#been meaning to make a website mainly and use that as my main creative portfolio

[macyhaven]

How do yall use social media only for marketing and not doom-scrolling? 😭

[thomasbreeton]

Text for Professional Development Presentation

My academic and professional career in the arts really started in 2010, when I enrolled on the Foundation Diploma in Art and Design at Lincoln College, the city where I’m from. The specified, concentrated approach to studying - and practicing a range of creative subjects at the beginning of the course, opened my mind to what the next few years could look like for me. I had previously studied Photography and Product Design at A Level, but the Fine Art pathway on the Foundation excited me the most. Influenced by the Fine Art tutors and practitioners, my photography practice became more versatile and expansive, and questioned the nature of photography itself. Learning this about myself and my work, I applied to universities whose photography courses catered to those who wanted to practice photography as a fine art discipline.

I joined the BA Photography course at Camberwell College of Arts in 2011 and explored various concepts and movements that influenced modern and contemporary photography. Camera Lucida by Roland Barthes and On Photography by Susan Sontag changed the way I perceived photography and how I took photographs. While I was studying I began to experience an angst in which I felt like there was no meaning in my work and that it had no value outside of the aesthetic. During this period of personal crisis I looked to more vocational practices that seemed to offer more structure and conviction. I had been increasingly influenced by design objects and theory toward the end of the first year at Camberwell. I decided to alleviate the crisis of subjectivity and meaninglessness by changing to a Foundation Degree in Graphic Design - also at Camberwell.

The first year of the design course proved exciting and grounded in concrete principles that could be explored but not challenged to the point of meaninglessness. I mostly left my photography practice behind and began learning both the theory and application of design - as well as the tools that industry professionals used, primarily the Adobe Creative Suite. As I progressed into the second year of the course and gained more confidence I began to bring my photography skills into the work that I was producing. I started to find however, that the subjectivity that I was trying to turn away from in my photography practice was in fact a fundamental universal truth that seemed present in all facets of life. I began to accept the freedom that could be found in subjectivity and embraced it. This helped to improve my work and understand that my own ideas of perfection and what good creative practice was, were simply my thoughts and opinions and that that was perfectly fine.

I graduated from the design degree in 2014 and took a part-time job in a café while I worked on my portfolio. One of the significant projects that I developed during this period was a small photography zine which I initiated on a trip to Switzerland in 2014, and continued working on for the following year. The zine, Entre, featured editorial-style travel photography paired with typographic compositions of poetry relating to the subject matter. This project perfectly aligned both the open direction that my photography had taken and the precise nature of design that I’d studied in the previous years.

Fortuitously, the café I worked at offered to sell my zine and this led to me being offered an internship role at a company called Winkreative. Winkreative specialise in brand identity and editorial design, so I found the work incredibly compelling. In 2017, after assisting on projects for large global brands such as Lexus and Air Canada, I realised that working in the cultural sector still had a strong appeal to me, so I began to look for work which would fulfil this desire. I eventually landed a full-time job at a small design studio called Praline in 2018. Praline specialise in branding and marketing in the cultural sector.

While at Praline I developed my skills as a designer but also implemented some of the creative freedom that I’d learned through the art based courses that I’d studied on. I worked on projects for galleries such as Waddington Custot and Blaine|Southern, designing a book for Ali Banisadr and exhibition materials for a Jedd Novatt show. Working as a designer for several years—particularly for cultural sector clients—gave me a broader understanding of the industry and of the various practices that I engaged in. I was able to see the professional lives of architects and artists up close, learning about and engaging with their practises as the projects progressed. This close-knit study of a variety of practitioners has certainly influenced my own artistic practice as well as my design practice.

During the first lockdown in 2020 I decided to return to university to top up my Foundation Degree to a full BA. I knew that having a bachelors degree would improve my future career prospects and I’d also been thinking of making a career change. I got accepted on to the Fine Art degree course at London Met and began my studies in October 2020. The course entailed more teaching and contact hours than I had initially expected which helped me to progress quickly and assimilate onto the course in a straightforward manner. I was disappointed however when the university was forced to close quite early on due to COVID. 

One of the main things I’d been looking forward to in returning to university was the access to studio space and workshops. I had wanted to explore woodworking in the workshops and make use of the photography dark rooms, neither of which I’ve had a chance to access until only a few weeks ago - by which point it was too late as my major project had been forced to take a different direction. The first semester was mainly centred around lectures and seminars and had a focus on the critical and contextual studies module. While researching for my dissertation topic I discovered that I enjoyed researching a variety of topics and began to approach my major project from a research-based perspective, which lead me to some interesting areas to create responses to.

Initially I was experimenting with analogue photography, taking photographs on my medium format camera, a Mamiya 645. There was potential to develop the project using analogue media, but due to the university facilities being closed, I decided not to continue experimenting with this format as there were now too many constraints in place. I knew that if I could start experimenting with digital technology and online methods of display, that  there would be more scope for the project at large. I also decided that because my research had started to broach the subject of digitality, that using digital media to explore this subject would be most suitable.

My current practice explores a compass which spans the phenomenon of digitality and notions of wilderness. I defined digitality as “humanity’s march toward a complete reliance on digital mechanisms—particularly those connected to the internet—without regard for the social, environmental, economic or political consequences.” Wilderness on the other hand, can be defined as a region which is uncultivated, uninhabited and inhospitable. My major project, Digitality Contra Wilderness is a cinematic display of my research findings via video, audio and motion graphic media. This work delves into the environmentalist paradigm perpetuated by movements such as Extinction Rebellion and figures like David Attenborough and my research examines the current generational zeitgeist of conservation, rewilding and the ecological footprint. 

My major project therefore follows the late twentieth century artists who formerly addressed such topics, namely; Fluxus artist Joseph Beuys (1921–1986), the Land Art pioneer Richard Long (b.1945), and the Land Art reactionist Hamish Fulton (b.1946). Contemporary inspirations include film maker John Rogers (b.1962) and 3D animation artist Jakob Kudsk Steensen (b. 1987). These artists challenge convention by employing the social media websites YouTube and Twitch respectively to display their work. I have incorporated some of the techniques used in rapid prototyping to generate moving image sketches from content found online. I have utilised the latest video-editing software such as Adobe After Effects and Quick Time Screen Recording to translate visual research into imagery. I intend to present the resolved works on a variety of platforms. Firstly, on Kunstmatrix so that my work is exhibited alongside other students in my year group. Secondly, on Twitch, which I deem to be the most relevant space for this work as it currently stands. And thirdly, on my artist website so that it can be seen as part of a broader portfolio of works in the future. 

[sam-gibbs]

The start of my Year 2 FMP.

The time has finally come once again to start our second FMP. Unfortunately unlike last year I am starting the this FMP at home as we are still doing remote learning due to COvid. Hopefully we will only be doing the first couple of weeks of our FMp at home before we hopefully go back to college. However we are uncertain if we will be returning back to college. Due to this I am going to be planning out my FMP as if I will be at home continuing it just incase we are unable to return back to college. Due to my last years FMP going really well even though I spend half of the FMP at home. I am going to be going ahead and following the same sort of structure and outline as last year.

SWOT Analysis:

Firstly I am going to be doing my SWOT analysis. As a recap a SWOT analysis is an analysis I do on myself as a person. Here I look at strengths,weaknesses,opportunities and threats I can face during this project.

Strengths:

Blog Work:Like last year one of my biggest strengths is keeping up to date with my blog work. I really enjoy doing the research as well as talking through how I created something and showing my progress of my project. Due to me being at home currently I can get blog work done more efficiently due to me being able to spend more time on it as well as there being less distractions from my work.

Unreal: Over the course of time I have found that Unrela is one of my other strengths. i have learnt that I am more of a coder and prefer doing work inside of unreal instead of doing other things such as art work and modelling.

Weakness:

Landscapes:one of my weaknesses is of course landscape building: I haven't really spend any time looking into improving my skills in landscape building. Although it is not really my area of expertise it would be nice to be able to go forwards and try to eventually get better at making my own landscapes.

Audio: Another one of my weaknesses is creating my own audio. Although I have tried creating audio in the past I have always decided to end up not using it in my game. This is mainly due to me not being confident enough with the fact that the audio is good enough for the game.

Model making: Overtime I have become less passionate about model making and feel like it is not my field of work anymore. As much as I would love to make all of my own assets and be able to go ahead and use them in my games. I feel like I dont have the patience/ knowledge to make the sort of assets that some of my games in the past have needed. 

Opportunities:

Brief:Due to the FMP not being as strict a brief. I am able to explore a lot more areas of research in order to help me decide what sort of project I would like to work on.

Portfolio: During the FMP we are also going to be going ahead and working on creating our own portfolios which is going to be a great opportunity as it will mean I will have a professional as well as easy way to display my work.

Threats:

Burnout: One main problem with me is burnout. I try to set too high a standard for my project and end up burning myself out with all the work I do. I am going to try and work slowly and try to pace myself.Not setting too high a goal as well as making sure to take time to myself to relax and cool down as well.

Distractions: At home and at college there are distractions which can sometimes get in my way. I am going to try my best to not get distracted from my college work and try to focus on the work more.

Starting points:

In the first FMP we were very lucky to have gotten 8 starting points in which we were tasked to go ahead and research for our game. These starting points did unfortunately restrict what we could do due to the fact that our game had to link to one of those starting points. The starting points we were given last year were. 

Ordinary world

What No one tells

A secret plot

MC escher

Slash dot dash dot

Deep ocean

alt control

1969

However this FMP we have not been given any start points and need to create our own starting points. We were told to aim for 10 starting points and do research into them. The research will help us learn more about the starting points and think about how we can make our project around the starting points. Unfortunately I am not as creative at starting points and find it very hard to think of them. So I have decided to take a bit more of a randomness way of going about getting my start points. I have gone and gotten a list of the top ten game genres.From the website below:

https://straitsresearch.com/blog/top-10-most-popular-gaming-genres-in-2020/

The top ten game genres according to this website are:

Action

sports

horror

battle royale

role-play

racing

fighting

real time strategy

simulation

first person shooter

In order to decide which 5 of these I am going to be doing some research into I have gone and put the genres in a random wheel generator where it will randomly pick a genre when spun. I spun the wheel 5 times and took note of the genres it gave me:

This is the website I used for the wheel generator: 

https://wheelofnames.com/

The results for the spins were...

Spin 1: Role playing games

Spin 2:real time strategy

Spin 3:simulation games

Spin 4:action games

Spin 5:horror games

I am quite happy with these choices as these are sort of the game which even though I enjoy them more than say racing and sport games, Some of them I haven't really played myself so the research will definitely benefit me well.

I then went and decided to do the same for film genres as well.This will then get me some different genres to look at which aren't necessarily game related. I went and got the top 10 film genres off of the website below.

https://www.filmsite.org/afi10topten.html

The top 10 film genres I picked were:

Animated

Fantasy

Gangster

Sci fi

Western

Sports

Mystery

Romance

Comedy

Courtroom drama

The results for the spins were...

Spin 1: Animated

Spin 2: Mystery

Spin 3: Sci fi

Spin 4: Gangster

Spin 5: Fantasy

These choices are really nice as these are things I haven't really looked into much before so it will definitely be some new interesting research for me to do.In summary we now have our 10 basic starting points which we can now go ahead and do research on.

[elliegratrick-blog]

Virtual studio visit

Saskia Cameron- Email Conversation!

Me and my friend had organised a trip to go visit Saskia Cameron in Banks Mill Studio. I had found Saskia’s work on the Banks Mill website when looking what creators were based there. Her work instantly drew me in. I particularly like her  series of woodcut illustrated train tickets, following the West coast line. The blocky shapes, quite angular shapes used still show a sensitivity and sense of tranquility. The medium of printing means marks and textures come from the screens and lino which gives her work a lovely tactile feel. Unfortunately this visit was planned just around the time corona virus really became serious. It was safer for all our sakes to do the interview over email. It’s disappointing as I would have liked to see the space she works in and what is on offer after you graduate but not much can be done! 

