From offensive screenprints to greetings cards, six creatives share the most standout self-promotional methods they've come across.
There are few professions for which self-promotion is more important than that of a designer. The aim being to sell yourself and your skills to the world, this vital piece of material needs to be anything but a snooze-fest. Here, six creative share their views on the most memorable methods of designer's introducing themselves to the world.
Mark Denton
"I persuaded hand-lettering artist Alison Carmichael to send out screenprinted posters of the C-word, executed in her delicate and inimitable style," says director of Coy! Communications Mark Denton. "They went down so well that people started framing them. One framer offered to supply a £100 frame for free in exchange for a copy of the poster. He wanted to give it to his wife for their wedding anniversary." See Carmichael's unique screenprints here.
Co-founder of design agency Fieldwork Loz Ives remembers a seasonal design: "There's something from quite a way back that's always stuck with me - First Class, by The Chase. It was a studio Christmas card sent out to clients and friends, with a design on the front made up of stamps, the sum of which added up to exactly the right amount for first class postage. Something like that is such a great example of good ideas standing the test of time."
"We once received a square wooden box with a potential candidate's name and the words 'Operation Internship' burnt into the top," comments graphic designer and illustrator Ben Steers. "The box was attached to a parachute. Inside were self-promo bits including a CV, self-designed poly plane and a model guy on a branded parachute. The whole thing weighed a tonne. Definitely the most impressive bit of promo I've seen."
Illustrator and designer Alex Lucas came up with an ingenious way to showcase her artistic talents: "I spent five days painting a pattern of flowers and birds all over the front of my house. I even slept up on the third level of the scaffolding. After I had finished, I opened up my front window to sell my artwork through it. I now feature in many international and local newspapers because of my 'birdhouse'."
Co-founder of Snask Fredrik Ost recommends thinking outside the box: "We spent $7,000 on a self-promo trip to China where we lectured about branding in front of 50 major companies. We ended up with zero Chinese clients but got Tetrapak and several other Nordic brands. A very, very strange but successful self-promo strategy. Another great promo one was a lecture for 20 people that has given us two of our biggest contracts so far. Lecture more!"
"The most memorable for me is '40 Days of Dating' by Jessica Walsh and Timothy Goodman," says graphic designer and illustrator Marta Cerda Alimbau. "It's such a different and unexpected kind of self-promo project; an online experiment that also worked really well."
This article originally appeared in Computer Arts issue 225. Have you seen any brilliant examples of self-promotion? Let us know in the comments...
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