A fellow bored blogger!

How delightful to see an entry again!

I've had a weekend off from study to put on my painter/decorator hat - helping Greg re-do his room. I never imagined I would get excited by curtain rails?!

Ilia you missed an extremely tedious Systems Management lecture on Thursday. Seriously, you would have been tearing your hair out.

Happy essay writing. Are you jetting off soon? Safe trip for when you leave - I've already embraced the season of over indulgence - will be rolling back to school like a barrel.

xxx

No more blog

Don't know if either of you will check this again . . .

I've really enjoyed keeping the blog. I have to admit I wasn't entirely sure what the point in them was until we started using one for our project.

Anyway, I may try to keep it going . . . even if it's just a means of distracting me when I'm supposed to be doing proper work.

xxx

Domain Name

Carly,

I've had a look on the internet and apparently we could get www.graduart.net for £8.99/year. Unfortunately, www.graduart.co.uk has been taken :o(

x

Clean up

Hey,

Ok so the report is essentially done and dusted I think. There are, however, a few grammatical bits and pieces that need cleaning up before the hand-in on Wednesday, which I will do today and email the changes to you both. Ilia I know you are doing some formatting stuff to it and I don't want to mess that up so I'll make the changes - there are just a few and shouldn't affect the presentation - in a different colour so they are easy for you to see.

Also, in the expenses bit should we include domain name registration?

And Ilia, where is the dividing line of our respective sections for the presentation?

x

Some good news!

Just had a response from Claire Warwick and she says the layout description can be included as an appendix outwith the work limit. So, I think we're about done if you are both happy with my edit. The contents page will need to be sorted and the appendices added. I think the latter should be a seperate document entirely just to make absolutely clear that it's not part of the report.

In the Customers section perhaps we need to make more of the buyers, not just users?

x

Markup is not vital. You may have been talking to some of the publishers, whom I've told they don't need to worry about markup, as they don't study HTML. Obviously ECP students do, but the assessment of this project is mainly based on the report, and the sample is just that- a way to demonstrate the kind of thing you would be working with. So don't make it a priority.

Yes you absolutely must stick to the word limit. I know it's hard to cut, but this is a really important skill to have. If somebody like a senior editor in a publishing firm asks you for a report of a certain length they expect you to stick to it, as they are generally busy, and don't want to read any more content than they asked for. Thus I take the same view. Sorry!

Claire

I emailed Claire about markup/word count. This is the response so - better get editing!

Edit

Hi Girls,

I've had a go at editing the report and I think it's ok. It's much easier to edit other peoples work than your own so please feel free to hack some more off my sections!

I will email it to you both now.

Just a wee bit over 3500!

x

Panic?

Hey,

Just re-read through coursework guidelines and it says the LIMIT is 3500 words, not circa 3500!
Also, when asked to provide a sample of our product, this should 'ideally' be in markup - although not essential for publishing students; ie it probably IS essential for us ECP students.

I have been looking at the combined business plan and I think we could cut the word count by putting your layout diagram Ilia in the Products and Services section and using the home page/portfolio page etc description as an appendix. I've also seen a few other bits and pieces that can be cut but don't think it's going to amount to anything major. I'll get cracking on it now and email you both.

I also think it would be a good idea if all 3 of us met up before Monday - definitely before Wednesday.

How are you feeling Claire?

xxx

Second draft . . . more words!

Hi Girls,

Hope you're both having pleasant weekends and aren't too stressed by impending deadlines.

I've been doing some work on my section of the report this afternoon. Ilia I've incorporated your description as part of the Products and Services section and taken some of my original stuff out. My word count is now huge but as you said Ilia, mine probably should be quite substantial. I'll have another look through it now and see what I can edit.

How are you both getting on?

Claire I took out reference to the survey from my section.

I've been reading through all the past EP lecture notes and it might be worthwhile incorporating some of the things mentioned by some of the speakers - maybe even citing them explicitly. For instance Stephen Brooks, the product manager st Pro Quest, said some interesting things about product concept, market research, business models and requirements; Chris Turner discussed issues of project management, emphasising the importance of visualising different users and inventing possible scenarios to establish the various ways the product will be used. He also had a lot to say about quality requirements eg usability (which I've mentioned), reliability, efficiency, supportability, expandability and serviceability. And also the risk assessment aspect that's involved in planning; manging/monitoring. Jon Rimmer was talking specifically about usability but, as I said, I have brushed over this. He did emphasise the need for repeated testing. The 4 main stages are analysis, iterative design, build+test and deployment.

Anyway, we can talk about it on Monday.

