Blockbuster Briefs
This Summer, the design and illustration challenge coming to an Instagram feed near you! The first in a series of #BlockbusterBriefs brought to you by Pickle Illustration, Headless Greg and The Arena.
We’ve teamed up to share a series of challenges, focused on busting that creative block, boosting your portfolio and levelling up your networking game. Since we’re all going to have a summer like no other, the first theme is…Festivals!
The brief
How does it all work then?
Step 1: Visit the brief and check back every Monday for a new deliverable to create as part of the overarching brief, bringing the fictional festival to life.
Step 2: Get creating!
Step 3: Upload your creation to Instagram with the hashtag #BlockbusterBriefs by Saturday at midday to submit your deliverable.
Our favourites from the week will be featured across our Instagram pages.
Featured or not, you’ll complete the month with big ol’ creative muscles, ready to flex in the industry. You could also end up with a brand new, shiny portfolio project!
So what are you waiting for?! Check out the first brief above and get ready for Week 1 of the challenge to land on Monday 3rd August.
Extra perks
In case you needed any other reasons to get involved, we’ve also created a dedicated channel on The Arena’s Slack community for the challenge, for anyone participating to ask questions, share ideas and connect with other creatives!
We’ll even buddy you up with an accountability partner if you need someone to keep you motivated.
Join the Slack community by clicking HERE! Then search for the channel #blockbuster-briefs.
Helpful resources
Now there’s no requirement to present each deliverable on a mockup, but if you’d like to, below are a few of the best mockup resources (in our opinion) that exist on the web. A few offer freebies that can be used for portfolios, but please check the licensing on each of their websites.
Mockups help contextualise your work, but don’t go crazy, sometimes creating your own visual from scratch works better.
You might have some questions…
So…we’ve had a crack at predicting and answering some of them below...but if you’re still unsure about something, just drop us an email.
I can’t get involved every week, have I missed the boat?
No problem at all. #BlockbusterBriefs are designed for dipping in and out, so miss a week, do them in a different order, do every other week, that’s totally cool. You can always come back for the complete brief at the end of the month, and complete it in your own time.
I’m not a student, can I still join in?
Of course! #BlockbusterBrief challenges are designed with creative students in mind, to fill the long summer break and create commercially-minded portfolio projects, but it’s totally open to everyone!
I’m not a designer or illustrator, can I still get involved?
Of course! The brief has been split into two parts, one for illustrators, one for designers, but in short, if you’re not interested in branding, check out the illustrator brief. Visual creators of all disciplines can still very much get involved.
Do I have to wait until Saturday to share my work for the week?
No! As soon as you’re done and happy with that week’s deliverable you can go ahead and upload it to Instagram. Midday on Saturday is just the deadline to be featured on our Instagram’s that Sunday, but you can share your work at any time.
Can I share my work on a different social media platform?
Yes of course! Just make sure we know it’s there if you want to be reposted or shared on our channels. We’ll mainly be monitoring #BlockbusterBriefs on Instagram.
Is there any cost to get involved?
Absolutely none. All of the mockups we suggest you can use are free. So if you want to source your own for a few £££, then that’s up to you.
How much do I have to create every week?
As much or as little as you like! We’ve given each week a theme and a key element of the festival that needs to be submitted at this time. That could be a poster, t-shirt design, ticket or map. We’ll give you a few options each week, but that doesn’t mean we’re expecting you to do it all.