I would call myself a highly visually inspired person, who thrives off creating visually aesthetic and project-based creations. I’ve always been active in the art of photography, along with graphic designs, and short films, particularly for High School assessments. Starting off the ideating process for my Digital Artefact (DA), I figured that I should utilise everything I have learnt and created and turn it into something to be endured through a public eye. However what avenue would I choose to follow and what medium would I choose to show it through?
Initially, I wanted to produce various graphics illustrations and showcase them on Instagram, Redbubble, and YouTube as I want to improve my skills and graphics as I am majoring in Visual Communication Design.
With the concept of FIST (fast, inexpensive, simple, tiny) in mind, I soon realised that each graphic will require a lot of time to effectively and consistently create and publish, as it is not my strong suit. I am better at photography and videography, so why not just stick with what I am good at to maximise my time use and simplify my DA as a whole.
In reflection of this, I decided I wanted to finally publish all the photography/videography content I have gathered over the years but never publicly displayed. This way I will simply and inexpensively conduct my content into a DA. I want to do this in several ways that act in accordance with the uses, purposes, and audiences of social media platforms. My online persona will also be a mix of formal and casual as I plan to use my DA as a future employment portfolio.
Experience has taught me that a lot of teenagers-25yr old’s use Instagram as a means of sharing ‘picture perfect’ posts and crafting idealised profiles. The younger generation (Z – Alpha), tend to look up at these profiles and reflect on their own lifes, diminishing their sense of self-worth. There are also a lot of Photography accounts on Instagram, so I realised I need to have a point of differentiation. I decided to post photos and videos on Instagram, however with the ‘before and after editing’ photos side by side, to remind audiences that there’s more than meets the eye to every picture-perfect post on Instagram.
This will also link to my YouTube account where I will be posting behind the scenes editing demonstrations of photos and videos, along with finished products themselves, to entertain, teach, and provide audiences with insight into the behind the scenes process of content production.
I’ve had a few chats with friends, and they recommend the use of time-lapse videos, catchy music and perhaps a voice-over to maximise audience engagement. I will be looking to implement this in my future editing videos. I have also come to discover that Instagram captions can be used as an effective engagement tool, that helps to promote audience curiosity, and loyalty. I most definitely need to improve my captions going forward.
The level of interaction and contribution received by an audience is dependent on the amount of times you post and the consistency of the post. Williams believes that posting once a day on Instagram can increase your following by 56%. This is something I have not been doing, so I need to ensure I stay up-to-date with posting in order to gain a following.
To extend the reach of my DA I thought I would use either a WIX or WordPress blog to post blogs that reveal more about the content I post, including the locations, process, and experiences behind each video, photo or series of photos. I could also sell digital copies of my photos, however, I think that should come later as I begin to develop a following.
If and when I grow my following, I’ll incorporate graphics and more new content and try to sell my products, however, before I get married to this idea, I want to test the waters and use currently accessible content and a method of publishing that’s achievable.
By Kayla Mathew
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DA Instagram: @capturebykayla DA YouTube: CaptureByKayla
Capture By Kayla 
Wow, this is fantastic Kayla! I love that your digital artefact shows both your skill in photography and also editing, showing the true digital-visual production process. I think it’s phenomenonal that you show us how you do it through the tutorials and ‘before and after’ showcases, especially as it contradicts the ‘picture-perfect’ concept currently in the media. I’m completing a similar DA where I’ve created a website as a portfolio for all my images similar to your Instagram page ‘capturebykayla’. It just has all the images and through the website I’m able to sell my images which I believe your photos will do exceptionally well in selling. It will definitely be worth trying to sell them especially with the platforms being free to create a site portfolio. Can’t wait to see more!!
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