SUMMARY OF MY PROJECT
I’ve always wanted to create a compilation of all the things I’ve learned and my best work in order to help others and show my employers. I thought it would be a great idea to do it for my Senior Project so I created a trade book in which I curated the best of my photography projects during my time at BYU-Idaho. I wrote short essays to talk about the behind the scenes, tips and tricks to create magazine looking photography on a very tight budget and also to know which is the most affordable and reliable equipment available to set up a mobile studio as a college student.
BOOTH DESIGN
For my booth I wanted to have a very simple set up, since the “aesthetic” of my trade book is a minimalist design. I wanted not to interfere with extra decorations because of the neon colors of my photos that’s why I decided to keep it on the monochromatic scheme. I went for tones gray, white, black and added green with the plant so it wouldn’t be too distracting from the colorful pictures.
TRADE BOOK
I decided that the format that I would choose to display my project would be a trade book. I think this way would be very beneficial for my career because I can showcase it in two mediums, through PDF on my website and also in a physical copy that I can bring along to future job interviews. I think this project will be beneficial for my career goals because I can show the quality of my photography work and also in design. It will also demonstrate that I am someone who’s creative not just in the art aspect but creative in solving problems like I write about in my trade book. Through my short essays I explain how i managed to have a mobile and lightweight studio under $350, create magazine looking photography as a college student and on a very tight budget. This will tell my future employers that I am a valuable asset, capable of adjusting to any situation and able to create amazing projects in spite of harsh circumstances.
My initial estimated expenses calculation went around $30 but after researching more I was able to find a company that creates really good quality trade book prints for under $10. So I was able to design everything from scratch on Adobe Photoshop (which I already owned) and then import my files unto their free software to create the page layout.
Also in my trade book I included a list of products with their respective photos from Amazon (which I don’t own) in order to showcase better the specifics of each one of the studio tools that I own and recommend. Along with that, I added the prices (to the date of June 2020) that were displayed in amazon.com at the time of producing the book. I considered it would be helpful so it would give an estimate of what to expect when buying studio materials as a college student.
ACCOUNTABILITY
On this project I estimated that the amount of time that I spend is dissected as follows:
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Going through my past work and projects during my time in BYU-Idaho, sorting out my best pictures and trying to finding balance to have a common theme or harmony in the “aesthetic” of my photography – 3 HOURS
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Writing process of the short essays, tips and instructions of the behind the scenes in my best projects, also researching and getting all the information about the products and the tools I recommend to have a mobile studio on a budget – 18 HOURS
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Designing process from scratch, going through different layouts and styles until getting the final version. Also including the time spend tying to find the right company to print my trade book with. – 30 HOURS
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Set up and planning of booth, creation and rehearsal of presentation, testing of screens in advance, etc – 2 HOURS
EVALUATION
The way I plan to measure the success of my project is by uploading it directly to my website. I will observe the traffic both in my social media account (Instagram Photography account) and on my personal domain for my photography website. I will track the amount of clicks, views and likes I get in comparison to how it was before this material was uploaded.
Social media metrics worth 24 hrs of having the Instagram story about my trade book up in my photography account.
48 hrs of having the post about my trade book up in my photography account.
My photography website comparison of metrics (before and after post about my trade book went live).
In the numbers provided above we can notice a trend that went up in numbers by comparing before my trade book went live online and after it reached people. I consider it was definitely a success. The likes, views and engagement on Instagram were pretty good. But I think my website visits did the best specially, because I was averaging a week about 1-2 visits per day and since the trade book was posted it has had 38 views (in the past 3 days).
