Self Promotion with Lisa Hassell
For our Professional Practice module, we have been tasked with putting together a folder which encases information that may help us find employment in the future. As part of this, we were told to think about ways we may promote our work in the future.
Lisa Hassell from Inky Goodness came in for a couple of days to teach us how self promotion works and explained to us some effective ways of doing so. She explained how her illustration agency, We Are Goodness, receives promotional material from various artists like clockwork, and so it is important to make sure that your material is unique and stands out from the rest. Below is an example of a 3D pop up illustration, which the recipient can enjoy putting together themselves.
We were shown a selection of promotional material that she had previously received; in amongst these were things like postcards, stickers, pins, wristbands and posters. Lisa explained to us that it's a good idea to have something interactive which the client or agency may find useful to keep, such as pencil pots or sweet jars with your illustrations on the exterior. This way it can be kept somewhere that they will see and they are more likely to remember you; whereas if you simply made a poster or a card, they may put it in a drawer and forget about it.
Following this, we were tasked with creating our own piece of promotional material that we may one day send around to agencies and clients. At this point I instantly started thinking about how I could incorporate both illustration and animation into this, without simply creating a showreel. I recalled seeing a business card at last year's graduation show that would animate as you held your phone over it. This was done using an application called Blippar. With this you can have a still image on something, such as a business card or a poster, and then once you open the app and hold your phone over the object, it animates the still image on your phone screen.
I thought this would be a really great way of incorporating both animation and illustration into one object. However, I still didn't want to do a simple object like a business card as promotional material, as these are only small and can be easily lost. So I then came up with the idea of making a jigsaw puzzle, which once completed, would animate. This would be an interactive and memorable object that the recipient could keep.
I then designed the jigsaw digitally and printed it on to card, as this was only a mock up. If I were to do this professionally, I would print it on to something sturdier that would slot together tighter, as the one I printed on card was fairly loose and flimsy.
Once I designed this, I thought that it wasn't very explanatory of who I am or what I do. And so I discussed with Lisa how I might achieve this. We then came up with the idea of having some sort of board that it could slot into, almost like a children's early years jigsaw. Within this I could then include any information about me and my contact details. I would definitely do this if I had more time and more materials, as this was just a quick two day workshop.
Alongside the jigsaw, I would perhaps include objects such as stickers and postcards with different designs on them. This would then form a little pack of goodies which I could send off and decorate nicely. I will definitely be continuing this in the future. Below is a selection of promotional materials that I find appealing and will probably take inspiration from in the next year or so...