How did you get into illustration? I studied illustration at Edinburgh College of Art - I had done a foundation before that and honestly I don't think I really got the opportunity to try enough stuff there, I wish it had been a bit less narrow! I knew I liked drawing and I was good at it, and I was too impatient to do animation at the time, so I picked illustration! But I think overall it was a good choice - what I really love about illustration is how good it is at transcending boundaries, and now I dabble in textiles, graphic design, all sorts. Top 3 illustrators that inspire you? Oh man this is a hard question. I love Sophy Hollington's work - I work a lot in woodcut and lino myself and it's great seeing that someone else is out there doing that too. It's a weird medium to work in nowadays as it can really restrict how you work to a deadline, but usually if a client wants it they're willing to put up with those restrictions. Roman Muradov is a really great illustrator in the truest sense of the word - his work is clever and clearly communicates concepts visually. Jesus Cisneros is brilliant, his work always pushes me to loosen up and open my horizons about what drawing and narrative can be. Honestly although I do look at a lot of illustration, I think the most important thing is to have people who AREN'T illustrators to inspire you, don't get stuck in an echo chamber of your own discipline. Other creative people who really inspire me are: Jon Zabawa (graphic designer, illustrator, art director, allsorts man) Braulio Amado (graphic designer artist type - he's prolific and so creative) Palefroi (this is arguably illustration, but they're a collective of two, and focus on print, art, installations, small press and animation) Ako Castuera (artist and ceramicist) Ali Smith (writer) And that's just contemporary people - I like to look at a lot of stuff from the past as well, and if you asked me next week I'd probably have a different list of people! When you create a new illustration, what is your process? Research > rough exploratory sketches > thumbnailing > work up a couple ideas > pick one and refine it into the final thing. What's your favourite thing to draw right now? I'm really into drawing people's gardens at the moment, especially those ones that are really overly 'done' you know, with sculpted hedges and garden gnomes and stuff. I just think they're really weird. Is illustration your sole income or is it managed around another job? Nope! My illustration work has always always been wrapped around at least one other job. This has varied from cafe/bar jobs, to admin jobs, to teaching. At the moment, I teach part time on the graphic design course at Nottingham Trent. Most illustrators I know work other jobs most of the time - it's pretty standard, especially at the start of your career. Personally I like this, I think I'd go a bit crazy if I was working alone on my own work all the time. I try and stay open to what my working week looks like, because at the end of the day I need an income, and freelance work can come and go. For me, I don't plan to ever go full-time freelance - I don't like the pressure it puts on my work, it can suck the joy out of it when you need it to provide all your food and shelter. Honestly I still consider myself fairly early career, I'm only 26 and it can take a really long time to carve out a creative career, particularly if you don't come from a wealthy background that can offer you a safety net. I worked full time my first year out of uni as a studio assistant, then went from that to working 3 jobs, then did a masters at Glasgow School of Art and now I've moved back home to Derby and until recently I've been working 3 jobs again! Wrapping an illustration career around that has been tough going, so for me it's only now that I feel I have the time and space to start making this all work properly. If illustration is an income, is the work you produce mainly through commissions/selling prints/etc? Mostly commissioned work! I need to develop more of a passive income, and I'd like to get into selling work more. So far it's mostly practicality that's been stopping me, as I've moved every year for the past 4 years. I'm hoping to be a bit more settled soon! Do you find putting your work out there on Instagram helps? And what’s your attitude towards social media? There's no good answer to this. Yes, it helps. I've had a fair bit of work come through Instagram - and most art directors/clients out there look at it even if its not their main way of finding illustrators. But it's not the be all and end all, the work I've had through it is just a product of having my work out there in the world for people to see - that's the important part. So exhibitions, physical and digital mailouts, networking in person, all of those things are just as likely to find you work. Social media is good for getting seen, but it can be a bit of a sinkhole. My attitude is to use it but not get too reliant on it - really I should be a lot better at updating mine, but I find real life gets in the way a lot! Thanks for reminding me to actually get organised with that. Do you find it more productive having a separate studio space vs working from home? Oh my god yes. But as a caveat - I have never had the luxury of a dedicated space at home. I think if I lived somewhere with a spare room I could convert to a studio it would have a pretty similar effect. Studios vary a lot too - I'm on my own in this one, but usually they're shared spaces. I think my dream scenario is to find shared studio space so I have other creative people around me to bounce ideas off and keep me motivated! I think however you work, it is important to get out now and then. Either for a walk or for your second job, whatever it is. If you can say What are your ambitions or future projects? My current plans are a bit up in the air at the moment with the corona virus! As I was saying above - I'm finally getting into a position to push my illustration career a bit, so I'm working on getting some new, self-directed work together. I'd like that work to be a bit multi-discliplinary, and to involve making work to sell so my income is a bit more diverse. I have a lot of big ambitious plans, but for this week I'm just focusing on keeping alive the commission that came in last week - I know it could be a difficult few months ahead and it could be my last in a while. After that, at least I'll have a lot of time to work on personal projects, so hopefully at least my portfolio will benefit! I have a collection of illustrations that I'm working on putting into a book of some kind, and I'm starting to work on getting a collection of prints, textiles and objects together over the next 6 months to start an online shop! I'm looking to get into a more permanent work/home/life set up soon, but who knows - life looks like it's being put on hold for a while. It’s really interesting to hear from an young illustrator and relieves my own internal pressure of having to ‘have my shit together’ as soon as I graduate. I am particularly interested in the people who inspire her as they are from a variety of disciplines. It motivates me to expand my horizons and not be so narrow focussing on work by illustrators. The rebellious and chaotic style of Bráulio Amado is something I’m really drawn to. It welcomes me to accept my own mistakes and be more loose and free with my drawings. Not worrying so much if a hand looks like a hand! The colours are vibrant and full of life. 

She mentions a shared studio space which something I hope for in the future.  Working on your own, I often get in my own head and overthink my pieces. Being in a space with other creatives definitely boosts your own creativity and you can ask questions. It gives another opinion on your work and ways to improve. A shared space opens up avenues for collaboration and collectives. Hopefully I will stay in contact with friends from uni and could be something we all do together!

Action plan:

definitely look at manicured gardens and draw my own! there needs to be a poodle or worm shaped bush

explore more artists from different avenues possibly looking at film/ book festivals for directors, authors

read more books (i have the time now we are quarantined)

[tristanleggett]

The Marketing Secrets Behind the 1st Polish App Development Company

Walt Disney, Nestle, Unilever, Giphy seem to have something in common, besides being world famous.

They worked with Droids On Roids.

A Wroclaw app development company.

Pretty amazing I would say.

Featured in Forbes’ “30 under 30” or Deloitte’s Fast Tech CEE 2017, the Droids on Roids are in very good shape.

So, what lays behind 4-year revenue growth of 761%?

We’ll try to find you the answers.

We’ll dwell into employer branding and marketing strategies to see what led Droids On Roids to build applications for world known brands.

TABLE OF CONTENT

Droids On Roids - Short Overview of the App Development Company

Droids On Roids Marketing Strategies Reverse Engineered

Brand Awareness at the Droids on Roids

The Droids on Roids Website and Conversion Rate Optimization

The Droids on Roids Traffic Acquisition

Content Marketing

The Droids on Roids Social Presence

The Droids On Roids Community Involvement

Employer branding and hiring

Marketing and Process Automation at the Droids On Roids

Wrap Up

Younger than most of the companies we’ve analyzed, the Droids On Roids managed to outsmart competitors and climb to Clutch tops.

What kind of energy fueled this evolution?

Watch and learn.

Droids On Roids - Short Overview of the App Development Company

We call ourselves "Droids" because we enjoy being down to earth and straightforward with people. In this case, “Roids” is our passion for creating the best possible products for our Clients and that is why we might be the Droids On Roids you are looking for. - Wojciech Szwajkiewicz, CEO at Droids On Roids

But what do their clients say about the Droids on Roids? See next:

high-level programming talent, attention to detail

attentive customer service, proactive and responsive

amazing project management skills and overcoming challenges

top notch communication

creativity in developing applications

So, you wanna hang out with Nestle or Disney, or have lunch with Unilever?

Let’s see how these guys do it.

Follow me to find out how:

Content marketing plays out for the Droids on Roids

Employer branding is at the core of the business

Community involvement is a must to get your name heard

You can benefit from open source as a marketing channel

Droids On Roids Marketing Strategies Reverse Engineered

Back in 2017, there was only one person behind Droids on Roids marketing. By the end of the year, the team reached 4.

So, it seems that Kasia Ubysz, their Marketing Manager is really an inbound fan. This explains the search traffic representing almost 70% of the website’s overall monthly traffic (according to Semrush). And that’s really something.

We’ll go deeper in the topic in the following minutes, when we’ll reverse engineer the Droids on Roids marketing strategies.

Brand Awareness at the Droids on Roids

Since 95 percent of the people are imitators and only 5 percent initiators, people are persuaded more by the actions of others than by any proof we can offer ― Robert B. Cialdini, Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion

So, every company should make some buzz around it, via networking, events, in social media, awards. Anything that might enable positive word-of-mouth.

It’s no easy job, this one.

The Droids on Roids Awards

The company is the first mobile app developer in Poland as per Clutch.

Wojciech Szwajkiewicz and Tomasz Muter – CEO & Vice-President of Droids On Roids – are included on the prestigious “30 under 30” list announced in October 2017, in the Polish Forbes magazine.

Only two weeks later, the Droids On Roids were awarded by Deloitte: a proud 17 rank in the Technology Fast 50 Central Europe 2017.

The Droids on Roids Website and Conversion Rate Optimization

Services, technologies, case studies, portfolio, social proof - everything is there, surrounded by an eye-catching design.

But is the website answering potential clients’ basic questions?

What do you do?

Mobile & web app development. Building apps for the US and UK.

How can I trust you?

Here are my most important clients, their testimonials, the open source libraries we created and the awards received so far.

How can I contact you?

Via chat or asking for an estimation. In order to be more convincing, and increase their chances of conversion they are making a promise to the potential client: free estimation within 3 days.

They use pop-ups when the homepage visitor shows exit intent. The pop up leads the visitor to the blog, so they try to move the visitor down in the funnel, educate him.

Next, when trying to exit the blog, there’s another pop-up, trying to move the user from the awareness stage of the journey to the consideration one.

Regarding the conversion rate optimization, they have just installed Hotjar, so they intend to better understand their website user behavior, and probably optimize around that.

It seems that Droids on Roids has experimented with marketing automation, first with Hubspot, and more recently with user.com

The Droids on Roids Traffic Acquisition

Direct and search traffic account for almost 90% of the website traffic.

Just like the case of most of the B2B software companies, I'm suspecting direct traffic might be due to:

branding efforts within offline events

referral traffic not tagged (Clutch included)

sales reps activities (they have two new business developers in the team)

Content Marketing

The main blog categories are business, scrum, UI, UX, Android, iOS, news, java, kotlin.

The technical themes are mainly covered by devs.

If we take a look at their top pages, we get this:

Earlier we just said that they are into mobile & web app development. Well, their most traffic comes via blog posts tackling android development.

The homepage also gets an important amount of traffic. That correlates with the 30%+ of direct website traffic.

And if we peek at their most important keywords:

we see “app development”, “android” related keywords.

So, they are really focused on their content strategy and it’s working well.

Now, let’s move on to case studies.

Case studies are also part of their content strategy.

The latest thing for Droids on Roids is the ebook on Flutter. Here's the lead magned they did:

It seems the ebook was a hit, as per this post:

So, they've got 1200 downloads, great reviews from Flutter responsibles inside Google and 1st global position for "Flutter pros and cons" and "apps made with Flutter". Great job, guys!

Moving on, the thing that caught my eye, as I haven’t seen it done by other software houses is a product design workshop:

When potential clients aren’t “warm” enough to sign the contract, the workshop might be the perfect way to introduce yourself to the client and let him taste a bit from the experience of working with you.

So...a potential funnel for the Droids could be: organic traffic to blog post -> ebook download -> workshop enrolment->sale.

Backlinks to Support Content Marketing

Looking good: do-follow backlinks from websites with domain rating above 70. The websites are technical or promoting jobs and events.

One could recognize here: Reddit, Behance, Medium, Stackoverflow, Meetup.com.

The Droids on Roids Paid Traffic Acquisition

Keywords they bid on relate to mobile app development, which is consistent with their content strategy also.