I saw a very good but depressing film last night (and got drenched in the process), 'Before the Devil Knows You're Dead'. People can be so awful to one another!

xxx

Advertising quote

Claire, remind me on Monday, I came across something I highlighted ages ago about advertising and Web 2.0 by John Naughton - I think it may be relevant and might be worth quoting?

Hope you're feeling better

x

Yes and yes!

Ilia, I'm happy for you to send your descriptive stuff my way.

And yes, I think maybe having a blog and a forum is too much. A forum waould be far more diplomatic.

I went to see Macbeth this afternoon with Patrick Stewart as the Scottish tyrant - it was fantastic but theatre full of noisy school children.

We were talking about the Internet, Facebook and blogs in my French class tonight so for once, my teacher couldn't get me to shut up!

xxx

Claire Warwick

Hello Ladies,

Just thought I'd post the reply I got from Claire Warwick regarding pricing:

Dear Claire,

The main thing is that you make clear what kind of costs you will

incur and how you would make money to cover them. You don't have to

provide concrete figures, although if you happen to have them, then

that's fine.



Claire

xx

Thinking positively

I have not heard from Paul - I don't expect to immediately as he hates having to write long replies!



Ilia and I had a chat this afternoon and we think it will be useful to be able to provide evidence that we actively sought feedback and responded to it. So yeah, no sign up fee and no star rating.

With regards where we mention the survey results, I think that should be in the Market Research section as you suggested, and I may mention it briefly in my introductory bit.

I also thought it might be a good idea if we went back through the Electronic Publishing lectures to have a look at whether information included in any of the sessions is of relevance to our project. But maybe you've already done this in which case - I will go back through them!

Hope you're feeling better - I am going home soon to read through your write up.

xxx

I know what you mean! I feel like we have been labelled as cut-throat capitalists rather unjustly.

However, I think we can probably turn this to our advantage. In light of the results, we should get rid of the subscription fee and rely on the commission and advertising (which I forgot to put into my section - will add that now!). Perhaps we could think about charging for subscription once we have built up the image of the site a little more?

I think Claire will appreciate that we have carried out primary market research and have taken the collected responses into account - it makes good business sense. However, I don't think we should feel too offended - after all, we are trying to start a business, which will not always appeal to the idealists at SLADE!

Shall I start writing up the market research bit? Any news from Paul?

x

Just looked through responses again. It seems to be the voting that people don't like too much as well. Another way of determining popular artists - if that is still something we want to do - is just by monitoring which artworks are viewed the most often. It would therefore, be less like a 'talent show' as I think someone referred to it.

Sorry, I'm still just so shocked!

Shocked!

Hey,

Claire you poor thing - hope you feel better soon.

I have just looked at some of the survey responses. Ouch, their is one preson in particular who is extremely harsh. Do you think it is worth circulating another email? I don't think it was made clear in the original email that we would be providing advice and sending out a newletter on upcoming events etc. Or, maybe it is worth rethinking our intention to charge a subscription fee. Maybe we should just be focusing on advertising as our source of income. It seems to be the money that has generated the most hostility. It might do us some favours in our report if we admit that we had originally intended to charge users but after sending out a survey, we decided against it. I'm really not sure now.

I know this is only a theoretical project but I feel really offended by that one person's comments. Is that silly?

x

Apologies

Morning Ladies,

As you may have noticed, I'm not at uni today - I have had the stomach bug from hell over the weekend and didn't get much sleep last night. So, apologies for being absent.

However, I have managed to write up my section of the report, which I will email to you individually. You will see that two chapters are yet to be completed - "Market Research" and "Start Up Costs and Capitalisation".

Carly, I noticed that you had included the questionnaire to SLADE in your section - does that mean that I shouldn't include it as primary market research? Also, I have been tracking the results on surveymonkey.com - 818.8% said that they wouldn't pay our subscription fee! There are some REALLY negative responses as well - do you think we should still include them? Or, should we just be economical with the truth?

As regards the Costs, I have emailed Claire Warwick and am awaiting a reply.

Hope you guys are ok - sorry again for not being there.

xx

My section

Hi,

I've written up something for the business plan. It's over the word count but I thought it would be better to have too much than too little and I can always edit it. I've left it as a Word document at the moment. I'll email it to both of you and you can read it before tomorrow if you have time and tell me what you think - too vague? stuff missed out? etc.

Hope you've both had lovely weekends.

See you tomorrow,

xxx

Just a thought . . .

Hi Girls,

I've just been reading back through the blog before I start writing up my bits and pieces for tomorrow and I was following some of the links I put up to similar sites. I think this one may interest us:

http://www.latest-art.co.uk/

It might be worth mentioning in out report/business plan as a potential source of mutual advertising. It's aimed specifically as London + Brighton/SE England and it's targeted at our sort of market. Might be a good way of generating publicity?

x

emails

Hey,

Just to let you know I've emailed Slade with the survey.

