Professional Practise 2

Professional Practise - 2

24th May 2021

NFTs and Crypto Art

There has been much discussion on "NFTs" in the online art communities in the past year, but triggered most recently by Aardman Animation's proactive engagement with the growing system. The studio is launching a 'Shaun the Sheep NFT collection.' There was much anger at the disregard for the environmental impact caused by NFTs, and Aardman's ignorance towards this. Despite reading a lot about the studio's move on social media, I found myself feeling deeply uneducated on the topic of NFTs. Here's some brief, yet very useful research.

While this person gave a very clear explanation to what NFTs and Crypto Art are, and their future potential and value, I found myself quite uncomfortable with how fast and how easily he brushed off the environmental problems that everyone was so concerned about with the Aardman conflict. With this in mind, I looked for an alternative information source, perhaps with less bias and a more open-minded perspective of the system.

The creator in this video shows a very clear and open approach to informing the audience about how great this system can be for making money and for giving authentic value to digital art, but also about how damaging NFTs are to the environment. He does not attempt to shame artists that engage with NFTs, but explains in genuinity why he will not be doing so, and this covers both the pros and cons from a very balanced perspective.

From my understanding, the way NFTs are produced right now are too harmful to the environment for me as a creative to have a clear conscience towards selling artwork as an NFT. It is not something I was considering right now, but it is good to be informed on the ever-growing parts of the art industry. Until the mining system changes to something unharmful or sustainable (and it may not ever), it is with the best interest of the planet and reducing/preventing more CO2 emmissions to not get involved with NFTs and Crypto Art.

19th May 2021

2.3 The Ethics of Working for Exposure

Pros

'There is a right time and place to do free work. As a creative freelancer, you can build your portfolio and support a cause you believe in by volunteering for a non-profit organization. You can give your services to your friends or family as a gift and they can also support you by sharing your work with acquaintances or colleagues who may be in the market for your services as a paying client.'
'...If you can negotiate creative control, an unpaid commission can add a body of work to your portfolio, and win you a great deal of exposure. It’s for this reason that photographer Francesca Jane Allen, who graduated last year from London College of Communication, struggles to say no. “Decide what it means to you,” she says. “80% of the time I find it too hard to turn things down; it’s always for a magazine I love and respect or a pop star I’ve been crushing on.” A lack of payment shifts the balance of power in such a relationship too, she explains. “If you’re not getting paid then it becomes a personal project. An unpaid commission is yours to play with, use and abuse to your own creative will. I find it hard to refuse spending time doing something I love.”'

'The value of a job isn’t always financial: sometimes relationships and exposure can be equally, if not more valuable than monetary payment. “You have to be able to read the situation and ask yourself: how much benefit will this have for me? Is it going to lead to paid work? Can it be an opportunity to build some valuable relationships? Will it be an amazing addition to my portfolio? And if you decide to do it, tread carefully and put a limit on how much free work you are willing to do. Never undervalue your skills.”'

'“Unfortunately it’s something that everyone has to do in the creative industry. If you pick the right ‘free work’ to do then it can lead to some great opportunities and potential work for your portfolio.”'

'“I’ll create work for small charities or causes I believe in,” she [Chrissie Macdonald] says, “and I did one commission for free when I started out, for a small independent magazine. There was a small budget which went towards the photography costs, but I felt it was worth doing for my folio at the time, though you need to be wary of this as you can be taken advantage of.”'

'Oliver Jeffers is another who accepts the odd unpaid job if it is for a cause he believes in. “It’s ok to to do once or twice when starting out, if you feel the exposure warrants the lack of fee,” he says, “but don’t do it more than that… My one exception is for charitable work, which I will only do once or twice a year.”'

'“...If it’s a nice project with someone you admire and it turns out well, chances are it will probably pay off somehow in the long run.”'

'“Working for free devalues you and every other person within your industry. Don’t do it. With this, we believe it is cool to work for a non-monetary exchange. For example, James recently completed a small branding project for a barber pal for £0, however he now gets free haircuts for life. I recently completed a branding project for a bathroom company and my mum is now getting a new bathroom for £0. As long as something of value exchanges hands - it’s all good!”'