But they seem they’ve taken on a new challenge: IoT.

As per the display ads, the positioning is original: a 4-person development team at the cost of max $15.6k. Or Mobiles Developers, Tester and Scrum Master: 3 for 1 price.

At this very moment, the company uses Facebook sponsored posts for job hiring promotion.

The Droids on Roids Social Media Presence

As we've already been used to, Facebook is mostly used for employer branding, and LinkedIn messaging is addressing mainly potential clients.

The Droids on Roids Facebook Page

2900+ Facebook followers get regular updates from Droids on Roids regarding events they’re hosting, blog posts they’ve created, team events, jobs available.

Facebook’s posts are headed mostly towards posing as a great employer, with a great team and office.

Because most of the posts are people-oriented, this might explain the engagement rate that is higher than for other software houses we’ve analyzed.

Instagram

The Instagram account is clearly employer branding focused. This is the case for all the software houses we’ve analyzed so far.

It’s all about the:

events they organize, attend to

creative people

having fun at the job

the amazing office and cozy environment

celebrating success

hiring opportunities

company culture

Linkedin

On their Linkedin profile the Droids share jobs available, awards they’ve received, events they’ve been to or organized. So the focus goes both the client and the employee way.

The posts are happening around twice a month.

The blog articles are being promoted. A business should never miss a chance to discover new audiences for the blog content: be it social media, Medium, Dribbble, there’s nothing to lose.

Twitter

The stories on Linkedin or Facebook are encountered on Twitter also, the messaging is being adapted to the specifics on each platform.

Unlike Monterail, the messaging here is not really client-oriented, it is mostly about employer branding.

Events, jobs, blog articles, it’s all on Twitter.

Dribbble

The engaging on Dribbble is simply fantastic. They’re getting close to Netguru’s Dribbble stats.

They really know how to show off their design skills, be it android, iOS, front-end or product design.

Open Source Libraries as a Marketing Channel

Remember this screenshot?

I hope it didn’t go unnoticed.

This is one of my favorite Droids on Roids initiatives on the marketing side.

They’ve put a lot of work in developing open source libraries but it finally paid out.

I mean, who gets to say that they’ve impressed Facebook or Whatsapp?

This really brought value to the user and managed to exhibit a lot of development skills.

So, if you're doing this, make it stand out!

The Droids On Roids Community Involvement

These guys are really into networking, from organizing to hosting and sponsoring, they’re everywhere.

The droids are coming! They are pretty much everywhere, educating developers and designers during events such as:

Meetups for iOS developers or designers (Dribbbble meetups)

Meetups for Androids developers

iOS and Androids bootcamps

Lectures around iOS and Android development

Sponsoring tech meetups

Employer branding and hiring

No Glassdoor profile found, yet. There are some statements in one of their blog posts, but too biased to be reliable.

They’re looking to expand the team and they’re being open in terms of salary and perks.

It’s interesting that they’re making a Golang turn, the Google-backed programming language.

They really love their office cool look and are using this as a magnet for future employees.

No sacrifice is enough to get the right dude/dudette for the job, they’re willing to cover relocation fees.

There is so much focus on employer branding because the right talent is hard to find, competition is fierce, the average tenure being around 2 years.

Conclusions

Now, what seems to be the success recipe for the Droids on Roids?

Building the right team - of developers, marketers, management

Build a strong company culture

Excel at project management skills

Have a strategic approach to content marketing

Meetups, conferences, you gotta be there!

“Work hard, play hard” seems to be the secret of Droids On Roids.

But the story doesn’t end here, in Wroclaw.

We are aiming for a bigger picture. A picture where software houses in Poznan, Wroclaw, Warsaw and Krakow are fighting for supremacy, where Netguru, Monterail, Droids on Roids and other knocking down barriers.

if(window.strchfSettings === undefined) window.strchfSettings = {}; window.strchfSettings.stats = {url: "https://man-digital.storychief.io/app-development?id=875681256&type=12",title: "The Marketing Secrets Behind the 1st Polish App Development Company",id: "4f08255c-5e51-436c-99aa-71482a308009"}; (function(d, s, id) { var js, sjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) {window.strchf.update(); return;} js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = "https://d37oebn0w9ir6a.cloudfront.net/scripts/v0/strchf.js"; js.async = true; sjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, sjs); }(document, 'script', 'storychief-jssdk')) from Digital Marketing Automation Consulting | MAN Digital https://mandigitalblog.blogspot.com/2019/05/the-marketing-secrets-behind-1st-polish.html via https://mandigitalblog.blogspot.com/ Read more on our blog MAN Digital MAN Digital Blogger

[sustainable-cia]

Blogger 2019

Blogging: One interesting point to become is that, the more traffic you have at your site, the greater your chances are to slide up on search engine results read how to start a blog Dilemma then, is the places do an individual that initial flow of customers, clients, or readers to make your website vicinity that they regularly have a look at? Know your target readership. In any type of business, researching the target market is extremely important. You need to know what folks are on the lookout for so you'll know exactly in order to offer them. Consider conducting interviews or running reviews. The more you are aware of about these people, the easier it will have for in which get right through to them and that is exactly what you'll need to win their operation. A baby boomer person should to be able to born around the connected with 1940 and 1960, this time of time is also called as the "Post-World War II baby boom era". Conventional they spent your youth during the "Peace and Love" means of behaving. Computers during the moment were still being used mainly via Military. These people big, bulky and only used for scientific how to create a blog wordpress guide for beginner’s facts. The Internet was still at the back of "Al Gore's" mind. Download and open the Kubrick header (kubrickheader.jpg). Note the size the graphic- 760px wide by 200px high. Quite important if the dimensions exactly exact same way when changing the graphics but not messing with the style sheet or perhaps HTML. Add another layer. Save as "kubrickheader2.jpg" (in Photoshop use "Save for Internet.")."Save" after each walk. Start more interested in Wordpress as well as the array of plugins and templates, and you'll start to get dizzy, waste a lot of effort, and yet not have your blog up and running. By using private label resell right articles the insulation is already chosen to be able to. I suggest you find typically the most popular topics around the internet as nowadays March 6, 2010. The perfect resource is to use Google Trends, EBay Pulse, Amazon and Lycos lots of. Then find some article that understand the more widely used topics about the. If an individual reading suggestions then it's likely which you are marketing your online business. If not then make sure you start gone. There are 1.5 billion internet users, a number which expanding by the day, all looking for the solution to a problem or researching their next purchasing. You want be sure that you are there when prospects decide to make their purchase with their credit card in the company. You need Auction Classified Cash. The reason one of the people unique guides that dispatch. You could easily have a classified ad on eBay be providing you with in money within a few minutes. You don't even in order to be having a merchandise to begin to make money. You can show others how become worse money using other people's products.

 Tags: how to create a blog, start a blog

  Setup Free blog: free blog setup, Recent legal developments have alerted nearly every affiliate how the terms to their relationship with sponsors most likely is not as good as they thought. The campaign is product sales tax circumstance. When states pass law requiring sites like Amazon to pay sales tax because the site has affiliates in the site, end result is predictable - the affiliates are terminated. Just like that. Without cause. In spite of the fact the affiliate sometimes have sent connected with traffic. Pursuant to the terms of the affiliate agreement, there does not recourse for the terminated marketers. The initial few calls brought to mind my early days of contacting the same type of leads. I could relate, but after 15 or so calls it became just annoying. Via the time the 22nd call came in I am turned off of. I really feel unhealthy for and the wonderful who are exceedingly desperate, want to start up a home based business. Most of them I know would be turned off by folks calls. Your marketplace is other network companies. These are individuals who understand your business works and much more likely to learn about your opportunity. For all those who have no idea what fanfiction is or never heard the term fancies before - it's basically the development of fictional content based a good already existing storyline. For example, consider characters within your favorite anime or franchise and write your own story within that same universe and let your creativity just flow.

Tags: free WordPress blog setup, setup free wordpress blog

 Add Google Webmaster tools: how to add Google webmaster tools in WordPress, Optimize your website. Your website should be SEO hospitable. You do this by coming into some simple research of keywords which have been highly goal. After you find these targeted and valuable keywords, correctly using them in your internet site is what makes your site search engine optimized. Getting links from relevant websites. Get links from sites which have relevant towards the business, product or service back with the important keyword pages. These industry links are "relevant" links but are highly valued by search engines. Tips: Avoid reciprocal linking unless it's with couple of select partners and as well as for the purposes of link starting out. Another option, three-way link building is often tedious and filled with rejection. I'd personally focus on "value" based link obtaining. Although Google keeps its algorithm secret - good process or formula that they use gain a webpage - some factors identified. You can read what Google has declare on subject matter in the how to add website to Google webmaster help files - just put in those words as pursuit clue as part of your this. Google's main objective is and starts to give users search engine results which are of help to them. The word that they use over and over to describe this is applicable. It's easy to forget just how far we've are search engine quality. I've just been using a primitive search engine on an affiliate site which sells books. Includes instructive discover just how hopeless their search engine is. For that terms Looked on, any huge selection of results were produced yet I wasn't able to find the things i wanted.

Tags: add Google webmasters tools to blog, add Google webmaster in WordPress blog

Install wordpress manually in cpanel: How to install wordpress manually in cpanel, However, in HTML, somebody less fortunate to insert "base" plus your website confront. By specifying "base", the browser can direct to the number one site. This alerts the various search engine of the primacy house page. Also, this action saves you time in editing inner pages. If you are having problems deciding for you to promote, then for tips on product selection, keywords and web-site naming check the actual free video course and also the review site links several a few tips. I specifically require with any hosting service that I exploit can how to install wp manually with a cute single click or numerous simple taps. HostGator offers Fantastico De Luxe and QuickInstall alternatives for easily installing WordPress most other scripts to establish your website (i.e. Joomla and others). Install in Directory - If you must install wordpress manually from the Root Directory then you permit this field blank. People put it in its very directory then you will want to the name among the new submission sites. You can name this anything you wish but be sure the directory doesn't already exist.

 Tags: how to install WordPress manually beginners guide, setup wordpress blog manually in cpanel

Install wordpress plugins : How to Install WordPress plugins : I don't think Amazon Associates has a referral program -- however know folks also earn much money thru their a Store which I haven't fully explored yet -- please let me know your experiences this sort of factors! Another one of several best blogging tools is employing trackback. This lets you come up with a link for a behavior which you posted earlier. You can also backlink to other blogs and the blogging software will recognized the link. It's actually quite simple and is a very good way to be able to value to your blog for the readers. You can write a step by step tutorial on how to create a blog or down the road . write concerning how to how to install wordpress plugins blogging. Where to host the websites? If the blog is self hosted, ways to setup your site with the custom hosting account? Enhance profits with templates for blog design and obtaining free templates? How to optimize the blogs for search engine results positioning. If you include all the data about these, it gives a beginners guide to blogging.

 Tags: Install Wordpress plugins step by step guide, Install Wordpress plugins tutorial for beginners

Install wordpress themes: How to install Wordpress themes, I personally start building a well rounded backlinks portfolio from can be I launch a site or weblog. This is because it takes a period for build backlinks portfolio and becoming ranked particular keyword on the net. Content Mistakes: I count this as design, simply because it contributes into the general aesthetics of your web site. Grammar and spelling mistakes in web site posts are a killer. I know it happens, through the night . in awhile it just isn't any big topic. However, if you continually get some things wrong and your site content are plagued by them, men and women will be deterred. This includes things like properly titling your post. In general it is a best practice to capitalize each word in weblog post (besides commons words like and, or for example.). The wordpress drafts equate the Quality install wordpress themes. The grade of install wordpress themes imply all for the specific themes are maintain met. In a position for you of finding the good quality of install wordpress themes, you need for considering associated with money things and below are a handful of the tips that you'd like to bear in mind.

