24 Apr Follow us on Instagram, and get a Peek into the Guild

We’re now on Instagram! We’re working the platform to give a peek into the advocacy work we do, spread the word about design and illustration best practices, and partner with like-minded organizations. So far we’ve used our feed to participate in ico-D’s Design in Action campaign (leading up to World Design Day) – we snapped photos of unique projects that made our urban environments in Boston, DC, Maryland, and New York more sustainable. We’ll be using the account to provide a visual record of the somewhat dry advocacy work we do. Hopefully photos (like one of the extra-large cup of coffee required to get through several hours of dense copyright testimony) will bring our advocacy work to life.

We’ve got several other Instagram campaigns in the works, designed to promote our members, showcase illustration at work, and highlight regional activities. We’re concerned about navigating the problems raised by Instagram’s Terms of service (see the note below), so we’d love to hear back on how illustrators use the platform, without risking that their copyrighted work will be compromised. We’d also love to see your Instagram posts, so follow us, and let us see what you’re up to as well. You can follow us at graphic_artists_guild or search for #everyartistcounts.

While Instagram can be a self-promotion asset to artists, the Guild does caution that uploading copyrighted work to the platform poses a risk. In 2013, the Guild joined ASMP and other photographers’ organizations in protesting Instagram’s wide-ranging terms of use, which grant the service broad usage rights to sublicense images and videos uploaded to the platform. Before posting original artwork, the Guild urges designers, illustrators, and photographers to read “The Instagram Papers” and understand the rights they’re giving away when using the platform.