602 - Visual Stimuli Blog - Initial Response

Initially the page start-up was quite slow. I deliberately kept it anonymous and didn't tell any of my friends about it just to see how it could grow on its own first - experimenting with my approach as I went. 
(BARE IN MIND, PAGE WAS CALLED 'VISUAL STIMULI' THEN, I TOOK THE SCREENSHOTS AT THE END'

With the use of hashtags I started generated some likes as the days went by, and I began getting interest from random accounts trying to promote themselves on my page.
After a week or so I began directing the posts and content more directly at the artist -

Talking more causally to try and increase approachability and aiming to invoke that bit of conversation with the audience and the artist regarding the work on show..

 "Pastel pinks and nice visuals by ..."

"Ridiculous fractal art from ... "

Still not much success.
But I knew perseverance and consistency is what was going to get my page regular viewers.

 Started mixing the content up - considering all of my influences and how this can relate to what my ideal target audiences tastes would be.
- Being creatives/designers I tried to look at a variety of creative work to see which got the best response rates

- From typographical work, to illustration, to motion work, to colour theory, recent famous album arts - reviewing it and asking for opinions, photographers works, posters, trippy visuals, graffiti in the real world, interior design, etc.

- The culmination of work was definitely attracting a larger audience breadth tying various creatives together from all of the world and industry, 
AS THIS IS WHERE I STARTED HEARING BACK OFF THE ARTISTS I WAS FEATURING!
Now I had more of a feed coming together with all this various creative influence, the page looked and felt more official. To try and increase its officoialality even further, unlike bot accounts, I took advice from the research done in the previous post and began getting more involved with the community - liking and commenting on artists works, being nice and complimentary to people - stroking them egos!

I first heard back off a graphic design artist which I have admired for a couple years now called Devin Wilson.. he produces very type heavy but composition considered pieces of work - from album art, to just trippy poster work. 
- By featuring him and using more of a relatable, approachable tone of voice which was appropriate to the artists background I think he felt more inclined to get back to me because of how I was presenting myself as another designer with a dream and a passion - similar to himself.

The simple comment emoji back lead to me following up and messaging him directly through the account, we had a little chat regarding his background and he even followed my personal account and told me to stay in touch! Safe to say I was buzzing and even though the account is still on such a small level it is definitely beginning to build those bridges and give me the confidence to start those conversations with the current artists I am admiring. Because, why not..


  

The page kept slowly growing as I tried to implement more and more from what I learnt from my research. I began trying to post in 3's to get that more considered and curated feed on a whole - trying to group similar posts/design styles or a particular artists work.

This did start adding to the overall aesthetic and strategy of the page. Also starting to include slider posts with numerous examples of an artists work within!

Opened the doors up to more potential audiences by deliberately shouting out creatives / bloggers with larger audiences. By tagging them in it, the feature on their tagged photos section would hopefully let me tap into a bit of their market - looking at lifestyle and clothing accounts aswell as just recent-grad designers I was familiar with..

When I reached my first 100 followers milestone I put a little customised artwork post out thanking the viewers so far and requesting them to get involved any way they can - by sending in their work, using the VS hashtag, and suggesting their favourite works to be featured too. This didn't get a very good response rate, but again consistency is key, so I started adopting it into my bio and captions to up the reach of the content.

As you can see, 2 months in and the feed is starting to feel much more considered and curated - balance of colour and design style.
Deliberately made each line contrast eachother so they each stand out as individual collections / odes to the artist.


Beneath shows how the tone of voice I was using on the page was developing and how it was starting more and more conversations for myself by stroking the egos of the designers and getting in their good books..

- "Amazingly vibrant and different portrait style by __"
- "Leeds based designer/street artist __ shows us how rollover HUE is a simple, yet effective way to bring illustrations to life!"
- "__ with a seriously badass poster.."
- "Punchy, charismatic type cheekily fitting into the strong cityscape compositions, solid feed by __"
- "Pastel colours, long shadows and nice textures - can __ get any slicker?"

These all lead to either short insta convos or further discussions regarding my own work..