Online network strategy

Since I want to end up working in Barcelona, I thought about a strategy to expand my network should either be online or in the city itself. But since I can't be going to regular events, I've thought about going to the most important one: the Barcelona Design Week. It takes place in from the 7th to the 14th June, which means that I can combine it with placements. Also, there is a website called artssspot.com which informs about art events taking place in the city.

In the meantime, I've been researching and trying different methods to meet new people online through LinkedIn and Behance. In LinkedIn I have been receiving several connections from people I didn't know about but work in the industry. I started talking to them and they were very helpful. One of them is a music producer called Rob, who works in the film industry and has been telling me about events in Yorkshire and the rest of UK to keep in mind. LinkedIn is also a good way to administrate the studios one is interested in, as they can be simply followed and that action gets registered. It doesn’t happen the same when following individuals, and the best way to get in contact with them is to write something short and interesting about you. LinkedIn will ask what is your relationship with this person, and this is where you have to “lie”. If you say that you don’t know them personally, LinkedIn won’t allow you to make contact. You should say you are a friend of that person. This was suggested by one of the people that added me and I didn’t know about. It seems to be a non-written rule in this platform.

Behance can also be very useful when making contacts. I've discovered a good way to find out people and studios I like. In the discover tab it's possible to limit the search by area and sort it and browse the most recent publications. This is a great way to comment on others people work and have yours ready to be checked as well, which might encourage them to comment back and start a conversation. I also have a Facebook professional page which I use to publish not only my work, but also other work I find around tagging the authors if I can. It's not the most popular page (only 141 likes), but it's also useful to comment on others' publications with a profile that can be checked in a professional context.

These methods have allowed me to find a great new quantity of studios I like and keeping them in mind when sending the letters I'm designing around.