Tags: Install wordpress themes step by step, how to install WordPress themes for beginners

 Best Website Hosting: Website hosting, Looking in the robustness in regards to a site is likewise extremely important aimed within your site and ultimately your internet business success. Hosts normally have several backup systems if something fails with all of the main web servers. They can also promise less "down time" by backup power brands. I wouldn't utilize a sponsor unless the grade of at the lowest quantity of a 97% uptime makes sure of. These hits don't seem like really efficient gear in analyzing site traffic. Your interpretation is to be extra accurate if view the group guests which were coming inside your website. Relating to the similar critique. Your analysis can be extra precise in a position to accomplish an excellent selection of site traffic. But whenever you aren't getting huge variety of web page guests, a lot your analysis might be misinterpreted. It is a good idea to call up a provider before What is web hosting determine to hire them to ask them a number of questions. You will quickly ability to find out how good top quality of consumer support is, and your kids help anyone to make your decision.

 Tags: best wordpress website hosting companies, top website hosting companies

  Wordpress: What is WordPress, Reality check: A "blog" is a "website." Indeed, I a great number of other people I know have both traditional "blogs" and "websites" all running on the identical software, but now "blogs" differing only typically the function of allowing site visitors to leave their feed-back. Allow Unregistered Users to write Comments - This is the choice. However, to reduce spam, I'd require users to be registered before posting comments. But the choice is your site. The SEO Score is commonly used to great effect by SEO Pressor. The plugins will forever keep checking the SEO Score from the website in which it is applied and the idea will strive improve the product. It will do a involving tweaks near the website and additionally prompt that is called to apply some changes so that the website's prospects are What is wordpress gotten better. These changes are guaranteed to deliver up the prospects for this website-so much that the web page could figure within methods to use 3 response of Google. Tags: learn wordpress, wordpress tutorials

 Setup Wordpress SEO: how to setup wordpress SEO, Numerous people are amazed when they listen about these forms of earnings but it's true. Nearly all sites bought for reduce one hundred dollars so a person they make a five figure earning? Considering pros be aware formula to begin sites quickly and understand how to handle a site at a slightly higher price than most persons. The more they make and deal, modern they help to make. Pick a matter and break it right down to several short installments. As opposed to pouring everything you've got in one long ebook, chunk primary topics to a few sub topics that might convert to shorter many. For instance, if you are writing about WordPress search engine optimization, you may write about these: SEO: Why content remains the king, SEO: Sitemaps are actually they the actual they complete for you, SEO: Do hidden or paid links really your job?, SEO: The best SEO tools over the web today, etc. By doing so, you will have the ability to create a lot of electronic books that may perhaps result in more sales and return.

Tags: WordPress SEO setup, SEO for WordPress blog

 Best Wordpress plugins: Wordpress plugins, this plugins really serves no purpose except that making client feel warm and fuzzy without in order to take period to check out the far superior data provided by Google Stats tracking. Stat press Visitors shows the last 1 month of traffic separated by Visitors, Page views, RSS Feeds and Search engine spiders. It will also demonstrate that last 30 or less keywords and check engines that brought site the internet page. I wouldn't rely upon the data to sell advertising, but for an overview it can give a quick snapshot. Fun. but laborious. Because "one and done" in the internet marketing world usually means that they are through with you, your own business, additionally your blog after one visit if you don't need the goods. You can't put a notch with your lipstick case just reality person visits you. The truth is that very same don't buy anything a person until have got had much less 6 marketing touch marks. Choose Wisely, your success depends upon proper choices from healthy. So take all the time you need, haste does definitely make waste when thinking about Internet best wordpress plugins for small business reselling.

 Tags; Best wordpress plugins for small business website, most important wordpress plugins for beginners, compare hosting

[mykuerilla-blog]

The Concept

The reason as to why I started my website far too late is because of Laziness. There was also the fact that I didn’t have good ideas coming in. Most of them lingered around recipes, motivational content, etc. These are great ideas to get me started with HTML. But they could easily be posted elsewhere in Tumblr, Facebook pages, etc. I was keen on doing something that neither Tumblr, nor any Facebook group could do.

It wasn’t soon ago that I had a revelation for the best idea my mind could possibly think of.  The idea was to develop a website for the creative people of Kingston Uni. The website is one for the students of Kingston who are specializing in the different areas to collaborate and share ideas to make wonderful pieces of art. Having skipped all of the workshop sessions where students present ideas for their website, I stood the massive disadvantage of not having a second opinion on my idea for the website. Despite the risks for getting a low grade, I felt that this idea could be very helpful for the students if it were to take shape. There were occasions where I posted on my halls Facebook group looking for collaborators and joined groups such as London Filmmakers Connect- but these were of no use at all. Then again, there are practically thousands of filmmaking networking worldwide and at least a few of them in the UK. Despite all this and being a filmmaker or more specifically, an aspiring filmmaker, I still haven’t made a single film in my 2 years here. Laziness, as mentioned before, is foremost when it comes to the reason for it. But looking into it deeper, I have realized that these filmmaker groups never really worked out for me because most people in it wish to collaborate with professionals or hire them (as the work requirements often specified). Not having a colorful portfolio loaded with the work experience, I often got stuck in the comfort zone of staying on my bed and watching films and motivational videos. There also was the scale-factor, i.e. it just felt too much of a big thing to travel even up to central London and meet-up with a lot of highly expectant ‘professionals’.  The social film-networking sites I have checked out seemed too over-whelming for me. Some websites that I checked out for film networking, even charge for membership! I belong to the kind of people who would be willing to pay for something worth 50 pounds on amazon but frown over the 4.99 pound delivery charge.   These, by no means, were places for an inexperienced teenager who was looking to learn and have fun by making something over the weekends.  

Thinking on how I could overcome these obstacles, I decided to bring the scale down in terms of distance and expectations to make a website solely for Kingston University students who are specializing in the creative industries. Now it is quite obvious for someone to think that I could have joined some filmmaking society within the Uni itself to expand my contacts and also get some creative works done.

From having been in a couple of societies, I have seen that the spark in them only lasts for the first few weeks. After wards, pretty much everyone settles in to their normal lives of lectures, part-time jobs and clubbing. Kingston also sadly doesn’t have a filmmaker’s society nor is there a refined platform solely for the purpose of encouraging collaboration between students with different skills. Thus my idea stemmed from the constant desire to make some films.

Not only my personal experience of not being able to find like-minded people, but a few of my friends in the creative fields also have had issues like these in the past. A fashion student in search of a good model and a photographer; singer in search of a filmmaker to make a music video; a director wanting some crew members and a story- are some of the common situations.

Our being in the university pretty much explains why we are nothing but amateurs who are yet to learn a lot. Thus my main intentions with creating a platform like this would be not only to promote collaborations but also to create opportunities to learn more while doing so. As Stanley Kubrick put it, ‘you only learn more but making it’.

I have also thought of the possibility of using this site to make a reliable crew with whom I could often work with to produce low-budget short films which I could send to film festivals. The main visitors, as mentioned in the proposal,  would be anyone who wishes to work in the creative industries- this would cover mainly those who are interested in fashion, film, music, performing arts, Etc. Elaborating the aforementioned example; a singer has a song ready and wishes to get a video made for her YouTube channel. She could go to my website and fin a videographer and editor from the site whose works have been featured in the film section. The website shall function by featuring the mini-portfolios of the each individual in the respective categories they specialize in. Or maybe a Kingston Uni society wants one of their events recorded, they could do the same as the singer girl above.

So in conclusion, briefly repeating, I intend to make a website for the Kingston Uni students to help ‘discover’ each other’s talents and work together by combing these talents. One of the biggest risks I will be taking in terms of coming up with an idea like this is that I am not sure as to how many individuals are out there like me- who wish to make something creative but at the same time are lazy, overwhelmed and  clueless about where to start. With this risk in my mind, I am willing to move ahead with this idea. I am prepared to take my chances and go ahead because if at the end of the day, this website helps me find at least one like-minded work partner or at least a rival to motivate me, I would be more than satisfied.

[iona32]

Project Brief:

For this project you will use all of the skills that you acquired during you 1st year, and combined with new skills you will learn these will enable you to build Creative Professional Photography Portfolio. This portfolio will play an integral part in deciding your future and will be used as a tool to enable you attain either your place in Higher Education or in the workplace.

You will invest much time critically analyzing of your skills and your awareness of the profession you will be entering to enable you to pass this project. Self-evaluation and reflection will be key to your success in this project.

Refinement and Reflection

I presented my photos Monday 4th December to my class and got some really good feedback. I explained which photos I liked better and which ones I didn’t really like as well as saying what I’ve learnt from this project and what I’ve taken away from it. I also mentioned vaguely the way I edited my images and if I had put them on social media at all.

I got told that lighting on a couple photos was really good and that the photos I didn’t really like (the first image and the 9th image), everyone else did like. I explained that I preferred other images to others and said that even though I might not have liked them, I think they are still better than my other photos.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

When editing my photos, I got some help on what I should change specifically so that helped even before the presentation. For the chocolate blocks in particular, I got told to make the white chocolate brighter so they actually look white instead of the dim and boring colour that they were.

After I presented, it got suggested that if I were to do this type of project again, I could make the photos into more of a story line. I like this idea because it would add a lot more context into my images. Giving them a story line would possibly make them more interesting and I only didn’t do it for this project because I was new at food photography and just wanted to start anew with it. I didn’t know much before this project and I didn’t just want to jump into something I might have been rubbish at. I would consider doing this idea more in a future project though.

I do think that my project went well. I’m okay with my final images even though I like some images more than others. I am proud of the images I took and how I edited them. I was most happy with the fact the fact that I could do this project in my own home. I felt comfortable there and I didn’t have to go out of my way to plan something that could have gone wrong which I liked.

Evaluation:

In this evaluation, I will be critically reflect my work and what I have learnt. I will be using Gibbs Reflective Cycle technique to do this. The headings are description, feelings, evaluation, analysis, conclusion and action plan.

    Description:

I chose food photography originally for the main reason that I really liked food. I looked into food photography and realised that I would really enjoy doing it. I researched into it, found websites to help me and books too. It all helped. I looked into food photographers from today and in history and found some quite interesting things about all them. I not only enjoyed doing food photography but I did enjoy researching about it too. I liked looking into all the different aspects and styles that each photographer used.

After looking into it all, I began test shooting. I know I was quite basic at it first but I do think that I have gotten a lot better since the beginning of this project. I would definitely do this project again.

I had a lot of other reasons I chose to do food photography too, not just due to the food aspect. I liked the idea of doing something I hadn’t done before but was till within my comfort zone as then I knew I would be better at it than if I was doing something like fashion photography. I also liked the idea of doing something that no one else was doing. People in my class mainly did different styles of landscapes and portraits which are both great but I just wanted to do something different to them and my previous projects. I am glad that I achieved this goal and I am very happy with my final images.

Feelings:

Throughout this project, I’ve had lots of different emotions. I began feeling worried about this project and then I started to feel more confident when my work started to get better and I got better at food photography and the whole editing process. I remember getting really stressed out during this project. Whether it was over buying ingredients, blog work or even getting my bursary from college as that was messing up too. If I didn’t get that then I couldn’t do anything which would not help my stress levels at all.

Throughout this project, I have been enthusiastic about food photography but not so much enthusiasm came with blog work. I did get stressed a lot though but as it came closer to the end of the project, my stress level went down and everything was becoming a little more chill. I didn’t like being stressed because I panicked and tried to do as much as possible.

Once my photos were all edited and printed, it was like a weight was lifted off my shoulders. I felt a lot better because I knew that from then on, I only had blog work to do. I just kept thinking that if I could get this done soon enough, I don’t have to worry about it anymore so I can just enjoy Christmas.

I do feel like I could have done better though. I feel like if I had planned out my shoots better, that could have helped. Also if I had put my images into a storyboard, I think that would have presented my work better and might have added more interest from viewers. I am proud of my final images as they are though.

Evaluation and Analysis:

I had quite a few different bad things happen to me throughout this project, some worse than others. The first thing that was really annoying was where I placed everything in my images and what things were in the background. This was a problem because if things were in the background that weren’t mean to be there, the image would look really messy and just wouldn’t look like very much of a nice image. I grew to take more notice of what was in my photos as my project went on which I am glad about.

Another issue I had within this project was money, I get bursary but if that didn’t come through then I struggled to either come into college or buy ingredients. Sometimes I had to ask my mum and then pay her back or sometimes I would just do a particular shoot another day.

