitter account for the shop, which I primarily use for customer service and it allows me to repost customer photos. As I refocus my efforts onto the shop I will decide whether I want to merge it with my personal account again as social media marketing may be more efficient that way.

I have a personal blog which I write about life events, shop launches and meal ideas. I plan to use this blog as an extention to my portfolio, where I blog the process of projects too. This will speak to students and fellow creatives, as well as clients if they want to see my process, without informalising or cluttering my portfolio website.

Currently this is my main website with links to my portfolio, social media and shop website.

BRANDING A signature style logo, referencing my transparent social media presence and tone of voice within my work.

Logo as an illustrator

A similar style extends to my shop’s logo, to visually allude to the link between Polly Vadasz (illustrator) and Sighh (shop).

Logo as a friend I have printed additional Thank you slips for my orders, featuring a photo from the lookbook shoot. My personal logo also features within a variation on my shop’s slips to indicate the person behind the brand & support the small business communication.

Branded favours for the Hanbury event were business card style and contained a Create enamel pin or Ugh mug pin and sticker. They aimed to advertise me as a giftware designer, and be kept long term.

OLLIE QUINN SETUP

CRAFT FAIR SETUP

Branding logos and colour applied to a custom invoice sheet.

The promotional lookbook photos are used across my shop, portfolio and social media. They humanise the brand as well as showcasing the products.

PORTFOLIO WEBSITE I have designed a bespoke portfolio website layout which I will be constructing with Wix, a platform which gives you extensive design flexability without needing to code.

The pink header represents a shop’s roof, and this plays to my skillset in giftware design.

With a large body of work to show, I have decided for the main page to be an archive of projects that can be clicked on to view their individual feature pages (First drop down sequence). On this page is the rest of the project’s artwork (if so) and a brief description. The archive houses small pieces such as singular Instagram posts or products.

The second sequence shows the Projects page, which houses the larger projects. Their individual project pages have a leangthier description and include the client name if relevant.

The About page describes my practice, has my email available (the AOI advised against contact pages) and scrolls down to a Commission wish list which is a brief idea for visators of what I’m interested in designing. This can be updated when needed.

My existing portfolio houses select projects only. It doesn’t do justice to the volume of products I’ve designed, although the new portfolio will curate them to an extent, it has more room for a large archive organised by date of release.

The layout is functional, however I’m interested in designing a bespoke website layout that has peronal touches such as the pink header, circular previews and sparks when hovering over/clicking on a project.

Feature: the logo on the home page will write itself like a signature, however it will not do this on other pages as that could be distracting from the work.