Halfway Reflection

ENT3003 is not necessarily difficult, but the workload can be tough to keep with on top of your other courses. I feel that the most important behavior is to simply accept and enjoy this course- it makes the workload feel far less strenuous, which it definitely CAN be after this hurricane Irma hustle. Don't fight it, the deadlines are non-negotiable anyway. ENT is easy to enjoy in my opinion, as the lectures are entertaining and you learn extremely applicable skills.

After hurricane Irma, we went from having 2 assignments due per week to 3 assignments due per week. The first two weeks were especially difficult to get used to, and I actually just skipped one of the assignments because I couldn't handle the workload. Now, on the last week of 3 assignments being due, I am handling it fine. I developed tenacity through good planning. Instead of not looking at the assignment until Friday afternoon, I now prepare for them throughout the week. I may not be directly working and typing out these assignments, but they're on my mind. So, by the time Friday rolls around, I already know what to do and it becomes fairly straightforward.

So you don't become a sad kermit, here are my three tips:

1. Watch the lectures and take notes. Go to the live lectures if you can. Learn!

2. Take the assignments seriously. You're going to put a lot of work into your desired project, so if you hate it this will be like pulling teeth. 

3. Use a calendar to keep track of all your work.

12A- Figuring out buyer behavior

Segment: The online roleplaying community of artists

For my segment, I've chosen online artists in the 18-30 range, mostly college-educated females who roleplay online. After running some casual polls on Twitter, I gathered that 69% have been in the community for over 4 years, 40% perceived the community as growing larger, and 68% desired a place where they could post art, chat, and roleplay, like the website I'm trying to create.

My Findings

Those who voted 'yes' on my poll asking if they were interested in my product ended up being the ones I interviewed, since I knew they would have an unmet need. What I found is people are primarily dissatisfied with the outdated features of the website they currently use to post art on, Deviantart, and they are reminded of this when the website fails them with technical issues. Because the website is over 15 years old and many are longtime users, they know at this point there's not much to really google- there is no hope. So, they take to complaining to friends and followers on social media. After a few years, DeviantArt added a function that allowed users to post drafted artwork onto a cloud server. It uses newer HTML coding, but when the user chooses to upload their draft, it gets converted to the old, ugly HTML the main site uses, leading to hair-pullingly ugly formatting.

Conclusions

Because my segment is young and millennial, they're interested in ethical, modern, visually appealing platforms, and what they've been given to work with is certainly not that. If I choose to move forward with my website, I'm 99% sure I'll need to consult with a graphic designer and programmer ( I actually already know a few in this community already!) to help not make this website an ugly baby. If I do end up charging for premium memberships, I believe allowing attractive customization options for one's profile will definitely sell.

Noteworthy Napkin

I've always been the visionary/day dreaming type, and I love to share my thoughts with other people. I think aloud. I'm strong in the arts, and I aspire to combine my career with them someday. This is what I hope to do with my website, targeted at young digital artists. My demographic is 18-25, majority female women. The career range is varied, though a good portion are in the arts. They all draw as a hobby, though, and are usually involved in fandom culture.

Because this is a website, members can join for free. I may make a premium option, though, allowing more features and customization to those who pay a reasonable monthly fee. I believe selling advertising spaces would be pretty easy, since any nerdy/artsy company would find a fantastic audience within my demographic. 

I feel really lucky that I've found this niche audience. It's been neglected by most major art websites, so by catering specifically to them and ONLY to them I already have set myself apart.

The website I'm working on is for an audience that I've been apart of since I was 15. This community has literally helped shape who I've become, so I feel strongly about this. Since giving back to the community is definitely one of my motivations, the making money aspect of this is a bit weak compared to the other elements. Setting this website apart from other alternatives and having its appeal outweigh switching costs will also be my greatest struggle.

last ditch elevator pitch

*Disclaimer: That is a belted dress.

after multiple exams and quizzes this week, i was unable to find the willpower to drag myself outside to film this. sry dr. pryor

My phone ran out of storage so you guys are lucky enough to witness awkward closeups, stumbling over my own words, and the world's most punchable video thumbnail.


transcript if u dont wanna see my face:

We spend precious time on hobbies because like loreal, we know they're worth it. Artists, of all people, are well-aware of how valuable their time is. So why do they continue wasting it?

As technology progresses, digital art has emerged as a cost-efficient medium for visual artists. Similar to the art galleries you see downtown, websites dedicated to sharing art have popped up online.