Cons

'When a brand offers a work opportunity in exchange for exposure, they imply that they have such a large following that they will help you reach a larger audience than usual and therefore find new clients. However, those new clients likely won’t end up as paying clients either, because now they know that you will do free work in exchange for exposure.'
'Artist Oliver Jeffers adds that by working for free, you perpetuate a culture in which creative work goes unpaid. “It undermines not just your ability,” he says, “but the value of artists and illustrators everywhere. And for another thing, it’s basically giving the nod of approval to those asking that it’s an OK thing to do.”'
'You should probably say no,” was 2011 Kingston graduate Tom Moloney’s fairly straightforward response to our question, “should you ever work for free?” and Tony Brook, the founder of London-based design studio Spin, agrees. “If you can possibly avoid it, don’t do it. Free work is not valued by the person who has commissioned it, they should be eternally grateful but never are. Money is a sign of value and respect, even if it is a small amount.”'

'“I think you have to stick to your instinct,” illustrator Oscar Bolton says. “If it’s for something commercial, then you should never work for free.”'

'“I think genuinely no it isn’t OK to work for free. When you go to Sainsbury’s and buy a loaf of bread the guy serving you at the check out doesn’t work for free, nor does the lady who serves you coffee at your local coffee shop,” says illustrator and 2015 It’s Nice That Graduate Michael Driver. “The creative industry is a commodity - it has a high value. The seat you’re sat on was designed by someone, the cup you drink from was designed by someone, the website page you’re currently reading was designed by someone, the list can go on forever and ever. Design is integral to the way we live, behave and experience the world, it’s a means of communicating ideas and ideas make the world go round.”'

'Freelancers working in the creative industries lose as much as £5,394 every year through working for no pay.'

'It’s hard to quantify whether working for free directly leads to paid work, Dowling says. Most creative professionals will secure paid work at some point, so you can’t draw a direct correlation, he says. “What we do see is people who’ve been in the game a long time look back and say they’ve taken on a lot of unpaid work and its directly led to nothing.”'

'Working long hours for the experience or exposure forms part of a “culture of exploitation”, along with long-term unpaid internships...'

One of the ItsNiceThat article sources had a link to the website http://shouldiworkforfree.com/. It has a map with questions that you choose answers to, to help determine if it is worth working a job for free. Although it is more on the comedic side, it is also very honest.

There is also a Twitter account dedicated to working for exposure, since it has become such an active conversation: https://twitter.com/forexposure_txt.

Quotation Sources

Padlet Contributions

18th April 2021

2.2 Social Media

Online Seminar With Ed Merlin Murray
Instagram | Website
Ed has a large following on Instagram.
He started it in 2014, but started posting daily in 2017 (1st year of university). It has really changed his engagement with the industry.

2.2 - Dwayne: "Research illustrators or designers or whatever field you're interested in, and source how social media is being used by those people or whatever that entitiy may be to propel their commercialism. In previous years, it was required that you open a social media account for your work, you don't have to do that because it has to be a personal choice, but you do have to understand the pros and cons. Whichever route you decide has to be an informed decision."

How To Instagram - Ed's Guide for the Modern Illustration Student in Northern England During Lockdown 2020

Instagram Introduction

The information included in the presentation also applies to other social media platforms
Almost essential for illustrators, visual artists and animators today
It's rare that an illustrator doesn't have an Instagram
You already have content, and you can post it on there (in comparison to perhaps insurance, which would have to create content for their page)
It's the easiest way to get your work seen and seen by the right people
It can be your main public portfolio
"If there's an art director I want to see my work, I'd want them to see Instagram, because I update it every day, everything is there, it's easy - I can do it from my phone when I'm commuting or whatever. A website is much harder work to get it looking good, and maintain it" - Ed
He has received commissions from big clients through engaging and chatting with them on Instagram
There are both pros and cons to having an Instagram; it is a "double-edged sword"

Pros

All of Ed's big jobs have come through Instagram, such as illustration, animation and music video opportunities
A way of earning an income (when especially during Covid-19, this can be difficult to come by), this is through the illustration opportunities, shop sales and direct sales via. Instagram
You're getting your work seen
All of your work is in one place, ordered chronologically (useful for both you and others). Makes it easy to look back at what you were doing at a certain period of time, such as a year ago or a month ago
You're part of a community and a worldwide conversation. It's never been so easy to build a community of people who are interested in the same things as you and doing the same things as you, with so many easy ways to interact with them. If you follow accounts of your favourite artists and illustrators, you can comment and chat to them.
"I'm now online friends with a lot of people I used to idolise." - Ed
It keeps you updated with the work of your peers, seeing what people are doing and their progression
It is ideally suited to visual artists as we have pictures. Twitter is more suited to words. It can make a lot of your job easier
It can make your job a lot easier (networking, selling, etc). Through Instagram you're meeting art directors and agents without relying so much on participating in galleries or making contact through phonecalls and emails
Very useful for 'shipping it' - "an American term for taking your thing, and getting it out into the world" - Ed
For someone with a lot of ideas, commiting to draw almost every day (and photograph it, edit it, and then upload it at the optimal time) is a motivation to get more work finished, and if it wasn't for that daily commitment it would be too easy to put unfinished work into a drawer and start something new, never actually finishing anything. Ed doesn't draw every day, but he posts every day. On the most days that he does draw, not every drawing is a good drawing (and that's how it's supposed to be)

