Project: Promotion

Due: Mon Oct 27, 11:59pm
Detail: You will select one option for self-promotion from the list below and invest 20–25 hours of concentrated work creating promotional material for yourself. If you create physical media, you will submit that to the box outside the instructor's office.
Submit via: Learning Suite + outside instructor office
Note: You will also submit a 100–200-word explaination of their choices via Learning Suite as a Word doc.

Brief

You will select one option for self-promotion from the list below and invest 20–25 hours of concentrated work creating promotional material for yourself.

  • Web portfolio
  • Digital promotion
    • Two new populated social media channels dedicated solely to your art
    • Set up a digital newsletter service and produce your first four unique newsletters
  • Physical promotion
    • Outline a plan and budget for a physical newsletter and produce your first four unique newsletters
    • Print giveaways: pick one option and produce at least 50—business cards, postcards, zines, books, etc.
  • Other: you propose an alternative to the instructor

If you create physical media, you will submit that in person to the box outside the instructor’s office by the deadline. If you create digital media, you will submit a link or links to view that media on Learning Suite. Everyone should submit a 100–200-word explanation of their choices via Learning Suite as a Word doc.

Requirements and Tips

  • It is recommended that you consult with the instructor on whatever option you select so that you can make this work both for the class, and for your own art practice.
  • Don’t go the cheapest route just to be cheap. This is not only an assignment, but an investment in your future. You are an artist already, so let’s make this professional. You aren’t graded on how much money you spend, but whatever you do should look and function great.
  • Web portfolio option
    • You need to have at least one portfolio page with a minimum of fifteen artworks with the option to see images close to full screen, a CV that is both a web page and a downloadable PDF, an about page that includes your artist statement and bio, a link to contact you with your email listed.
    • There is a learning curve here, so don’t assume you can crank this out in a couple of days.
    • Make sure images are high resolution and of suitable dimensions for close to full-screen viewing.
    • Consider how you will organize the site for now, and how it might grow. For example, will you add categories? Will the site be organized by date, medium, exhibitions, series, etc.?
    • Select a hosting option that works for you now and in the future.
    • We offer Art 240: Print and Web Design for Studio Artists where you can learn more about coding and customizing websites, so you can further refine this site if you want.
    • It is not required that you register a custom domain name, but it is recommended to reserve/register one sooner rather than later to lock down something that works for you. You don’t want someone else stealing yourname.com if you can help it.
  • Digital promotion option
    • Social Media
      • Consider which social media channels are the best fit for you, your work, and your audience(s).
      • Each social media channel should have at least 15 unique posts centered on your artwork and/or you as an artist. Each channel can feature the same works and general information, but the posts should take into account the unique qualities and flavor of the channel. Auto cross-posting is not allowed—i.e., posting to IG with an auto cross-post to Facebook.
      • Think about the type of content (I dislike that word) you prefer. Don’t just make generic posts. Make things that are engaging. For example: consider showing your process in videos; post a brief conversation you have with a friend about one of your paintings; write the story about how an artwork came about.
      • Allow the tone and format of your posts to reflect who you are and what your artwork is like.
    • Newsletter
      • Pick a service or process that will work for you. That could be an all-inclusive service like MailChimp, or something you cobble together, like managing your list via Excel or Google Sheets, and sending out emails using your own email client. Maybe even a texting service might be an option.
      • What will be the frequency of your emails and how will that shape the type of content you produce. For example, if you plan to email weekly, will it just be a single image of a work you completed with a brief story; whereas if you are sending quarterly, will you have more of a news section and a list of current and upcoming shows?
      • Think hard about ways to draw people in and engage them with your newsletters. What will be the length? Will you have recurring features like “What’s in the studio?,” or “Currently enjoying.”
      • What will be your subject lines?
      • Will you include images? How?
      • Read up on how to produce HTML emails and understand their limitations.
      • How will you submit these emails for the assignment?
  • Physical promotion option
    • Newsletter
      • Outline a plan and budget for a physical newsletter—how many do you plan to produce; will they be black and white or in color; will it be a zine, a series of stickers, a one-pager, half-letter, or full sheet? Get actual quotes from printers for production costs and the post office for mailing costs.
      • What will be the frequency of your newsletters and how will that shape the type of content you produce. For example, if you plan to mail monthly, will it just be short and sweet; whereas if you are sending quarterly, will you have more of a news section and a list of current and upcoming shows?
      • Think hard about ways to draw people in and engage them with your newsletters. What will be the length? Will you have recurring features like “What’s in the studio?,” or “Currently enjoying.”
      • Will the newsletter be more like its own piece of art, or strictly informational, or somewhere in between?
      • What will the design be like? Will it be hand written and drawn, or layed out with a computer? What about the envelope? Will there be one? Will it be plain white, designed, etc.
      • There are opportunities for hand-written notes or little unique drawings. Is that something that is appropriate for your artwork, and is that something you’d invest time in?
    • Print giveaways
      • These should promote your work and provide contact information and a URL.
      • You should produce at least 50 of these. For professional printing, they may not take orders less than 100.
      • What will fit stylistically and thematically with your work? Is your work casual or formal? What color palette might befit your work?
      • Be creative about what you produce, but think strategically about how they will be used, so they don’t just get thrown away.
      • What are ways to make your information sticky, or keep you in the front of people’s minds? For example, what if a portion of your business card’s paper was embedded with flower seeds that could be torn off and planted. So, whenever the recipient looks at their garden or the plot of land outside their apartment, they see the flowers and remember you.
      • Will these be professionally printed, printed by you using a Riso/intaglio/litho/photocopy/letterpress method, or handmade?
      • There are services out there like Moo.com and Vistaprint that do decent jobs and have plenty of paper and printing options. There is also BYU Print and Mail where you can talk to actual humans and brainstorm options based on their capabilities.

