How do you sell yourself as a young creative using social media and

technology?
In this essay I will be explaining the wide range of techniques used to sell yourself to the
modern world, as a creative practitioner. The techniques used are all apart of marketing.
Marketing if done properly, can be extremely effective, it determines how much recognition a
person gets. How can someone sell themselves to the modern world if nobody knows about
them? Furthermore I will look into how the development of social media is making it easier for a
creative to showcase their work.
An article from SocialMediaExaminer.com explains How to use Twitter for Business and
Marketing several steps are listed and they are explained in depth however the first and most
unique part about twitter is the fact that it is a short message communication tool. Also following
people on twitter is an effective way to create contacts with people in the industry, however this
means the tweets made have to be mature and professional otherwise it could be a loss of a
potential contact. Tools such as twitter prove to be an effective way to create contacts, but
presentation is an important factor to consider. The number 1 step is to present your brand, its
your chance to tell your business story to the Twitter community (Kingston, 2013,
www.socialmediaexaminer.com). Twitter allows people to put a business logo up as their profile
photo and the background can be customized to a graphic file so it matches the business
branding. Having a personal logo shows professionalism and it means any work produced has
an identity. The eye catching attraction towards a logo however comes down to the amount of
effort put into the design itself.
Personal branding, more than any other type of project, determines how people view your style
of work and your level of expertise. - designshack.net (Clum, 2013, http://designshack.net/)
Milton Glaser happens to be one of the most successful logo designers of all time. Glaser is
most famous for designing the I love NY logo, as shown below.

This logo was commissioned for an advertising campaign in New York, 1977. Glaser was asked
to design a logo that embodied the ad campaigns I Love New York theme.
Fig.1 I love NY Campaign. (Glaser, 1977)

Here are some examples of Glasers work show cased at the Kemistry gallery which I went to
visit in 2013.

Ahmed, Shuhel. 2013

To design is to communicate clearly by whatever means you can control or master.

Milton Glaser (Glaser, 2013, http://www.brainyquote.com)
Designers such as Milton Glaser are known throughout the world because they produce work
that is innovative and new. As a creative, passion and quality must be shown in the work
produced. In addition to be a part of the modern world it is essential to have knowledge of the
industry, this is because the creative industry is an ever changing industry that has different
trends each year.
Glaser has been featured in a youtube video where he gives advice to young artists who are
trying to make a name for themselves (Glaser, 2013, www.youtube.com). To sum up the points
made in the video, Glaser is trying to give out the message that working hard is not an option,
he also used a quote from Malcolm Gladwells book, Outliers: The Story of Success,
The emerging picture from such studies is that ten thousand hours of practice is required to
achieve the level of mastery associated with being a world-class expert in anything, writes
the neurologist Daniel Levitin. (Gladwell, 2008, p. 40)
An article from designshack.net wrote an article titled How to Creatively Market Yourself as a
Designer (Clum, 2013, http://designshack.net/) explains how you can market yourself
emphasizing the use of digital technology. The article says:

Personal branding, more than any other type of project, determines how people view your style
of work and your level of expertise. - designshack.net (Clum, 2013, http://designshack.net/)
The article included an example of personal branding by a designer who used a very unique
handmade approach, as shown below.