Timing was another issue. My shoots depended on the amount of time I had to make the food based on how long it was light outside and whether or not I was at my friends house. Natural light from my kitchen window worked better than the actual lights so I tried to finish shoots before it went dark but sometimes that didn’t happen. Either due to having to go get extra ingredients or the times I was at my friends house.

I sometimes didn’t like how my food turned out so they would either be scrapped or I would do what I could with them, but I probably wouldn’t do anything with them. If something did go wrong then it was probably that I didn’t shoot early enough so I failed to capture the natural lighting or I was missing ingredients so I had to go out and get them before the shoots which took time, which led to not getting so much time for daylight.

One last bad thing was that I didn’t like stopping and starting making stuff to take the photos. I didn’t like the idea of leaving the mix or food just sitting there so I tried to be as quick as possible.

Thankfully, I had more good things to say about this project than bad. First off, I enjoyed this project. It was fun and I think I enjoyed it more because I simply liked the food I baking. I enjoyed eating the food afterwards and the making process too. I am really glad I chose a project where I got to include food.

I am happy with what I chose after all of it because I know I got better at it. If I hadn’t and just stayed at the point I was at at the beginning of this project then I don’t think I would have liked this as much.

I am glad at the fact that I got good responses on the social media that I posted on. I posted on Instagram and 500PX and am very happy as I got likes and a few comments telling me that I am good at food photography.

If a shoot did fail, I either scrapped it, tried again or I did what I could with it. I didn’t like scrapping an idea or shoot because the stuff I baked tasted really nice so if the images didn’t turn out good, it would make me a little sad or disappointed that I couldn’t make it work. I lost my confidence a little if something didn’t turn out right because I initially thought I could do it, even though if it went wrong, it wasn’t my fault. It was due to lighting/timing or money.

Conclusion and Action Plan:

If I were to have done this project differently, I would have put my photos into more of a story-line. I would take more photos and try to tell a story to viewers instead of just taking photos them being individual photos. I would also try to take photos other than brownies and other foods that would appeal to people with a sweet tooth. I did make a pizza at the beginning of this project but I didn’t like how it turned out or even tasted but I think that was just the source that I used. In the future, I would like to make pizza again but better, maybe pasta meals. But even if I don’t do that, I could always take photos of meals that my dad cooks as they can look quite nice too.

If I were to do this project again, I think I would definitely make it more of a story. Include the process more and try to get something across to viewers instead of just showing them a photo. I would like to make like a story board sort of look like I did in my Final Major Project last year. I think this would make my project better as it worked really well last year when I did it.

Another thing that I would do if I were to do this again would be to get better baking and/or cooking equipment as I would like to have more colourful or nicer looking things as the things I have right now are quite plain and basic colours. I think it would make my photos better. I would also like new baking tins and simple looking things as a lot of what I have at home, we’ve had for quite a few years so I would like to just update some things. One thing I would like to have is wooden equipment like a wooden chopping board or wooden handled cutlery. I like this idea because it would give my photos a theme and make them have a sort of natural aesthetic.

    Task 5 – Presentation of Portfolio Project Brief: For this project you will use all of the skills that you acquired during you 1st year, and combined with new skills you will learn these will enable you to build Creative Professional Photography Portfolio.

[promomagazine]

A Quick Q&A With Phootgrapher Matteo Malavasi

-Do you agree that you are challenged everyday to create something that has never been created before?

The inner desire of artists is to create something that has never been created before. But the reality is that modern age does now allow to create something new easily. Therefore the real challenge is, in my opinion, to understand in depth what working with aesthetics issues means. Then, working hard with available languages is the real challenge in order to be able to create a personal style. If time will define our work like something which has never been created before, that will mean that our effort has reached the goal.

-Can you describe your creative process? What do you look for when creating a shoot and do your shoot line up to be what you expected?

When approaching an artistic project, my inspiration comes from the interaction of many different perspectives. An artistic concept can starts from an intellectual research that I am interested in developing, from a simple suggestion or from a personal imaginary.

Of course, when the concept is clear inside my mind, I have to think how to properly reproduce it into the real world. This means to make it perceptible in the final product. If the idea is clear to myself, then the result will be very close to what I expected. The key is the accuracy applied in all details of the project.

-You have to have a favorite artist in mind that drives your creativity or inspires you, who is it?

I am fascinated by art in general, from ancient ages to modern productions. I always try to grasp ‘secrets’ from everything which looks interesting, both in the real life and in art. I could mention some well known names from very different areas: from Andrey Tarkovskij to Maurice Ravel, from Vasilij Kandinskij to Marcel Proust and so on. I always look for good examples in order to be able to refine my thoughts.

-How would you describe yourself as a person & artist?

Curious, responsive, indefatigable and immovable (…and here I laugh!)

-How did you know you wanted to be a photographer?

It was a long process. I grow up in the artistic environment as contemporary classical composer. I worked also with electronic music, I explored interactive performances using different media and also exploring video technology. Then I felt the necessity of moving somewhere else, having further experiences. Therefore, I decided to write a movie, thus, I wrote, directed and produced independently my first feature film. From there, the interest in photography has become predominant and the new career began.

-Do you have a favorite photographers who inspire you? Why is that?

I enjoy looking at the work of classic photographers like Cartier Bresson, Robert Doisneau, Man Ray and others. About modern photography, I like Peter Lindbergh’s pictures, I enjoy that sort of natural and deep looking, but always refined. I also like Helmut Newton, Patrick Demarchelier and Steven Meisel’s photography. I like their genuine elegance even when their photography is provocative. I also enjoy Tim Walker’s photography for his genuine and bizarre creativity.

-Can you describe one of your favorite projects that you have worked on and why was it your favorite?

I think my favorite project is going to come, but I always say that any time I finish a project!! 

Well, a project that I have enjoyed is called ‘Réciprocité'. A very simple concept, an abstract interpretation of the ‘antagonistic and attractive reciprocity’. I enjoyed the simplicity of this concept. Then I enjoyed the production, I drew carefully all frames I was going to shoot, I worked closely with the stylist who made dresses for this project and then it was nice building by myself all props and studio settings, even if they were not so complex. Finally, the simplicity and clarity of the final images were the real pleasure.

-We have taken a look at your website/portfolio Online, how do you want the viewer to feel when looking at your work?

I want the viewer to feel free in front of my pictures, enjoying images for what they are.

-Do you ever collaborate with designer brands.

Well, I do not collaborate with international brands yet. But I often collaborate with local designer brands. Sometimes for their needs and sometimes asking them new design for my projects.

-In the artistic world of photographers, do you see yourself not only trying to achieve your perfect shoot but also being known for your work?

In some way these two aspects appear to be parallel. It is useful that a good work becomes also known. Not only because it can be a pleasure, but mainly, having recognitions represents a stimulus in order to continuously develop my own production.

-If you could shoot an editorial anywhere in the world, where would you go? Why is that?

Interesting question! I have never thought about it! I will think an appropriate answer when I start being involved in big productions …where everything is possible!

Anyway, I actually think that any place can be the right place where taken a good picture. All depends on what you have in mind and what the projects consists of. Sometimes limits are the key to achieve the best result.

-What was the main reason that you decided to become a photographer?

Fascinated by the meaning and the deepness that a single frame can reach, I decided to change my life and start a new career focusing on still images.

-Tell me about your latest shoot. What was your vision when you created it?

The latest shoot is an editorial work called ‘Idée Ornementale’ (Ornamental Idea). That project began from a very simple concept: using the model as part of the environment, not just posing, but interacting like she was an ornamental part of it. I drew quite a few sketches of situations which could better represent that idea. A dress designer created wonderful and colorful dresses for this project matching the location’s style. Then, I interacted with the model trying to involve also her in the role, and she has enjoyed that with great sense of humor. At the end, the result was softer related to my original drawings, but the experience was excellent and I really enjoyed the fresh and genuine impact that I had in front of the final pictures …and definitely, we had a great time during the shoot!

-To be a photographer, you had to undergo a lot of struggles. What was the most difficult obstacle for you when putting together a shoot?

To be honest, I have never had such difficult obstacles. Of course, difficulties are always on the way for many reasons, and sometimes I have to drive projects differently from what they were at the beginning. Surely, I have been always organized and flexible in order to be able to solve possible unexpected events. At the beginning of my career I found myself taking risks, organizing projects more complex than what I expected, but that was simply exciting and, in some way, it is part of the job.

-Does your personal life ever effect how you compose your shoots or do you have a set schedule/formula that you follow? What is it exactly?

Artistic work is part of my life and my life is part of my artistic research. It can not be otherwise for me. The final result is not just the right control of technics. Of course, there are practical formula that are applied on set, but that is just the technics that you have to be aware of.

The artistic result is the mix between personal sensitivity and culture, personal research and the whole experience that a person achieves in his/her life.

-Who excites you the most (Celebrity) & why?

I am not excited by a particular person, I am interested in skilled people who are able to say interesting things (also in a figurative way), regardless the area of interest.

-If you had to pass on a suggestion for someone starting out in photography, what would you tell them?

I would tell them to work hard, to listen to people who have experience, to not only be interested in photography, but to be interested in anything which is really interesting in life, trying to grasp all details which make those things really interesting. Then, I would tell them to be organized, developing a strong method of work in order to be effective, and then, to be full of initiative. Finally, I would tell them again to work hard, to be aware of their personal focuses and time will give them back something if their work has a value.

-How is your style of photography different from others different from any other photographers?

I always try to be personal, recently my style has been evolving and I am moving towards a natural and refined style. But this is not particularly different from others. Then, there is something deeper in defining a style, and this is something which is difficult to explain: first, it is the personal background which interacts with the artistic production making things really different, then I feel to have a natural and personal aptitude in looking and framing subjects. The interaction of all these aspects makes my pictures personal and different from others.

-What are your world-dominating goal.

To be creative!

[laurabartlettrsj-blog]

Talking Heads- my group, Community

Throughout this project we have had discussions with guests Gemma Wright and Mathew Raw who have shed some light on the topic of community in the art world. Gemma is currently the head of education at Camden Arts Centre, whilst Mathew is a ceramicist who graduated from the Royal college of art and now works as a collective with his former course mates, called ‘Manifold’- meaning many hands. It has been really interesting to get a deeper insight into what community means and what it can be as both these artists engage in different sorts of communities. Some of the topics covered in the discussion were online communities, group work, sharing a studio, collectives, arts centers and workshops.

Camden arts Centre

Camden Arts Centre is a free gallery which has a strong educational ethos. It aims to be accessible to people of all backgrounds especially those who have perhaps never been to an art exhibition before. They challenge the idea of art being a white, middle class pursuit. They break down preconceptions that people may have by running artist in residence workshops for children from disadvantaged backgrounds as well as youth groups, and family sessions. By incorporating exhibitions with talks from the artist’s themselves as well as an opportunity to see their studio space, they give visitors a more personal experience compared to other galleries. The interaction between artists and the public is the forefront of their program. They are constantly endeavoring to come up with more initiatives to bring in the local community. Gemma’s future plans, as head of education are to respond to budget cuts in arts education and continuing to address the current political and social climate.

Outreach at Camden Arts Centre

Camden Arts Centre mainly focuses on reaching out to four main groups of people: educators, families, young people, schools and colleges. These groups of people are often more orientated towards academic subjects and can be sceptical towards the arts. However, Camden Arts Centre tries to engage everyone. The centre has an Equality and Diversity policy that is updated every year. They recognise that ‘all individuals are different and should be treated differently in accordance with their needs.’ The Centre follows this policy in a range of ways. For example, they have a range of bilingual tour guides, volunteers are treated well with travel expenses paid and discounts at the café and artists in residence are well paid including pay for any meetings they attend.

Many of the courses for schools that they offer are free but if they are not, prices are subsidised if it is a state school.

Studio Manifold

Studio Manifold are a group of 9 Royal College of Art MA Ceramics students who graduated in 2010 and subsequently set up a collective, encompassing their wide range of skills as individuals under one name. Within the collective all 9 artists and designers operate individual practices as well as under Studio Manifold name, allowing them a great deal of

flexibility in how they work. Starting a collective, particularly such a large one, allowed them to afford rent of a large studio in East London and well as all the equipment and furniture that they need such a kiln and workbenches. To promote the collective, they made a publication and a website, through which they began to attract jobs which they would perhaps not have attracted as individuals.

