Through out third year I have been attempting to build a relaxed digital portfolio on Instagram as a way to network whilst simultaneously marketing my work to a small group of followers.
Previously I would curate my images with a white background, so that when a viewer was to see my profile, the images were sequenced in a clear and organised fashion. As much as this looks professional, Instagram is a relaxed social platform and in order for me to engage with a larger creative audience I recognised that I needed to have more of a visual appeal and apply my images to a distinguishable 'brand' identity.
For this I have been focusing on a graphics as a way to engage with an audience. I initially collected some visuals from brands that I enjoyed. One of the main marketing campaigns that I could think of off the top of my head was Ikea, I enjoy the minimalistic style and layout with the almost hand drawn notes. There advertising is clear and well thought out. I imputed these images into Chat GPT and asked the programme to tell me what style of graphic design this was so then I could research this more. It told me that this style is modern minimalism so I attempted search for templates and layouts that followed this style.
For my social media templates, I use Canva. Here I could work with a consistent layout and could edit the styles of them. Initially the template was a green colour, how ever this didn't correspond to the work that I have created through out the module.
Through out Dear Uncle Eddy, I have consistently worked with a deep red colour, this is from the colour of the grapefruit. Therefore within the marketing I wanted to repeat this colour so that the 'branding' and product would be both recognisable and cohesive. Along with the colours, I have repeated the typography and have used a typeface from a similar type family. This was again for the marketing to be cohesive but also to link back to the fact that y project is about Artificial Intelligence, I chose a font that is similar to HTML and has connotations to the digital.
So far this banding has had a positive effect on engagement, across my profile I have had five thousand views in the past month and feel as though my work is now reaching a more engaging audience. The reason I would like to grow my platform on Instagram is to network with industry professionals but also so I can have a place where I can curate and display my conceptual work for it to be viewed by an audience where they can directly leave feedback. I will continue to do this after I have completed my degree in order for my practice to live and develop outside of a university setting.