Also, might be good idea to email Claire (tutor Claire) re. specific pricing issues.

Can't remember what we said about uploading 3 images for free. But thinking about it now I'm not sure that's a good idea as wouldn't mean people could just keep changing the images they display without actually paying us anything?! On the other hand it is a good incentive . . .

What do you both think?

xxx

A few queries...

Hi Girls,


I'm in the process of writing up my portion of the business plan and have a few things that I want to clarify:

- Ilia - are you doing Competition? If so, are you looking at the pricing schemes of other websites? It's just in the Costs section it seems like a good idea to compare.

- Did we agree that users could upload 3 images to their portfolio but after that they had to pay the £50 subscription charge?

- Do you think we need to give actual figures for the cost information?

xx

Letter to Paul at last!

Hi Girls,

Just to keep you informed, these are the questions I've emailed to Paul. I'll let you know if/when I get a response.

Why did you set up Londonart?
Whan did you set it up?
How did you start/go about doing this?
(if it's not too rude!) what sort of costs were involved in this process?
How did you promote the site to the public?
How did you get artists interested in signing up?
What was your criteria for determining the amount to charge memebers and the amount of commision you take?
What problem did you have in the initial stages? Were they mostle technical?
Is there any service you wanted to provide but found you couldn't? If so what was it and why didn't it work?
How has the current version of Londonart changed over the years?

That seems like a lot of questions! Any comments/advice you could give us would be much appreciated.

Speak soon

x

My impression

I see what you mean . . .

My impression of the business plan is that, yes, it does weigh more heavily on the areas you were looking at Claire. The thing we need to do though is adapt it to fit our project so I think that we will largely be ignoring most of the stuff that takes precedence in the template business plan and putting our own emphasis on the parts that it plays down. I see it really as just a more appropriate method of presentation - not something we need to adhere to religiously.

Roughly speaking, from consultation of the contents page, I would say that you might concentrate on the Marketing section (which can be modified to cover the terms laid out in the course guidelines), and then parts VIII, IX, and X condensed into a general account of cost and promotion issues.

I'm sure we can mess about with the layout to suit ourselves.

I think I will be looking at the General Company Description, Products and Services and Operational Stuff (which will include forecasting) - I was originally researching Justification and Development.

And Ilia will focus on Management and Organisation and also Operational issues on a more technical level, (Ilia was dealing with Competition and Technical requirements).

There will, I imagine, be quite a bit of overlap and as we are not actually setting up a business, I don't think we have to get too worried about attending to all the specifications addressed in the Business Plan.

Does that sound about right to you both?

xxx

Business Plan Confusion

Morning Ladies,

Having had a look through the Business Plan template I'm slightly confused about which sections I need to concentrate on. I was doing 'Market' and 'Cost and Promotion', so the following seems to be relevant:

- Market Research - (but I suppose this will have to wait until we get feedback from the survey)
- Economics
- Customers
- Strategy
- Start Up Costs and Capitalisation
- Financial Plan

Is this right? It seems like most of the plan so I think I have gone wrong somewhere...what do you think?

Also, having had a closer read, I think it's going to be quite hard to do some sections without having read what has been decided on in preceding chapters. Not sure how we would get around this though!

xxx

Slade survey

Hi Girls,

Ilia the survey looks great - I just completed it!

I've copied the email from Slade below, which includes the email address to which it should be sent. I guess as you created the survey in your own Survey Monkey account, you have to send it - is that right? If so, and you want to email it to Slade, you may have to mention me in the email just so they remember what it's about as it was a wee while ago now!

Dear Carly

The Director of the Slade, John Aiken, is happy for you to circulate a questionnaire to our students. Please send your questionnaire to slade.enquiries@ucl.ac.uk and ask for it to be sent to all students.

Kind regards

Jenny Goepel

Happy writing to you both - and stay dry!

xxx

FIRE!

Thanks Carly :o)

Apparently the fire was in a disused warehouse that was about to be demolished - how convenient! There are some quite cool pictures on the BBC site: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_pictures/7090763.stm

I don't think I can do this weekend - I have a staff conference thing on Friday and then friends coming up from Bristol on the Saturday/Sunday.

xxx

Exhibition Times

Climate of Change runs until 31st December, Monday - Sunday 11am til 5pm.

I guess therefore, that we either go all together at the weekend or Ilia and I head down during the week.

Let me know what you think.

xxx

Oh, Claire - any news about the fire/your company?

No problem

Hi Girls,

Claire I completely understand. I have no problems speaking so if Ilia wants to share that bit with me that should be fine.