Online Communities

Giving the amount of people who use the internet every day, it is more important than ever for artists to have an online profile which people can easily find or stumble across. Difficult as it may seem to get your work noticed online, brilliant communities have been set up which allow like-minded artists to support and take inspiration from each other, as well as share their work and build up an online portfolio.

One example is Behance, an online publishing platform allowing designers to share their projects and work online, and let others view and appreciate (or like) them. Behance allows designers to showcase their work to a large audience and gain feedback and exposure.

Similarly, the website Cargo describes itself as “a personal publishing platform’ which aims to enhance the exposure of talented individuals on the internet. It doubles up as an online website creator, and a collective of the artists and designers who use it, helping those struggling/up-and-coming get a foothold in the art world. Using links to featured artists, the website invites users to browse through their gallery of online portfolios and give exposure to those using it.

The benefits of online art communities is that it allows artists from all corners of the globe to connect and support each other, as well as give feedback and advice. You are exposed to many different artists with varied art styles, and it is easy to learn new techniques you didn’t know existed. Yet becoming involved in online communities can be a mixed bag, as it is possible to build up negative feedback and become disheartened that your work isn't gaining as much attention as the next artist, for example. Overall online communities can be tricky and intimidating, yet they help inspire and support the artists who use them, as well as help build and critique their online portfolios.

Art Workshops

Teaching artist workshops can positively impact your artistic career in a variety of ways. Not only can you use them as a way to earn extra income, but you can also use it as a way to share your work with a broad community of people. They are often preferable to other side jobs as they can still feed back into your artistic practice and can be quite flexible in terms of time commitment and planning. If you already have a studio, then why not put on a workshop for the public as another way to use the space and pay the rent. It’s not just about the money though, artist workshops are a great way to make useful contacts, particularly if other creative people attend them. They can also give you inspiration and help with creative block.

[paulsimpsoncmpt-blog]

11th May 2017 - CMPT Complete

Today marks the last day of the final major project before the hand-in, meaning that this will be my last daily journal post on this blog. Shortly after this post I’ll be posting a link to download my font, as well as the posters that I have created as my final pieces. Today mainly consisted of tying up loose ends before the deadline tomorrow, which I’m happy to say I’ve managed to do. I’ve produced the work, now I just have to wait and see if I can get the results.

I started my day today by writing out the FMP Critical Review, this form acts a final evaluation, wherein which we are asked various questions about our projects and asked to reflect on things such as our research, development, experimentation etc. It was quite a somber feeling writing this out, thinking about everything I’ve done in the past 3 months for this project. This project has easily been the biggest one I’ve ever undertaken in my career, and to reflect on it all was quite heart warming.

Next came a bit of housekeeping. I took down all of the materials on the wall above my desk and placed them in my PD File. These materials included the four evaluation forms that we filled out at the beginning of the FMP, the FMP timetable, and various research resources that I printed out.

After break, I went and saw Jake about the poster designs I had created last night. He went through them all and gave them the okay, praising me for creating posters that had the “old school feel” as he put it. I immediately headed down to the printers in Chatham and got my posters printed. For the hand-in, I decided to get the posters printed A3 size, on 250gsm Satin paper. I will probably get these posters reprinted at A2 scale for the show, but for the hand-in this gets the job done. The posters are printed beautifully on thick, crisp sheets of paper. The colours pop well and the text is perfectly crisp. I’m very very happy with how the posters turned out. Below is an image of the posters I got printed.

Once I’d returned from the printers, I updated my project proposal for the last time. I made some quick additions to the bibliography of the rough paper copy, and updated the bibliography properly on the digital version, to include 3 new website links that I had added to my bibliography since I had last updated it. I also formatted the digital version of the updated proposal, so that any additions to the timetable and bibliography I had made were in a red colour rather than black, making the additions clear to see. I then printed this digital copy out, stapled it and stuck it into my PD file.

Speaking of printing, I also printed a few materials that were missing from my PD file, such as the FMP project brief, my critical review, my FMP show statement and a few other little bits.

I also completed my exhibition proposal today and stuck it in my PD file. For the exhibition proposal, we have to produce 3 different ideas for ways to present our work for the show. My main idea is to have a computer on a plinth that is pre-loaded with my font, and that has Microsoft Word open. I then want to connect a keyboard, so that people can type things in my font and test it out for themselves. I also want to print out my posters to A3/A2 size, and hang them on the wall to the left and right of the computer. All 3 of the ideas that I put in my exhibition proposal are small variations on this idea, including one that doesn’t actually make use of a computer, just incase I’m unable to get one for the show. 

That’s it, once I got home, I spent some of my evening organising everything in my PD file, and gathering every single thing to do with my FMP and placing it in my black A2 portfolio. I have this constant feeling that I have forgotten something, but I think this is just nerves. I’ve made a dozen checklists and checked everything off of them twice. It’s quite surreal to think that this is the last blog post on this blog forever. All I can say is that the two years I’ve spent on the CMPT course have been such a wild ride. There have been tons of ups and downs, but I’ve learnt so much during my time at UCA, and this definitely made me better as a creative and as a person. From here, I hope that this project will earn me a merit and that I’ll be able to head off to Edinburgh in September, but I must say, that wherever I go, I’ll never forget my time at UCA Rochester.

[professionalpractice696]

Self-Promotion

One of the many keys to success is self promotion. As an aspiring artist you have to advertise yourself to potential consumers to gain an audience for your work so you can start to sell it, and make money from your job. So how do you get to this point, first is to understand how to spread your work around. This can be done through the creation of a web portfolio on a chosen website such as your own or a blog. The internet is one of the fastest growing technologies in our current generation and millions of people browse it, so making your art public to the web is a fast way to get your work spread around. You can also join different events such as fairs and competitions if you want to promote towards a more niche market. Other ways can be done through printable, CV to protential employers, emails and cover letters.  However spreading your work is not the only thing if you want to succeed, as you do have competition, so you have to make yourself stand out, by setting a tone of voice to your works.

One of the best ways to make yourself to stand out from the crowd is just that, being yourself. In the art community it is the creativity and the personality of the artist that people want, as this is what we all put into our works. So the best way to get the most out it is to capitalise on it to help make connections, to help us be more recognisable and identifiable. So the first question I asked myself is how I am different to my peers. While this may sound depressing the first thing that comes into my mind is my aspergers. The reason for this is that I believe the way we create art is through the visual elements of our surrounding, and compared to other people I view and comprehend this differently. The way I interpret interactions, emotions and my surrounds gives me different feeling and thoughts compared to most people, so I would use this to my advantage. As I also like to communicate through images more than through words, my Illustrations tend to have a story like quality to them. And through my artistic career I have accumulated different ways to portray my works, such as different perspectives to make my scenes more atmospheric, and colour palettes that effect emotions.

However, we all know how our work is interpreted towards us, how about other people, and peers. So as part of our lecture we were then put into random groups of three and while the other person left the room we had to evaluate what the persons’ works say to us. For me my peers agreed there is a clear visual language with my mark making and character design. They also notice my fondness towards sequential illustration with me being more focussed on story publication. For my target audience they both agree on it being leaned towards a younger demographic- from children to young teens. And that my main source of commission would be through publication and character designs in gaming. Overall, I agree with this as this is what I expected for my works, as I tried to bring in more focus on my work this year.  In the future, I want to head towards the graphic novel publication, so I am already on the right road towards this. However, I also have ambition to push my illustrations outside of the paper boundaries and over the summer before my third year experiment with different ways to produce my works. I would also like to research more into the older demographic to see if I can get some of my work to lean towards them so I can expand with my potential audience. One of the issues I do agree with is the lack of brand ID, as I have been focusing mostly on my work, I have not thought or focused much on the creation of my promotion, although after this lecture I am gaining more ideas in how I can promote myself.

One way is to create an elevator pitch, essentially describing yourself first in 50 words, then working towards 20 and then 10. This is supposed to teach us about how to talk about ourselves without the risk of rambling and boring our intended consumer. So these are my elevator pitches:

50 words

I am a stylized illustrator, whose works are targeted mainly towards children and young adults. My main strength is with character design and graphic novels. My works can also be expanded towards gaming design, gaming, publications, posters and illustrative fashion. I am also passionate about colour and textures, which are utilized in my work.

20 words:

I am a stylize illustrator whose work is strengthen in character designs. My designs are also focused towards the younger audience.

10 words:

I am a stylized audience who works mainly in character design.

So who would be interested with reading these pitches; the consumers of your works. Or more specifically for me writers or potential employers. However digging deeper there are more appropriate places for each pitch, which can help change your success rate. The 50 word pitch would be more useful on your artist website, when people want to learn more about you. This can also be useful in an interview as any potential employers would want to know more about you. The 20 words would be good for CVs and letters as they give out plenty of information, but in a quick succession. The shorter 10 word one would be the one you would use more commonly, as it's the quickest way to describe you, and the quicker you promote yourself, the more inclined your potential employer would be and the more remembered you will be by your consumers. So the best place to put this would be on quick promotions such as business cards, leaflets, and social media.

So how would I advertise myself? One would be through the most obvious and easily hands on means out there- social media. For me when I do promote myself I may focus myself on using Tumblr, Facebook and Etsy. I will also focus on using the postage way as well, as everyone does not have the internet, like the older generation for example. The ways I could do this could be done through letters, leaflets and postcards, which can also have my illustrative work on them. Another way would be to attend more social events, such as art fairs, festivals and cons. These are vital as they can give you vital information about current trends, peers, mastering self promotion and providing more research about your key audience.

How would I go about designing it? First is the logo which is an image of yourself. So I chosen a potato:

The reason for this is due to my nickname spud by several family members, and the bases of my CV I created. I felt this logo would be a quirky yet recognisable logo for myself, as well as being simple so I can implement it inside my work as a little signature, as I have very bad handwriting. I may also look more towards into other vegetables but I felt that it would not feel as personal to me and I need something that is recognisable through the whole promotion. I also thought about making my logo that of an animal, however since all my works don't always include animals, I feel this would make the viewer thinks that my main focus is in animals when it almost more wider spread than this.

I also thought about my colour palette for my promotions, and this is what I got so far:

As I want to expand my audience I thought about using different colour pallets for each audience groups and maybe works such as for this work:

I would choose this colour palette:

However, this may cause too much disruption within my own website, so I may make many more over the creation of my website over the summer, and get more focus within my advertisement. However I know that I want them to have a calming pastel colour tone towards them as that is the emotion I want my viewers to feel.

So going further into myself promotion there is one last thing that I want to sort out and that is the products I want to sell. Again with creating my promotional website, I want a larger variation of products for my consumers to buy. I would decide how to do this through creating projects for myself which would help push my works more out of the paper frame. What I want to experiment with so far is creating charms out of shrink plastic to add to jewellery such as earrings and necklaces. I also want to create images to be placed onto t shirts, using heat transfer sheets to learn about designing illustrations in a more restrictive space. So overall, I would be experimenting with my ideas, so that in the end my promotions and products would have a chance to stand out within the art industry.

[callumreyesfutureworks2]

Route To Industry

The role in the games industry which I hope to achieve is that of a 3D environment artist. I have always been amazed and inspired by the whole new worlds and environments that can be created by the medium of games. Ever since I have been playing games, the environments within have been a keen focal point of my attention. It is a very frequent occurrence for me to be playing a game only to spend long periods of time simply observing and inspecting the environments when I should really be completing an objective. However the inspiration and motivation I get from well made environments in games is a welcome distraction.

I hope to use this assignment to find out what I need to do to achieve my goal of being a 3D environment artist in the games industry relating to both indie and AAA development. I will focus mainly on the type of skills I will need to be successful and also what my portfolio should include to best demonstrate my abilities and attract possible employers.

My first avenue of research involved looking into the online portfolios of 3D environment artists in the games industry. The reasons for me doing this was to:

- Get a feel and understanding of how successful artists present their work. How important is good presentation in relevance to attracting, impressing and holding viewers

-What type of works should I be including in my portfolio? Should I show a range of works consisting of different styles or should my portfolio be more focused? 

-What software and skills are the people I am aspiring to be like showing?