Cons
- Looking at your phone so much, and phone based apps are detrimental for focus
- It is the thief of time and it is too easy to keep scrolling
- Not always pleasant
- It is work to maintain
- Number-based feedback can be unhealthy, engaging with those numbers and fixating on them
"I think Instagram would be better if it didn't show you the number of likes, and the number of followers" - Ed
- Instagram is not aimed at helping you (you are not the customer of Instagram, but rather the paying advertiser is. Your attention if the commodity for sale). It's good to just be aware of that

Best Practises
Be mindful of the 2 ways to visit Instagram:
A. As a Creative (to show something that you have done)
B. As a Consumer (going to see what other people have done)
Being mindful can stop you from distracted by endless scrolling

A. As a Creative

Post your best work, presented in the best way possible, regularly (not neccessarily frequently)
Ed posts once a day at 3pm so that it's regular. If you post once a week, just do it at the same time, like on Monday's at 5.
Drop & Run (& reply to comments/direct messages - this promotes engagement). Don't post and then watch for a while, or check back in an hour to see how many likes it's got. Likes don't mean anything, it's irrelevant to you. When you make that post, it's a good time to reply to any comments and DM's on your last post, because that makes the algorithm know that there is activity around you, which is what you want
Use hashtags well
Be personal - be a real person - engaging text on posts, personal stuff via story, talk as if to your friends
"I've done a drawing, I just want to share it, I don't want to write any text. But actually when I'm looking at other people's work, I want some text, I want some context, I want to know, 'What am I looking at and why? Why is it important to you?' And people's stories - if I'm interested in a creative, I'm interested in their life and them as a person. I want to see your studio, where you live, what you do. And with writing captions as if to a friend, I think what people are looking for is a personal engagement" - Ed
Instagram is a learned practise, take it slowly and one step at a time. Some people will do better than you, don't worry about it
Engage with and embrace the community (uplift others, find things in common, learn from others, share other people's work, be generous). Comment, DM, it's a great way to learn from others, see who's doing things well and what you could learn from that
Prepare posts in advance (use Instagram drafts or 3rd party apps - Planoly etc.) Ed takes one morning a week to plan the posts for the week ahead, and then you don't have to think about it. You just press the button to post, at the time you want to stick to. Ed uses drafts
Look at analytics (available through a business account) and post at the optimum time. Repeat this each day/week/month etc - it's good to know about this stuff, but don't get too deeply into it
Don't post non-art stuff on your feed. Post it on your story or on a seperate account. You're curating a portfolio of your artistic practise, not your personal life. It's more neat and organised. (I agree with this, I follow artists to see their art on my feed, not pictures of their cats)
Create more content/posts from your work if necessary (WIP/timelapse/process videos or reels/thumbnails/plans, sketches). Look at something you've created and think how you can get more posts from that content using what led up to the final piece. People enjoy seeing the process too
Write engaging captions. If you write a long caption under your post, people will spend longer looking at it. The algorithm is going to read that as increased engagement with your post and boost you that way (don't be cynical, just take some time to write a good caption). Some days you won't feel like writing, so do them all when you feel like it (14)
Don't think of it as selling your work - express the love you have for your creation. It's more engaging and what people want to hear
Try not to do yourself down, be unashamedly excited (fake it til you make it, if you must). Being half-hearted about your content or asking for pity (I only had an hour to do this...) is the wrong approach
Write captions in batches when in the mood (can also be paired to the posts in drafts)

