Why I post my design work online and why you should too!
5 reasons why posting design work on social and professional media could lead to your next big break.
I won’t waste your time here, I promise. This is for those creatives that post online regularly and those who are contemplating doing it. I have been posting my Industrial Design work online on platforms like Behance and Instagram for around 4 years now and I have come to realize that the benefits outweigh the contra. Here are 5 reasons I think you should post your work online:
Your body of work increases
This one is really simple. By posting regularly and getting in the habit of it, you will realize that you are building a body of work. Let’s not worry about if it looks great or not, what I mean is, at least there is some work. The more you get into the habit of posting your work — the more you will learn to work faster and efficiently.
I am not sure if posting your work regularly improves the quality of work but that could be a happy side effect too, however there might be other strategies if you want to improve your quality of work. Regardless, By having a body of work for you and other people to look at, you let people see what you are passionate about. And who knows — maybe a quick idea will turn into a full blown project one day?
Why is this different from just practicing and not posting? I think posting work generates more confidence in your own work than if you were to not post them. It takes courage to share what you are passionate about and to show that you are a work in progress. The more you generate confidence in your work, the less you will hold your ideas dear to yourself. If you keep all your sketches, drawing, sculptures, poems and songs in your closet, you might get too attached to them.
Opportunities come knocking
This may not happen on the first day of posting, nor will it happen the tenth time you post. Having more work, projects, ideas, thoughts, simply increases your chances to be discovered. To be “discovered” is a very strong part of the process for any creative. I have had one of the largest companies in the world reach to me for a job interview because they found a project of mine reposted on a gaming blog. If I had never posted that project, I’d have never understood the value that project was able to offer to my career. I ended up not moving past the interview but it boosted my confidence immensely.
I cannot stress enough how much posting on Behance has helped me. I have had the success of getting my first big freelance project through someone reaching out to me on Behance. This lead to a 6 month product development gig when I was graduating. Ever since, I have started posting more on Instagram, Linkedin and Behance to better position myself and give myself the most opportunities. As someone who did not graduate from a prestigious college, and in a not so design friendly market, I am excited to explore the opportunities social media presents today.
Building a community
One of the biggest advantages of posting online is that, that the more you post, the more you will find your work to be in the center of an ecosystem. This ecosystem consists of fans, supporters, mentors, creators, learners, expert critiques, and of course haters. There is a lot to learn from the people who interact with your content and work. Are they liking, sharing, reposting your work? Are they commenting on it? Are you getting any feedback at all? We are not going to dive into digesting online feedback but I just want to illustrate that a designer with 10,000 people following them has access to 10,000 minds, experiences, backgrounds and diverse thoughts right at their finger tips. This comes in handy when you need help, want to grow, want validation, want connections — whatever your goal maybe.
And no, Fake followers dont make a community. A community is built upon genuinely interested and fairly engaged audience — positively or negatively.
Thanks to my social media ventures, I was able to set up and grow Young Designers India which is healthy community of Indian Designers living and working in all parts of the world.
Expression
Online platforms are a great way to express your thoughts and feelings. A creative designer or an artist can often get siloed into their own cocoon if they are not actively engaged in a community of similar creative beings. Posting online helps you express your thoughts and ideas to the rest of the world — and the power those ideas can have living outside your notebook is far greater than if they were stored in your notebook forever. Most creatives post online to reiterate their point of view (Finished work, marketing, PR, Business). Some creatives post online to find and fine tune their vision (work in progress, following tutorials, connecting with other designers). The way I look at my instagram page is that it’s a platform for me to share my thought process, have conversations, inspire, get inspired and maybe one day when I look back, I’ll be happy knowing that I didn't hold my thoughts back.
Learning
By far, the biggest reason I post my work on creative platforms is to learn. I have learnt so much about my work, what gets attention, what doesn’t, how to best convey ideas and how to ask for feedback. I have had brilliant collaborations with designers and clients. I have had endless conversations with strangers that taught me more than I know.. and all of this makes me want to dive deeper. I feel comfortable expressing my thoughts and managing audiences because I know, I’ll forever be a work in progress.
Learning for growth in your work and learning for growth in your social media are two different things. If you focus on growing your work and becoming better at it everyday, your social media will eventually grow. But if you only focus on growing your social media following, the quality of your work may remain the same. Playing around with the idea of what “sells” on instagram is exciting but is that really who you want to be? I won’t judge you.
The risks
The biggest risk that creatives feel when it comes to posting online is — “What if someone steals my idea?” In the grand scheme of things this question becomes irrelevant because no one is immune to ideas and thoughts being stolen. Companies like Apple and Nike get ripped off all the time. That being said, please take all measures to safe guard your work. If you feel you have hit a jackpot on your next creative idea, get all necessary patents in place. Easier said than done, I know.
Another reason to not post is the amount of hate and negativity that surrounds creative work on social media. I have learnt to embrace it. Some people will like your work, some won’t. The only difference is that the internet allows people to be a bit more mean online than they’ll ever be in person. To be honest, I don’t know what my suggestion would be — clearly, I am biased to more posting, less worrying.
Lastly, a lot of people tell me that they don’t post because they don’t have things to post, and if they do, they feel no one wants to see it or that it has been done before. This a real concern and stems from nervousness and sometimes lack of confidence. It’s all fair and valid. My advice would be to fake it till you make it, ie. pretend that you are a solid designer, your work is brilliant and impactful and it will get the attention it deserves. Sometimes you have to put yourself in your idols shoes and ask yourself — “what would they do? what would they write and what would they post?”.
