The Motivation
As a avid music lover, concert-goer, and ex-livehouse worker,
I want to help rising artists to have a great career.
The Opportunity
I self-taught photography and I learned how to work with people who were not used to being taken photos.
I learned how to work with data, but not everyone is a datahead, especially for some artists.
I developed my skills in Art direction and Creative Strategy, but not all artists are visual thinkers.
The Project
I am offering my services at a discounted rate for all the rising artists so they can get the support they need for the next stage of their career.
Services: Photography, Art / Creative Direction, Creative Strategy, Content Strategy, Branding, Data Analytics
Creative Directing, Artist Marketing & Social Media Content Strategy (and some design work), Analytics
When Super Smack is preparing for his new 2023 album, "Booty & The Brain", he was looking for someone to help with his creative and visual direction. We were connected through LIONS SHARE, a community dedicated to help rising Asian creatives. I was initially brought on to advise on creative strategy for his content. Slowly, I started to advise on artist marketing strategy beyond just content, including: Album visual directing, photoshoot creative direction & production, merch design, CD packaging design...
Creative Directing: Album Photoshoot
8 different fits, 2-week preparation, 4-hour shoot
Creative Directing: CD & Merch design
Social Media Performance Analytics
Smack would like to track the performance of his content on Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and Spotify. I built a dashboard with Google Looker Studio that aggregates all the data in one place.
Spotify performance dashboard with the ability to filter by date range and tracks.
Monthly Social Media Report (snapshot)
Smack finds this report incredibly helpful as it reports on content based on the content category (eg. skit content vs fitness content) and it helps shape next month's content strategy.
Social Media Content Strategy Advising
A good part of Smack's music is about Asian American identity. I advised him to incorporated such thinking into the content strategy and has helped boost engagement.
https://www.instagram.com/reel/CruMhYXpfnR/
-
Shanghai Phantom is a multidisciplinary artist and a fashion stylist. He has a sense of visual direction he wanted to purse but needed some additional help to bring it to life.
This session was less planned and more relaxed, "let's just go with vibe". I worked with Shanghai Phantom and his friend JayHu. The photos boosted their social media page engagement by at least 200%.
Here are some of the final photos.
Shortly after, I was able to book Shanghai Phantom for a performance at Neue House's Lunar New Year event.
This partnership has converted to a long term one. More shoots and events incoming!
-
Photography, Art Direction
LO LA had trouble in the past getting photos that met her expectations. During our initial meeting, I spent extra time talking with her and unfolded her needs. For her single "PCH", she wanted the visuals to remind people of "PCH" (Pacific Coast Highway) and "Harry Styles". I develop a personalized mood board, picked out her outfits and advised on her makeup. Here are some of the final photos.
-
