Ivan Markovic

Ivan Markovic is all over the graphic design corner of the Internet today. Why? Well, first of all, he had produced some gorgeous two-colour material for Paris Calling (a “Franco-British season of performing arts” according to one Juliette Binoche).

Second of all – and this is the important bit – he sent a really bloody nice email to various design bloggers, telling them about this project. He provided just enough detail, a good selection of photographs, and he bothered to personalise the message for each recipient.

Mine may not be the most design-focused or influential blog in the world*, but I do receive a good number of requests to link to people’s work (this may increase now that I’m a FormFiftyFiver). Usually these are addressed to “Hi Everybody” and then urge me to follow a mysterious link. Not very persuasive. Very deleted.

So, my tip to all you creative sorts out there: if you want people to show off your work for you, put some effort in. Find out who you’re sending your work to, show some interest, give them information about yourself – don’t assume that they have spare time to go digging abround your “About” page. It doesn’t take a lot, but it can make a huge difference in terms of your reputation and exposure.

* Not yet, anyway.