According to the article, writing a blog is one of the best ways to get recognition, it helps to
understand personality and design decisions. Being someone who has written a blog
themselves, I can say I agree with the points made in the article. Writing a blog is a great way to
promote business and find clients. Even though many visitors are going to head straight to see
a portfolio of work, the blog itself shows self-reflection of work and knowledge of the creative
industry. Constantly updating a blog shows that the person is dedicated, it also makes it seem
like its a part of their lifestyle.
There are also websites that are dedicated purely for showcasing work, some of these include
DeviantArt.com. Deviant Art focuses on allowing users to showcase work within a community of
over 25 million users. Art work is categorized into different categories such as digital art,
literature, photography and many more. It also allows users to comment on each others posts
similarly to blogs. However the difference is blogs can be much more personal and in depth.
Deviant Art is advantageous to people who struggle to write about their work whereas a blog
focuses mainly on writing about work.
Furthermore the techniques mentioned so far heavily revolve around digital technology.
Traditional networking is still important create contacts. Common methods are visiting different
events like exhibitions and art fairs, this helps to establish a good relation with practitioners who
possibly could want to work together in the future. Entering an award competition helps promote
work to industry professionals. Winning the competition can help achieve even more exposure
by cross referencing the news via Twitter, LinkedIn, as well as the press. Examples of
competitions are D&AD and AIGA. AIGA hosts sponsored events in every major city, again this
is a chance to meet people in the industry and to make connections.

Self initiated projects are one of the best ways to showcase your personal brand. It shows
passion and it can show different traits of the individuals personality depending on the type of
work done, and how broad the individuals works are in the field. However, the book So Good
They Can't Ignore You (Newport, 2012) the author suggests that skills trump passion and that it
is much better to solely dedicate all your efforts into one specific area to maximize your chances
of being the best in that field. So for an example, a web designer should only focus on web
design if he wants to increase the chances of getting employed, disregarding any other passion
he has for graphic design in general such as editorial/book design. This idealogy can relate to
Malcolm Gladwells 10000 hour theory, who Milton Glaser, a very successful graphic designer
agrees with. In my opinion the problem with this approach is that if someone is able to become
extremely skilled at a specific field, there will always be someone else who is just as good. The
creative industry is one of the fastest growing industries and skill on its own is not enough to sell
yourself.
Any creative who is wants to succeed must make the most out of technology, and social media
is the most powerful technological tool. Instagram is amongst the most popular social media tool
right now for photography and for creativity in general. This is because of the layout and
function which makes it convenient, creatives tend to post images of their work in progress and
then use Twitter to share the link of their work.
The book So Good They Can't Ignore You (Newport, 2012) mentions the 40 year scientific
framework called "Self-Determination Theory." The theory goes that success and motivation
comes from:
A. Autonomy - Having control over your career and feeling that what you are doing is
meaningful.
B. Competence - Feeling like a master of the skills you practice at work.
C. Relatedness - Having strong social connections at your job.
These three elements essentially are what's needed to sell yourself. An individual who produces
low quality work will have to network themselves harder on social media, whereas an extremely
talented artist may be able to get a job just by speaking to a curator in a exhibition. So despite
the use of technology, as an individual the most important factor to consider to how well you can
sell yourself comes down largely to the quality of work produced and relevant work experience
in the industry.

Bibliography
Books
Gladwell, Malcolm. (2008) Outliers: The Story of Success. United States. Little, Brown and
Company.
Newport, Cal. (2012) So Good They Can't Ignore You: Why Skills Trump Passion in the
Quest for Work You Love. United States.
Exhibitions/Visits
Kemistry Gallery 26:10:13
Youtube
Glaser, Milton (April 2012). Milton Glaser's Advice to Young Artists [YouTube video]. (0:260:44/1:49). Accessed on: 25th May. Available at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_IAJtYzV9c8
Newport, Cal (October 2012) Authors@Google: Cal Newport | "So Good They Can't Ignore
You" [YouTube video]. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwOdU02SE0w
Websites
Kingston, Charlene. (2013) How to use Twitter for Business & Marketing. [online] United
States. Available at http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/how-to-use-twitter-for-business-andmarketing/ (Accessed 27:05:15)
Clum, Luke. (2013) How to creatively market yourself as a designer. [online] Seattle.
Available at
http://designshack.net/articles/business-articles/how-to-creatively-market-yourself-as-adesigner%E2%80%A8%E2%80%A8/
Glaser, Milton. (2015). BrainyQuote. [online] Available at
http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/m/miltonglas170011.html