I'll try to have a look at the Slade questions we thought about and see if I can come up with some nice and student-friendly yes/no questions to send to them.

Also, when is good for you two regarding our class trip to see Londonart boss Paul? I will double check with him but I think he will be down at the exhibition site most days; and I will also check the opening times so maybe we could go one day after you finish work Claire. Nearest tube is Southwark. Here is the blurb on the Londonart site that calls to artists to submit their work. Do you think this is along the lines of what we will be offering?

CALL FOR ENTRIES

Some experts suggest that it is already too late to save the planet, and life on earth will never be the same again. What is really happening to our planet and how will artists respond to the challenge of defining the issue through art?

Londonart.co.uk has invited artists from around the world to submit work on the theme of climate change. Many artists have responded with environmental images which you can see online. The submission is still open: The entry is free for any artist, and you can submit up to 5 images online. All submitted works will be exhibited in the climate change section of our website.

We believe climate change is the biggest issue facing mankind and we really look forward to looking at all the entries.

Paul Wynter
Managing Director


ATTENTION:

We have now secured a venue in central London, and the exhibtion entitled 'Climate of Changed' is happening!

Climate of Change
235 - 241 Union Street
SE1 0LR London

Attention all Artists/Cultural Activists
Painters, Poets, Sculptors, Film/Video Makers, Photographers and Performers

Collective self realization - the coming together of many visions, with one message - is the fastest way to a revolution in consciousness. Climate Change is happening NOW. We need your voice and vision to put this message across.
The Climate of the Earth is always Changing. In the past it has altered due to natural causes but today it is Changing as never before as a result of our actions. The problem of Climate Change is potentially the most important issue facing humankind today.

This is a platform for all Artists in all disciplines to submit work/s based on the problems of Climate Change. 20,000 sq ft have been secured in central London for this exciting Happening.

Climate Change effects us ALL!

CLIMATE of CHANGE will launch with an Introduction Evening on Friday 12th October 2007, Exhibition Opening 9th November 2007

This event is open submission and all are welcome, so act now, get in touch.

Email: basia@londonart.co.uk

Sponsors: ASC studios, Londonart.co.uk and Northstar 2000


Useful links:

We can stop climate chaos

Campaign against Climate Change

xxx

Presentation

Hi Girls,

I have been thinking about what Claire Warwick said today about the oral presentation, and I have a proposition.

Basically, I have a slight problem with speaking in front of other people - I realise that it's not most people's favourite past-time, but it goes a little further than that with me, into something called Social Anxiety Disorder.

As I would happily do ANYTHING to avoid speaking to the class, I was wondering if it might be acceptable for me to take on a larger portion of the research/written report, in order to excuse myself from an actual speaking role?

Let me know what you guys think - apologies for being such a pain.

x

Tutorial?

Do we have a group tutorial this morning?

Class Trip!

Just emailed Paul and he's happy to chat so . . .

I can't do tonight as I have French class so how about we go at the start of next week?

xxx

Response

Hello Ladies,

Sorry for not reponding sooner - things have been rather hectic at work.

As regards the websites Ilia posted, I was really impressed by http://www.deviantart.com/. The layout is simple yet effective, and I like the single navigation bar. Also, I think the options to Chat, Shop or access a Forum are interesting facilities, which the others don't seem to offer.

In relation to the Business Plans, I think that we'll probably get extra marks for integrating such a format into the suggestion Claire Warwick gave us, so definately something to consider.

Carly, I'd love to come and meet Paul from LondonArt- what kind of time were you thinking? I am available from 6:30pm most evenings.

As for the name, I haven't managed to come up with anything that's not cringeworthy but I will keep you posted!

xxx

Londonart

I have spoken to Paul and I think he's mega busy setting up for the show so what I would suggest is that some time next week would be better to meet up with him. If either of you want to come that might be a good idea?

Also, phoned Slade and they have received my email and it is being dealt with. They should get back to me soon.

Went to an art auction last night in The Building Centre. It was mad!

xxx

Website Look

Hi Girls,

Had a look at the websites you mentioned Ilia and I think the two that will be most useful to us are Axis and Artquest. These both seem professional and in depth and I like the layout.

I haven't had a chance to look at the business plan stuff yet.

I think I will try and see old boss Paul tomorrow and see if I can get any advice on starting up an art website.

I will not be able to make the private view on Friday either as my lovely boyfriend is taking me away to Brighton! However, I'm sure I will see it if I go down there tomorrow and Ilia, if you fancy it when you're back, maybe we can all go together?

With regards our website name, just to get the ball rolling, how about Artbaby? I don't expect either of you to like this or think it's a good idea, but we should try and think of a name for ourselves.

