STUDIO BRIEF 1 - Presentation prep

Structure

• Start off with my pack last year - what I liked about it what I didn't 
• What I set out to do this year
• How extended practice has informed PPP
• The type of work I started to create
• Bow Down bubbling along the year
• Who I've contacted - artists, agencies, submitting work and failing
• Linkedin being big for me
• Google
• Wanting to work outside of the UK and how that's influenced being online
• Bow Down the idea - what it is what works on there
• Comissioning logo - Oliver Sucho, my attempts 
• Website - Cargo Collective
• Social Media - Instagram, Facebook. Ridding tumblr and instagram for AP illustrations. 

Last year - What did I like. I liked how professional it looked, if I was a graphic designer.. 

It made me take myself more seriously, and get my head around business cards and cvs etc. I invested time in making things look professionally finished. I looked into products and how you can put your illustrations onto them. What I didn't like - it wasn't me. I sucked the fun out of it, it was boring, it was too graphic, it didn't represent my work. I didn't like using my name. I thought I had to, when I didn't. 

What I set out to do this year - This year I wanted to gain a better sense of myself and what my work is. I wanted to stop making work for briefs that don't suit me. I wanted to stop getting bored of my work and really have a play around. I wanted to represent myself as a brand rather than an illustrator. 

How extended practise has informed PPP - Extended practise is forming the brand. The work I produce in that is the beginning of what I want to be known as. In the past I've never been proud of my work. At the start of the year I made a portfolio and when it came to choosing the work I didn't think the majority of it represents what I want to be doing in the future so I didn't want to showcase it. Extended practise is giving me that room to play with what it is I really want to be doing. 

The type of work I want to create - I like people. I like the news. I like trends. I like being current. I like being funny. I like knowing what people are talking about. I am nosy. I don't like being told what to do. I like to know what people are buying into. THIS INFORMS MY WORK. I want to make funny illustrated products based on things happening around us, what people are talking about, what isn't normal, what can't be bought in your average shop, what's fresh and funny and reflects people, real people, celebrities, musicians, politicians.. I don't want to make a book cover, I don't want to make a label for a product, I don't want to make an album cover because it BORES ME.

Bow down bubbling along - Looking through my old PPP posts it's interesting to see how Bow Down has been bubbling away all along. It started off in first year with Mr Bingo making the penny drop for me with his style of drawing and how you can be funny and put funny things onto products and have people buy into them like hate mail. Then it came to Life's a pitch. I thought of the name and in our group it was going to be quite a satirical website based on cultural trends and overly offensive. 

I made the name Bow Down as a comment on how society bows down to what they read and are told, they go along with it. This is saying, bow down to this new way of thinking. Stop buying into a boring greetings card, have a laugh. Without even realising, I'd made greetings cards for a module and on the back for a fake website I'd put bowdown.com. I keep noticing little things where bowdown has been the idea, and now I am actually making it happen. 

Who I've contacted - Mr Bingo. Chris Simpsons artist. Marketers x3, threadless, ohhdeer, brainbox candy, paper chase, spiceuk, google. 

Linked in - As Adele Pierce, Linkedin has been good for me to start to get contacts, but then I want to promote Bow Down on there keeping my 500+ contacts. I add bits of work and it can cause a stir, so If I promote Bow Down on there that's another good platform for showcasing the brand.

Google - I have two friends that work for Google and I've been saying for ages get me in there, how do I get in. Following people on linkedin, bugging them with questions (they never reply) but they are obviously a really successful company to work for. I set myself the challenge of making some designs for them of their homepage, the same job as the google doodlers do. One of my friends asked the google doodle team if they had any positions available and they asked to see my work. I was over the moon, but also extremely terrified. It was at this point in time I had no confidence in the work I'd produced so far (not to show Google!) and realised I needed to make more professional work that reflected my practise more. I created a portfolio, with one of my Google designs at the end of it to show them that I was capable of being a Google Doodler. They said they would take a look and be in touch for contact details. They never ever got back. Looking back though, as good as Google is, being a doodler wouldn't be ideal for me. I am too funny. I struggled to even create 10 images because the brief I gave myself, again bored me because I didn't want to make work about Queen Elizabeth having an anniversary, I want to illustrate the queen having a poo or picking her nose or something… Which Google was never going to accept.

Wanting to work outside of the UK and how that's influenced my career decision - I want to be online and the shop for me seems a good way of being able to be mobile. I will move home for a year to set this up, but once it's up and running I want to be able to  move away with it and promote it in other countries. I don't like the UK and I'm getting on now 26 wanting to start a family in a few years I want to be away to do that. I will still be an illustrator and have a separate portfolio for that to send out but the focus at the minute or at least for the next year will be selling my own stuff.

Comissioning logo - To kick it off I needed a logo. To set up my website and gmail accounts I've used the original logo I made for life's a pitch for now because it's plain and reflects the typography that I use within the illustrations. However, I have commissioned a graphic designer £100 to create a new one for me. I think his work represents the kind of fresh, current vibe I've got going on within my drawings and he would be able to create one to a higher standard which will look more professional across all of the formats such as the website, social media etc. I did try myself… and it went shocking!

Website - Cargo collective. Again without realising I had set up a website at the start of last year which I thought would be under Adele Pierce but when I went on it was under the name bow down so that freaked me out. The website is definitely a working process. I am not a web designer, all of this stuff goes over my head, but I have done my best up until now. I upgraded the site to have a personal domain name www.buybowdown.com and to add more pages which I definitely needed.
It's pretty basic at the minute because I don't have all of the work made ready for the site. I have gave myself the deadline of July to get this finished and ready to launch, promote and advertise. This gives me chance to finish extended practise to have all of the work ready to put on, and also extra bits of work such as cushions etc. It also gives me time to contact marketers, get a business loan, do all the behind the scenes stuff ready to launch. By july I will be moved back home and have my own studio set up so I can focus on it completely.

Social media - I am setting up a meeting with a marketer about this because I will need a new instagram account, perhaps a twitter etc. I have set up an etsy for the orders, but for the rest I am holding off for now because I am not sure whether it's professional to have those as a brand.