OUGD502 - Studio brief 01

Last year in my personal and professional end of year presentation I highlighted that in second year I wanted to increase my online presence for the chance of my work getting more exposure and possibly networking with other creatives. It was around May when I set up a personal Instagram design account, through Instagram it made it easy to reach out to other like minded designers and creatives who may like my work, initially I just wanted this to be a platform to showcase my work but as it developed it was a way of communicating and appreciating with other creatives.

Now I'm in second year the account has grown considerably due to work being uploaded and being recognised but the one piece of work that kickstarted it all was OUGD406 Studio brief 04, in which I had to create a response that would help the incoming first years to the course. My response was a nightlife freshers visual guide which informed freshers of the best clubs to visit in the city, I chose this as it was a big problem of mine when I first moved to Leeds. The guide was stylised in a modernist illustrative style, I illustrated each club in a line drawing style then designed the guide in a modernist grid. Personally I was very pleased with the end resolution for this brief, so I decided to shoot product shots in a studio then upload them to my Instagram account.

The response from this upload increased my followers overnight resulting in enhancing my online presence, I tagged each club which informed them of what I'd done. The first to repost an Illustration was Belgrave Music hall and Canteen, with Belgrave having 16 thousand followers it gave the illustration a wide audience unlike my own Instagram account did. Other reposts on Instagram followed, with Headrow House, Wire Club and Canal Mills all posting the illustration to their feed with links to my account. Another benefit from this was surprisingly making money, I was privately messaged with a request for a print of Belgrave. So I screen printed a small number of Belgrave prints and sold one for 20 pound, this was a new experience for me as I didn't know how to measure the price of my own work.


I was in contact with the people at Canal Mills and Wire, exchanging emails etc and letting them use my artwork as long as I was credited. Wire went onto using the illustration as a profile picture on Facebook as well as printing the print, and placing it in their head office. Akaplate was an account which showcased innovative graphic design uploaded an image of my work, the account doesn't exist anymore, most likely because they never credited the designer. Although it annoyed me that they took my work without asking or crediting me, it was still encouraging for a design account to appreciate my work.

Thanks to my Instagram account Ive been able to enhance my online presence massively over the last six months, and hopefully in the next six months it'll be even bigger.