B. As a Consumer

Identify successful creatives in your field and learn more from them. If there is a post with 50 comments on it, that artist has probably done something right, see what you can learn. How can you adapt?
Identify relevant magazine accounts in your genre and engage with them (for me, 2D animation and illustration). Those are big ways to boost your work and your engagement, if you can get talking to these accoutns and get them to talk about you. The way to do that is to just engage with them, follow them, comment on their works, maybe DM them if you think it would go well on their account just send it to them. You may get attraction that way, you may not, but it's easy to try
Find and follow illustrators in your field. See what other people are doing, don't copy, but be aware. Also find the people that you want to work for... Find the people who commission work (or find the people behind the studios that would hire) - something might come of it
Like/comment/save/share the work of your peers. Boost their engagement
Watch out for 'fake work' - inactive browsing is easy but not productive - be mindful, set limits, and don't make excuses for getting distracted by calling it 'work' just because the attention is on creatives. In the most part, it must be better to spend your time drawing or making illustration than scrolling

Presentation

This is a learned practise, you will get better at it
Take the best photos/get the best scans possible - use or build a rostrum tripod etc. Ed built his own platform that rests above his desk where he can position a phone or an iPad and take photos of flat work
Lighting - invest in a couple of good bulbs for winter. "In the North there's about 6 months only where I can take photos in natural light" - Ed
Ed's bulbs are 1600 lumens and 6000k on the colour spectrum. It makes all the difference
Use Photoshop/After Effects (animation) - levels, colour balance, cropping etc.
Get the VSCO app - by far the best filters. Putting a filter on work does not make it untrue. Filter things and get it looking bright or whatever you like
Direct comparison with the work of others. Find a good post that you like, that's doing well, screenshot it, and compare it to your next post. What are the differences? Is it cropped? Are the levels better?

Engagement

Engagement is the % of followers who engage with your work
% of followers who like, comment, share, save - this is what boosts you within the algorithm
Number of likes + the number of comments, and then divide by the number of followers you have, and you'll get a number that is less than 1. Multiply that by 100, and that gives you your engagement as a percentage, but this doesn't take into account shares or saves. You can compare your engagement to that of other people this way. Don't do this stuff often - once a week, or once a month. It's numbers and it's not good to fixate on it. Engagement is the metric that the algorithm uses to determine how many people your work is shown to
Reply to comments/direct messages with words (not emoji). Algorithm is watching out for spam or bot accounts
Engagement is generally 2-6% on IG (Ed's was 1.5% at the time of this presentation, which is better than on Facebook and Twitter at 1-3%)
Use a business account to get insights
You don't need a big account to engage and connect with your followers. Ed's engagement was actually better when he had less followers. The official Instagram account reposted one of Ed's videos and he got 35k followers overnight, and he sort of wishes he hadn't. You don't want just numbers, you want followers that are actually engaged
100 Engaged followers are better than 10,000 inactive ones

Hashtags

Important for growing reach & targeting who you show your work to. Vary the hashtags with each post or Instagram and its algorithm will think you are a bot account
If you're looking for new hashtags, look at similar accounts to you and what they use. Make a list on your phone notes! And then choose a selection of those hashtags
Use 10-15 hashtags
Look at the number of posts under each tag. Avoid massive ones - use a mixture of big and small. For example... Avoid using #art because there are thousands of posts under such a broad hashtag
Make your own hashtag?

The Algorithm

Instagram (& Twitter/Facebook etc) used to have a linear timeline, which was great. Then they became too big, and just weren't able to show people these hundreds and hundreds of posts since last logging on, so they introduced the algorithm. Nobody really fully understands it because it changes all the time
The algorithm shows you what it thinks you want to see
It works against spam, bot activity, and 'free selling' - making posts for selling stuff will negatively affect your engagement. You can do it, but it won't be shown to as many people
Don't repost! Post new, original content (or alter it first), or it brings down engagement

Mental Health

Don't fixate on numbers (exciting things can happen even with low numbers). Don't look at your likes often unless figuring out your engagement. You don't need all these followers for great things to happen, and being smaller can be nicer
It's a marathon, not a sprint
Engagement will continue to grow as you continue to post (the more you post, the more stuff will happen), but don't post more than once a day or your posts can get confused on people's feeds. If you posted 3 times in one day, it's unlikely that one person is going to see all 3 posts, so minimize daily posting to have the maximum amount of people see your posts
Don't engage with unkind direct messages and comments (remove these and block users)
Remember that the algorithm has a random element - not all of the big accounts are posting good stuff - low engagement does not mean that your work doesn't have value. Believe this, and curate your feed to make Instagram a positive and fun place to be
Post to more than one social media site
Alternatives to Instagram: artstation, DeviantArt (even though this is suggested, I think DeviantArt is very much an outdated platform for artists), Reddit (r/drawing, r/art etc), Flickr, Pinterest, Tumblr, tiktok (not great, but a very current platform right now, and there is potential for uploading animated content), LinkedIn
Also post to your website, Behance and/or Adobe Portfolio at the same time as you post a new piece of work to social media
Use the app IFTTT to post to multiple platform accounts at once

