What do you guys focus on more: The Artwork or the Art Work?
Social media for a creative like me is exhausting. A disproportionate focus seems to be on the ‘artwork’, the finished piece, plastered on the Instagram feed.
What about the ‘art work’, all the day-to-day stuff behind the scenes.
For a young designer growing up using social media was and is a way to put my work out there.
My idea of the creative process was skewed and corrupted by seeing endless outcomes that lacked explanation.
“Ok, so this must be what I should show. Just focus on making a really clean outcome that can be appreciated and praised quickly online”
I allowed the marketplace to direct what I created and thought people wanted to see. It confused me because the outcome is only ever really the last 10% of the work that pulls together and considers everything you did before it.
And that was what I really wanted to share,
The hours of looking for inspiration
The hours of developing an idea
The hours of applying oil to canvas.
The art… work, but I held myself back.
You can choose exactly how much or how little of your work you post on social media at no cost. You may be as transparent as you like about your method. So for the 17-year-old me that never got a peek behind the curtain at my favourite creatives process, I try to make an effort to share my draughts, unfinished projects, fragments, and sources of inspiration.
Humans have a natural curiosity about other people and the things they do.
“By putting things out there, consistently, you can form a relationship with your customers. It allows them to see the person behind the products.” - Austin Kleon
In addition to seeking out excellent work, audiences often yearn to participate in the creative process. We increase the likelihood that others will connect with us and our work by letting go of our egos and sharing our processes, which enables us to move more of our work.
So, go out there into the online world and share your process, people really want to see how the sausage gets made.
Replies3
- I think your right, there need to be more emphasis on the process, I often love to see and show others the work and dedication that goes into my work and designs, often with videos showing the work in progress and I love to visualise the tagents that research takes me down through moodboards and such so clients understand what they are paying for. even if there are a few haters who say my videos are too long :D
- @Peter Jackson Ye exactly, and the ones you share that go unnoticed you then have an opportunity to learn why and work out why it maybe didn't land. All the parts of the process will be helpful to someone.
- Nothing beats meeting a brief with a blank sheet of paper and a marker pen.My drawing skills aren’t brilliant, so I think of the most economical way to present a thought.What I’m showing is not a finished design or an ad or a piece of branding.It’s an idea.And it’s often the viewer that’ll make it a great idea.They may be liking it for different reasons.Maybe it inspires another solution or shows a different way of looking at a problem.Either way, share them, some will go unnoticed, some may get recognition.Some may make a difference.
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