Grading

Assignment grades will be based on the following:

Conceptual Concerns (45%)

Student demonstrates evidence that they understand and inventively integrate conceptual concerns. The student’s research is evident and ample given the allotted time.

  • Excellent: Student demonstrates conversational familiarity with the material—making interesting connections between material.
  • Average: Student is able to relate material, but not do much interesting with it.
  • Below Average: Student struggles to demonstrate a grasp of the material and shows no facility in connecting ideas or new thinking.
Articulation (45%)

When selecting a thesis or POV, the student is able to succinctly and plainly build a case using good storytelling techniques.

This includes proper spelling, punctuation, sentence structure, grammar and formatting for written assignments; and annunciation, confidence and focused arguments for oral assignments.

  • Excellent: Student understands modes of writing and presentation including style guides and is able to nimbly employ these tools in their writing and speaking.
  • Average: Student makes some stylistic and formatting mistakes by ignoring provided guidance.
  • Below Average: Student repeatedly makes the same mistakes and ignores instructor input and suggestions.
Following Instructions (10%)

The student adheres to the guidelines provided for the course and the assignment. If the paper has a particular framework, the student adheres to that framework. If an assignment is to be submitted as a Word doc on Learning Suite, the student does not email the instructor a PDF.

  • Excellent: A detail-oriented student who takes instruction and fastidiously executes it within their work.
  • Average: A student who misses some details because they didn't read instructions thoroughly or take proper notes when instructions were given.
  • Below Average: Student ignores basic instructions and guidance given for assignments.
On-time Submission

You will lose 5 points for each 24-hour period that the assignment is late. For example, if your assignment is submitted 5 minutes late, that is within the first 24-hour period, so you lose 5 points. If your assignment is submitted 73 hours late, then you will lose 20 points.

Learning Outcomes Addressed

Professional Development Awareness

Demonstrate an awareness of and preparation for graduate studies, teaching opportunities, professional gallery work, or other art related activities connected to alternative applications, and interdisciplinary/transdisciplinary opportunities

Portfolio Development

Develop materials for presentation to art venues.