I am now going to chase up the Slade.

xxx

Slade/Londonart

Hi Girls,

I've emailed both Slade and my old boss at Londonart. Please do have a read:

Slade letter

Dear Slade,

I hope you will be able to help me.I am a Masters student at UCL and as part of my course I have to putforward a proposal for a new electronic publishing product.Along with 2 others, I am investigating the prospect of creating anartists portal/website aimed specifically at recent graduates. We areaware that there are already services out there that cater for this marketbut we think that we could offer something a bit different.

This is where I thought you might be able to assist us. It would beimensely helpful if we could meet with a representative from Slade anddiscuss the details of our project in relation to the needs and concernsof Slade students; what are their future plans? Would a website where theycould display and sell their work appeal to them? Would they pay for aservice like this? Would they be concerned with having their name/workassociated with any adverrtising? and so on.

This is, of course, a purely hypothetical exercise - we are not requiredto bring our product into physical existence - but in order to make itrealistic, input from actual students would be hugely informative. Perhaps myself and my team could put together a questionnaire that couldbe circulated around the School?

If it is possible to arrange a meeting, we would be very grateful. If you require any further information, please do not hesitate to get intouch.

Londonart letter

Hi Paul, Hi Jenny! It's been a long time since I last got in touch and as usual, I'm after something. Thanks to your glowing reference Paul I managed to get a place on my Masters course at UCL and now that I'm here I was wondering if I you would be able to help me a wee bit more?

My course is Electronic Communication and Publishing, and part of it involves writing a proposal for a new electronic publishing product. We don't actually have to create anything for this module but we do have to investigate things like competition, market, development, technological factors, costs and so on.

My group is proposing to create a portal/website for graduate art students, which would - a bit like Londonart - allow them to exhibit their work, communicate with other artists, learn about forthcoming opportunities and exhibitions, sign up to a newsletter etc.

Would it be possible to ask you some questions about Londonart and how it was set up? (We're not actually going to do this so we won't be pinching your ideas to create a rival site!) I'm sure you both have fairly hectic schedules so if you don't have time, please don't worry. However, if you do think you could spare a few minutes, maybe we could meet up (possibly with my other 2 group members), or I could ask you a few things over the phone/via email?

I hope you're both well. The site is looking great!


Ok, so, hopefully I'll hear back from one or other of them soon. I may even try to have a more in depth look at the Slade site to see if I can get hold of a name rather than just a generic enquiries address.

Hope you're both well. Speak soon?

Carly

We missed each other!

Hi Girls,

Ok so, no meeting today but not sure there was too much need anyway . . .

How does this sound:

• Ilia and I will speak today/tomorrow and decide a list of questions for the Slade lot.
• I will phone/email Slade and see if I can speak to someone and make an appointment.
• I will also phone/email my old boss at Londonart and see if I can pick his brains about how he set up the business/what it all cost/if he has any tips etc
• Maybe we could all sketch out a few ideas about how we think the site should look? Even just old fashioned paper + pencils - (I certainly don't have a clue about Photoshop, although, after today's session I may start to fiddle . . . ).
• And some suggestions for a site name?

Oh! We don't have a class next week. Do you both still want to meet up? I'm around and quite happy to do that - it might be nice if we could take some time to sit around a computer together and have a look at what else is out there.

Carly

xxx

Development/Technical

Hi Claire & Ilia,

Just a few thoughts . . .

On the technical front, we will have to have a standard format for users to submit their work. From previous experience, this would have to be a digital reproduction of the artwork with specific resolution and dimensions. If users are confident, (and if our site has a well designed interface!), this could be done completely remotely. If our users are creatively rather than technologically minded, they should be able to send the images to us in whatever form and we will manipulate it on their behalf. No doubt, we should have limitations on this; eg we don't really want them to send us the work itself as this would mean we would require scanners etc.

This is fine for traditional fine art but as we are including things like video, installation and so on - I'm afraid my technical knowledge dwindles!

The Development questions raised in the coursework brief aren't particularly relevant to our product so they will need to be adapted.

• Will new material need to be commissioned, or provided?

Well, provided obviously. It seems logical that, if we are targeting our product at recent graduates, there will be one big surge of new material deposited per year. Perhaps this has financial implications that are worth considering. And is there a way of evening this out over the duration of the year so that, 9 months after graduation we are aren't starving and penniless?!

I suppose this where our exhibitions idea would come into its own - it could be away of reinvigorating interest in the site and generating revenue.

• Will you need an editorial board/advisors?

Claire has already referred to this in her earlier post. But to elaborate, I think that the editorial role would, inevitably, mature and change over time and as we establish a reputation for ourselves. Starting out, we will be keen to get as many people signed up to our site as possible. As time goes by and we become a recognised and respected name in the industry (!), we can afford to be a wee bit more discerning in what we choose to accept. Or is that a bit capitalist and cruel?

