2. My first thought to present my work was to display it in front of an audience. This could be done relatively easily with an open art
exhibition. My work would then be displayed as the tangible items they were meant to be. It would also mean that they would be
presented to an audience of people interested in artists alongside professional artists.
I decided I would present my work as the whole piece, the front and back cover. This would give the piece context and display the
work as an extended project rather than a seemingly random collection of art (if I were to only use the front covers.) I believe that
the rear covers compliment the work and give the piece its tone.
I began research into open exhibitions, meaning shows that anyone can enter, but most of the summer shows had already closed
their entries. However, I did find a local show which hadn't yet closed. This was the Great North Art Show in Ripon Cathedral, a
short drive away and the entry cost was achievable, £40. Six pieces had to be entered, so that meant all of my albums plus and
additional piece: perhaps the gatefold work.
Further research into this art show meant that I discovered certain conditions that would mean that I was unable to enter. A
mandatory stall for the artwork cost a further £110 which did not include printing, which I had already ruled out as being too
expensive. Regrettably this option was ruled out.
Other art exhibitions I found were far less liberal with their entries and based their shows around themes. My work did not fit within
most of these boundaries and some shows did not allow digital work altogether. Open shows such as the Harrogate Exhibition left
me with a similar conclusion. Although it was not as costly the printing was still left to the artist which meant the cost was still too
high. To lower these costs my only option is to display only selected pieces of work. This would mean that I could at least release
some art to an audience I would feel that the work would be displayed incorrectly. I think that there is an appeal in seeing the
developing work of a band or artist and the progression through their music. By only displaying select pieces I would be denying this.
The chance to show my work to experts in art was not at all lost despite this setback. There will be other ways to present my work
to wide audience with knowledge of the subject.
PRESENTING
OPEN EXHIBITIONS
3. To distribute my work quickly and to a wide audience I decided to use social media, in particular Instagram. This is because it is has a
focus on photography and images. This means that all posts surround this aspect and the feed displays instantly posted images. The
comment feature also provides a place for direct feedback to be made in response to the work.
Instagram also works from a tagging system which allows posts to appear on hashtags that appear in the post description. I chose:
albumart, albumartwork, albumcover, albumcoverart & graphicdesign. This gave me a good range of hashtags and would provide
me with a wide viewing of my work.
I also posted the work on my own account rather than creating a new account for the band. This would have been set up in their
name as though part of their marketing though I much preferred the option of posting the work as though working in association
with them.
Instagram does limit the amount of images posted in one go is ten. My work just fits inside this limit, with everything I have
produced amounting to ten pieces of art. I would have preferred to keep the front and rear cover as separate images however I
much prefer the work being in one single post.
To keep it inside a single post I decided to only include the most essential pieces of work. These were the front and rear covers of all
five albums. I omitted the final collection photo, the additional artworks and the special edition Archipelago image. I much preferred
keeping my work within a single post as it kept all the pieces relevant and uniformed.
I then decided against posting the images as the whole piece of work as I originally intended to and instead ‘mounted’ them onto a
background in Photoshop. This was something that I had seen online and saw as an attractive way to present my work. I took
Instagram’s dimensions and placed the work inside these, creating a gradient background in the process. I found this was an
additional way to present the tone of the album. As each album had its own coloured gradient it separated the different covers
from each other.
PRESENTING
INSTAGRAM
5. Another format I did consider was releasing the albums individually and periodically, over the course of a week or two. This would
have allowed me to spread the work further in individual posts as it would have amounted to five different items.
With five different images appearing on the chosen hashtags over the course of a week more people would have the ability to see
my work. It would mean that those who checked the tags infrequently are more likely to see at least a single piece of my work.
The liking system would have also been further utilised as I would have been able to compare likes between each post and
determine which albums were better received than others.
Posting them separately also would have meant I could have included my additional artwork. I did not include this in my post
because it would have exceeded the photograph limit. I omitted five images in order to keep the post as a single item. This would
have meant that I would gain feedback on these images as well.
As a preview or build up to the posting of my work I could have posted the additional artworks without context, similar to how films
release promotional clips from the film. This would have generated a response before the bulk of the work was released.
Other options included using third party apps such as Giant Square to create a larger image from Instagram posts in a 3x3 layout.
This takes an image and separates it into nine images that are then posted in succession to create a larger image using the 3x3 grid
system of Instagram. This appears on the profile as one giant image which attracts attention, but can also be used on tags to create
a much more noticeable post on the feed.
PRESENTING
INSTAGRAM
6. An idea I had to present my work was to use the music platform Spotify. It is one of the biggest platforms for free-to-listen and has
millions of daily listeners. Although it does not allow for posting as social media does, it however has a playlist system which I can
use to present my work in a novel way.
By creating a playlist under the name of one my albums I am able to insert my own image, my album artwork. I can add songs with
the same name as the ones I have chosen and therefore create a mock album as though an official LP posted by the artist.
Having the playlists set to public allows them to be discovered by anyone following my account or by anyone searching for the
playlist. This is not an effective way of advertising as it requires either an existing following or for the work to be chanced upon. I
would class this method as a secondary method. It would only realistically work if those who had seen my work elsewhere
happened to search for the album on Spotify, nevertheless I think it is both a fitting and novel way to present the work.
There are some drawbacks to this method which hinder the presentation, besides from being a rather private way of displaying the
artwork. The first is that only the front cover can be used however all albums follow this on Spotify. There is also a limit on the
playlist description which meant that some songs on the Archipelago album were cut off.
PRESENTING
SPOTIFY
7. Another option to display my album covers was a website. This would have allowed multiple possibilities in terms of presentation as
well the opportunity for a detailed synopsis of each work. As with the Instagram account I would post the work as the designer, as
though having worked in association with the fictional band. This would mean that I could post my other works in a portfolio
fashion, but also include alternate versions of the work as well as notes and thoughts: something that may be trickier to work
around if posting as the band.
Below is a comparison between the designer and the music artist and their displays of the same work. Pilar Zeta, the graphic
designer is able to display her album cover design in the centre of her page alongside other projects and pieces. A layout like this
would allow me to do similar and display work from the previous year. Coldplay’s website shows the album cover with the track list,
this is the extent of the display of artwork. It would present the work in a realistic setting however it would be so much more
limiting that it outweighs that option entirely.
The downside to the website is that it is not as effective at promoting the work as a hashtag on Instagram would be. A very small
audience would be pulled in and those would most likely come from those who have been directly given the specific address. I
therefore classify this method as a secondary method, something that would be referenced in a post description or left for the
viewer to explore at leisure: not directly for promoting work.
It is for this reason that I believe this method to be inefficient. The website will have to be constructed from scratch in order for the
desired effect which will take up a large portion of time which can be spent on other methods. There are much better ways of
getting my work seen by a larger audience than with a website.
PRESENTING
WEBSITE
