Starting to Promote my Work

As my time as a student is coming to an end (scary), it's time to start thinking about promoting my work properly and professionally. We have had lessons about this is the past, one in particular that has stuck with me is from when we had Lisa Hassel from Inky Goodness pay us a visit. I remember her saying that we should create something memorable and useful when it comes to creating things that we intend to distribute to companies and potential clients as promotional material. Something simple like an envelope holding a sticker pack isn't something that will stick in someones mind easily. She encouraged us to think outside the box and create something memorable. And now is the time for me to do that as New Designers is fast approaching, as well as our final degree show.

I want to create something bold that can encase a few other smaller objects displaying my work in creative ways. To begin, I obviously went to Pinterest and began to look at creative packaging ideas. I feel like the packaging is important to this as it's the first thing the recipient will see and if it's not exciting, they won't be too interested to see what's inside.

I looked at things like poster tubes, which I could decorate with my illustrations, and small parcels that I could also decorate. But then I began to come across other things that seemed far more creative; often they were being used to package food or gifts, but I thought I could easily adjust them to compliment my work:

aad9e860add70d1d0db427300be192c5

856d6fd1f67857d32b5bf066409f2bea

23f1f68f6fc28d26a5484c09a606f7ba

3f766c2b30d19b73287a98f94c663cdd

7e5d785a2c4fb0baafc561cc0e3d0817_edited.

I then came across a couple of examples of people constructing milk cartons and using them to package small items such as biscuits. I began to think it could be fun if I made something like this on a larger scale, and I would be able to print my illustrations on to card before folding them into milk cartons.

0318481755901549e31e42897a6726fa

9f498f0b63c8f0e7b4aa138269a9a7df

I decided to make a prototype of this to see if it would work. Firstly on a small scale to check that the net I had sourced worked, then on a larger scale with one of my spare risoprints:

This was only a rough test, and now that I am confident in the fact that it will work, I can print some different illustrations on thicker card and make them look more professional.

These of course will encase some objects that promote my work. For this I am thinking of doing a zine in a concertina style that has a selection of my work on it, almost like a pocket size portfolio. I also attempted to make a jigsaw out of one of my illustrations last year and so I think I might take that idea and perfect it. The items will need to be no bigger than A5, but I think that's an acceptable size for this kind of thing.

As well as this, I will need to put together a portfolio of my work and also edit a showreel which I plan on doing in the next few weeks. I can take these to New Designers where companies and potential clients will be able to see my work, so this is really important!