With these questions and research aims I started to view portfolios.

The first portfolio I viewed was by Clinton Crumpler: http://www.clintoncrumpler.com/

Upon loading up his website/portfolio I was instantly drawn in. Not only from the glimpses of beautifully rendered examples of his work, but also by the professional and aesthetically pleasing layout and presentation. 

The majority of the page is taken up by a variety of Mr Crumplers work which, when clicked, takes you to more of his work related to that specific project. The work on his home page instantly draws your eye and quickly demonstrates his experience and skill set. The render and image quality is very high and the layout is symmetrical. This symmetrical layout was something I found visually pleasing and I suspect that doing this could possibly convey, subconsciously, the notion that Mr Crumpler is professional and organised. The ordered presentation of his work certainly gave me this impression.

The next thing I noticed was the variety of work Mr Crumpler presented. From the homepage you can see that he has the ability to produce assets of different types from landscape to props, to buildings and vehicles. Although it is clear Mr Crumpler mainly works in producing realistic looking/ life-like assets his presented work isn’t repetitive. 

Although the visual style isn’t too varied, in terms of realistic looking assets, Mr Crumpler displays his ability to create high quality work for different themes. The main example that demonstrated this was his work on Gears of War 4 and the “Swarm” assets from said game. Yes, the graphic style was realistic looking, but Mr Crumpler demonstrated his ability to generate very high quality ORGANIC environments, showing his skill set is not limited to the artificial/ man made.

I found this interesting as what it meant to me was that even if I wanted to specialise and focus on a particular art style -at present time I am mainly inspired and motivated by graphically realistic environments in games. Not to say I don’t take inspiration from more stylised games- it doesn’t mean I cant show variety in my work. Seeing this work by Mr Crumper has made me want to start learning the techniques to create this type of organic environment assets.

With Mr Crumpler working on a AAA game like Gears of War 4 I wanted to find out the role he had in the production and therefore the additional skills aside from modelling and texturing I may need to know or could benefit from knowing if I were to aim to be an environment artist on a AAA title.

Mr Crumpler notes “ My primary roles were creation of all the materials, meshes, textures, and some effects for the pods, tendrils, skins, decals, goo, and crystals. I also worked with other teams to establish spline setup, blueprint creation and usage, bio-luminescent lighting, explosion effects, and other aspects of swarm integration and look development for the game.”

This enlightened me as it showed that simply being able to create a model and texture it too a high standard may not be enough. I will likely be required to, or at least benefit from, having skills in these other areas. Although this is a relatively daunting thing to think about, I am glad that I know what may be required of me and I can begin to learn these types of extra skills. This is definitely something that will impact my route to industry in terms of the heights I can reach, I feel.

I began to research information about what the role of being a 3D environment artist might be like on a day to day basis. I found Tanner Kalstroms’ article called “So you want to be an environment artist?” to be a useful read.

 https://www.gametextures.com/so-you-want-to-be-an-environment-artist/

It begins by showing how the working life of a environment artist can be a long and demanding one, especially during crunch time. Long hours and little sleep can be expected when deadlines approach. However Tanner goes on to explain that these times are always bad “ Sure, the video-game industry can have some darkness, some bad PR about “crunch time”, but don’t let that fool you. It’s not always bad, in fact, most of the time it’s the complete opposite. Being an Environment Artist can be a treat. You get creative freedom, you get to indulge yourself, experiment, and try new things every single day”. This was something I was pleased to read as creative freedom, even if limited, is something important to me as one of my biggest desires in terms of working in the industry is to be able see my own work and influence on a game that is played by multitudes of people.

The first skill Tanner speaks about being beneficial and somewhat required for environment artists was confidence. Tanner makes it clear that it is not only important for you to have confidence in your work but also in yourself to speak your mind when you think a decision isn’t correct. This had an impact on me. I am a confident person but sometimes I will refrain from pointing out flaws I see in other peoples design decisions because I don’t want to hurt their feelings. However this made me realise that it is likely for the best of the team and the project to speak my mind when I see something wrong, even if I myself turn out to be incorrect.

Tanner then went onto talk about concept art and how the common lack of it means that I as an environment artist will have to source my own inspiration and ideas for a variety of sources.

“What does this mean to you? Well, you have to be prepared. There are going to be moments where you’re faced with a task and you have no direction aside from a vague “Make something cool.” from your director. This is that moment when you have to turn to your resources, be comfortable searching the Googs, looking through art books (Which you probably should start collecting as soon as possible), and looking through concept art online. You will need to compile this information, you will need to make it into meaningful direction for yourself.”

This information was important to me as sometimes, although I like being able to add my own creativity to my work, when there is no direction uncertainty sets in and my work can take a hit. This is due to me questioning myself whether my design choices are correct. However after reading the article I now know this is something I will have to improve or become more used to.

Tanner closes this part of the article with this “ it’s important that you know that video-game art is not all copying concept art verbatim. It requires you to build, and it requires you as an artist to be at the top of your art-game. This goes right back to the matter of confidence above.” This is something that will stay with me.

Tanner then spoke about the importance of interaction with other artist you work with and learning from them. Those who are not prepared to learn from others will fall behind over time. Learning from others in your studio is something likely to enable a lengthy career. 

I started to read the comments on the article and somebody asked about how should an aspiring artist build their portfolio. This was a question I was wondering myself. Tanner had responded to the comment and mentioned the monthly noob challenge by Polycount. I had never heard of this before so I went to check it out. 

The mothly noob challenge features a challenge for artist to create a 3D environment, based off of concepts provided, within a one month time frame. Those that partake then post their results at the end of the time frame and can compare and receive feedback with and from others.

This is something I think I will definitely start to take part in. Not only will it boost my portfolio but it will also challenge me to create scenes that I might choose to avoid if I was given the opportunity. This will surely increase my skills as a 3D artist and also prepare me for situations where I have to model something out of my comfort zone. 

Towards the close of Tanners article they make a point about the importance of pride in ones work. Tanner makes a statement that I will bear in mind “ people who make those one extra steps happen are the ones that get noticed, and those little details that a prideful worker, and an average worker make are what set exceptional apart from extraordinary.” 

One of biggest statements that stood out to me was “ As a company-runner, and person who helps lead artists I’ve learned that I’m looking for the type of pride in regards to ones work. I can’t stand artists who don’t take pride in their work, who turn in things they’re not proud of; who do not take the extra mile.” This stood out to me because it gives a good insight of what people are looking for when it comes to artist and that I should always be proud of my work, and if I am not then I should improve it.

Looking at Job

I then decided to look at job advertisements online to try and get an understanding of some of the key skills and requirements the role of 3D environment artist frequently demands.

Average salary: £30,000

This was the first job i looked at :https://www.totaljobs.com/job/artist/creative-personnel-job68721553?WT.mc_id=A_RE_IDPPC_MP0_ORG_0

This advertisement was for a AAA studio working on a high end console game which required an environment artist.

The salary stated was £160 per day.

The advertisement then listed the responsibilities you would undertake and desired skills the company would like you to possess.

Taken from the advertisement- 

Your duties will include:

Create outstanding Environment artwork that sets a high quality bar for the rest of the team.

Help others to consistently reach that bar by mentoring and guiding more junior or less experienced colleagues.

Contribute to the set-up of suitable pipelines and workflows, including prototyping, documenting processes and helping to specify, test and drive to quality tools created by the Technical Art and Engineering teams.

This made it clear that this position was not for inexperienced artists. It was interesting to see the extra roles that more senior artists have to take on. You are to lead by example and motivate the more junior artists.

General Competencies:

Experience with cutting-edge techniques and technology related to environment art and a strong desire to stay ahead of the game.

Able to proactively self-organise and prioritise work for yourself and others.

Able to contribute to guiding and mentoring groups of junior artists, contractors, and outsourcers.

Excellent communication skills.

The first requirement of this ties into previous points made by Tanner I feel. It is important that you have the desire and motivation if you want to succeed in this role. 

The second requirement of being self-organised also ties into points made by Tanner. Whereas Tanners example of concept art not always being given was more specific, I feel this shows that you need good initiative and the ability to work by yourself in this role. 

Again communication skills are needed.

Artistic Competencies:

Accomplished at all aspects of environment creation, including sculpting, modelling, surfacing, texturing, with decent drawing skills and a good artistic eye for colour, value, tone, silhouette, etc.

Accomplished at scene building, with a focus on composition and an understanding of how this fits with game design.

Able to contribute to the stylistic development of the environment elements

Comfortable working in a variety of art styles.

This section was interesting as it was focused on the artistic requirements the artist must have. This job seemed to mainly focus on the modelling and texturing of components of the environments. One thing that stood out to me was the desire for the artist to be comfortable in a variety of art styles. This strengthens my motivation to take part in the monthly noob challenge. 

Technical Competencies:

Understanding of tools, techniques, best practices and technical limitations related to real-time environment creation.

Able to contribute to the technical design of systems, to work closely with the Technical Art and Animation teams to arrive at elegant tools and solutions.

Comfortable at all stages of game development, from concept through pre-production to production.

Comfortable working with (and around) bespoke, in-development tool sets as well as with more mature engines and pipelines.

This was probably the main part of the job requirements that stood out to me. The technical competencies are something I definitely need to work on in order to better my job prospects. 

A Specific Company

One of my favourite games for its environment is Dishonored. I spent many hours in this game just looking around at the environments and seeing how their designers and creators brought this games universe to life. I felt like the environment was real and lived in and the atmosphere was palpable. Ever since playing Dishonored it has become one of my biggest inspirations for 3D environment art. Although the art style is not something I tend to go for when creating my scenes, it has inspired me to try my hand at creating a scene with a similar art style.

Arkane studios is the developer behind the game and for this reason I decided to see if they had any job advertisements going for the 3D environment role. I did this as a potential dream goal job experiment to see what type of requirements I would have to fill to be a 3D environment artist for the company.

Arkane Studios listed the following requirements

Requirements

• 5+ years’ experience modeling 3D objects and generating textures

• Deep knowledge of Maya, Photoshop and other asset creation tools (ZBrush highly recommended)

• Exceptional texture creation ability; hand-painted textures is a plus

• Good analytic eye for volumes, shapes, proportions, detail distribution, color and materials composition

• Able to work from photo reference or concept art when available, as well as ability to provide their own

• Able to work within poly and texture budgets

• Strong English communication skills (verbal and written)

• Candidates must submit an online portfolio

The first thing that stood out was the 5 years minimum industry experience. This wasn’t a surprise but it was good to know the time frame I would be looking at before I could get a role in a AAA company of Arkane Studios’ stature. 

Again the need to provide or source your own reference material shows up.

Finally “candidates must submit an online portfolio” this  affirms to me the need to have a strong portfolio. 

Conclusion

So what is my route to industry?

My first goal is to develop my portfolio with the aim to try to create my own website to display my work. I want to take key strong points I felt were present in Clinton Crumplers portfolio.I plan to develop my portfolio by participating in things like Polycounts monthly noob challenge. Part of this is also developing my skills in software such as substance designer. 

Another thing I need to take time to learn is the technical side of 3D environment art. Things like particle systems etc.

I also wish to take part in more social meetups and events to get to know and network with other people within the industry. I have yet to have gone to a Manchester Gamers Unite meetup and I think that will be a good start. 

In terms of actually getting into the industry I plan on potentially starting a small company with some friends in order to get some experience and also for the creative freedom that could come with that. However if that doesn’t work out or my mind changes over the coming year I will likely try to get freelance work whilst applying for junior environment artist roles.

I would also like to take part in game jams depending on how things turn out.

[tristanleggett]

What a Top Software Development Company in Poznan Can Teach You About Marketing in IT Outsourcing?

Poznan has unfolded as a remarkable player in the Polish IT Outsourcing, with top software development companies trying to make a statement: STX Next, Netguru and Merixstudio. From Clutch, Financial Times to Deloitte, everybody awards them.

Merixstudio is rising fast to Clutch’s tops, be it Python and Django, Angular or Custom Software development.

What led them here?

Follow me to find out what are the marketing strategies Merixstudio bows to so that it can stay on top of the game.

