Business card size book ideas

Brainstorming ideas for a very short book with simple illustrations that will function at the scale of a business card.

- A book coming to life - animals coming out of the book
- Character drawing their whole world, starts in blank space then fills it




Story pages

- girl sat at the table with a book next to her (all in black and white)
- book open and worm looks out (worm is in colour)
- worm crawls back in and book closes
- girl carefully opens the book
- opens book fully, cant see anything
- bigger worm drags her into the book
- book slams shut
- girl crawls back out, is now in full colour

promotional material

The January symposium at Hanbury Hall is a good opportunity to test out promotional material. i need to decide what promotional material i want to create. I am going to start by deciding what it is I want to say and understanding who I am appealing to.

I want my promotional material to
- Communicate my personality and passion for my work
- Be intriguing, make the recipient want to keep it
- Be appropriate to children's book illustration
- Stand out from the crowd
- Demonstrate my skills
- Have a feel of crafting/quality
- Exciting, Memorable, appealing

ideas
- Could be personalised to the individual, signed and numbered print
- Could incorporate some interactive elements, maybe a reason to get in touch
- Narrative based, short and simple, business card sized book
- Something easy to carry around, could be off putting
- Something the recipient would display, a sticker or patch (start conversations/refresh memory)
- Other applicable products, must be low cost and related to children's book illustration

Possibilities
- Business card with cut out thought bubbles (inspiration around us)
- Business card sized book, very simple narrative
- clothing patch, fun character

Business card mock ups

Building a website (slowly)

I have started to build my website. I have already bought a simple and appropriate domain name. My computer skills are making the process very slow!!!! I want to keep the website very simple and easy to navigate. I do want to make the website appealing to look and individual but without trying to do too much or overcomplicate things.

So far
- I have made a rough title logo to act as a place holder and test composition
- I have tried out a few layouts, at first I though of using my home page as the portfolio but through testing decided to have a slideshow of my work on the home page with a link to the portfolio.
- very simple - Three pages - portfolio, contact and about.
- Tried to test out some hand drawn text but wasn't happy with the results so far. I do want to keep this as a hand drawn element. If I get it right I think it will make the page feel more personal and appealing but still look professional.

Creative Business card ideas

I found some examples of business cards that stand out from the crowd. I have found a large number of illustrators cards that feature some of their work and some hand drawn text with contact information. The cards demonstrate crafting, the images are appealing and showcase the illustrators work. The wording is often informal and friendly, adding a personal touch. This seems to be the standard layout of an illustrators business with the differences between them being how well they have been designed and the quality of the materials. 

The two cards above contain very simple narratives, one with the illustration continuing onto the back of the card and the other with a speech bubble. This is something I am interested in. The main focus of my work children's book illustration so I would like to demonstrate how I approach communication through my work. My illustrations and narrative will have to me appropriate to my practice and scale is the biggest constraint, if the card is larger than a credit card does it still serve its purpose?

The cards demonstrate some more creative and often interactive ideas. I like the idea of making a card that is intriguing and stands out from the rest but think there may be some problems with this idea. Some of the ideas are very specific and could even be too subtle and the meaning missed. The whale shaped card may be awkward to keep hold of (wouldn't fit in a wallet or purse) , it also seems like it could be damaged more easily. The skateboards look really nice but keeping sandpaper in your pocket doesn't sound appealing. I need to give some thought to creative ideas that still allow the cards to be functional.

Task- Research Websites

Looking at some agencies websites their is not always a clear link to the illustrators individual websites. On the 'Big Active' website visitors to the site are encouraged to contact the agency to commission illustrators. The majority of illustrators biographies contain links to Instagram accounts. The main page of each individual illustrator displays a carefully selected work and then a link to Instagram allows visitors to the site to gain a greater insight into the illustrators previous commissions, personality and personal work. The website is crisp and clean with a white backdrop, artists work are displayed through larger thumbnails with a title and description (exhibition, sculpture, product etc). Adding this small piece of information will allow visitors to look up further information if they see something they are particularly interested in.