Questions

What are the benefits that some artists do gain from reposting old work?
The work you posted back then will have been shown to a completely different group of people than those that are currently seeing your work. So if you did something really good, it can be nice to bring it back. Although this is contradictory to being good for engagement, it is more for the followers you already have, and to combat the algorithm you can try photographing or scanning the work again, or just changing it slightly

Do you think Instagram is past it's day, since the algorithm isn't really in your favour if you're just beginning?
Definitely. I wish it could be like it was when I started using it 8 years ago. There isn't an alternative that works in the same way, so I'm not sure what we can do about it right now. For creatives starting out, it would be good for them to be on Instagram, but it is a shame that it isn't like it was and that you now have to take advice like this. For the time being, we just have to see if any better app comes along, but I am working on my own ideas for one - something like a c2012 Instagram

Have you ever paid to have your work promoted on Instagram?
I paid once by mistake... I was paying for a Facebook ad to try drive people to my Kickstarter, but my Facebook was linked to my Instagram without my knowing, so I did mistakenly do a paid Instagram post. My engagement was then terrible, because Instagram thinks "well this guy paid once, he'll pay again". So I would say never pay for a promoted post on Instagram. The promoted post is also shown to people as an engagement, so people aren't engaging with your post - they don't see "Ed has made a new post", they see "Oh, Ed is advertising"

Can not be engaging with social media be detrimental to your potential?
I don't want to use money as a measure of success but without Instagram I wouldn't have made a living in the last year during Covid-19, and I'm at a stage in my life where I need an income. I'm unsure if I could have made this money without social media. I often find artists who have done illustrations for external things such as New Scientist, and then I will look them up. Some of those people aren't on Instagram, yet those people are clearly having a successful career as an editorial illustrator or at least they are having work pubished - so it is possible to make it without it. But just because they can get away with this approach, doesn't mean we should think the same way, because they're definitely in a different situation or scenario to us. The only reason not to do Instagram is it takes up too much time, or if you hate it; if you don't enjoy it. I hate Facebook so I would never use it even if it would help me. But for Instagram, I go there to try to boost my career, to try to boost my sales

What's your opinion on Instagram reels?
Reels are really good. They are ripped off from TikTok, but they're done in a much better way. I use them to post-process videos. They can be 30 seconds long, and you can choose some music to go with your reel. I think it's really interesting to see what music an illustrator uses with their work. People aren't using it to showcase finished work, but maybe a look through a sketchbook, a process video, timelapses of drawing, or a little tour through their studio. There is also IGTV which you can use to show your process videos, and finding these kinds of reels are in a seperate part of the app to the main things, so it's great. Use it if you like it

"Lecture in Progress has lots of helpful articles on using social media as a creative. Use all of this information to make an informed, industry-facing decision about if you will use social media, and how you will use it."

15th April 2021

To Do List

Improvements I intend to make to my online portfolio:

Add captions to artworks
Influenced by Li
Make an option to view works by project as well as by individual piece/general overview
Influenced by McGarry
Figure out if there's a way to have the images be enlarged if you click on them
Influenced by Li, Chong (on category pages)
Consider a homepage with a big stand-out illustration/animation, or a selection of best work.
Influenced by Mienar, Chong

15th April 2021

Good and Bad Website Design

*I have also added these to the BB padlet with my name.