• Who will they be, and how will you recruit them?

I think that, if we are going to have any credibility as an authoritative organisation, we are going to need to have someone - or at least be able to seek advice from someone - with an artistic background. A critic perhaps . . .

Or actually, thinking about it, the fact that the works on our site will be judged by other users, perhaps we don't need someone with specialist knowledge. How liberal and egalitarian is that?!

Ok, so the questions on the guidline sheet are actually quite relevant to our product.

Has anyone thought of a name yet? It has been brought to my attention that the Saatchi site has a subsiduary art student site called 'Stuart' - Stu-dent Art - get it? I like the idea in principle . . . sort of. But I think we could do better.

Carly

xxx

Cost and Promotion

Hi Girls,

I hope you're having a relaxing weekend and took advantage of the extra hour in bed!

I've written up a few brief ideas for "cost and promotion" that you might wanna have a look at - are we meeting for lunch tomorrow?

xx

What kind of costs will the product cause the publisher?

- Initial development of the website – need to decide whether to recruit a highly technical member of the team for the whole year, at considerable expense, or to use a website design company for the initial construction and then rely on a less qualified employee for maintenance.

- Staff costs – Technical, Editorial (for content), Management /Administration/ Finance, Communications and PR.

- Promotional costs

What kind of cost-recovery and pricing strategy will you apply to the product, and why?

- £80 a year to register – based on Carly’s experience at www.londonart.co.uk, this seems like a reasonable amount to ask of emerging artists.

- Commission – 5-10% on each transaction?

- Miscellaneous expenditure (just in case)

How will you promote the product?

- Advertise or feature in publications, relevant magazines, university magazines and newspapers

- Viral advertising on the internet – appeal to young creative artists

- Promotional stands at university fairs

- Hosting art-related events – exhibitions, competitions etc

- Affiliation with existing art institutions/universities

What features of it are key in persuading customers to buy it?

- Users not only create online portfolios, but also receive advice from their peers and prospective buyers, interact with others via the feedback and voting facilities and also keep abreast of upcoming events.

- Serves as a simple and effective gateway to opportunities, exposure, competitions, exhibitions and access to galleries

- Provides a hassle-free way of selling their artwork

- The website could be instrumental in organising events and promotions on behalf of the emerging artists

- Registered users will receive an electronic copy of a newsletter, comprising the following features: Artist of the week, new artist of the week, upcoming events/exhibitions, and general news in the art world

Slade information

Here are the contact details for Slade. I'm putting them on the blog to remind myself! It might be best it, after we've agreed on our list of questions, one of us - I'm happy to volunteer - email/phone to make an appointment with someone. Having tried to communicate with them purely via email previously, I think this would be the most productive way of dealing with them.


Contact Details
All enquiries should be addressed to:

The Slade School of Fine Art
UCL
Gower StreetLondon
WC1E 6BT

Telephone: +44 (020) 7679 2313 Facsimile: +44 (020) 7679 7801

Email: slade.enquiries@ucl.ac.uk

To order a prospectus, click here The Slade Office is open Monday to Friday, 10.00am - 1.00pm and 2.00pm - 5.00pm, except one week at Christmas and one week at Easter.

Sorry . . .

Sorry girls,

I had French cless and forgot I hadn't done my homework . . blablabla

Ok, I will see Ilia today anyway for Systems Management - can't wait (hmm).

I'm thinking this questionnaire will be a fairly short document. Probably start with a brief outline of our product and what we intend to do.

• Does this sound like a service you would use?
• What services would be useful to you/would you expect to be included?
• What are your biggest concerns about your professional future?
• Do you have or will you have a clear plan for when you graduate?
• How do you go about getting your work displayed at the moment?
• What, in your experience, is the best way of generating interest in your work?

Ok just a few ideas - I'm a bit rushed because I've just seen the time and I have to dry my hair.

Speak to you both soon,

Carly

SLADE questions

Hi Claire, hello Ilia,

I haven't forgotten about the art student question thing. I'm going to draft something up this afternoon if I have time and then I'll put it up on the blog.

How are your weeks going?

I went to the Staff/Student Committee meeting this afernoon and mentioned how inconveniet some of the cluster rooms are to have classes in and the unavailability of some books in the Library.

The next meeting isn't until February but if you have any issues please let me know - I am chairperson!

xxx

Claire Warwick

I don't know which you check first so I thought I might as well post a note on the blog. Email back from Claire Warwick basically says that our sample could be a simple website with one or two hyperlinks, or a mock up on Photoshop if we want. If there is anything to be digitized then an example of that might be a good idea.

