Blog Analysis

The blog I analyzed is called “Being a Starving Graphic Artist Sucks” I chose this blog because it has a lot to do with the field I am majoring in here at USI, Graphic Design. This blog caught my attention because I can relate with the author and understand completely where he is coming from. The author of this blog is a male, by the name of Jeremy Tuber (Tuber 1). Jeremy is very public about his identity and has a link on his page where you can see who he is and what he is about. He is a unique combination of a savvy business marketer and creative designer. Throughout Jeremy’s experience he has found out all of the dos and don’ts of the system. Jeremy was self taught, self-motivated designer, Jeremy worked his way out of the corporate world close to ten years ago to pursue his true passion in design, studying and learning the profession from the bottom up (Tuber 1). This author knows exactly what they are talking about. The blog gives out good advice due to Jeremy’s past experiences in the industry. Jeremy enjoys providing value and education to creative freelancers and business owners looking to bring more sales and “take their business to the next level.” He has been invited to speak to art students/ alumni at colleges, including the Art Institute of Phoenix. He continues to develop insightful resources to give designers an opportunity to make their dream of running a creative freelancing business a reality: “work smarter not harder.” Jeremy has published a book to help out freelance artists, he does alot of advertising in his blogs (Tuber 1). He posts blogs for the low income graphic artists who may not have the money to buy his book. Jeremy seems to be a democrat because he knows the struggle of low income. I have a lot in common with the writer. I plan to one day be a Freelance Graphic designer, I have heard horror stories about how going freelance could cause suffering. With Jeremy’s tips and advice I could overcome these bad thoughts involved with “starving artists.” I am different from Jeremy in a few ways, I don’t know much about business and this makes me believe that not all of the advice given could be executed to the fullest by someone like me. I think that Jeremy is being honest about himself because he has published a book and is well known by a lot of people. He tells his story and doesn’t care about what people think because in the end he is successful. I believe that Jeremy maintains his blog because he cares about the struggling artists out there. He wants people to take notice to him and his ideas because he wants people to purchase his books. He states that he wants everyone to see what his thoughts are, and wants them to recieve without purchasing his book. The writer seems to know a lot about the subject he is addressing. He knows a lot more about designing things than I do and I go to college, he didn’t. He states subjects in his blogs that could only be known from experience. Jeremy targets this blog toward people who study brand identity, web design, marketing strategy, advertising creations, direct mail, content editing, custom photography, photo editing/manipulation, and multimedia presentations. Jeremy assumes that everyone is gifted with the knowledge of both art and business. He makes a lot of comments how you can’t be successful without knowing your business, however you can hire an office assistant to take care of the business aspect. He doesn’t mention any middle man. Jeremy fosters loyalty by letting all of the blog readers know that he will give them help and tips free of charge if they don’t have to money to purchase his book. I think there are probably a lot of males and females who are some type of artist that visit this blog to get advice. Maybe even low class designers in need of assistance. As far as I have notice nobody comments his blog posts. I don’t understand this because I think he gives good advice and should receive kudos for a job well done. There are a lot of aspects that attract the readers to Jeremy’s page. He has added a lot of information, photos, color, and navigation links to his page. His page is easy to follow and understand. I am attracted to Jeremy’s page because I am a member of the intended audience. If a reader is not part of the intended audience they might be uninterested since the whole goal of the blog is to help out graphic designers and not everyone is interested in graphic arts. I would definitely visit this site again a lot in the future because I am sure I will need all the help and advice I can get once I decide to enter the scary world of freelance art. The layout of the blog is very interesting and captures the attention of graphic designers. Jeremy organizes his blog posts by dates; a lot like journal entries. Jeremy advertises his book, cds, DVDs, and cell phone applications for iphone. When Jeremy advertises his products he explains them and tries to persuade the reader to buy the product by adding good opinions. I don’t know if Jeremy is really as good as he says he is, but readers of the blog may fall into a trap and buy his merchandise without fully knowing its contests. It all depends on how easily you are persuaded to buy something.