netWERKING

Last week in our lecture we had a skype call with this woman in Milan who helps run a website (openwear.com I think, I'll have to check) and she was basically talking about how bad people get treated in the design industry. Things like, after graduation, people imagine they take on temp work for a bit and then get a proper career whereas in reality most people are just doing temp work for the rest of the lives. And she was telling us that the future of the design industry isn't with big industries like it has been, but with small businesses. It's more about people networking and collaborating and setting up small companies where they may not produce big quantities of things but the things they do make are of good quality. Especially with the internet, anyone can make things and sell things so it's important to network on the net. I've always been hesitant to post a lot of my work online because so many people steal others' work and don't credit etc but once you've networked and gained a 'following' or fans of your work, they'll know it's from you and can spot if it's stolen without credit etc.

So I guess I better get networking. I mean, I have blogs and other accounts but I usually use them just for keeping in contact with friends or getting inspiration and I don't really like other people constantly posting links to their sites or whatevers & shoving them down your throat but I'll do my best to make a neat online portfolio or blog (I always wonder about using this one to advertise to more people but I dunno, it's a bit too personal and strange) and then try and network. Or something. I may need your help, haa, I may start in the summer as I'm starting a new project at the moment but yeah just thought I'll let you guys know. Like, even If you guys want to collaborate on something like a zine or film or whatever, we should totally do it.