We do the 3500 words all together and we don't have to do the individual learning review.

Happy days.

xxx

Report writing

There is a section on the SLAIS website specifically about report writing. I'm not sure if you've already had a look at it but it might be quite helpful:
http://www.surrey.ac.uk/Skills/pack/comms.html

Thanks for taking the minutes Ilia. Just to repeat myself, I've emailed Claire Warwick and I'll let you know what she says asap.

xxx

www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/yourgallery/

www.eyestorm.com

Sorry!

The first one is very important as it's quite new and set up by Charles Saatchi. Eyestorm is located on the Southbank near Tate Modern - you can visit it. It's also the major competitor to Londonart. The site has been updated since I last looked and I think it's quite nice.

All this does is reinforce what I've already said - there is a definite niche for naive young students who don't know where to start.

There are a lot of issues about displaying artwork online because obviously it's not the same as seeing it in real life. But it is a viable alternativ. On a website you can access more works than you can in a traditional gallery - you can search under specific criteria, eg abstract/watercolour etc. There are many other reasons which I will outline later - my hair is wet!

And some more . . .

I forgot about these ones:

www.artistri.co.uk

www.scottishartpaintings.co.uk

The first one is the one I thought would be particularly interesting as it focuses exclusively on recent graduates.

www.axisweb.org

This one is quite serious - it's really for professional artists - my godfather uses axis and londonart to display his artwork.

I've realised that I may be straying into the 'Competition' section rather than 'Justification' but they seem inevitably interlinked. There is a definite need and, I think, demand for a new way for artists to exhibit their work. In London especially it is increasingly difficult to get work ina traditional gallery. It's hard to know where to start, particularly for graduates (I really like Claire's idea of aiming specifically at this sector). So our site/portal could be the starting point for them. Not only could they display their work, they would also be able to search for events in their area, find studio spaces, learn about forthcoming exhibitions, be put in touch with other artists and seek advice. If we were able to set up exhibitions for the artists subscribed to the site, they would enjoy even greater exposure.

Maybe we could talk to some students from Slade (UCL's art school) and get their views. Do they think thy would use our service? Would it be helpful? What are their main concerns about their professional future? Would they be willing to pay for our service? What would they expect from us?

Ok, lots of ideas - time for tea!

And here are some more . . .

There are a lot of websites here - a few are part of the same Artquest site. I haven't looked at all of them in depth myself - some will be more relevant to our project than others, especially the gateway/portal sites - even if they are in different countries.

Anyway, what I'm basically getting at is that, although there are a lot of sites out there that cater for the artist market, there aren't many that do what we would do - and suprisingly few aimed at the young emerging market (as you referred to Claire). It might be a good idea to look at the website I (briefly) worked for as they do some of the same things that I think we would: www.londonart.co.uk especially the artist/user communication element. I can talk to you both a bit more about this tomorrow.

• 100 words
  http://www.100words.net

• ADAM : the gateway to art, design, architecture & media information on the Internet
  http://www.adam.ac.uk/

• Art California web portal
  http://www.well.com/user/jmalloy/blueskies/calartists4.html

• Art in flux
  http://www.boisestate.edu/art/artinflux/intro.html

• Art!aw
  http://www.artquest.org.uk/artlaw/

• Art-online : the fine art directory
  http://www.art-online.com/

• Artquest
  http://www.artquest.org.uk/

• Artrôute
  http://www.artquest.org.uk/artroute/

• Artslynx international arts resources
  http://www.artslynx.org/

• ArtSource
  http://www.ilpi.com/artsource/

• Cheshire County Council : the arts service
  http://www.cheshire.gov.uk/arts/

• Latest art : the UK's hippest art magazine
  http://www.latest-art.co.uk/

• Looking for good art
  http://www.infotoday.com/searcher/sep04/mattison.shtml

• RASCAL : research and special collections available locally (Northern Ireland)
  http://www.rascal.ac.uk/

• Toolkit
  http://www.thetoolkit.net/

• World wide arts resources
  http://wwar.com/

I'm experimenting

These are a few websites that I thought might be worth taking a look at in order to establish what is already out there. Some - like Mr Picassohead and the colourcube - are just for fun!

• Digital arts forum at Broadwayhttp://www.digitalartsforum.org.uk/

• Illustration Fridayhttp://www.illustrationfriday.com/

• Mr. Picassoheadhttp://www.mrpicassohead.com/

• Photoassist.co.ukhttp://www.photoassist.co.uk/

• SMART project spacehttp://www.smartprojectspace.net/

• http://www.colorcube.com/http://www.colorcube.com/

• YCN (Young Creatives Network)http://www.ycnonline.com/

Records supplied by Intute

Markets

Hi guys,

I've been thinking about the 'Market' section of the brief and have written up a few ideas. Let me know what you think. Great response from Claire Warwick by the way!