TABLE OF CONTENT

Merixstudio: Top Software Development Company - Short Overview

Merixstudio’s Marketing Strategies Reverse Engineered

Brand Awareness at Merixstudio

Merixstudio’s Website and Conversion Rate Optimization

Merixstudio’s Traffic Acquisition

Content Marketing

Summing Up

Merixstudio wants to position itself as being a creative software development house.

As David Ogilvy once said: “If it doesn’t sell; it isn’t creative”, Merixstudio does sell, making around $15M+, as Owler estimates. So, are they living by their slogan?

Let’s figure it out together.

Merixstudio: Top Software Development Company - Short Overview

49 awards in 19 years of doing business? Oh my…

With 150+ clients spread worldwide, it seems that nearshoring works as well as offshoring for Merixstudio.

Merixstudio seems to be diversifying its investments. They seem to want to live by this rule: “Don’t put all your eggs in the same basket”. Pretty wise I might say.

According to this principle, Merixstudio owns two more brands:

Digital Signage by Merixstudio is focused on creating interactive applications and games for digital signage. Digital signage is a sub-segment of electronic signage.

Digital displays use technologies such as LCD, LED, projection and e-paper to display digital images, video, web pages, weather data and more.

GoDealla is a leading digital coupon marketplace in Poland

Moving on, let’s see what former clients say the main strengths of Merixstudio are:

Cost-effective development services

Consistent delivery beyond expectations, good communication and ethics

Customer focus, thoroughness and attention to detail

Smooth project management, flexibility

In-depth technical knowledge, up-to-date technology and coding

So, what should a top software development company do to shake hands with companies such as Toshiba, HSBC, The Independent, Homes.com, Virgin or Volkswagen?

It’s time to find the sweet spots in Merixstudio’s marketing efforts. Let all secrets aside.

We will learn that:

An engaged community can strengthen a brand

The proper content strategy can bring the right quality traffic and leads

Employer branding is key to developing the right team

This is just a glimpse of what’s coming up next, so stay tuned.

Merixstudio’s Marketing Strategies Reverse Engineered

In the past, differentiation was achieved through a superior product, a fast supply chain, or great customer service.

Nowadays, everybody does it and it’s getting so darn hard to move the needle.

How can you win this game?

Well, it’s time to learn from one of the best, one that almost never misses being ranked as a top software development company by Clutch: Merixstudio.

We’ll put under the microscope Merixstudio’s marketing strategies and study their growth story, so follow me.

Brand Awareness at Merixstudio

One can create the best software solution but if no one knows it exists, you are pitching the idea to an empty room.

For Merixstudio, the 40+ awards are doing just that: filing the room.

Merixstudio’s Awards

Merixstudio always finds its way to Clutch tops:

Ranks 4 in Top World Angular JS Developers (2018)

Ranks 1 in Top World Custom Software Developers (2018)

Ranks 2 Top World Python & Django Developers (2018)

The Manifest made its own top 100 web development companies, and Merixstudio is ranked sixth.

So, Poznan is feeling lucky: make way! STX Next, Merixstudio and Netguru are leading the game.

Merixstudio’s Website and Conversion Rate Optimization

Being ranked 6th best web development company, Merixstudio should have a world-class website, right?

First, let’s ask some questions and see if the answer is close-by:

What does Merixstudio do?

“We build functional & super-awesome-looking web applications, websites and HTML5 games. We love open source”.

Can you give me some examples of your work?

There you go: portfolio and case studies by category and technology.

How can I reach out to you?

See “contact” in the website menu.

With a clear menu and submenus, easy navigation, a chatbot implemented, Merixstudio is providing a good user experience.

Social proof is visible: testimonials, clients, awards.

In the ”Ideas” section of the website features the company’s personal projects, such as games which can be played right away.

Kinda creative I might say?

Speaking of, their weekly digest wants to be a creative wrap up of tech and design insights.

They’ve designed a micro-website where they speak about what they do, how they do it, successful projects, why outsource with them and PR mentions.

Here visitors can also subscribe to a newsletter, an original one. This is new for me: promoting exclusive previews of their software solutions.

Conversion Rate Optimization

So far, I haven’t noticed any personalization while navigating the website.

They seem to be using Hotjar, according to Similartech, so they want to get the hang of conversion rate optimization and A/B testing.

Because Merix is a Hubspot user, they could take advantage of the personalization features it provides.

There are so many other opportunities out there up for grabs, such as:

Making personalized case studies recommendations depending on the blog post the user is reading

Landing pages that differ per vertical, country

Customized drip email campaigns (perhaps they are already doing this, cos it’s easily done within Hubspot)

Leveraging the chat bot and pop-ups for moving the lead down in the funnel

Speaking of chat bot, Merix is using Hubspot’s chatbot. In the age of artificial intelligence, considering a chatbot is just a small piece of the pie when it comes to conversion rate optimization.

If you want to get in touch with a team member you can schedule a call. Else, you can leave an email and they’ll contact you back.

Merixstudio’s Traffic Acquisition

Direct and search traffic are responsible for more than 85% of Merixstudio’s website traffic.

In terms of direct traffic, I’m assuming it’s accounted for:

Community events - Meaning that they do all sort of events and promote their website there

Untagged links - no UTM tracking added to their link,

Business development reps activities ( at least 4 according to Linkedin ) - This could be email outreach and sales emails mainly

But let’s see some absolute numbers, because percentages can be deceiving:

My guess is, the organic traffic increased 15 times since the beginning of 2017! The data might not be 100% accurate, but still, the results are there.

Further on, our analysis will go even deeper than this. So, blink twice if you’re still with me.

Content Marketing

The design of the blog is not quite as what you’ve been used with. They’re challenging a bit the design.

It takes some time to get used to it, because we’ve been educated by other blogs to have a different kind of listing, but Merixstudio is giving a shot to a different approach.

The main categories are: business & agile, product design, code & tools, people and events, and case studies.

According to Spyfu, Merixstudio has 74 keywords that show up on the first page, and 91 ambitious ones that rank 11 to 16.

Below you can find the keywords that bring in the most traffic.

And here are the top 5 blog post pages:

Do you see a pattern there? Most popular blog posts and keywords talk about different technologies, comparisons.

And the technical blog posts are created by developers.

Take a look at these ones:

It’s great when developers are involved in content creation because tech subjects seem to have lots of traction in this industry and can be the proof of expertise.

Backlinks to Support Content Marketing

I’ve dug a bit through Merixstudio’s backlinks. They’ve got some really good quality stuff linking back to mostly to their homepage (quite unusual for the business, usually the blog posts are getting the backlinks).

I’m talking about do-follow links from domains with a domain rating above 70!

The content linking back comes from tech and design websites and blogs.

So, it’s starting to make sense, right?

Original content + quality backlinks = a lot of Google love.

Social Selling

Hi Michał, nice to meet you. Michał Lisewski is a researcher and business developer at Merixstudio. He deals with editing answers on Quora, he mainly mingles with outsourcing topics.

Quora is a great place to demonstrate expertise on your subject. When done properly, a business can showcase knowledge in its niche, can get new traffic from brand new audiences on the blog and other types of content. As long as you provide real value you can get more followers or subscribers.

Merixstudio’s Social Presence

Building a social media presence is not a stand-alone marketing strategy.

From community engagement, events networking, client and employees interactions everything will end up there: in social media.

It’s not all about some vanity metrics like impressions or likes. It’s more than that: it’s brand awareness and employee branding altogether.

Facebook

The Facebook profile seems to be a tool to build employer branding for Merix.

Regarding Facebook, it seems that images and posts about team members get the most interactions, according to Buzzsumo.

The average engagements rises to 13/post:

Merixstudio is publishing on Facebook consistently, promoting their blog posts, speaking about their team members, events they’ve participated in, awards they’ve received. Just like the neighbor next-door, the software consulting company,Netguru.

Instagram

Same as with Facebook, the Instagram account seems to be a channel where Merixstudio is trying to build employer branding:

Through the content posted on Instagram Merix wants potential employees to have a taste of the company’s culture and see how day-to-day life goes on at the office...and around it.

They also promote events they organize or go to.

The main message is: it’s all about the people.

Twitter

On Twitter the messaging goes two ways: improving employer branding and getting more clients.

At the beginning of 2019 video content seems to be taking over the Twitter account.

Whether it’s about talking about the latest blog post, or events they’ve been to, Merix knows that video content will take over social media.

And because Merix is all over the place: from conferences, meetups to workshops, tweets speaking of their community involvement are everywhere.

LinkedIn

The LinkedIn account is merely about building brand awareness among future clients.

Blog posts, events they organize or attend to, all is there.

Being more client oriented, the focus for the moment seems to be promoting their Django Trench release. It’s their open source application that deals with two-factor authentication for Django REST Framework.

Also, they are building a Hate Speech Detector using machine learning (this sounds awesome!). Not only that machine learning is the new hype, but also “hate speech” is an important issue in media and on the internet in the latest years. And they seem to have the solution for that. This could get a lot of traction if promoted properly!

Dribbble and Behance

The Dribbble account has 115 followers by now, not quite in focus, but it’s pretty darn hard to handle a lot of channels and one needs to prioritize.

Their Behance account is a bit in its infancy, but there’s plenty of room to grow.

These two online communities are helping businesses to showcase designer/web-designer work and more. But it’s not enough to display your art there.

You have to take the bull by the horns and get yourself noticed. Besides engaging in interactions (leaving constructive feedback and questions on other designs, start following other UX designers, web-designer etc), the portfolio should be actively promoted on social media.

Community Building at Merixstudio

As a top software development company, Merixstudio is clearly all-in for building its branding offline though getting involved in the community.

DevCollege is a Merixstudio Project that delivers web and game development workshops, since 2017.

These are whole-day events, held at their office, that combines practical workshops and technical presentations.

Django Hotspot is another community event that’s grown since 2016, gathering Django/Python fans at dedicated meetups.

Another initiative is called front.radar and focuses on the frontend development community.

Employer Branding and Hiring

Peeking at what former employees have to say about Merixstudio on Glassdoor, we’ve found only 3 results, not quite statistically relevant.

They praise the great people working there, the motivation & support, the financial & non-financial perks and the good learning & development environment.

Currently, they are looking to expand their developer, QA, design and project management teams. They are very transparent about the salary and career path, same as Netguru.

Wrap Up

So, what is Merixstudio really good at?

Exceeding clients’ expectations through stunning coding and project management skills

Showcasing their front-end and coding skills by building interactive games and apps

Designing a good content strategy that managed to propel them on the first page of search results

Mastering events and community engagement

Employer branding

So, yeah, they should be on your follow list, next to the software consulting company, Netguru and Poznan's software house, STX Next.

We’ve covered their success stories early on.

Here we’re closing our series about the 3 magnificent software houses in Poznan.

It was a journey full of revelations on how inbound marketing is contributing to the business growth, how employer branding is crucial in a very noisy market hungry for the right talent, where a strong social media presence is vital for getting your voice heard.

But, the picture we’re painting goes further than Poznan.

The success stories aren’t over yet, we’ve got some more juice for you, enter Kraków, Wroclaw and Warsaw with their superstar companies.

Next, we deconstruct the IT outsourcing market in Poland, with its trends, opportunities, challenges and successful companies.

And the cherry on top is our Ultimate Guide To IT Outsourcing Companies in Central Eastern Europe. We worked our arses off to bring you a top-notch guide on the CEE outsourcing market so that you can also have the bigger picture, not only micro views.

if(window.strchfSettings === undefined) window.strchfSettings = {}; window.strchfSettings.stats = {url: "https://man-digital.storychief.io/top-software-development-company?id=1055882149&type=12",title: "What a Top Software Development Company in Poznan Can Teach You About Marketing in IT Outsourcing?",id: "4f08255c-5e51-436c-99aa-71482a308009"}; (function(d, s, id) { var js, sjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) {window.strchf.update(); return;} js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = "https://d37oebn0w9ir6a.cloudfront.net/scripts/v0/strchf.js"; js.async = true; sjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, sjs); }(document, 'script', 'storychief-jssdk')) from Digital Marketing Automation Consulting | MAN Digital https://mandigitalblog.blogspot.com/2019/03/what-top-software-development-company.html via https://mandigitalblog.blogspot.com/ Read more on our blog MAN Digital MAN Digital Blogger