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Now more than ever we live in an age of self-publishing. There are many implications for the small-scale producer such as artists and crafts people. Research and discuss with at least three examples of web sites, which are used in the aid of promotion of an individual practice and discuss the implications of this in terms of the market.

From days of viewing and acquiring artists works only by visiting galleries, new technology improvements and cyber developments now allow many artists and craft people to display, promote, sell and publish their works online for the public to access with more ease.
This new cyber approach has created so much opportunity for artists and crafts people to move toward the public along with the style that they choose to loom with.

Having a website or a web source to express an artist’s work often has the act of strengthening the relationship between the artist and the public eye, which can also save time, money and increase efficiency.
Having a web sourse can also allow the artists or the crafts people to interact with the public and attend to their queries as the cyberspace becomes the first point of contact.

However, along with the wonders of cyber resource, come many problems.
Unfortunately, this date and forward, there are still many people who are cyber or even technologically challenged and tend to stay away from the internet or electronics altogether. Adding to this, there are web sites and web sources that are so confusing and complex that the viewer can never see what they really want to see, instead they end up at an unwanted page after spending several minutes trying to get to where they want.

One website that boasts ‘easy to view’ visuals and good relevant information is of Gijs Bakker’s. As soon as the public enters the website, visuals of all his works are displayed in a small tab, also allowing for a larger view with just a click on the picture. (http://www.gijsbakker.com/)
The website has only 6 main tabs that has all the necessary information for the viewer to need to know and the website being created with much simplicity, allows the viewer to browse through with ease.

Artist, Lee Bul has a different look to her site compared to Bakker’s. Where Bakker’s site aims for simplicity and clarity, Lee Bul’s site focuses more on the design and visual aspect.
Lee Bul’s site shows higher level of graphics and design, however, along with this comes complexity, confusion and lack of information. (http://www.leebul.com/)
Although graphically outstanding, focusing too much on the visuals can often make the site more degrading than those that are simple and somewhat boring, but have all the relevant information that they need to contain, in turn leading the viewer to chose something that’s less visually attractive but more efficient and effective for them to browse through.

Similarly to Bakker, artist Bettina Speckner comprises of a website that withholds simplicity, clarity but somewhat not too exciting. (http://www.bettina-speckner.com/44.html)
Along with the site being too basic, comes another problem for many viewers of the site. Betinna comes from a Dutch background and also spends most of the time in Germany. This has lead Speckner to produce a website that’s made up by, at least 90% of the German language. When creating a website it is important to address each and every market in order to properly promote, display, and explain your works.

Internet is a great source to approach the public and like so, a great source for the public to approach the artists and crafts people. However, as it can often come with problems that associate with complexity, clarity, language and efficiency, it is vital that the artists advance towards the public, within the cyber world, with the right manner and style.


Bibliography

The Artist Web - http://www.theartistsweb.co.uk/services

Bettina Speckner - http://www.bettina-speckner.com/41019.html

Gijs Bakker - http://www.gijsbakker.com/index.html

Lee Bul - http://www.leebul.com/