Good Websites

https://opensource.glassanimals.com/

Although not a designers themselves, the band Glass Animals have a very innovative website for booking tickets for their shows, which is in sync with the vaporwave aesthetic of their latest album cover. All the folders, icons and documents can be clicked on, and you can move the windows around too, functioning just as a Windows Desktop would. It's very immersive and in touch with pop-culture (even the time is synced!).

https://mienar.com/

There's something very delicate about a handwritten artist header, a clean white background, and a very calm, warm and welcoming animated illustration on the homepage. It's a case of simple is effective, and it really gives a sense of the type of work Mienar makes just from the image chosen to be at the front of the portfolio. The portfolio page is simple and effective.

https://dogstudio.co/

This creative studio's website does everything right. The front page is interactive, sleek, modern and grabs the user's attention. It makes you want to scroll down and learn more, if even just to see what the animation does. It even has music, but not in a way that's distracting. The website is divided into categories that make sense for the studio. It really shows off their identity, and they are clearly a studio that pays attention to detail, as the animation changes depending on the links you hover over.

https://benjaminhardman.com/

The website's design is clean, the best work is featured on homepage, and it's not overwhelming. It also has good navigation; the photography projects are easy to find and browse.

https://ejchong.com/

The categories are organised but not overcomplicated. The plain background doesn't take away from the work. There is also the ability to click on images to see detail, and the portfolio layout shows off lots of work quickly. The images are a good size in 3 columns. 'About' profile is professional and minimal, and there are icon links to social media. Signature as website title looks good and gives an extra splash of creativity and personality (I have also done this.)

https://www.wentingli.com/

It's simple, minimalistic and modern, with colourful illustrations on the front page that make a complimentary contrast to a blank background. The grid format lets you see a lot of work very quickly, and you get a taste for their visual style. All images enlarge when clicked on, so you can get a better look, and there is a line of context. This is something I'd like to impliment onto my website, but Weebly doesn't have this as a straight-forward option. ( There is no simple left click enlargement for images on Weebly. You can right click and open the image in another tab, but not all users would know to do this.) Continuous scrolling also allows the user to get lost in browsing the portfolio. The typeface chosen is modern but gentle, and navigation is easy due to simple but relevant categorisation.

Bad Websites

http://anishkapoor.com/

Even for the often questionable ideas of a fine artist, this is definitely not a good approach to a website portfolio. There are no pages of categories, the entire website is links, and displayed in an obnoxiously compressed format. Even if you click the option for 'about', which would typically give an about page, it instead just highlights many links that contain information. You can't get a good overview of the artist's work, it is not easy access, and with so many seperate links, people most likely just won't take the time to click on them all. There are also no connections to social media or contact details on the filtering menu.

http://heikejung.de/

Another fine artist's website. It is less like a portfolio, and similarly to Kapoor, rather just a collection of links. While this time there are categories of pages, the pages just contain more links, so it's really just more of the same. The typeface and layout are both dated and do not help in showing the artist's best work. As well as that, there is a lack of imagery and creativity in general design choices. The backgrounds of the pages do not have any theme to them and just seem to be randomly selected colours. It is not clean, and some colours are not good for reading the text (which is... all there is.) The relevant information is there, but it could be presented much better.

http://alexdacorte.com/

The structure of this artist's website is chaotic. The artworks overlay a lot of informational text in the background, which isn't able to be navigated unless you select the 'about' option at the top of the page. It isn't straightforward, and it's a lot of information to take in at once. On the front page slideshow, there is no option to go and find a specific image, you have to scroll through them all. There is also no page for an overview portfolio. The slideshow images have captions in the far left corner, but it's barely noticeable because of all the text in the background already.

http://garypanter.com/

Firstly, the featured image on Panter's homepage does not fit the screen, it's a strange size and it makes the page look unfinished. The second issue is the inconsistencies with navigation and the menu. For example, the homepage is filed under "info" despite it having no info at all. Clicking the 'about' category leads to a blank page, so it shouldn't be a link at all, as it seems he intended it to just be a header on the menu for the 3 following categories. There are too many sections that would make more sense if they were merged into one. The category "media" is strangely on it's own, and isn't capitalised like all the others. It's unprofessional and a contemporary fix would be to have something like social media icons, or have the links contained merged into the 'about' page. There is no information for contact details, either, unless you find the resume within the categories.

15th April 2021

2.1 Portfolios & Websites

1. Source examples of good website portfolio practice - share them on the provided padlet on Bb

2. Source examples of bad website practice - share them on the provided padlet on Bb

3. Use these checklists (and the comments contained within) to create a 'to do' list that you will use to refine your website and approach to portfolio management.

4. Create a post on your professional practice webpage where you share your 'to do' list and give a brief outline of the improvements you intend to make. Include links / embed iframes of any sites that have influenced or informed your choices.

Professional practice blog/webpage post titled 'Portfolio Refinement'. This should contain a variety of resources - primarily for your own reference. This can be an ongoing repository that will expand over the year.