• What will the market be?

The target audience of the portal will primarily be un-established artists, possibly students, who wish to publicise and sell their work. It is probable that the facility for budding artists to display their work will be used predominantly, though not exclusively, by a relatively young crowd. According to research by Ofcom, 16-24 year olds spend more time online; young adults who use the internet do so for 21 more minutes per week than the UK average and at least 70% of them have used websites for keeping up contacts (against 41% of all adults).

However, as the website will publish listings and details of upcoming exhibitions, events and competitions, it has the potential to attract any member of the public with an interest in the visual arts, be it fashion, design, applied arts or performing arts.

From a commercial viewpoint, the portal will appeal to a variety of consumers who wish to purchase “fresh” and inexpensive pieces of artwork for a variety of purposes. This might range from professional art buyers, who are employed by individuals or institutions, to members of the general public who are interested in acquiring a new and interesting piece for their home. The latter segment of the market may be particularly attracted by the website’s facility for interactivity between the artist and the public. Work will be judged by means of user-reviews, thereby providing advice and guidance to the inexperienced art buyer.

The portal may also be used as a talent pool, which will be a focus for potential employers and institutions in the art industry. The website’s capability for providing feedback from fellow artists and the public will be particularly useful in serving this function.

• Will it be bought by individuals or institutions?

A number of possibilities present themselves when considering the party who might be interested in buying the website in question. As with “Stuart”, a website for students run by the Saatchi Gallery, the portal may well appeal to leading art institutions who wish to affiliate themselves with fresh new talent. In addition, art universities and colleges may wish to invest in such a venture in order to assist the careers of their students and therefore raise the profile of the establishment. However, there also exists a distinct possibility that the idea will be favoured by an individual who recognises the business potential of combining a social/business network for the art world.

• Can you estimate how large this market might be?

The potential market for the artist portal is immense. An idea of its size can be reached by calculating the number of past and present art students, art buyers and companies who are interested in employing artists. Then include any members of the general public who are interested in art, either in terms of buying or accessing listings of exhibitions, or both.

All go!

I've just emailed you both but I'm quite getting into the whole blog thing so I thought I might as well post a note on here as well.



I have received an email from Claire saying that our idea sounds grand - I think she liked the idea of developing a portal for artists . . .



So that's a good start.



Speak to you (via cyberspace probably) soon,



Carly



xxx

Headings and everything!

Hi Claire, hi Ilia - hope you've both had delightful weekends. The Masque of the Red Death on Friday was absolutely astounding - I have, honestly, never seen anything like it.

But back to work related matters, Monday lunch is fine by me.

See you both tomorrow,

Carly

x

Meeting on Monday?

Hi guys,

Apologies for not having been in touch sooner. I think the user-rated artist site is an excellent idea! How about we have a "lunch meeting" on Monday in between the two lectures to discuss the logistics of the project - ie. how we're going to divide the labour.

Look forward to seeing you both on Monday!

x

Ilia that sounds really interesting!

At the website I worked for, artists pay an annual fee to have their work exibited and the public place offers on works of art via the website. We organised exhibitions for the artists subscribed to the site. One was The Art of Love at the Oxo Tower . . .

So I can see that sort of thing really works.

I can't wait to hear more about what your friend set up.

How are you feeling now? Weekend in bed with tissues and hot drinks?

I am so excited about The Mask of the Red Death tonight - still not sure what to wear though . . .

If I don't speak to you before, I'll see you Monday - maybe we can arrange a meeting with Claire then.

xxx

It's Wednesday afternoon. I've been thinking about this EP project . . . going along with the art theme I mentioned - what about some kind of journal or portal that catalogued all the galleries and what they specialized in? It could be limited to a specific country or city/town . . . maybe list forthcoming exhibitions and generate an email/newsletter to subscribers?

I'm not sure if this is even along the right lines or not, just trying to throw a few ideas out so we can get started.

I think this blogging thing is much easier to use than the wiki site - what do you both think?

Carly

x

Ok, now it's up and running.

Apologies for the waffle before - I just wanted to see if it worked.

To Ilia and Claire - I believe I have sent you both invitations to join in my blog so do feel free!

Carly

x

This is my first blog.

It is a miserable day here in London - my feet were soaked by the time I had walked home from uni.

Tonight I will see my boyfriend.

I'm doing this, pretending it's work, instead of researching the global paperless information environment for my first piece of PCIT coursework.

I can't concentrate because I am simultaneously willing the phone to ring.