The 'Heart Agency' website seemed to be the easiest to navigate of the agencies I looked at. Contact info for the agency as well as links to social media and a newsletter sign up are displayed clearly on the right of the page (on every page of the website!!!). On the illustrators page their name is displayed along with one image. Each individual illustrators page features a small range of images to cycle through with one enlarged in the centre of the screen. Each illustrator also has a biography linked to their page that includes a short paragraph explaining their background, a description of their work in general, then some more specific examples of applications of their work and successful previous commissions, at the bottom of the page is a select client list and link to their individual website.

Tom Gauld
https://www.tomgauld.com/

- the website is crisp and clean with black text on a plain white background
- The logo is simply the address of the website but hand drawn/written which adds a crafted and creative feel to the site
- Their are four main section clearly displayed in large font at the left of the page
- News - a way to keep up with current projects and recent work
- Portfolio - a gallery of illustrations, variety, not necessarily made into products
- Comic books - specific publications, a section to display the man focus of his practice, includes links to places you can buy the work
- Shop - prints that are available to buy direct from the website - I would be much happier buying a signed print direct from the artist
- under these links are another set in a smaller font that are made up of link to a range of social media, a mailing list you can join to keep up to date with the artists work, a contact page with direct email through the site and a postal address and an 'about' section featuring a very brief biography and a bibliography of previous work and current publications.

Allan Sanders
www.allansanders.co.uk/

- Very similar to Tom Gauld's website in terms of layout
- Links to individual project pages on the side margin are maybe a bit confusing without previous knowledge of the illustrators work
- Could maybe group the work into sections and have links with simpler broader headers
- About and Contact links displayed clearly at the top of the links in bolder colour
- Every page acts as a portfolio, under the individual page content there is a range of thumbnails from the rest of the artists previous work (confusing or a good way to show the full range of work?)
- Nice use of animation as headers, draws the eye, makes site more interesting
- About page features small biography, list of selected previous projects and recent work
- contact page direct visitors to contact heart Agency for commercial enquiries but also includes an individual contact email "If you just want to say hello : allan@allansanders.co.uk" , which is a really nice personal touch, also includes links to social media

I looked at 4 other illustrators sites that were set out in exactly the same way, I wanted to find one that was more creative to see if it could be both intriguing and practical.

Jay Wright
http://www.jaydanielwright.com/

- When you enter the website you are greeted with a page of illustrations that link to the individual pages of the website
- Some of the illustrations aren't entirely clear but the interactive nature of the site makes you want to explore and discover what is hidden through each link
- Key elements of the site ate illustrated with clear hand drawn text rather than an image to make sure they are not missed, this stops navigating the site becoming frustrating
- The 'about' page is quite light on this site but gives a list of previous clients, some info about the illustrator, direct email, Instagram, phone number and links to 'Blink Art' agency.

PP3 Briefing

Need to blog more!!

Need to start working on website
- look at different sites to see what would work for me
- look at examples of other illustrators sites
- could make video blog/tutorials
- treat site as online portfolio
- carefully select which work to include. why is it included? (match work to your market)
- Show personality
- consider tone of voice
- concise, simple, clean information
- show off (no negative language in online presence)
- keep refreshing content
- ask clients for feedback, include quotes on site

Online presence
- use a variety of methods site, blogs, videos etc
- link together
- one clear message and voice
- think creatively
- use sites and methods that benefit your practice and personality

Communication
-Emails, all look the same, 70% won't make it to recipient.
- phone, no longer the norm, harder to ignore.
- letter, hand written, make it interesting, letter heads, created specifically for recipient.

Business cards
- Are they a thing of the past
- children's book publishers prefer physical copies
- think non- traditional
- cartoon strip, narrative
- make a set, make the collectable
- doesn't have to be a card
- does it turn into something else?
- how could you make it more personal?
- what to say and how to say it?
- images, language and humour should link with practice and be appropriate