We're going to get nerdy. In their spare time, artists come together online and work on original concepts of fictional worlds, stories, and characters, which is called roleplaying. Basically, it's as if Game of Thrones was a collaborative effort. A a LOT of time and effort goes into this- but here's the issue. These art-sharing websites wasn't really made for this.

The ability to group artwork with a common theme does exist- but they were made for sharing fanart and not original concepts. The websites are also often outdated, barely work on mobile, and make users pay to use modern coding for their profile pages. Due to this, roleplayers end up switching between 2-3 different websites, resulting in wasted time that could be spent creating.

My solution is to make a website for the roleplay community that is modern and effectively serves as one, singular place to properly share info, concept art, and possess solid social features as well, such as chatroom and direct messaging functions.

Would you be interested in checking out our kickstarter?

9A- Testing the hypothesis II

From my interviews, those who fell outside the boundary were those with a well-established presence on several social media websites and were not interested in moving to a brand new 'fad' website to rebuild their base. Others were afraid of a smaller community bringing tightly-knit cliques along with it, and had already gotten used to user-unfriendly DeviantArt and did not want to give up its varied selection. Getting stuck in one's ways was by far the biggest reason for lack of interest. Older artists who had already been in the community for a decade or so could feel themselves slowly phasing out, and were therefore not interested in the hustle and bustle of a new community.

Inside the Boundary	Outside the Boundary
Who is in:  Artists looking for one place to do their roleplaying, art-posting, and communicating with other artists.	Who is not: Older and/or well-established Artists
What the need is: One website for artists to keep track of everything related to their original characters, concepts, and collabs.	What the need is not: A place for artist cliques to dominate.
Why the need exists:  There is  no central place for all these things, so artists are forced to jump between 2-4 websites for all their socializing and art-posting needs.	Alternative explanations: Some people have simply become creatures of habit.

8A- Solving the Problem

Disclaimer: I've been set on this idea since assignment 4, so most of this is just a better-worded rehash. My solution is a service- a website.

Background Knowledge for Normies (you)
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Thousands of young artists around the world come together online and participate in role-playing and world development (think Dungeons and Dragons-style character creation, not the kinky stuff). For many, they've been involved in the community for years, and it's their primary hobby. Since it is more of a niche, there currently isn't a website that exists that explicitly provides roleplayers a place for them to both post art and communicate in an effective enough manner that doesn't send them running back to Twitter. Since an option like this does not currently exist, they resort to using more than one site, which contributes to my belief that there is a need for one website to rule them all.


The Service
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My solution to this issue- artists who put so much work into concept art and collaborative work but have no one place to really do so- is to simply make a proper website for artists to post their character, concept, and collaborative artwork. It will be modern and give users several customization options for their posts, allowing full HTML and CSS compatibility.

7A- Testing the hypothesis I

Hypothesis

Western digital artists do not have a preferable social media website to post and share their original character-related art online with other artists, due to outdated and fading websites monopolizing the demographic and promised alternatives failing as a result of unrelated issues (financial reasons, poor management).

This need is basically only possessed by digital artists who create original content related to character design, world-building, and other concept art, ESPECIALLY if this work is collaborative with others.

Many social media websites such as Tumblr and Twitter are useful for an artist via gaining an audience for advertising and networking. However, they are both poor for keeping track of the flow of art and information between groups of artists in one centralized place. Neither of these websites are ideal for posting art in the first place, either, and challenge artists with quality restrictions.

On the primary art-sharing website, DeviantArt, art can easily be shared, though the community has been in decline of both quantity and quality. Groups also exist for different users to add and share their art to, which works fine, but communication methods are outdated and faulty. As a result, artists turn to other social media to communicate with, such as Twitter and Discord. 

Basically, those who work on collaborative storytelling and world-building need something more to help them communicate their ideas in the same place where they share high-quality art. 

For some, the hierarchy of needs between an up-to-date website, a quality place to post art, and a solid social media can vary. My goal is to just make a modern, attractive website with a solid organization and chat function for artists.

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Post-interviews

After interviewing some artists online who partake in collaborative storytelling, I have gathered that most are concerned with a modern website and a place where they can both communicate efficiently and post art in, though there was clear emphasis on the communication and modern aspects. In the past, potential websites just like this that have popped up had hundreds of people flock and move almost immediately, even while still in beta testing. It gives me confidence that there is a definite audience for my idea.